DishTV targets 8 mn users; to invest Rs 1100 cr

Betting big on its new campaign with Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan along with its new offerings, Essel Group promoted DishTV is expecting over three-fold increase in its subscriber base to 8 million by 2011.

The DTH player has also earmarked Rs 1,100 crore in the next two years for expansion.

"We will invest Rs 1,100 crore in the next two years for expansion which includes introducing new services, advertising among other things," DishTV CEO Arun Kapoor told media.

The company, which currently has a subscriber base of 2.3 million, is targeting 8 million users by 2011, he said.

DishTV, which has roped in Shahrukh Khan as its brand ambassador, would seek to make people aware about the DTH technology and its benefits through the new advertising campaign.

It is aggressively targeting people all across the country through print, electronic media, outdoors and other media of advertising to strengthen the company's brand and maintain its dominant position in this industry.

Apart from DishTV, two other operational DTH players include Prasar Bharati owned DD Direct (2 million users) and private player Tata Sky (1 million users).

However, the DTH market is expected to witness a lot of competition in the near future with Bharti, Reliance, Sun TV and Videocon slated to enter the field.

Commenting on the upcoming competition in the DTH sector, Kapoor said, "we welcome competition as this will open up the DTH market".
PLAY 2200 FREE ONLINE GAMES

Related Post
Dish TV signs on Shah Rukh
Dishtv offers Sun channels to counter TataSky in southern language space
Dish TV, Tata Sky to have Sun channels

NDTV Good Times launches ACTVE Cooking on Tata Sky

PLAY 2200 FREE ONLINE GAMES
For viewers of NDTV Good Times on Tata Sky, the channel will showcase 'ACTVE Cooking' a feature service with round the clock cooking recipes and demonstrations along with tips and trivia.

All subscribers of Tata Sky across the country can access the ‘ACTVE Cooking’ service to plan their menu of the day and see dishes being prepared, at the click of a button.


Viewers will be able to access ‘ACTVE Cooking’ service from the ACTVE services bouquet menu on Tata Sky. The recipes and demonstrations can also be availed by clicking the red button icon that will appear on the channel every time the viewers tune into the channel.

The ‘ACTVE Cooking’ menu will have four window options with four recipes for that day - breakfast, lunch, dinner and an International recipe. Viewers can click on any of them, watch the recipes, and scroll the text on the side to note down their favourite recipes using the service. The recipes will change on a daily basis.


NDTV Lifestyle CEO Smeeta Chakrabarti said, "ACTVE Cooking is a novel concept and a unique interactive experience for our urban audiences comprising of working mothers and bachelors. The service will offer them easy access to cooking recipes and will allow them to cook, eat and relish some of the best dishes at the click of a button, wherever and whenever they want to, courtesy NDTV Good Times. It's like catching the cricket highlights of the day, whenever you can."

NDTV Good Times is a lifestyle channel targetted at a largely cosmopolitan, socially upbeat audience. NDTV has come together with the Kingfisher Brand in a first-of-its-kind media alliance for the promotion of the channel.


Related Post
Tata Sky expands offer to 140 channels
Tata Sky enters kitchens too
Neo Sports inks deal with Tata Sky

Dish TV signs on Shah Rukh

PLAY 2200 FREE ONLINE GAMES

Direct-to-home service provider Dish TV has signed on actor Shah Rukh Khan as its brand ambassador. The actor will feature in the new advertising campaign that the Essel Group company is launching shortly.
“Shah Rukh is a natural fit with the personality of the brand as we are harbingers of entertainment in this country and there is none better than him to symbolise the epitome of entertainment in India,” said Mr Arun Kumar Kapoor, CEO, Dish TV, in a statement.
Designed by Mr R. Balakrishnan, Executive Creative Director, Lowe, the campaign would be launched “simultaneously through a multi media blitzkrieg across the country”.
“I like the futuristic product idea and a fabulous brand theme that is simple but very interesting and very me. I hope people will warm up to my new look with Dish TV,” Shah Rukh Khan is quoted as having said.

