Indian telco Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) has launched an IPTV service called ‘MyWay BSNL’ in the city of Chennai (Tamil Nadu state) in association with Indian firm Smart Digivision, according to reports in local newspaper The Hindu.

The new service offers over 150 linear channels as well as video-on-demand and music-on-demand libraries, and a parental lock to block certain content. BSNL adds that in the near future it plans to introduce features such as the ability to pause live TV. Customers can either rent the set-top box required for INR 50 (US$ 0.99) per month, plus a deposit of INR 1,000, or purchase it outright for INR 2,500.

Smart Digivision, a new Indian operator of IPTV services, delivered over the fixed-line networks of local telcos BSNL and MTNL, was reported last month to have selected solutions from US firm SeaChange in order to enable its rollout of on-demand, broadcast and converged service offerings.

The company started deploying SeaChange’s TV Navigator middleware and EPG, video-on-demand systems and a bouquet of set-top applications in late 2008, as part of an “aggressive strategy” to bring its IPTV service ‘MyWay’ to 3mn subscribers within the next few years.