ITV

Category: DTH

  • Videocon d2h enhances video expereince with Cisco Virtual DCM

    Videocon d2h enhances video expereince with Cisco Virtual DCM

    MUMBAI: Cisco today announced that Videocon d2h India’s leading DTH platform has selected the Cisco Virtual DCM® to provide its subscribers with superior video experiences. The deployment provides Videocon d2h with a flexible infrastructure and simplified operations for advanced video processing functionality taking advantage of virtualization and orchestration from Cisco’s Virtualized Video Processing (V2P) platform. The Virtual DCM provides Videocon d2h the bandwidth efficiencies to deploy new services and meet ever-increasing consumer demands for 4K, multiscreen, OTT and Cloud DVR. The Cisco Visual Networking Index Forecast 2015-2020 predicts that by 2020, 82% of IP traffic by will be video, and 50% of IP video traffic will be HD/UHD, and mobile devices will drive most of the growth, making 43% of IP traffic. With availability of more content for an ever ­­­­­increasing number of video-enabled devices, it is critical to maximize video delivery over available bandwidth and multiple networks.

    Videocon d2h executive director Saurabh Dhoot said, “Our association with V2P platform of Cisco provides us the ability to enhance, extend and enrich video offerings so that today’s consumers receive more immersive and personalized viewing experience. Our focus is on innovating and extending the service offerings like 4K UHD, OTT as per the changing preference thus enriching viewing pleasure.”

    “The time is right to capitalize on the unprecedented opportunities presented by the wave of digitization in the country. When it comes to customer service, digitization empowers us to better understand our customers.” said Videocon d2h CEO Anil Khera. “We are committed to creating the highest-quality consumer experience. 4K content is the future and with this development we are completely geared up and future-ready to embark on the cloud journey. We look forward to working closely with Cisco on the implementation of the solution to provide better consumer experience.” he added

    “Today digital platforms are changing the way people experience television. Cisco’s V2P solutions help our customers meet the ever-changing demands of the video industry. Cisco is providing Videocon d2h with a platform to transform its business in India to develop and deliver dynamic, secure new services with the agility and speed necessary to stay ahead of competition. Our association with Videocon reflects our continued commitment to deliver the right IT platform to enhance their customer service and loyalty” said Cisco India & SAARC service provider business MD Sanjay Kaul.

  • Live feed of Mother Teresa’s canonisation ceremony on Tata Sky’s Active Devotion

    Live feed of Mother Teresa’s canonisation ceremony on Tata Sky’s Active Devotion

    MUMBAI: Tata Sky, India’s leading DTH service provider, will bring Mother Teresa’s canonisation ceremony live to its subscriber’s homes. Subscribers of the interactive service can watch the ceremony on Actve Devotion (Channel No. 1051) live on September 4 th , 2016 from 1.30 pm to 4pm India time.

    Pope Francis will confer sainthood on her at the ceremony at the Vatican on Sunday, which Tata Sky subscribers will be able to watch at home. Mother Teresa was an icon who embodied God’s tender mercy and dedicated her life to carrying out His work on the streets of Kolkata, offering succour and relief to the poor and destitute.

  • Live feed of Mother Teresa’s canonisation ceremony on Tata Sky’s Active Devotion

    Live feed of Mother Teresa’s canonisation ceremony on Tata Sky’s Active Devotion

    MUMBAI: Tata Sky, India’s leading DTH service provider, will bring Mother Teresa’s canonisation ceremony live to its subscriber’s homes. Subscribers of the interactive service can watch the ceremony on Actve Devotion (Channel No. 1051) live on September 4 th , 2016 from 1.30 pm to 4pm India time.

    Pope Francis will confer sainthood on her at the ceremony at the Vatican on Sunday, which Tata Sky subscribers will be able to watch at home. Mother Teresa was an icon who embodied God’s tender mercy and dedicated her life to carrying out His work on the streets of Kolkata, offering succour and relief to the poor and destitute.

  • Free Dish capacity to go up from 80 to 104 TV channels before year-end

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

    NEW DELHI: Free Dish, the country’s only free-to-air direct-to-home television platform, will increase its capacity to carry around 104 channels within the next few months.

    A senior Doordarshan official 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.

    Free Dish at present carries eighty 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 ByDesign 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 Free Dish and keep a check on the 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 Free Dish.)

    Meanwhile, the official said Free Dish was also hopeful of re-launching Gyan Darshan on its platform shortly as the problems that the Indira Gandhi National Open University was facing when DD was forced to take the channel off-air have been ‘virtually sorted out’.

    However, the official said no communication had been received from the Human Resource Development Ministry in this conection so far.