Zee Sports America launches on Dish Network

PLAY 2200 FREE ONLINE GAMES

Zee TV USA has launched its sports channel Zee Sports America on EchoStar's satellite service platform Dish Network.

The channel was launched on 26 September on the Dish Network on channel 576.


The channel will provide coverage of South Asian sports such as Indian football, cricket, golf, and motor sports including Zee's original productions such as the Daily Sports News, Sports Café, Football Café, Sports Sunday, World Motor Sports Magazine, Twenty Two Yards, Cricket Talk and Cricket First.

"Zee Sports is the first homegrown Indian sports channel and through its grassroots activities redefines the traditional role of a television channel. Launching in the US is the first step in its continued attempts to spread its wings," stated Zee Sports CEO Himanshu Mody.

Zee Network head of Americas S Venkatasubramanian said, "This is a very important channel to the south Asian community in the US and we are very pleased to expand on our long term relationship with Dish Network that dates back to 1998. Zee Sports programming is broadcast today throughout south Asia and with the launch of this channel much of that quality content will now be available to the South Asian community in the US."



Zee TV USA manages the America's business of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) and it commenced operations in 1998. It operates four 24x7 South Asian television networks, Zee TV, Zee Cinema, Alpha etc Punjabi and Zee Gujarati. Zee Sports America is the fifth television channel from its stable.

Tata Sky expands offer to 140 channels

Tata Sky Ltd., the JV between the Tata Group and STAR, recently introduced 15 Sun channels, Kalaignar TV, NDTV Good Times, UTV Bindass, Neo Sports and Neo Sports Plus taking its product offering to 140 channels and interactive services. Tata Sky has also launched ActveTM Cooking, the first-of-its-kind interactive service that allows viewers to get recipes when they want, at the press of a button.

To cater to its rapidly expanding customer base in south India, the company has introduced new channel packages starting at Rs 200 per month, designed especially for customers in the region, said Vikram Kaushik, managing director and CEO, Tata Sky Ltd

PLAY 2200 FREE ONLINE GAMES

Related Post
Tata Sky enters kitchens too
Neo Sports inks deal with Tata Sky
Tata Sky touches one million subscribers, targets 8 million by 2012

Dishtv offers Sun channels to counter TataSky in southern language space

DTH player dishtv, which pioneered the platform in India, has made the entire Sun bouquet of 15 channels available to its subscribers, in the wake of TataSky doing the same two days ago.

Company officials had in August told indiantelevision.com that dishtv had already signed an agreement with Sun for carrying their channels, but would wait for the Sun DTH platform to start operation and go on air simultaneously, as that had been the tacit understanding between the two companies.


However, dishtv had also then said that if TataSky went ahead with their airing of Sun channels before Kalanithi Maran's Sun DTH operations start, they would break with that agreement and start carrying the Sun channels.

"This is precisely what has happened, as TataSky started carrying the Sun channels two days ago, so we informed Sun and with their consent, have started carrying the Sun bouquet from yesterday," a dishtv official said on condition of anonymity.

The addition of Sun channels takes up dishtv's offering to 180 channels in 12 languages across the country.

With the addition of Sun channels, the dishtv south Indian language line-up will now have 17 Tamil, 12 Telugu, 12 Malayalam and 10 Kannada channels, including channels from other southern broadcasters.

The new channels are an interesting mix of genres across general entrainment, news and music, movie and kids, in short, catering to the entertainment needs of the entire family.

In the present day scenario of emerging India, almost 10-20 per cent of the young population is dislocated from their home states for better opportunities, the company statement added.

The inclusion of new channels will also satisfy the needs of the southern language populace residing outside their home state, dishtv officials say.


Commenting on the occasion, Arun Kapoor, CEO, dishtv said, "Dishtv believes in offering variety to its subscribers. From the very beginning, we have aimed to cater to the language specific needs of the regional belt spread across the length and breadth of the country."
Kapoor adds that it has been dishtv's constant endeavour to incorporate tastes and preferences of our subscribers in the offerings.

"Dishtv enjoys strong support from Southern viewers and is completely in tune with their entertainment preference," he says.

By this move, dishtv now has the complete southern bouquet of channels which can cater to and will be of interest for all southern language speaking audiences.

