The major bugbear for new sports broadcaster the Bukhatir-promoted Ten Sports has been the lack of penetration in cable and satellite TV homes in India. That seems to be slowly becoming less of a sore point going by the announcement made this evening by Taj Television (the parent company of Ten Sports) chief executive Chris McDonald.

McDonald said in a press release issued late this evening that large MSOs such as RPG Netcom in Kolkata, Asianet in Kerala and Hathway in Bangalore and Chennai, have all begun airing Ten Sports as of today "With these systems signing on, the national networks of Hathway, Win Cable and Siticable are showing Ten Sports except for a few isolated pockets, which are expected to sign up in the next 24 hours," the press release stated.

McDonald added that the distribution tieups with these MSOs means that Ten Sports penetration across India now stands at 18 million homes, and is expected to go up further in the next two days, as the 2002 FIFA World Cup fever increases in intensity.