TV viewers fed up with bad signal reception are set to get more choice, with Anil Ambani group company Reliance Communication on Sunday announcing the road map for launching competitively priced Direct-To-Home (DTH) services across 4,000 towns in the next few weeks.
The company has already completed trial runs across 2,400 towns and the service, under the brand name, Big TV DTH. The service is currently available for customers of other DTH operators for just Rs 1,000, compared to nearly Rs 4,000 being charged by existing DTH operators.At monthly price of Rs 325
The company claims that as of April this year, it had a subscriber base of 40,000.
Reliance, however, is offering the service at a monthly price of Rs 325, which includes Rs 100 worth free "pay per view" content, and is hoping to make a dent in the customer base of existing operators with aggressive pricing strategies.
Asked about the commercial launch of services, a company spokesperson declined to comment and give any specific date for starting Big TV DTH, but said: "The DTH offering under the Big TV brand would be launched during the course of coming few weeks."Latest MPEG4 technology
Company sources said that Reliance is deploying the state-of-the-art MPEG4 technology compared to MPEG2 technology used by Tata Sky, Dish TV and DD Direct. This would enable Big TV to offer over 240 channels versus the 160 channels that can be offered on MPEG2 Platform.
In a scenario where a broadcaster has to offer equal terms to all DTH operators, Reliance's capability of carrying 33 per cent more channels would lend it a strategic edge.
While at the entry level, the company is likely to come out with aggressive pricing strategies, the monthly charges are likely to remain at similar levels but the company aims to provide better services and offerings at the same price charged by competitors.Multi-bouquet offering
RCOM also plans to offer a comprehensive multi-bouquet offering as well as channels on a-la-carte basis. Prior to September 2007, DTH operators had to carry all the TV channels from the channel bouquets to get access to any one channel in the bouquet.
However, after the Reference Interconnection Order (RIO) regulation, broadcasters have been asked to offer the choice of six sub-bouquets and all channels on an al-a-carte basis similar to that for cable operators.
While no DTH operator has been offering channels on an a-la-carte basis, RCOM's Big TV is likely to start the trend shortly.
Currently Tata Sky offers services in 1,700 towns, whereas Dish TV is present in 2,200 towns. The subscriber base of Tata Sky stands close to 2 million and that of Dish TV around three million.
Besides Reliance, Bharti Airtel and Sab TV are also likely to start their DTH operations across the country soon.