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All about Indian DTH (Direct To Home) services. Compare the services providers, News updates, Reviews, offers and TV Channel packages of Indian DTH service providers, Big TV, Sun Direct, Tata Sky, Dish TV, Airtel DTH and Doordarshan Direct, Videocon, SingTel. Please post your comment with Email ID so that i can help you people.

Friday, May 30, 2008

DTH Growth In India

High Growth Rate
Home-grown DTH majors Dish TV and Tata Sky are mean while beefing up their portfolio of channels with additional transponders in the face on competition. While Tata Sky is likely to be accommodated on one of ISRO’s forth coming satellites with Ku-band capacity – possibly GSAT-6/ INSAT-4E, Dish TV has plans to double its transponders with an additional 14. This space will be available to Dish when its sister company Agrani’s part-owned satellite, ProtoStar-1, is launched towards end-July.


Tata Sky’s new capacity requirements are not known. According to a senior ISRO official, allocations of any additional capacity is part of the contract and would be made on a satellite close to the operator’s present allocation or in this case at 83 degree East longitude where INSAT-4A is located.

Growing enthusiasm


The enthusiasm for the DTH sector has stumped the satellite space provider ISRO. According to ISRO, the list of players could grow longer. For operators there is the task of picking and choosing amongst the new channels that are being announced almost every week. On last count there were 100 channels from about 50 companies waiting for licence from the Government. Scrambling for the limited space available, broadcasters are willing to pay carriage fees ranging from Rs 1 crore to upwards of Rs 2.5 crore per year.


The new ventures from Reliance, Bharti Telemedia and Videocon depend on fewer transponders (between 6-8 each) but are said to be using the MPEG 4 compression technology, allowing more channels per transponder and larger bouquets.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

New DTH player from Sterling Group is set to launch DTH (ETH Air TV) soon

Sterling Group is set to launch DTH services by early 2009 under a new business ETH Air TV. In an attempt to differentiate its services, the company is positioning itself as a platform with a focus on educational content, and that’s why Education to Home or ETH.

An application for a licence is pending with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting but talks with financial institutions, vendors, technology partners and broadcasters have started. The company is expecting to close all its agreements as soon as it has its Letter of Intent from the Ministry.

It already has an agreement with ISRO, and has been promised six transponders on the Insat 4G satellite which will be headed spaceward around May-June 2009; an interim accommodation could be arranged before that if ETH Air TV is ready with its backend infrastructure.

There are more channels than space on current DTH platforms, and ETH Air TV could accommodate these homeless, new channels who are willing to pay carriage fees to reach consumers, according to an industry source. It would also be tapping into regional markets with more local, or city-specific content, focussing on coaching classes, for example.

No service would be viable without the popular general entertainment channels though and ETH Air TV will offer the same but will add more niche content to its portfolio, both acquired and possibly even developed in-house. The service will be offered on mpeg4 (or with superior compression technology) Set Top Boxes that it will source from vendors and could be significantly subsidised at launch.

A Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB-S) technology will be able to accommodate around 120 channels; a DVB-S2 option will take the number of channels to more than 160. Market players Of the six licensees, there are three DTH players in the market already, including Sun Direct, which is a strong player in South India benefiting from the Sun Network’s popular content. Reliance ADAG’s Big TV and Bharti’s DTH venture are also expected to launch soon. ETH Air TV is nonetheless confident of breaking through the tough market by positioning itself differently.
Sterling Group’s telecom interests were placed under Siva Ventures which has an eight per cent stake in Tata Teleservices. However, the company is housing its DTH business under Shanmugam Realty and Housing Ltd, according to sources.

ISRO To Launch More Satellites To Meet DTH Demand

Indian Space Research Organization has announced that they are planning to launch three new satellites to meet the growing demand from the DTH companies in the Indian market.

A couple of new players are all set to enter the market and existing companies too need the transponders for expanding their facilities. Isro said in a statement that the three satellites would have around 42 Ku-band transponders.Some of these would be used for the rural markets. Reliance, Bharti and Videocon are three companies which are working on launching their DTH operations throughout the country.

Dish TV itself predicts that the Indian market would require an additional 72 transponders for DTH and TV broadcast by 2015.

DD Direct Plus(DTH) Targets More Than 100 Channels on DTH

DD Direct Plus, Doordarshan's free-to-air direct-to-home service, aims to have a pack of 100 channels on its platform. It currently offers 46 channels, apart from 21 channels of All India Radio.

This has become possible by lowering the annual carriage fee that broadcasters have to pay. DD Direct has added Japan’s NHK TV earlier this month. With this, it is beaming three foreign channels including Korean Broadcasting Corporation and Deutsche Welle.

they expect another 10to 15 foreign channels to join platform. DD Direct brought down the carriage fee last year from Rs 10 million to Rs 2.5 million along with a service tax of Rs 300,000. Foreign broadcasters, however, have to pay a carriage fee of Rs 5 million.

The imposition of the carriage fee of Rs 10 million had resulted in almost all news and many general entertainment channels quitting the platform. At present, the only private Indian news channel on the platform is Total TV.

The first DTH platform to be launched in the country, DD Direct had initially been launched by offering free carriage to different FTA channels. As a result, almost all the news channels had come on the platform. But many left when the carriage fee was fixed at Rs 10 million.

The platform had recently seen the entry of music channels like B4U Music and 9XM, and some south Indian TV channels. The private channels include five music channels and two spiritual channels. DD Direct's bouquet includes 20 Doordarshan channels.

DishTV offer internet services through DTH

DishTv is planning to provide internet connection through the DTH platform. Once the new satellite is operational internet services would be offered. Current DishTV users would have to exchange their STBs and dish to avail the internet service.

