Big TV to Increase Number of Channels

Citing fierce competition, Reliance Big TV, which offers more channels than any other DTH operator at present, is planning on increasing its bouquet of channels from 200 to 400 soon.

Currently, other DTH operators are offering about 175 channels to their subscribers, and with one more player, Bharti Airtel launching its services this month, DTH market is certainly gaining momentum.

Anil Ambani, chairman, Reliance ADAG, said the company will also offer IPTV services in major cities. Reliance has entered into an exclusive technology tie up with Microsoft for this purpose.

Ambani also explained the changing scenario in India, which is touted to be the largest and fastest growing markets for pay television in the world. India's viewership is already the second largest in the world at 13 crore.

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The DTH Price Wars have Begun

The increasing amount of DTH providers in the country and with new ones coming in, each one of them is trying to woo a customer data base, what better way to win over a customer by providing a cheap service.

Low price services are the mantra with Dish TV, Big TV and Tata Sky, lets take a look at what value these DTH players are offering you for your money. But are these offers good enough to lure you from your local cable operators lets take a look and see.

A few months ago and the average monthly outgoing was around Rs 280 to 300 that included the cost of the required hardware and a monthly subscription fee. But today the average a customer shells out is lesser by 30 - 40% where you can pay anywhere between Rs 182 - 249, which equals to less than the Rs. 300 you are paying to your cable operator

Tata sky started a Rs.99 entry level subscription that got the largest DTH player in the market Dish TV to offer 125 channels for Rs. 100 in a month, but the cause for these operators to lower their prices is due to the launch of Reliance ADAG's DTH serivce, BIG TV at a price of Rs 100 with 44 free to air channels.

But now Tata Sky is taking it a notch further with its aim to enter a larger section of the Hindi spolen markets with its Rs.99 per month super hit pack. As their chief marketing officer puts it, "Tata Sky stands for a premium DTH service. Perhaps, because of this impression, a number of potential subscribers were finding us a little expensive. Now the Rs 99 super hit pack will help us get these very subscribers."

So if you want to go DTH, Dish TV's DTH connection will cost Rs 2,190 one time an average of Rs 182 per month and receive 12 months of subscription of 125 channels that include entertainment channels, movie channels, sports channels and others. A Tata Sky connection, a consumer needs to pay Rs 2,999 an average of Rs 249 and for 12 months, for 53 channels including pay channels like Star Plus, Sony TV and active services.

Big TV is also offering entry-level subscriptions at Rs 2,490 that includes various channel packages, to get a clearer understanding between these competitors take a look at a comparison of Tata Sky, Dish TV and Big TV.

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Big TV Launches With Offer of Rs 2490

The wait is finally over. Big TV was officially launched today, thereby putting all the speculations to rest. Big TV is priced between Rs 2490 to Rs 4990 (including installation charges), depending on the scheme selected by the customer. The service will be available in over 100,000 outlets across 6,500 towns in the country, including over 2,000 exclusive Reliance branded stores.

With its impending foray, Reliance ADAG intends to become a leading player in the DTH segment within a year, and capture 40% of the market share. It will offer a bouquet of more than 200 channels, and increase it to 330-350 over a period of time. The launch offer comes with 3 months free unlimited access to BIG Cinema, comprising 20 Movie channels and 120 Movies.

Big TV Launch offers:
Here is a comparison between the existing players - Tata Sky and Dish TV - and the newly launched Big TV. Some of the features, not provided by other DTH providers, includes subscription video-on-demand on 50 channels, adaptability to any TV set, more than 20 exclusive movie channels that will cover Bollywood, Hollywood and regional movies to name a few.

The company has also set up a call centre, which is capable of handling over 50,000 calls per day, and would operate from two locations to enable speedy response to consumer queries. Prior to the launch, Big TV was was being tested by employees of other Reliance ADAG companies. Some of them complained that the STB, sourced from vendors in Korea and Taiwan, gave problems within a week. More on Big TV customer service tomorrow.

Currently, around 7 million households subscribe to DTH service, but the DTH market is estimated to touch 25 million by 2010 with the rural market expected to grow faster than the urban area.

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DTH Market Zooming Ahead in India

There have been a lot of recent developments in the DTH segment in India. TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) supported the Government’s decision to reduce the licence fee for DTH operators from 10 per cent to 6 per cent of gross revenues.

The current and future DTH operators such as Tata Sky, Reliance Big TV, Dish TV etc. welcomed the move, stating that this will help them lessen their losses due to a highly competitive market. Although the operators choose not to pass on any of these benefits to the consumers.

Apart from reduction in the license fee, TRAI has recommended a hike in foreign direct investment (FDI) from 49% to 74% which will help operators to raise capital for equipment and infrastructure.

TRAI also stated that the rates of bouquets and a la carte (standalone) pay channels, on any DTH platform, should not exceed 50% of the rates charged in the non-CAS or non-addressable TV homes.

Resources:

A larger bouquet for DTH subscribers

TRAI supports reduction in licence fee on DTH

Trai for 74% FDI cap in key broadcast services

TRAI for raising I&B foreign fund cap

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