The Sun channels will be available under four different packages, namely Dish Freedom- 100 channels @ Rs. 150, Dish Freedom plus-105 channels @ Rs. 200, Dish Welcome-130 channels @ Rs. 300 and Dish Maxi-159 channels @ 350.

Related Post
Neo Sports inks deal with Tata Sky
DTH has to offer subscribers instalment schemes: Trai
Dish TV, Tata Sky to have Sun channels

Tata Sky enters kitchens too

PLAY 2200 FREE ONLINE GAMES
Ahmedabad, Sept. 19 After launching a campaign in 2,500 schools across India to woo children to its interactive educational programmes, DTH operator Tata Sky has launched an interactive cooking programme nationally.
Home-makers, particularly housewives, can now press a button on their Tata Sky remote control to find out the latest on the DTH menu. The service provider will dish out four how-to-cook recipes every day on demand.
The recipes will include snacks and continental dishes, Mr Vikram Mehra, Chief Marketing Officer, told Business Line.
With the recent inclusion of channels such as Mee Marathi, UTV’s Bindas and NDTV’s Good Times, the total number of channels beamed by Tata Sky has reached 140, he added.
For cricket lovers, the DTH provider has roped in cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Using a Tata Sky connection, the fans can now interact with Dhoni and get his autographed bat.
Eyeing interactive advertising as a new source of revenue, Tata Sky is making its platform available to insurance companies, mutual funds, car-makers and mobile phone service providers.
The customer would only have to press the active button to know the details of the offers being made by these companies. “Marketers targeting attention-span of people beyond the 30-second commercial can make their advertising content available through information brochures on our platform,” Mr Mehta said.

Related Post
Neo Sports inks deal with Tata Sky
DTH has to offer subscribers instalment schemes: Trai
Dish TV, Tata Sky to have Sun channels
Tata Sky touches one million subscribers, targets 8 million by 2012

Neo Sports inks deal with Tata Sky

Sports broadcaster Neo Sports and direct-to-home (DTH) service provider Tata Sky have announced a long term agreement.

According to the deal, the two channels Neo Sports and Neo Sports Plus will be available on the Tata Sky platform with immediate effect.


Neo Sports CEO Shashi Kalathil said, "Neo Sports' carriage on India's premier DTH Platform, Tata Sky, is a major and propitious announcement that we are making as an independently distributed bouquet. There are several customer interactive innovations possible around cricket and we shall be working closely with Tata Sky to bring to our viewers an unmatched viewing experience during the upcoming India Australia series."

Tata Sky MD and CEO Vikram Kaushik said, "We are delighted that Neo Sports with their unparalleled depth of India cricket rights will now be available to our viewers on Tata Sky."


Two months back, Neo Sports decided to independently distribute its TV channels after terminating their distribution arrangement with Star India.
On the cable front, Neo Sports is on an aggressive distribution ramp up for the forthcoming October India-Australia ODI series.

Kalathil said that Neo Sports had already signed cable distribution deals in major cities in North, Central and parts of West India. These include Delhi, Gurgaon, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Camper, Jaipur, Bhopal, Indore, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Baroda.

Kalathil said, "Traditionally broadcasters have been very advertising focused and have played for high stakes in the metros such as Delhi and Mumbai and advertising critical centres such as Gurgaon, where most of the media agencies have offices. Our approach has been different. In Phase-1 we went to the traditionally less penetrated states such as MP, UP and Rajasthan. It is incidental that while doing so we are now 100 per cent lit in Gurgaon and the large cities of Gujarat too. This is Phase-1 of our rollout strategy."

Kalathil went on to further clarify that in phase-two of the rollout by the end of the first week of September, Neo would cover platforms such as DTH and some of the major MSOs.

The third phase of the rollout by mid September would cover much of the South, another traditionally less focussed region for national broadcasters. "This is critical to our multi language cricket broadcast strategy" he added.

The final part of the roll out would be in the large metros and would be complete by middle of September, in time to catch the October India - Australia ODI series.


