The DTH space is hotting up – Past couple of years have seen many new entrants in this, now-competitive, Direct-to-home market . DTH technology has moved from simple digital signals to Mpeg 4 to High definition now. Consumers can even record live TV. Most DTH providers also offer Games, educational stuff and other value added service to attract customers in their fold.
However, state owned Doordarshan had not been part of this movement till late last year when they launched DD Direct plus. Even though the setup cost of DD Direct plus is cheaper, their TV programming has left lot to be desired and hence has not seen mass adoption since its launch.
However, all that seems to be changing and Doordarshan is set to market DD Direct plus aggressively in the market. Government has, for the first time in many years, pumped in over 81 crores (proposal for which is approved) into DD Direct plus. The funding will see upgraded technology and a comprehensive pan-India distribution strategy.
To compete with 6 private DTH players and double their subscribers, DD Direct plus has decided to offer set-top boxes and antennas completely free of cost. Apart from free distribution strategy, DD Direct plus will also increase its channel offerings to 97 by December and in the next 12 months, to 200.
Infact, DD Direct plus is confident of offering many pay channels as well completely free of cost, as these pay channels will be tempted to come under its fold, thanks to its wide reach, which in turn may give them good advertising revenue.
DD Direct plus will also see technology upgrade – A move to the latest video compression technology—MPEG 4, DVB S-2—used by most private DTH operators currently.
This surely is a great development for State owned DD as well as consumers – However, one needs to see whether all these proposed plans actually get implemented or not !
What is your take?