Delhi Govt. Will Offer HD Channels Without Dish Antenna; Airtel Digital Will Refund Money

NDMC or New Delhi Municipal Corporation will become the first Govt. entity to provide full HD channels to users. New technology will be used, wherein the users won’t be required to install a dish antenna to access the service.

Meanwhile, clearing some doubt on the long term plans, Airtel has confirmed that they will issue refunds to all users.

Keep reading to find out more!

NDMC Will Provide HD Channels To All

New Delhi Municipal Corporation, which is headed by a  Joint Secretary to Government of India, and covers New Delhi urban area, has announced that they will now offer full HD channels to users, in some areas.

This new Cable TV service from NDMC will be powered by a new technology called headend-in-the-sky (HITS) and in partnership with Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited and telecom company Oneott Intertainment.

As the transmission will be via underground optical fiber, the users will not be asked to install any dish antenna, which is the standard procedure for DHT firms. This will result in lower cost, and very high quality transmission of channels.

As per NDMC CMD Pravin Kumar Purwar, the cost of accessing channels from NDMC will be quite ‘reasonable’.

He said, “We can’t offer rates below those decided by the Telecom Authority of India (TRAI) for implementation from February 1, but we assure users they will be marginally over that,”

A common connection will ensure high speed Internet, and full HD channels, via same optical fiber.

Explaining the technicalities, Sunil Kumar, director (HR&EB), MTNL, said, “In simple words, the content provider collects the differing frequencies of all satellite channels at one station via dish antennae. It then transmits them back to its own satellite collectively. From here, the signal is sent to local service providers via antennas and then to homes through underground optic fibre.”

The service is expected to start from Connaught Place area in New Delhi, which is considered as one of the most expensive commercial locations in the world.

Airtel Will Refund Money

Meanwhile, clearing the confusion over long term plans, Airtel Digital has assured that the money will be refunded back to the customers, into their Airtel Digital account.

Earlier, TRAI had said that if any user has any long term plan, then they can continue using it, till it ends, and then choose new packs under the new Cable TV Rules.

Airtel updated their FAQ section, with this message:

Hence, in case you had opted for Rs 2000 annual plan for a year under the old Cable TV system.

But now, you have opted for Rs 200 monthly plan.

Hence, the full amount of Rs 2000 will be now refunded back to the account, and next month onwards, Rs 200 will be deducted from this refund money.

This will help Airtel users to choose better plans, and to make the transition easier.

TRAI has already informed that the deadline for choosing new Cable TV plans has now been extended to March 31st.

We will keep you updated as more details come in.