Related Post
DTH has to offer subscribers instalment schemes: Trai
DTH firms HITS out at multi-system operators
Dish TV, Tata Sky to have Sun channels
Tata Sky touches one million subscribers, targets 8 million by 2012

DTH has to offer subscribers instalment schemes: Trai

Direct-to-home (DTH) operators will now have to offer subscribers rental or hire purchase schemes on hardware equipment.

This is the latest regulation on Quality of Service (QoS) issued for the DTH sector by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).

Trai says that any DTH operator must from now give the prospective subscriber all three options, contrary to the outright purchase practice so far. The operators will have to mention clearly on every application form the three options, schemes and prices.


This makes the DTH initial connectivity more akin to that of Cas (conditional access system), bringing down the entry barrier for consumers as they can now go for instalments on the hardware equipment including set-top boxes (STBs).

Subscribers who wish to give up the DTH services, would also be refunded the amount due to them.

The Regulation also says that the operators will levy no charges payable towards repair and maintenance of DTH Customer Premises Equipment acquired under the hire purchase or rental scheme. This facility will be valid during the period of hire purchase or rental scheme.

Trai has even said that while subscribers would be able to change their schemes at any time they wanted, the operators would not be able to hike the prices for a scheme opted for by a subscriber within six months of the person getting the connection.


Quality Control Measures

Customer empowerment also includes strict quality control measures, including attending to problems and solving them within a given timeframe, and also severe restrictions on disconnections.

Trai regulation says that the operators would neither be allowed to discontinue any channel, or the entire service, nor be allowed to disable the STBs without sufficient reason and proper notice.

The regulation says that DTH operators would refund the security deposit or advance payments, if any, after appropriate and reasonable adjustments in case of return of DTH Customer Premises Equipment by a DTH subscriber. This, too, has to be made clear in the application form.

"In case the equipment made available to any subscriber before the commencement of this regulation does not conform to the BIS as applicable, the operator shall within seven days of the commencement of these regulations replace at no extra cost equipment that conforms to the BIS," the regulation says.

However, this will not apply to those pieces of equipment that have been tampered with by the subscriber, the regulation says.

A person seeking connection, disconnection or shifting of DTH service connection will now have to make an application in duplicate to the operator in a format specified by the latter, and the application shall be provided to such person by the DTH operator.

The application form shall contain name, address and telephone number of the applicant; details of schemes for provision of DTH equipment; details of subscription package indicated by the person; the number and names of all the channels and value added services.

The operator will then have to give a unique customer identification number and provide a copy of the Manual at the time of subscription. All information furnished by the applicant would have to be kept confidential.

The operators will have to evolve procedures for handling requests for shift in the place of installation of the service, transfer the service from one subscriber to another, as well as for disconnection or re-connection of the DTH service.

"No DTH operator shall take off the air or discontinue exhibition of any channel without giving prior notice to the DTH subscribers, says Trai and adds that the notice shall have to be published widely.

Besides, no operator shall discontinue the service to its 'direct to me' equipment made available to any DTH subscriber before the commencement of these regulations, if it does not conform to the Indian Standard set by the Bureau of Indian Standards.

In case DTH service is required to be interrupted for the purpose of facilitating preventive maintenance, the subscribers shall be given a prior notice indicating therein the expected date of resumption of service.

If the home subscriber does not owe any dues (including any arrear towards instalments of hire purchase scheme or arrears of rent for equipment of such operator) the operator shall not be able to disable the STB of that subscriber.

"No DTH operator shall increase the charges for a subscription package offered by him to the disadvantage of the DTH subscriber, or change the charges to the disadvantage of the DTH subscriber for a minimum period of six months from the date of enrolment of the subscriber," the regulation says.

However, this regulation does not stop any operator to reduce the price of the subscription package within the period of six months.

Besides, from the commencement of the regulations, a subscriber can opt, during the period of six months, for any other subscription package offered by that particular operator or any other DTH operator.

Billing Issues

On the billing issue, Trai has said that every operator shall issue bills on post-paid basis specifying the charges for such package; the charges for the value added services availed by such subscriber; the charges for equipment; and the nature and rate of applicable taxes.

