World Cup 2014: Kolkata ready to catch the fever on small screen

KOLKATA: As the greatest show on earth began in faraway Brazil, soccer-crazy Kolkata seemed poised to enjoy all the action on the small screen as television sets keep flying off the shelves like hot cakes.

Most Kolkatans are rooting for the latest LED TVs to catch the action in vibrant colours and resolutions.

While the demand has always been there in the 22-24 inch segment, the World Cup has pushed the sale of the big screen TVs in the range of 32-42 inches.

The sellers and the manufacturers alike are dangling attractive offers to woo the customers to make most of the hay while the sun shines.

City-based Great Eastern Appliances Pvt Ltd with 33 branches all over the state has recorded 100 per cent rise in the sale of TVs.

"On normal days, we sell about 15-20 TVs and the figures are now about 40-50. We expect the demand to rise as the World Cup progresses," commercial head of the store Manish Jain told PTI, quoting their World Cup slogan: 'Sob khelar sera bangalir tumi football', a Bengali film song made famous by Manna Dey.

From zero per cent installment scheme to a DTH connection at just Rs 95 to freebies such as T-shirt, Adidas match footballs, there are offers galore to woo the consumers, he said.

"Football is synonymous with Kolkata, so we had anticipated the surge, this is quite normal and hence we had already trebled our stocks to meet the demand," a sales executive of Sales Emporium at Behala said.

It's not just dealers, but manufacturers too are cashing in on the soccer carnival.

Sony India has recently launched a World Cup scheme wherein they are gifting a replica of Brazuca, the official FIFA match ball, free with every 28-inch and above TV set, while an 8GB pen drive or a headset are given on lower width TVs.

Cable operators and CESC, Kolkata's power distributors too have committed to give the city's football fans an uninterrupted service.