Essel Group owned direct-to-home (DTH) service DishTV is all set to extend its satellite channel capacity to 420 with the launch of its own satellite Argani scheduled by the end of June24th this year. Once operational the satellite would also enable DishTV to provide broadband internet service to its subscribers.

DishTV which has offered a free-of-cost set top box (STB) to all new subscribers, is looking at doubling its customer base of 320,000 in next 50 days. The company's plan to double customer base comes ahead of its Rs 800 crore satellite project being handled by Chinese satellite company ProtoStar.

Protostar has almost finalised the schedule for launching DishTV's satellite from Kourou in French Guyana. they expect the launch by the end of June and the satellite would be operational by July. they will then have additional 14 Ku-band and 12 c-band transponders for satellite TV broadcast. DishTV currently holds nine c-band transponders on a European satellite NSS-6 and can show 220 TV channels.

Being the oldest company in the market, it enjoys market leadership compared with its peers Prasarbharati's DD Direct Plus, Tata Sky and Sun TV services.

With the launch of its satellite and the entry of new players such as Reliance and Airtel in the DTH market, DishTV has decided to offer free STBs to all its new subscribers. New subscribers who opt for the annual maxi package worth Rs 3,990 will also get 67 movies-on-demand (MoD) free of cost.

Bharti Telemedia to launch DTH Operations (Airtel subsidiary)

Bharti Telemedia which is the subsidiary of bharti airtel is testing DTH signal to launch the DTH services in India. Mostly this will lunch soon this year end. DTH is with latest technology MPEG4 . Bharti Telemedia is also involved in manufacturing there DTH setup boxes.
Company to set up state-of-the-art infrastructure for uplinking and broadcast station near gurgaon, Haryana. They are tie-up with Foreign Service provider for there platform.

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.”

Bharti Telemedia To launch DTH operations by Q4 2008

For more information go for
http://www.bharti.com/117.0.html

Asianet Digital TV

ADTV which is idle for Kerala state people.because it coming with optical digital contant chaneels.

ADTV is simply about giving entertainment a whole new look. It offers its viewers excitement, endless possibilities and a very wide choice of affordable digital TV options. You get to choose from 114 digital channels all delivered with crystal clear picture and stereo sound.

A separate Digital head end has been set up in Kochi, where sound and pictures converted into a digital format and compressed, using minimum bits to convey the information on a digital signal. These signals are distributed further uninterruptedly without any quality loss from Trivandrum to Calicut through our underground Hybrid Fiber Coaxial Cable to provide a superior quality digita1 reception to the Television viewers of Kerala.

Being pioneers in this field in the state of Kerala, Asianet Satellite Communications will ensure through ADTV, that every home in Kerala enjoys the benefit of digital television at very economical rates.

  • Current Features of ADTV
  • Crystal clear picture with DVD quality
  • Stereo sound
  • 115 Channels
  • 15 of them Malayalam and 40 Regional
  • Programme reminder
  • Technology advantage which with stands any weather conditions
  • Parental Control
  • Electronic Programme Guide which enables the viewers to set the programme of their choice in advance.
    Future Plans
  • Movie on Demand
  • Songs on Demand
  • Educational contents
  • Video games
  • Interactive games
  • E-mail, Messaging, Browsing Etc.

SUNtv DTH service SUNDIRECT

the suntv service sundirect which offers free dish setup box including one year subscription free.This is the idle choice for south Indians because it contains maximum all southern states channels. Monthly subscription is at Rs75/- only.
Sun DTH is on MPEG4 which is latest technology in current service providers.

Please visit this site for more details
http://www.sundirect.in/

Videocon DTH service D2H coming soon

Videocon Industries, one of the largest consumer durables company in India in terms of sales. coming with its upcoming direct-to-home (DTH) business.

The DTH will be known under the D2H brand and is scheduled to test signals by the year-end. According to industry officials, the company already has a technology tie-up with Israeli firm Gilat Technology Networks, specially selected for its superior encryption technology. The company already manufactures analogue boxes and has a wide network of dealers which will be exploited for selling its DTH hardware.

At present, Information and Broadcasting Ministry does not allow exclusivity of content and the DTH players will need to focus on pricing and distribution.

Videocon set-top boxes are also expected to be cheaper than the ones currently available in the market. Pricing will be an important strategy with Videocon across all its product lines.

BigTv of Reliance Talks with Jet Airways to offer live DTH

ADAG’s DTH venture Reliance BIGTV is learnt to be in talks with Jet Airways to offer its live DTH service on its planes. So far Kingfisher Airlines is the only Indian airline that is offering live feed of 16 channels to its passengers in collaboration with ZEE Dish TV.

According to industry sources Reliance DTH service is likely to replace the company’s in-flight entertainment system JetScreen, which largely offers pre-recorded content through ‘video on demand’ on its domestic and international flights.

The DTH company would be partnering with an Israel-based technology company for the same. Reliance BIGTV which is likely to be launched by June end, has already placed an order of about 6 million set-top boxes with its vendors. Industry sources believe that the company is expecting to grab about that many consumers in the next 18-19 months till the next year-end.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Reliance bigtv started offer

Much awaiting reliance bigtv dth services will start to public with in month’s time. The live testing has been done with there exiting customers After some bugs and glisters. Final version will be launch to the final public soon.

The offer may contain with high definition TV’s (HD Tv’s). they also have offer new channel’s which are still not lunched. These chaneel are from ADAG Anil Dirubai Ambani Group. Formally reliance entertainment.

For info please visit the following link

http://www.bigtv.co.in/bigtv/big/index.html