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Entry of Tata Sky, Dish TV receivers banned at
Dubai airport
15 March 2007: Entry of Dish TV receivers
and Tata Sky receivers has been banned at Dubai
airport.
Till last week, thousands of non-resident-Indians
(NRIs) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) used to
bring in Dish TV or TATA Sky receivers and walked
freely through Dubai airport without any problems.
The Indian Direct-to-Home system (DTH) offers over
100 Indian satellite TV channels which can be
viewed by paying just Rs 300 a month. This has
made viewing of over 100 channels very cheap as
compared to the rates of UAE’s official channel
distributors, e-phela and e-vision.
Several subscribers to e-pehela and e-vision have
unsubscribed or de-graded their subscription after
the successful installation of Dish TVs in their
homes.
The Dish TV cost less than Rs 3,000 and thereafter
Rs 300 every month, which saves about 30 % to 80%
of the fees payable to e-vision and e-pehela in
the UAE.
Moreover, several additional channels like Zee
Kannada, ETV, Sony Set Max, Aaj Tak, and IBN-CNN
can be watched without additional payment.
Said an Indian who landed through in Dubai the
other day: “I think e-vision must have complained
to the authorities to stop carrying Dish TV
receivers to the UAE. I bought one to watch the
World Cup Cricket coverage as our building has
still no e-vision connections. At the scanner
machine in the airport, my receiver was
confiscated. Several other passengers were also
stopped at the scanner machine for carrying the
equipment.”
Another passenger, a woman, said: “Many people
were bringing the Dish TV systems successfully
without any problem and so we too brought one. But
we are not lucky enough to carry away our Tata Sky
receiver. I think we have to upgrade our e-vision
subscription to watch the World Cup Cricket on Fox
Sports.
Detaining receivers at the Dubai airport is the
only way to stop Dish TV service in the UAE, as it
may not be possible to block the transmission of
channels to these receivers. Those who have
already installed the receivers may find
themselves lucky, but authorities say that,
viewing TV channels through unauthorised Dish TV
or Tata Sky is illegal.
It is said that consumers of Dish TV and Tata Sky
have already started taking advantage of loopholes
in the satellite transmission system. Non-resident
Indians in Dubai, who follows the pay TV regime,
are routing their entertainment signals via India.
Tata Sky and Dish TV, the Indian DTH systems, are
being bought in various parts of India and flown
to Dubai and other parts of the United Arab
Emirates where they are being lapped up by NRIs
who were paying close to Rs 1,800 a month.
About 10,000 Indians residing in the Persian Gulf
nations have subscribed to either the Tata Sky or
Dish TV service in India, and have installed it in
their homes in Dubai, getting a cheap deal.
“All you need is a dish on your terrace, which is
already installed in several of these countries
and you just align it in the direction of the
satellite transmitting the signal with the set-top
box (STB) bought and activated in India. You just
have to connect the dish there and you are in
business,” says a Dubai-based resident.
Nearly 10% of the DTH connections sold in India
are being actively viewed in Dubai and other
Middle East countries, say industry sources. “It
makes sense to get the connection from India as it
costs about Rs 300 which is payable in India. In
fact, many of us have subscribed for the
whole-year package to avoid increase in rates
later,” says one resident in Dubai using the Tata
Sky service.
Vikram Kaushik, CEO of Tata Sky, says: “Piracy is
taking place across the region in all our
neighbouring countries. However, the moment we
notice that the boxes are not in the location they
are meant to be, we disconnect them. In fact, we
have been approached by distributors from the
neighbouring countries to provide the Tata Sky
service, but since the laws do not allow it, we
have abstained from doing so.”
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