The operator shall supply to the subscriber, at a reasonable cost, the information relating to the itemised usage charges showing actual usage of DTH service.

Call Centres

The operators shall have to, on or before the date of commencement of these regulations, establish one or more Call Centres for the purposes of registering of requests, answering queries, registering of complaints and redressal of grievances of its subscribers.

Such call centres will have to made accessible to subscribers round the clock during all days in a week.

No call charges are levied upon, or payable by its DTH subscriber, for calls made to the "toll free number" or "consumer care number" or "help line number" or special number, as the case may be.

Redressal of Complaints

The operators will have to take steps to address all requests or queries or redress all complaints by the subscriber as early as possible. The regulation lays down clearly the time frame of reddressal of specific types of complaints.

In case the operator fails to redress the complaint within the period specified in sub-regulation, it shall give proportionate rebate to the DTH subscriber for the period during which such complaints had not been redressed.

Every complaint relating to billing of DTH service shall have to be redressed within seven days of receiving such complaint from the DTH subscriber and refunds, if any, due to him, shall be made to such subscriber within 30 days of making of such complaint by him.

What is important also is that the operators would have to appoint a Nodal Officer in each state, whose contacts would have to be made known to subscribers and the latter would have the right to complain to him either in writing or through phone or Internet.


Related Post
DTH firms HITS out at multi-system operators
Dish TV, Tata Sky to have Sun channels
Tata Sky touches one million subscribers, targets 8 million by 2012
Airtel to launch its DTH by Q4 2007-08

DTH firms HITS out at multi-system operators

DTH majors and multi system operators (MSOs) are now engaged in a spat over the new digital delivery system — headend in the sky (HITS). DTH players like Tata Sky and Bharti Airtel have told telecom regulator Trai that MSOs who provide this service must do so only through cable operators and not directly to the end-subscriber.

They have argued that if MSOs are allowed to offer this service directly to the end-user, there would be no differentiation between DTH and HITS platform. On the other hand, MSOs are of the view that they must be permitted to offer this service to both cable operators and also directly to customers.

Bharti has told Trai that those HITS service providers should not be allowed to provide signals directly to end-consumers, while adding that the distinction between HITS operator and DTH should be maintained.

Reliance Bluemagic, which is set to launch its DTH operations soon, as well as currently operational Tata Sky has suggested to Trai to follow a technology neutral policy. This implies that if HITS operator is allowed to service the end-consumers in addition to cable operators, then DTH players (who currently service only end-users) must also be permitted to share their signals with the local cable operator (LCOs).

The MSOs on the other hand maintain that while they be allowed to service both segments — LCOs and end users — any amendment allowing DTH operators to do the same would result in the MSO industry being put out of their jobs. Hinduja promoted Incablenet has said that DTH should be remain a direct-to-home concept and should neither be allowed to use LCOs to reach consumers. Moreover, DTH operators should also not be allowed to set multiple-dwelling units and society-based units, it added.

Endorsing the same line, MSOs like Essel promoted WWIL and Mumbai-based Hathway has asserted that the HITS systems should be allowed to reach the consumers directly and act as the last mile operator (LMO). Justifying the move, they said that since HITS would operate in the C band it will not compete with DTH operator.

They also said that investments made in DTH operations are similar to HITS, therefore the latter should also be allowed similar revenues. This is because, if the HITS operator is not allowed to reach consumers directly, the operator would have to give a revenue cut to the LMOs unlike DTH operators which enjoy 100% revenues, they added.

HITS works as follows. The infrastructure provider downlinks all the pay channels and decodes it. These signals are then scrambled according to the requirement after going through the conditional access system. They are multiplexed and uplinked again to a satellite which acts as a ‘headend in the sky’ and beams these signals to all the headends at the local cable operator’s end.

The difference between HITS and other digital formats such as CAS and DTH is that it is an interactive system where the viewer can use the same infrastructure (set-top-box) to not only watch the programmes of her choice but also watch them at a time convenient to her. With HITs, one can also access other facilities such as running searches, pay-per view and blocking programming by title, channel or rating.

