Category: DTH

Freedish to upgrade on 30 Sept; seek out STB makers shortly

NEW DELHI: The country’s only free-to-air direct-to-home platform, Doordarshan’s Freedish will not be available for five hours on 30 September 2016 ‘due to technical maintenance.’

The platform, which is slated to carry out its 31st e-auction on 5 October 2016, is understood to be working on increasing its capacity to carry more channels.

A note on the DD website said: All viewers of DD Freedish may please note that from 00.30 Hrs to 05.30 Hrs on 30.09.2016 Doordarshan DTH service DD Freedish Channels will not be available due to technical maintenance.”

Earlier last month, indiantelevision.con had reported that Freedish is increasing its capacity to carry around 104 channels within the next few months.

A senior Doordarshan official had told indiantelevision.com that the process of switching over from MPEG2 to MPEG4 had been completed and was being tested. This had already taken the headend capacity to 112.

Freedish at present carries 80 television channels including its own, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha TV, and private channels, apart from 32 channels of All-India Radio.

The official said the platform had been encrypted by adopting the Indian Conditional Access System (iCAS) developed by Design India Pvt. Ltd. of Bangalore. But, he clarified that the platform would remain free-to-air and the aim of iCAS was only to keep track of the number of households that were using Freedish and keep a check on quality of set top boxes.

(It is also learnt that Doordarshan is expected to issue an Expression of Notice within a month for manufacture of compatible STBs for Freedish.)

Also read: Auctions on 5 Oct for Freedish licence renewal

Also Read: Free Dish capacity to go up from 80 to 104 TV channels before year-end

September 27, 2016
Big B jingalalas on Tata Sky

MUMBAI: After a successful run of 10 years in India, Tata Sky has rolled out its latest Family Jingalala campaign with its brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. Rolling out on 24 September, the campaign features Big B in seven unique avatars. Conceptualized by Ogilvy and Mather and directed by Shoojit Sircar, the campaign intends to highlight Tata Sky’s two key elements — quality content and entertainment for all.

The DTH player has also unveiled its new brand logo as it has tries to reach out to more subscribers outside metros.

Produced by Rising Sun with Sukesh Kumar Nayak as the executive creative director, the campaign is the story of a regular family where each member has vastly different entertainment and content needs. Bachchan explains how these can be met through Tata Sky, highlighting the expansive breadth of the brand’s offerings and its significance in a family’s everyday life.

The campaign sees Bachchan playing the role of a showman in an unconventional bohemian look, (himself) singing the story of a regular family. He reveals how all their needs can be met by subscribing to Tata Sky.

With 85 per cent viewing from outside big towns and 90 per cent consuming general entertainment, the DTH player plans to attract both, urban and rural, markets with this campaign. “We will continue to take our business a notch higher and will continue to focus on the rural markets. Now is the right time for us. With the campaign, we are targeting cable, FTA as well as first time TV users.

“Amitabh Bachchan is our common thread. He has a mass appeal from anyone in the metro to a home which does not have a TV or has not become a subscriber yet. There could have been nobody better than Bachchan to bring this vision to life,” said Tata Sky chief communications officer Malay Dikshit.

Each puppet was worked upon extensively by a specialized team from the Czech Republic to make him or her look like Bachchan.

“There is no other entertainer like Bachchan. And when there are seven of them in never-seen-before roles, telling you a very entertaining story, then it is very tough to miss the point that nothing entertains better than Tata Sky,” added Nayak.

“People want good entertainment in their house. TV forms the most important source of entertainment for the entire family. But, they have got used to the stale and inferior entertainment on offer just because it is cheap or free. The idea is to show what a wide world of entertainment and good quality service awaits them if they subscribe to Tata Sky. O&M presented us with a heart-warming story of a family of seven puppets, each in love with their TV shows,” added Dikshit.

