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Big TV Tie-ups

Next Big TV PostDigital TV to Showcase Big Magic Entertainment Channel

In a bid to expand its presence in the Hindi-speaking belt of the country - UP, MP, Bihar and Jharkhand - Reliance Digital TV has formed an alliance with the entertainment channel, Big Magic, part of the Reliance Broadcast Network. The new channel will replace Imagine TV, channel No 213, on Reliance Digital TV - thereby increasing its reach to an additional 4.5 mn digital homes.

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Next Big TV PostReliance Digital TV & BIG RTL Crack Distribution Deal

In a first of its kind tie-up for the company, Reliance Digital TV announced their association with BIG RTL, the joint venture between Reliance Broadcast Network and the RTL Group, as the distributors of Big RTL's latest offerings - a reality channel and an action entertainment channel.

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Next Big TV PostDigital TV to Sell 49% Stake to Foreign Investors

Following the imminent hike in foreign direct investment (FDI) cap in DTH to 74 per cent, Reliance Digital TV (formerly known as Big TV) is looking to forge an oversees alliance by selling up to 49 per cent stake in its DTH venture.

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Next Big TV PostReliance Digital TV Looking to Partner with Indian Railways

No longer will Reliance Digital TV be only part of your house, soon you may find Big Tv embedded in your train seat or in your SUV. Reliance Digital TV has capability to provide services in cars, buses and trains. The company is keen to evaluate all tenders in this regard, including that of the Indian Railways.

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Next Big TV PostDigital TV to offer Star India's Asli HD Channels

Reliance Digital TV (formerly known as Big TV) has tied up with Star India to show its bouquet of 5 Asli HD channels like Star Plus, Star Movies HD, Movies Now HD, Nat Geo HD and iConcerts HD. This is an addition to its existing bouquet of 250 channels available in full high-definition quality.

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Next Big TV PostBig TV to Offer Live Music Concerts in High Definition

Reliance Big TV is set to introduce a new live music service at the click of a button on its Subscriber Video on Demand (SVoD) platform.

The DTH operator in association with Transmedia is bringing iConcerts, featuring over 1000 premium concerts and live performances from variety of genres in standard and high definition format.

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Next Big TV PostBig TV Offers Free HD DVR with Samsung LED TVs

In its bid to promote the new high-definition digital video recorder (HD DVR), Reliance Big TV has joined hands with Samsung India, to provide this new service free on purchase of Samsung LED TV range.

Customers can also avail of two months of free silver pack subscription along with one HD channel without any installation or activation fee.

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Next Big TV PostBig CBS Networks to Hit India

Reliance Big Tv and Cbs Networks, have joined hands to provide an equally owned joint venture, christened, Big CBS Networks. Big CSB Network is all set to launch a series of English entertainment channels that are customized for the Indian Audience.

The newly formed venture will launch three new English channels.

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Next Big TV PostBig TV Integrated under New Firm, Reliance Digicom

Reliance recently acquired Digicable, the cable television service provider, in an all stock deal, to form a new firm - Reliance Digicom. Big TV, IPTV and Reliance broadband services will be merged with Digicable.

The new entity, claimed to be the world's fifth largest cable television operator, will start with a subscriber base of 11 million homes.

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Next Big TV PostLG TVs Bundled with Free Big TV Connection

Reliance Big TV has inked a deal with LG Electronics to provide customers with Big TV connection bundled with a 1-month free silver pack on purchase of select LG colour televisions.

However, the customers will have to pay Rs 399 as installation charges. This offer is launched across various states and is valid till June 30, 2010.

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Next Big TV PostBig TV Joins Hands with Ezeego1 to Offer Travel Discounts

In its bid to gain visibility, Big TV is targeting newer markets with its aggressive approach. The company tied up with Ezeego1.com to offer its customers discounts on holiday packages, international air tickets and DTH connections.

Big TV subscribers will get an additional 10% discount on domestic and international hotels and holiday packages from Ezeego1.

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Next Big TV PostBig TV, Indiagames Tie-up Launches iGames

Taking a step ahead on the DTH platform, Reliance Big TV has tied up with Indiagames, a subsidiary of UTV, to provide popular games available on PC, web and other gaming platforms to its DTH subscribers.

Most of the games will be provided by Indiagames' partner, Oberon Media, US-based casual games specialist. Branded 'iGames', this interactive gaming series will include Galapago, Solitaire, MOODiES, etc.

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Next Big TV PostBig TV to Monetise its Interactive Services

Reliance Big TV has partnered with NetworkPlay.in, multi-genre brand ad networks, to monetise all their interactive and video channel offerings. Big TV offers 23 pay-per view movie channels and a range of interactive zones like IAstro, IStock, ICooking, and ICare.

According to the company, advertisers will be roped in for video on-demand, electronic program guide (EPG) and interactive offerings of Big TV. Video on demand service will be monetised through TV commercials, similar to a commercial break on TV channels.

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Next Big TV PostBig TV Announces Year End Dhamaka

With the festive season around the corner, Reliance BIG TV has announced the year-end dhamaka for its customers. The scratch and win offer gives an opportunity to subscribers to win gifts like a free Big TV connection and discounts on installation of BIG TV. The offer is valid till December 31st, 2009.

Apart from this a major development that can give a boost to BIG TV's popularity was the strategic marketing alliance with Fox Star Studios for the India release of James Cameron’s Avatar.