Related Post
Dish TV, Tata Sky to have Sun channels
Airtel has appointed JWT as the national advertising agency
Tata Sky touches one million subscribers, targets 8 million by 2012
Airtel to launch its DTH by Q4 2007-08
Prasar Bharati to take 5 channels off air from DD Direct+
Dish TV touches 2.2 million subscribers
Dish TV beams with Rs 850 cr spreadout plan
Dishtv launches dishtv on Computer
Zee Dish TV to offer 200 channels in coming months
In Cas areas, digital cable leads over DTH

Dish TV, Tata Sky to have Sun channels

Dish TV has an agreement with Sun TV Ltd to offer these southern language channels to its direct-to-home (DTH) subscribers, but only when Kalanithi Maran is ready with his own DTH platform.


Tata Sky has already reached a settlement with Sun TV Ltd for taking all the channels on a bundled basis. Company officials were not willing to spell out the financial details of the deal or when Tata Sky would start beaming the Sun channels.

So for the two existing DTH players, the plate on offer for the southern viewers would be full. They were earlier handicapped with Sun blocking off its channels.


During the case in the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (Tdsat), Tata Sky had stressed that by being denied the Sun channels, it was losing out huge business from the southern market.

Related Post
Airtel has appointed JWT as the national advertising agency
Tata Sky touches one million subscribers, targets 8 million by 2012
Airtel to launch its DTH by Q4 2007-08
Prasar Bharati to take 5 channels off air from DD Direct+
Dish TV touches 2.2 million subscribers
Dish TV beams with Rs 850 cr spreadout plan
Dishtv launches dishtv on Computer
Zee Dish TV to offer 200 channels in coming months
In Cas areas, digital cable leads over DTH

Airtel has appointed JWT as the national advertising agency

: Bharti Telemedia, the Direct To Home (DTH) services subsidiary of telecom major Bharti Airtel, has appointed JWT as the national advertising agency for its DTH business.

Airtel is looking to JWT for supporting its aggressive roll out plans in this business.


Bharti Airtel director marketing and communication Gopal Vitthal said, "The strategic clarity and brand-centricity in their thinking makes us very excited to bring them on board.The scale of the Airtel brand, which spans across categories and consumer segments, will allow us to leverage the capabilities of two full service agencies."

During the national pitch, the agencies were evaluated on their overall strategic insights and creative thinking, customer focus, understanding and their 360 execution of the core creative thought through traditional and non-traditional mediums of communication.

Related Post
Tata Sky touches one million subscribers, targets 8 million by 2012
Airtel to launch its DTH by Q4 2007-08
Prasar Bharati to take 5 channels off air from DD Direct+
Dish TV touches 2.2 million subscribers
Dish TV beams with Rs 850 cr spreadout plan
Dishtv launches dishtv on Computer
Zee Dish TV to offer 200 channels in coming months
In Cas areas, digital cable leads over DTH

Reliance ADAG to enter broadcasting biz with movie channels

Reliance ADAG will kick off the broadcasting initiative with the launch of two movie channels, a source familiar with the development says. This will be a logical extension from ADAG's existing film production and distribution business.


"While one will be a Hindi movie channel, the other will be in the English genre," the source adds.

The movie channels will be the best way to kickstart Reliance's broadcasting business even as it plans to launch its DTH and IPTV services. Besides, it will synergise with Reliance's existing movie business, providing content to the channels.

Reliance has roped in Filmy business head Ashutosh to be its COO for the movie channels,


Related Post
Tata Sky touches one million subscribers, targets 8 million by 2012
Airtel to launch its DTH by Q4 2007-08
Prasar Bharati to take 5 channels off air from DD Direct+
Dish TV touches 2.2 million subscribers
Dish TV beams with Rs 850 cr spreadout plan
Dishtv launches dishtv on Computer
Zee Dish TV to offer 200 channels in coming months
In Cas areas, digital cable leads over DTH

Tata Sky touches one million subscribers, targets 8 million by 2012

Tata Sky has already touched one million subscribers in its first year of operations and is now going to lay emphasis on adding more value-added services.

The company is going to invest Rs 20 billion as it plans to ramp up its DTH subscribers over the next 5-7 years. Tata Sky has already pumped in Rs 10 billion.