The campaign will also be dubbed in five languages — Marathi, Bengali, Kannada, Telugu and Tamil — by 4 October. It will be
extensively promoted on FTA channels followed by pay-TV channels. The TV campaign will be supported by an integrated marketing campaign including sketches on bus-backs, wall paintings, vernacular print, OOH and cinema halls

September 24, 2016
Big B jingalalas on Tata Sky

MUMBAI: After a successful run of 10 years in India, Tata Sky has rolled out its latest Family Jingalala campaign with its brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. Rolling out on 24 September, the campaign features Big B in seven unique avatars. Conceptualized by Ogilvy and Mather and directed by Shoojit Sircar, the campaign intends to highlight Tata Sky’s two key elements — quality content and entertainment for all.

The DTH player has also unveiled its new brand logo as it has tries to reach out to more subscribers outside metros.

Produced by Rising Sun with Sukesh Kumar Nayak as the executive creative director, the campaign is the story of a regular family where each member has vastly different entertainment and content needs. Bachchan explains how these can be met through Tata Sky, highlighting the expansive breadth of the brand’s offerings and its significance in a family’s everyday life.

The campaign sees Bachchan playing the role of a showman in an unconventional bohemian look, (himself) singing the story of a regular family. He reveals how all their needs can be met by subscribing to Tata Sky.

With 85 per cent viewing from outside big towns and 90 per cent consuming general entertainment, the DTH player plans to attract both, urban and rural, markets with this campaign. “We will continue to take our business a notch higher and will continue to focus on the rural markets. Now is the right time for us. With the campaign, we are targeting cable, FTA as well as first time TV users.

“Amitabh Bachchan is our common thread. He has a mass appeal from anyone in the metro to a home which does not have a TV or has not become a subscriber yet. There could have been nobody better than Bachchan to bring this vision to life,” said Tata Sky chief communications officer Malay Dikshit.

Each puppet was worked upon extensively by a specialized team from the Czech Republic to make him or her look like Bachchan.

“There is no other entertainer like Bachchan. And when there are seven of them in never-seen-before roles, telling you a very entertaining story, then it is very tough to miss the point that nothing entertains better than Tata Sky,” added Nayak.

“People want good entertainment in their house. TV forms the most important source of entertainment for the entire family. But, they have got used to the stale and inferior entertainment on offer just because it is cheap or free. The idea is to show what a wide world of entertainment and good quality service awaits them if they subscribe to Tata Sky. O&M presented us with a heart-warming story of a family of seven puppets, each in love with their TV shows,” added Dikshit.

The campaign will also be dubbed in five languages — Marathi, Bengali, Kannada, Telugu and Tamil — by 4 October. It will be
extensively promoted on FTA channels followed by pay-TV channels. The TV campaign will be supported by an integrated marketing campaign including sketches on bus-backs, wall paintings, vernacular print, OOH and cinema halls

September 24, 2016
Tata Sky unveils new logo

MUMBAI: Look now, it’s changed. In its tenth year, Tata Sky has adorned a new logo. For years, consumers were used to the swish of the dish in between the Tata and Sky. Now, the swish has gone and the Sky in the logo is exactly like that of the DTH operator’s UK partner, Sky TV. The lettering and the font have gone onto being 3D while the Tata in the unit has continued to stay flat.

Both Tata Sky and Sky have earned immaculate respect as top notch DTH providers in their respective countries. “In fact, adding the UK Sky logo in Tata Sky is an indicator of the fact that the two companies are working very closely with each other,” says an industry observer.

Industry sources indicate that Tata Sky CEO Harit Nagpal and team have constantly been picking up best practices from other Sky ventures globally and incorporating them in the their firm’s culture.

Speaking at a conference in China recently Nagpal said that a customer subscribing to Tata Sky is doing so to watch television and not to speak with the company. “Hence, he should not need to contact us,” said Nagpal.

He went to add that customercentricity in Tata Sky is driven by “fear and paranoia and it comes right from the top and it is led by him, the CEO.”

He also quipped, “In the end, we are not here to sell. We just help people buy.”

The new logo should go some way in helping it achieve that objective.

September 23, 2016
Tata Sky unveils new logo

MUMBAI: Look now, it’s changed. In its tenth year, Tata Sky has adorned a new logo. For years, consumers were used to the swish of the dish in between the Tata and Sky. Now, the swish has gone and the Sky in the logo is exactly like that of the DTH operator’s UK partner, Sky TV. The lettering and the font have gone onto being 3D while the Tata in the unit has continued to stay flat.

