Reliance Big TV DTH to double channel offering

Reliance Communications Ltd’s Big TV DTH is gearing up to double the bouquet of over 200 channels to 400 channels in the coming months. Launched a month ago, the direct-to-home service launched by the Anil Ambani Group will soon offer 400 channels.

According to sources, the company has ordered for additional capacity on Measat satellite constellation which the company would be receiving shortly. By increasing the satellite transponder capacity from the current 8 to 12, a 50 per cent addition, the company would be able to double the number of channels due to its superior and worlds most advanced Mpeg4 technology platform.

The growth of DTH sector, which was estimated at around 4 lakh new subscriber additions every month, is tipped to have accelerated by over 75 per cent, taking the new subscriber additions to the 7 lakh mark last month. The marketing and advertising spends of the DTH sector are also believed to have increased by close to 70 per cent with companies such as TataSky and Dish TV virtually doubling their month-on-month advertising spends to tackle competition from Big TV.

Big TV DTH is believed to be building on its existing channel genre to enhance the options for its customers as well as in talks with leading niche category broadcasters to enter the Indian market riding on the Big TV DTH platform. A number of niche international channels are believed to be in process of getting approvals to beam their feed in the Indian Big TV households.

Big TV is now available across as many as one lakh retail outlets, for a price starting from Rs 1990. The company, which aims at a 40 per cent share of the market, is said to have placed orders for 5 million DTH set top boxes to cater to the first year of its targets.  The company is targeting to capture market leadership position by end of its first year’s operations, Big TV sources said.