Claiming that this was the fastest first million reached by any DTH platform in the world, Kaushik believed the growth would have been even faster if the regulatory environment was more favourable.

He held that in an intensely competitive market, there was need for only minimal regulation, and sought the government's intervention to reduce what he called a punitive tax of around 30 per cent on both channels and equipment.

According to the AC Nielsen survey report, Tata Sky has scored 88 on the eQ Index of customer satisfaction and loyalty.

In this proprietary evaluation system of Nielsen, anything upwards of 85 is considered very good. Even in the other industries such as consumer durables, the highest score was 86.

Related Post

Airtel to launch its DTH by Q4 2007-08
Prasar Bharati to take 5 channels off air from DD Direct+
Dish TV touches 2.2 million subscribers
Dish TV beams with Rs 850 cr spreadout plan
Dishtv launches dishtv on ComputerZee Dish TV to offer 200 channels in coming months
In Cas areas, digital cable leads over DTH

Airtel to launch its DTH by Q4 2007-08

Airtel Ltd., is planning to launch its direct-to- home (DTH) service by the last quarter of FY 2007-2008. The company has received the Letter of Intent (LoI) for commencing its DTH service from the Information & Broadcasting ministry.
Airtel Ltd president and CEO Manoj Kohli, "The launch of DTH services will add tremendously to our existing bouquet of integrated telecom offerings. We will be deploying world-class technology and infrastructure to offer the best in class DTH services to our customers."
The DTH service will be launched nationally by the company by the last quarter of the fiscal, a company release said. Bharti is setting up state-of-the-art infrastructure near Gurgaon (Haryana) for the purpose of uplinking and broadcast.

Related Post
Prasar Bharati to take 5 channels off air from DD Direct+
Dish TV touches 2.2 million subscribers
Dish TV beams with Rs 850 cr spreadout plan
Dishtv launches dishtv on Computer
Zee Dish TV to offer 200 channels in coming months
In Cas areas, digital cable leads over DTH

Prasar Bharati to take 5 channels off air from DD Direct+

The public broadcaster, which boasts of the largest DTH service in the country that beams into over five million homes, has set a deadline of August 15 for these five channels to pay up. After this, they will be blacked out.

The five channels are Headlines Today, TV9, Akash Bangla, Aaj Tak and Star Utsav. Sahara channel, which too was issued a notice, has expressed its "inability" to pay the amount. Under the rules, a domestic channel has to pay Rs 25 lakh a year as carriage fee while foreign channels have to pay Rs 50 lakh.

"We had given them sufficient time. It is time to decide if they can continue for free. We have to meet our operational expenses and earn too," Prasar Bharti CEO B S Lalli told media.

Related Post
Dish TV touches 2.2 million subscribers
Dish TV beams with Rs 850 cr spreadout plan
Dishtv launches dishtv on Computer
Zee Dish TV to offer 200 channels in coming months
In Cas areas, digital cable leads over DTH

Dish TV touches 2.2 million subscribers

Dish TV, Indias first direct-to-home (DTH) entity of Zee Group, has touched a subscriber base of 2.2 million and is roping in 100,000 new customers every month.

"We are getting in 100,000 fresh subscribers every month," says Dish TV marketing head Anjali Mahotra.

Related Post

Dish TV beams with Rs 850 cr spreadout plan

Dishtv launches dishtv on Computer

Zee Dish TV to offer 200 channels in coming months

Dish TV beams with Rs 850 cr spreadout plan

Dish TV India Ltd, the Essel Group-promoted direct-to-home (DTH) service provider, is in talks with foreign institutional investors to raise money. The company, which has a market share of 65%, plans to invest Rs 850 crore for expansion over the next three years.

Jawahar Goel, additional vice-chairman, Dish TV, told DNA Money: “We are in talks with a few FIIs but can’t reveal the names at this stage

Dishtv launches dishtv on Computer

Marking yet another landmark in the history of live TV experience, dishtv, the pioneers of DTH technology in the country, brings the first of its kind in the world, technology innovation - dishtv on computer. This special set top box when connected to the desktop PC, can alter between computer and Live TV merely at the click of the button.