    He denied reports that any channels of the Human Resource Development Ministry were currently under test transmission on Free Dish.

    The official said DD was aware of the announcement by Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Jawadekar that 32 Direct to Home (DTH) Television Channels are to be launched by September for providing high quality educational content to all teachers, students and citizens across the country interested in lifelong learning.

    DD was also aware that the HRD Ministry had acquired two transponders on G-SAT 15, which could possibly be used for this.

    Meanwhile, the official said that all information on Free Dish was available on the ddindia.gov.in website and denied that Free Dish had established any separate website Freedish.in. When his attention was drawn to the website, he said attempts would be made to find out who was running the website which was clearly illegal.

  • Free Dish capacity to go up from 80 to 104 TV channels before year-end

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

    NEW DELHI: Free Dish, the country’s only free-to-air direct-to-home television platform, will increase its capacity to carry around 104 channels within the next few months.

    A senior Doordarshan official 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.

    Free Dish at present carries eighty 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 ByDesign 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 Free Dish and keep a check on the 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 Free Dish.)

    Meanwhile, the official said Free Dish was also hopeful of re-launching Gyan Darshan on its platform shortly as the problems that the Indira Gandhi National Open University was facing when DD was forced to take the channel off-air have been ‘virtually sorted out’.

    However, the official said no communication had been received from the Human Resource Development Ministry in this conection so far.

    He denied reports that any channels of the Human Resource Development Ministry were currently under test transmission on Free Dish.

    The official said DD was aware of the announcement by Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Jawadekar that 32 Direct to Home (DTH) Television Channels are to be launched by September for providing high quality educational content to all teachers, students and citizens across the country interested in lifelong learning.

    DD was also aware that the HRD Ministry had acquired two transponders on G-SAT 15, which could possibly be used for this.

    Meanwhile, the official said that all information on Free Dish was available on the ddindia.gov.in website and denied that Free Dish had established any separate website Freedish.in. When his attention was drawn to the website, he said attempts would be made to find out who was running the website which was clearly illegal.

  • Videocon d2h brings on Zee’s global news channel WION

    Videocon d2h brings on Zee’s global news channel WION

    MUMBAI: Zee Media has launched its new English news channel Wion on 15 August with the aim of going beyond the banal news. Headed by Rohit Gandhi, the channel is accessible via satellite in 37 countries.

    In India, it is available on Dish TV (channel no 605), Reliance Digital TV (channel no 459), Tata Sky (channel no 628) and Airtel Digital TV (channel no 999). The channel position on Airtel Digital TV is temporary.

    Videocon d2h – which has a library of 570 plus channels and services – has now added WION to that list on channel no 367.

    “We have been relentless in our pursuit to gratify our customers with an exceptional viewing experience,” said Videocon d2h executive chairman Saurabh Dhoot. “With this addition, subscribers of Videocon d2h will have one more opportunity to stay informed with the latest headlines and breaking news from the network”

    Videocon d2h CEO Anil Khera added: “Videocon d2h has been extremely aggressive and innovative when it comes to technology upgrades, new content offerings and launching new services all in an effort to keep ahead of current industry trends. Addition of Z Wion is fulfillment of our promise to provide the best channels and content across all genres.”

    It offers a wide range of active services like smart services including Smart English, Smart Games. The other active services include d2h Hollywood HD, d2h music, d2h spice, d2h cinema in both Standard Definition and HD, etc.

    The channel is also available on Siti Cable connections in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Indore and Kolkata whereas DEN Networks is carrying the channel in Mumbai and Kolkata.

  • Videocon d2h brings on Zee’s global news channel WION

    Videocon d2h brings on Zee’s global news channel WION

    MUMBAI: Zee Media has launched its new English news channel Wion on 15 August with the aim of going beyond the banal news. Headed by Rohit Gandhi, the channel is accessible via satellite in 37 countries.

    In India, it is available on Dish TV (channel no 605), Reliance Digital TV (channel no 459), Tata Sky (channel no 628) and Airtel Digital TV (channel no 999). The channel position on Airtel Digital TV is temporary.

    Videocon d2h – which has a library of 570 plus channels and services – has now added WION to that list on channel no 367.

    “We have been relentless in our pursuit to gratify our customers with an exceptional viewing experience,” said Videocon d2h executive chairman Saurabh Dhoot. “With this addition, subscribers of Videocon d2h will have one more opportunity to stay informed with the latest headlines and breaking news from the network”

    Videocon d2h CEO Anil Khera added: “Videocon d2h has been extremely aggressive and innovative when it comes to technology upgrades, new content offerings and launching new services all in an effort to keep ahead of current industry trends. Addition of Z Wion is fulfillment of our promise to provide the best channels and content across all genres.”

