Asfar said the company's main challenge was that the market already had big players, and his task was to provide a distinct service.

"We want to focus on dedicated Russian-language content," he said. "In a few weeks we'll have our own movie channel."

Middle class

Comcor TV began installing its network in August 2001, and has been making slow progress in specific regions, namely Cherta-novo and Khamovniki.

It is a joint venture between Comcor, a telecoms company that provides its fiber-optic network, and Moscow Broadband Com-munications (MBC).

Comcor is 25 percent owned by the city, and MBC is 25 percent owned by U.S.-based venture-capital firm the Andersen Group.

Thus far Comcor has contributed $30 million in capital assets, and MBS has put in $15 million. A further $15 million will be invested by Andersen after a financial restructuring of the project "to be confirmed" in two months.

Baker, who serves as chairman of the Andersen Group, said he banks on the spending power of Moscow's "new middle class" for the success of pay TV.

"If you're in the pay-TV business, you need to have a lot of disposable income around in order to flourish," he said.

Baker said 50,000 people had signed up to their services, with a penetration rate of 50 percent in the Chertanovo district where the company first put down the technology, a rate it wants to be repeated elsewhere.

The Comcor TV project has a directive from the city authorities to install the network to 1.5 million homes and offices, but Baker said the main goal for now is to "drive the last nail" in a network of 250,000 homes and offices by the middle of 2003.

The project has gone through some difficulties as a result of the 2001 telecoms crash and the continued slump of 2002, Baker said. "Our situation was that we didn't have any debt, but nobody was willing to lend us any money."

Older hands

The more established players - Kosmos TV and NTV Plus - overcame these teething problems a while ago.

Kosmos TV began life way back in 1991, and uses an MMDS signal from the Ostankino tower, broadcasting to antennae situated on roofs around the capital.

Its sales and marketing director Vladislav Shaposhnikov did not say how many subscribers Kosmos TV currently has, but claimed the company had a very successful year despite "some stagnation in the summer."

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