Dishtv on computer extends unparalleled experience to the viewers by offering the boutique 171 channels; value added service, active features, gaming and the like.

Re-iterating dishtv's pioneering commitment to the Indian market, Mr. Jawahar Goel, Managing Director, dishtv says, "With this new innovation of dishtv on computer, a cutting - edge home entertainment device, dishtv builds on its position as the ultimate authority re-defining the television viewing space.. Enriched with all dishtv content and value added services, it will provide the customers with digital TV viewing experience while working on computer, at just the click of a button".

It offers a dual advantage of being compatible to computer and television both and is extremely convenient to use. Its working is very similar to that of regular dishtv Set top box where dish installed on the roof/ terrace, faces a particular direction and the VGA box ( special set-top-box compatible with computers) is connected to the PC. The set top box doubles up the usage of the computer from a mere computing machine to one that is an entertainment gizmo. It is ideal for -

Consumers with a TV and a computer who can now become multi TV homes.
Consumers who want to swap digital viewing between computer and TV, as the box has dual compatibility.
Computer users who want to switch between information and entertainment on the same machine.
Specially suited for corporates and SOHO's, where televisions are not available, yet live TV can be enjoyed.
Young geeks who have computers but no TV's like students, young IT pros etc.



The VGA box comes at a price of Rs 4150 inclusive of equipment, installation and taxes. The product will be launched in a phased manner and is currently being made available at select top cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Pune, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad. The box will be sold through hi-end consumer durable outlets that already sell dishtv. Additionally it is also being distributed, thru a special tie-up with TVSE, into computer and peripherals outlets.

Dishtv has demonstrated its technological prowess and innovative spirit thru a spate of new introductions. Unique among them have been, Mobile dishtv for vehicles and ships, powering live TV on aircrafts aboard Kingfisher airlines. With this unique and unparalleled product, dishtv satisfies the needs of knowledge and information seeking audiences, who aspire to be updated all the time, wherever they be.

Dish TV plans DTH services in cars, trains

Need to leave for an appointment just as Tendulkar comes in to bat? Why not install a TV in your car and watch his innings on the road?

After direct-to-home (DTH), get ready for direct-to-car services. Aimed at consumers travelling in chauffeur-driven cars, Dish TV, Zee group’s DTH arm, is in the final stages of implementing its DTH services in cars.

DTH in cars will work with the help of a special auto-tracking antenna that will be mounted on the roof of the car.

The antenna will automatically track Dish TV’s satellite placed in orbit at 36,000 km, from where signals will be fed to the set top box (STB) placed near the television set inside the car. This will enable seamless transmission of satellite channels in cars.

The DTH service in cars will provide over 125 satellite channels. The company says it will not take more than three months to implement the technology after it finalises the hardware supplier for the special antennas.

The company is currently talking to two suppliers — Camos of Korea and SpeedRay1000 of Israel. “We are testing both,” says a senior Dish TV executive.

The bill is currently high — Rs 15,000 for the antennas and set-top box, which is more than three times what you pay for DTH at home.

When contacted, Jawahar Goel, managing director, Dish TV, declined to share the pricing strategy for its direct-to-car venture.

“These innovations are part of our overall strategy of providing Dish TV everywhere. We just rolled out Dish TV’s interface with computers that will allow access to Dish TV on computers. Expansion in cars, buses and trains is a logical extension of our vision,” he added.

At present, Dish TV is available in six Kingfisher Airlines aircraft. Dish TV is also available in premium segment special utility vehicles (SUVs priced over Rs 12 lakh) but costs about Rs 40,000 due to the heavy weight of the equipment.

“We are working on developing the back-end to enable the usage of Dish TV in mid-segment cars, luxury buses and trains,” says Goel.

Dish TV is also in talks with luxury bus manufacturers like Ashok Leyland and Volvo to replicate this technology in buses. According to industry estimates, about 100 luxury coaches are sold every month.

A similar project was undertaken by public broadcaster Prasar Bharati two years ago but could not be implemented owing to the high cost implications.