Just couple of years back India did not have a single household with Satellite television connection. Consumers had to be satisfied with arbitrarily-laid-poor-signal terrestrial cable connections to watch their favorite TV shows.
Not anymore- In last 2 years itself more than 8,00,000 (Eight lakh) subscribers have opted for satellite-based direct-to-home (DTH) services. The financial muscle of the two operators – Dish TV and Tata Sky – the Zee and Tata groups, respectively, has resulted in aggressive marketing and advertising blitz – Shah Rukh Khan is Dish’s brand ambassador – tipping the scales.
Now, Reliance ADAG’s Big TV all set for March-2008 launch. They have already opened it up for Reliance employees and their families.
Reliance ADA Group’s Big TV is reportedly slated to commercially go on air in late March 2008, though some Reliance employees are already using the service. The channel claims to have 86 channels on air right now, with 64 expected to come on board over the next couple of weeks.
The company is offering the service to its employees at Rs 1,000, along with a monthly subscription package of Rs 325, which would entitle them to watch the channels being aired and also provide them with Rs 100 worth of Pay Per View (PPV) movies.
Big TV will be offering MPEG4 technology for the first time in the country and has the capacity of up to 250 TV channels, which it claims is much more than any current DTH operator. Subscribers will have access to 32 PPV channels, which will showcase Bollywood, Hollywood and regional films.
Big TV has priced it quite aggressively with Rs.1000 as the entry point that is nearly two times lower than its competitor Dish TV and SkyTV.
Globally, satellite-based direct-to-home (DTH) services have grown drastically over last few years and in some cases even beating the traditional cable connections. I see the same happening in India.
Along with these 3 operators, India is also going to see 2 more providers come in this arena.
The more the merrier!
I have not yet opted for satellite based services, if any of the readers have it in their homes- what is your experience?