Thread: Direct-to-home war intensifies with ADAG's BIG TV

Action in the direct-to-home (DTH) space is set to hot up this monsoon, with the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) gearing up to make a big splash. While Reliance (RCom) has placed an order for 5-million set-top boxes (STBs), existing players like Zee’s Dish TV and Tata Sky too are going on a marketing overdrive. Dish TV is talking to carmakers to sell its DTH services in the high-end models like SUVs, and has finalised Dilip Chhabria to be its distributor, while Tata Sky is learnt to be working on adding more interactive to its service.

DTH players are also planning to offer more channels in their DTH bouquets. RCom plans to offer over 250 TV channels, with 30 exclusive movie-on-demand channels on the BIG TV platform within a month of its commercial launch, including pay per view channels. On the other hand, Dish TV plans to increase the number of channels to 200 by month-end and 400 by mid-2009, up from 175 currently. Of the 5-6 million DTH users in the country, has over 3.3-million subscribers, Tata Sky has over 2.5-million DTH subscribers. Currently, out of 120-million TV households in India, 70 million have cable connection. By 2015, 40% of the pay TV universe (cable TV and DTH) are likely to comprise DTH users, significantly up from around 5% now, according to industry projections.
When contacted by ET, a Big spokesperson said: “Reliance Communications is in advanced stage of launching Big TV DTH services. Like other ADAG offerings, customers using Big TV DTH services will be able to avail of better service quality, enhanced features and wider offerings at prevailing price points.” RCom did not elaborate on its pricing strategy, but said it was working closely with contract manufacturers to keep costs low. The company has set up a redundant site for uplinking in Bangalore. According to sources, RCom has placed orders with vendors such as Hyundai, UEC, Thomson, Hunmax, Homecast, Koship and Kaon Media. The STB suppliers from Korea, China, Taiwan are scheduled to deliver the boxes between July and December this year, sources added. The company is learnt to be investing Rs 2,050 crore in its DTH service.

In order to combat the competition, existing DTH players are trying to increase their customer base with competitive prices models and are focusing on unique tie-ups. “We believe there is enough room for new players to find new subscribers rather than eating into others’ share. We already offer the best to consumers at a reasonable price and will continue to maintain a competitive price,” says Dish TV MD Jawahar Goel. The company has tie-ups with Kingfisher Airline and Indian Railways.

Riding high on the interactive application, Tata Sky plans to add a few more applications within the next few months. Tata Sky chief marketing officer Vikram Mehra says: “We do not see a customer churn. But to strengthen our presence we are working on the introduction of few more interactive applications in the next few months. We are also working out few marketing initiatives that will help us educate consumers about DTH services.”

Direct-to-home war intensifies with ADAG's BIG TV- Entertainment-Media / Entertainment -News By Industry-News-The Economic Times

Ha! It will take a long time before I become a Reliance fan. Apart from 'Vimal' fabrics (in the past), I am not sure I bought anything with Reliance name tag.

p/s. I should have bought their shares some years ago; but I didn't and missed the bus.

Originally Posted by just4kix

Ha! It will take a long time before I become a Reliance fan. Apart from 'Vimal' fabrics (in the past), I am not sure I bought anything with Reliance name tag.

p/s. I should have bought their shares some years ago; but I didn't and missed the bus.

Yes, you are right reliance apart from vimal had not come up with a good or credible brand or product which is as good as or with good service at least. I too regret not buying the shares of reliance where i had a chance of but missed it due to various reasons.

Thanks mate for the info on DTH