Both Tata Sky and Sky have earned immaculate respect as top notch DTH providers in their respective countries. “In fact, adding the UK Sky logo in Tata Sky is an indicator of the fact that the two companies are working very closely with each other,” says an industry observer.

Industry sources indicate that Tata Sky CEO Harit Nagpal and team have constantly been picking up best practices from other Sky ventures globally and incorporating them in the their firm’s culture.

Speaking at a conference in China recently Nagpal said that a customer subscribing to Tata Sky is doing so to watch television and not to speak with the company. “Hence, he should not need to contact us,” said Nagpal.

He went to add that customercentricity in Tata Sky is driven by “fear and paranoia and it comes right from the top and it is led by him, the CEO.”

He also quipped, “In the end, we are not here to sell. We just help people buy.”

The new logo should go some way in helping it achieve that objective.

September 23, 2016
Auctions on 5 Oct for Freedish licence renewal

NEW DELHI: The conuntry’s only free-to-air direct-to-home platform Doordarshan Freedish is holding its 31st auction on 5 October. Despite having touched a bid amount of Rs 5.2 crore in the last auction on 15 September, the new auction will have the same reserve price of Rs 4.3 crore.

A DD announcement stated that the auction is for ‘vacant DTH slot’ without indicating the number of slots, though indications are that there may be more than one vacant slot.

The slots have fallen or are falling vacant as the license period of one or more of the 80 TV channels on the platform is expiring. The announcement was clear that those channels who are already on the platform but whose licences are expiring by 31 December 2016 can participate. Others whose licenses will expire on or after 1 January 2017 are not permitted to participate.

Sources told indiantelevision.com that Freedish is being encrypted through Indian Conditional Addressable System (iCAS) to keep a tab on the number of subscribers, but it would remain free-to-air.

The e-auction will be conducted by M/s. C1 India Pvt. Ltd., Noida, which also conducted the first stage of the FM Radio Phase III auctions on behalf of Prasar Bharati.

The participation amount (EMD) in the e-auction is Rs.1.5 crore which will be deposited in advance before or by 12 noon on 5 October along with processing fee of Rs.10,000 (non-refundable) in favour of PB (BCI) Doordarshan Commercial Service, New Delhi.

September 20, 2016
Auctions on 5 Oct for Freedish licence renewal

NEW DELHI: The conuntry’s only free-to-air direct-to-home platform Doordarshan Freedish is holding its 31st auction on 5 October. Despite having touched a bid amount of Rs 5.2 crore in the last auction on 15 September, the new auction will have the same reserve price of Rs 4.3 crore.

A DD announcement stated that the auction is for ‘vacant DTH slot’ without indicating the number of slots, though indications are that there may be more than one vacant slot.

The slots have fallen or are falling vacant as the license period of one or more of the 80 TV channels on the platform is expiring. The announcement was clear that those channels who are already on the platform but whose licences are expiring by 31 December 2016 can participate. Others whose licenses will expire on or after 1 January 2017 are not permitted to participate.

Sources told indiantelevision.com that Freedish is being encrypted through Indian Conditional Addressable System (iCAS) to keep a tab on the number of subscribers, but it would remain free-to-air.

The e-auction will be conducted by M/s. C1 India Pvt. Ltd., Noida, which also conducted the first stage of the FM Radio Phase III auctions on behalf of Prasar Bharati.

The participation amount (EMD) in the e-auction is Rs.1.5 crore which will be deposited in advance before or by 12 noon on 5 October along with processing fee of Rs.10,000 (non-refundable) in favour of PB (BCI) Doordarshan Commercial Service, New Delhi.

September 20, 2016
Reliance ADA group to hive off DTH operations

MUMBAI: The Anil Ambani-owned DTH service Reliance Digital TV which claims to have a five million net subscriber base and an estimated two million active connections is likely to be hived off in to a separate company. For the past three or four years, Reliance Communications, the parent company has been seeking a buyer for the venture. It had spoken to Sun TV in the past but the valuations and expectations did not match what the former was willing to pay for Reliance Digital TV. Unconfirmed reports say that the company had inconclusive conversations with other potential partners too. Hence, it has decided to go for a spin off of its DTH service business which has been relatively stagnant.