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Next Big TV PostBig TV, Oxigen Tie-up for More Recharge Options

In a bid to enhance its customer service experience, Big TV has tied up with Oxigen, the single point recharge services in India, to offer its subscribers an option to recharge from Oxigen outlets across the country.

Subscribers can now make payments through credit cards, debit cards, internet banking, IVR, mobile mode payment (SMS) or by calling the toll free number 1800-200-9002.

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Next Big TV PostBig TV in Talks with Carlyle & Providence for Funds

Further to Big TV's talks to sell stakes to private equity firms, Carlyle Group and Providence Equity have emerged as the front runners to clinch the deal.

According to reports, Deutsche Bank has been authorised to facilitate the deal and Big TV is looking to divest about 20% of which 10% will be sold now for around US$ 50-75 million. A senior official from Reliance said that Big TV needed between Rs 1500 to Rs 2000 crore for its expansion purpose.

Next Big TV PostBig TV to Tie-up with Warner Bros, Fox Channels

Big TV is certainly going global. Reliance is slated to finalise deals with
Fox, Warner Brothers and Korean Broadcasting. This move is in line with Big TV's strategy to increase the number of channels from 200 to 400.

Once the agreement is inked, Big TV will introduce five global channels of Fox and one global channel each of Warner Brothers and Korean Broadcasting. The channels include are Fox Adventure, Fox Crime, Fox FX, Fox History, Nat Geo Music, Warners WB Movies and KBS World.

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Next Big TV PostBig TV to Sell 49% Stake to Private Firms

Following footsteps of other DTH players, Reliance Big TV is planning to divest up to 49% stake to private equity companies and global DTH players. According to a business daily, several private equity companies like the Carlyle Group, Sequoia Capital, KKR and US-based DTH firm Direct TV are in talks with Big TV.

Reliance expects to raise around Rs 8000 crore from this deal, because the DTH market is highly competitive in India and to increase subscriber base one needs to have better and affordable pricing. The deal is expected to close this quarter.

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Next Big TV PostBig TV Launches iNews with CNN-IBN

With the elections round the corner, Big TV has launched interactive election special called iNEWS as part of its interactive services. The iNews feature will allow viewers to access current news and information, short text-based stories, headlines and ticker in a user-friendly interface.

This service is launched in association with news channel CNN-IBN and would be available to all Big TV subscribers. Through iNEWS, the viewers can watch news and navigate through an 8-window PIP mosaic of video feed options.

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Next Big TV PostReliance and Thomson Tie-up for 300 HD Channels

Reliance Big TV has tied up with Thomson, a provider of video solutions, to launch 300 high-definition (HD) and standard definition (SD) channels and 30 radio channels in India.

Big TV will use the complete head end system from Thomson to launch the HD service and manage a hybrid distribution network of satellite direct to home (DTH) and IPTV over broadband. With this, Reliance is expected to optimize its distribution network to launch a large number of channels, ensure excellent quality of service, and reach more viewers.

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Next Big TV PostBig TV in Talks with BBC Entertainment

Big TV is making silent but steady moves in the background to gain not only channel strength but to provide a massive amount of varied content to its users. The essence of a successful DTH launch for Big TV will be to boast a huge amount of channels that will draw a line, dividing itself from the other DTH players in the market.

To boost this effort Big TV chose a higher level of compression that's the Mpeg-4, what this means is, in the same amount of Bandwidth Big TV will be able to provide more channels as compared to the existing DTH players in the market.

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Next Big TV PostBig TV Reaches for the Sky with Jet

Reliance Big TV is now in talks with Jet Airways to offer live feed of channels to its passengers. According to industry sources, Reliance ADAG would be partnering with an Israel-based technology company for the same.

That will replace Jet's current in-flight entertainment system JetScreen, which offers video on demand on its domestic and international flights.

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Next Big TV PostBig Broadcasting Ties up with AsiaSat

Reliance ADAG tied up with AsiaSat to transmit its TV channels via their satellites. AsiaSat 3S is supposedly one of Asia's premium satellite broadcasting companies. Big TV DTH will be using the companies C-brand transponder to deliver its expanding range of channels to its subscribers.

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Pictures of Big TV's Set Top Box and Interface

We got hold of some pictures of the Reliance Big Set Top Box, Remote Control and some sneak previews of the Big TV's interface. Yes we know you are eagerly awaiting the Big TV launch but till then take a look at these pictures.
Reliance Big Tv Set Top Box
Below are the connections at the back of the set top box (STB), I do not know if its of any use to you but since it shows you something more of the STB.
Connections of the Set Top BoxTake a look at the extremely colourful remote control that will attract every child's attention with the colours. Although if you ask me the Big TV logo does not really suit it.
Big TV Remote
In the picture below you can see the Big TV Menu selection, let us take a look at the guide.
Big TV Menu
Here you can see Big TV's channel guide when a channel is selected you get a preview on the top right of what is currently playing and the list of serials or programs that are scheduled for the next couple of hours.
Big TV Channel Guide
If you select a movie channel it shows you the current movie, playing as a preview as well as a couple of details of the movie. Whats very interesting is that it also shows you how much of the movie is over with a movie timeline just under the preview.
Big TV User Interface
The Mosaic feature allows you to preview 12 channels at a time, while Tata Sky DTH allows you to preview four channels at a time.
Big TV Mosaic
You can also check out all of Big TV's Features.

Resources:

Reliance Big TV Screenshots Source
Read more » Pictures of Big TV's Set Top Box and Interface