Big TV DTH subscriber base is expanding fast

While everyone is worried about negative impact of slowdown and talking of scaling down, Big TV Direct to home service is reaching new peaks. Our DTH service has already touched the 500,000 subscribers mark in a span of mere 50 days since inception. This indeed is a proud moment for us!

But this is just the beginning, we believe, as we are targeting a user base of at least 5 million within a year’s time. We have lined up many ambitious growth plans.

Big TV expects to offer 15-20 HD channels by the middle of next year. As part of an aggressive marketing strategy, we also had been offering DTH service at just Rs.700 (instead of Rs.1490). For this special offer, we entered into a tie-up with LG for those buying a 29-inch TV set.

We are also fully-geared to add over 400,000 subscribers every month with an on-ground infrastructure spanning 6500 Indian towns. DTH subscriber base in India has almost doubled between March 2008 and October 2008. The number of connections swelled to 8 million during this period.

Reliance Big TV DTH, Big Impact

Since its advent Big TV has been offering a plethora of services best designed for its customers. The Reliance venture is even known to be offering some of the finest offers on its services. Surprisingly their features match international standards. With the MPEG-4 technology you, as a subscriber, are assured of pristine picture quality and it even offers a viewing experience across varied genres – entertainment, news, movies, sports, kids, music channels and more. The best part is that you can view all the channels at a glance as BIG TV comes with an interactive mosaic window that displays 12 Live TV channels from one category per screen. Plus you have the freedom to watch movies the way you want to. You can even watch movies on Pay-Per-View as well as Monthly Subscription basis. In fact they have designed their subscription plan as per user convenience. The subscription plans you could opt for are:

- 1490 – 3 months subscription free to the top end package.
- 2490 – 6 months subscription free to the top end package.
- 3990 – 9 months free subscription free to the top end package.
- 4990 – 12 months free subscription free to the top end package.

Package prices: Rs 100-175
Regional packages- Rs 30 per package.

The best part of it all is that Big TV will be available across 1 lakh retail outlets in 6,500 towns. Big TV will certainly transform your TV viewing experience, as it did to me.

The 4 famed DTH Services in India

DTH has picked-up in a major way in India. In fact there has been a sudden surge of demand for DTH services. There are few key players in the Indian DTH industry yet it is no lesser than its international counterparts. The 4 main players are Dish TV, Tata Sky, Sun Direct and Reliance Big TV (which is a new entrant). But in terms of selection users are completely confused. So here is a breakdown of all the providers, in details:

Dish TV DTH
Dish TV was one of the first few players to start operations in India. They offer over 180 digital channels straight from the satellite to your home. With brand ambassador Shahrukh Khan the DTH service made a lot of noise (and continues to do so), and is constantly revamping its services to counter the competition. The ironic part is that the Dish TV website is non-functional (talk about technology).

Tata Sky DTH
Incorporated in 2004, Tata Sky is a JV between the TATA Group and STAR. The DTH service is powered by the technology of SKY and assures international quality standards. As a customer you can enjoy over 160 TV channels and services in DVD quality picture and CD quality sound.

Sun Direct DTH
With over 100 TV channels, 23 radio channels Sun Direct boasts of offering digital glory with DVD quality pictures, CD quality sound. They have call centers at your service in 6-language support, 24×7. Sun Direct will be supported by Irdeto’s conditional access solution to manage content and revenues in the satellite broadcasting venture.

Reliance Big TV DTH
Spearheaded by one of India’s most trusted brand Big TV is raising the bar in terms of technology. Big TV is on MPEG-4 thus offering better quality picture and sound. Big TV gives 200 channels compared including 30 movie channels. It even has a personalised top 10 channel list and multichannel previews per screen.

DTH in INDIA

Not too long ago, DTH was a distant dream in India. Today, everyone can enjoy the benefits of this next generation technology. With more and more service providers entering the foray of DTH, the consumer is being spoilt for choice and wooed by all of them; some by price, some by great offers and benefits like the choice of having HD channels.

One cannot even compare the regular cable TV with DTH, as the former pales in comparison with the latter. With excellent features such as digital picture quality and CD quality sound and the offering of many more channels, DTH is a great choice. Although regular cable TV is cheaper and does not require a set top box to run, it is, after all an analog reception, making the reception suffer with the slightest complications.

While the Indian DTH market already has its share of players like Tata Sky and Dish TV, there are plenty of other high rollers entering the scene such as BIG Digital TV (Reliance Communications), Airtel Digital TV and Videocon DTH. While some of the older providers use the MPEG-2 technology, the newer ones offer the latest MPEG-4.

All the talk of better reception, more channels and such is all great, but there are a few disadvantages that DTH subscribers may face in the near future. For one, a lot of the so-called ‘free channels’ may not remain that way once DTH gains popularity. One may end up paying a lot more than originally planned, making it quite an expensive affair. Also, getting maintenance work could prove to be a tad difficult, as getting in touch with the DTH operators can be a troublesome affair.

So what will the Indian consumer choose? While the expectations for DTH are enormous, they will just have to wait and see if it really is worth it.

Basic DTH information

DTH stands for direct to home and it is the next generation satellite TV service bypassing the cable operator and comes to your home directly via satellite. It offers a far superior connection as opposed to what your local cable guy will give you, delivering top-notch digital picture and CD quality sound.

Although this technology was originally developed to reach remote areas without access to proper cable TV, it has greatly broadened the horizons of television broadcasting and gives viewers the opportunity to watch the best picture quality and hear the best sound at an affordable price.

To be able to access this service though, you would need to install a set top box, which is a kind of receiver. This is available through retailers and is a one-time-only expense. This device basically allows your TV set to act as a kind of decoder for the digital information being transmitted to it.

The following are the components for DTH:

1. Ku Band Antenna

2. LNBF

3. Coaxial cable (LNBF to Receiver)

4. Digital satellite Receiver

With DTH, you will not only get top class picture and sound quality, but also a host of other channels that you cable operator will not be able to provide you with. There are also talks of some service providers being able to provide HD channels.

Overall, this is a great service and will change the way you watch TV once and for all, leaving you fully satisfied.