Reliance Communications, the parent company of Reliance Digital, is being driven to do this to pare its debt-EBIDTA ratio. Speaking to investors yesterday RCOM CEO (consumer business) Gurdeep Singh said that the idea was to bring that number from 4.64 currently to about three in 18-24 months. Other assets that could be seeking buyers include equity stakes in its international operations at Reliance Globalcom, and in its tower unit Reliance Infratel.

“We are looking to bring down our debt-to-EBIDTA ratio to around 3 within 18-24 months and are looking at monetizing our non-core assets to deleverage the balance sheet,” Reliance Communications (RCom) CEO (Consumer Business) Gurdeep Singh informed PTI. He added: “For this, we are looking at hiving off the DTH business, stake sale in our international operations at Reliance Globalcom, monetization of our real estate assets, as well as a possible divestment in Reliance Infratel, which handles our towers portfolio.”

The group earlier this week announced the merger of its wireless business with another telco Aircel. It is also looking to raise $1 billion (approximately Rs 6,686.5 crore) in equity to expand the venture and make possible payments to the government for mobile spectrum use.

September 17, 2016
Reliance ADA group to hive off DTH operations

MUMBAI: The Anil Ambani-owned DTH service Reliance Digital TV which claims to have a five million net subscriber base and an estimated two million active connections is likely to be hived off in to a separate company. For the past three or four years, Reliance Communications, the parent company has been seeking a buyer for the venture. It had spoken to Sun TV in the past but the valuations and expectations did not match what the former was willing to pay for Reliance Digital TV. Unconfirmed reports say that the company had inconclusive conversations with other potential partners too. Hence, it has decided to go for a spin off of its DTH service business which has been relatively stagnant.

Reliance Communications, the parent company of Reliance Digital, is being driven to do this to pare its debt-EBIDTA ratio. Speaking to investors yesterday RCOM CEO (consumer business) Gurdeep Singh said that the idea was to bring that number from 4.64 currently to about three in 18-24 months. Other assets that could be seeking buyers include equity stakes in its international operations at Reliance Globalcom, and in its tower unit Reliance Infratel.

“We are looking to bring down our debt-to-EBIDTA ratio to around 3 within 18-24 months and are looking at monetizing our non-core assets to deleverage the balance sheet,” Reliance Communications (RCom) CEO (Consumer Business) Gurdeep Singh informed PTI. He added: “For this, we are looking at hiving off the DTH business, stake sale in our international operations at Reliance Globalcom, monetization of our real estate assets, as well as a possible divestment in Reliance Infratel, which handles our towers portfolio.”

The group earlier this week announced the merger of its wireless business with another telco Aircel. It is also looking to raise $1 billion (approximately Rs 6,686.5 crore) in equity to expand the venture and make possible payments to the government for mobile spectrum use.

September 17, 2016
DishTV adds 32 educational channels to its bouquet

MUMBAI: Providing better quality entertainment to its subscribers and offering value for their money is DishTV. The DTH brand has taken its total count to more than 585 channels and services. It has reportedly added 32 new educational channels launched by the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

The content of the 32 channels is unique in order to provide maximum information through the visual medium. The educational channels are available from channel number 2001 to 2032 on DishTV and Zing.

DishTV CEO Arun Kumar Kapoor said, “We support the Government’s initiative of driving education through TV sets, and are delighted that these educational channels from the Ministry of Human Resource Development are available to all DishTV subscribers. We feel proud and contented at the same time as we are reaching a new milestone of having more than 585 channels and services on our platform.”

With the focus on using space technology to expand reach, these channels will offer high quality educational content to all subscribers designed by central universities such as Jamia Millia Islamia, Punjabi University, IGNOU, Kashmir University and other leading educational institutions.

The service will also offer telecast of live classroom lectures from top-notch institutions including the prestigious IITs.

September 13, 2016