    It offers a wide range of active services like smart services including Smart English, Smart Games. The other active services include d2h Hollywood HD, d2h music, d2h spice, d2h cinema in both Standard Definition and HD, etc.

    The channel is also available on Siti Cable connections in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Indore and Kolkata whereas DEN Networks is carrying the channel in Mumbai and Kolkata.

  • CNBCTV18 says Dish TV India-Videocon d2h deal nearing closure

    CNBCTV18 says Dish TV India-Videocon d2h deal nearing closure

    MUMBAI: The two companies reportedly involved have denied that they are in any talks for a merger.

    But the news that they are courting each other keeps resurfacing again and again.

    And it has done once more.

    This time it’s CNBCTV18 which yesterday reported that Dish TV India is in the final stages of acquiring Videocon d2h to create India’s largest direct to home (DTH) television company with a humungous 45 per cent market share.

    The financial news channel, quoting sources, stated that the swap ratio is expected to be 4:5; that Videocon d2h shareholders will get four shares of Dish TV India for every five shares of Videoncon d2h. Quoting sources it further said that the deal is likely to be a cash and share-swap one which will be used by the promoter Dhoot family to pay off the lenders of the debt-laden Videocon group, who have been questioning its ability to service its debt.

    The deal values Videocon d2h at Rs 8,000 crore (more than its current valuation of Rs 6,500 crore), even as Dish TV value is valued at Rs 10,000 crore, reported both CNBCTV18 and moneycontrol.com.

    Again no denial or confirmation of the merger conversation was available to indiantelevision.com at the time of writing.

  • CNBCTV18 says Dish TV India-Videocon d2h deal nearing closure

    CNBCTV18 says Dish TV India-Videocon d2h deal nearing closure

    MUMBAI: The two companies reportedly involved have denied that they are in any talks for a merger.

    But the news that they are courting each other keeps resurfacing again and again.

    And it has done once more.

    This time it’s CNBCTV18 which yesterday reported that Dish TV India is in the final stages of acquiring Videocon d2h to create India’s largest direct to home (DTH) television company with a humungous 45 per cent market share.

    The financial news channel, quoting sources, stated that the swap ratio is expected to be 4:5; that Videocon d2h shareholders will get four shares of Dish TV India for every five shares of Videoncon d2h. Quoting sources it further said that the deal is likely to be a cash and share-swap one which will be used by the promoter Dhoot family to pay off the lenders of the debt-laden Videocon group, who have been questioning its ability to service its debt.

    The deal values Videocon d2h at Rs 8,000 crore (more than its current valuation of Rs 6,500 crore), even as Dish TV value is valued at Rs 10,000 crore, reported both CNBCTV18 and moneycontrol.com.

    Again no denial or confirmation of the merger conversation was available to indiantelevision.com at the time of writing.

  • Eight TV channels win Freedish slots, bid price goes above Rs 5 cr

    Eight TV channels win Freedish slots, bid price goes above Rs 5 cr

    NEW DELHI: Setting a new record of getting for Rs 5.3 crore against the reserve price of Rs 4.3 crore, Doordarshan’s DTH platform Freedish bagged as many as eight new channels in the e-auction held last week.

    The channels that successfully bid for slots are Zee Anmol, Rishtey, Star Utsav, Fight Soirts, B4U Music, APN, Vision TV (Housefull Movies), and India 24×7.

    The reserve price which had been Rs 3.7 crore was raised to its present level for the 25th e-auction in January. indiantelevision.com had learnt that the bid amount went up to Rs 4.7 crore in earlier e-auctions. The reserve price in the 15th e-auction was Rs 3 crore and was raised to Rs 3.7 crore in the 16th auction.

    A senior Doordarshan official told indiantelevision.com that the next auction would be held in September, though the exact date had not yet been finalized.

    The official refused to give the figure at which individual channels won the auction, as the exact amount after various adjustments was not yet clear.

    Freedish – which currently carries eighty TV channels and 23 radio channels –also carries two channels as FTA which are otherwise pay channels – Aajtak and Big TV.

    The official clarified that Freedish will be able to carry more channels as it is shortly going on to MPEG4. While it could carry about sixteen channels per transponder but MPEG 4 allows up to 24 TV channels per transponder, apart from radio channels.

    The official said the Indian conditional access system (iCAS) is being used to keep a tab on the number of subscribers, but it would remain free-to-air.

    The platform at present has space for eighty channels including its own channels and Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha TV and also carrues 24 All India Radio channels.

    The e-Auction was 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 was Rs.1.5 crore which was deposited in advance. Incremental amount for the auction was Rs 10 lakh.

    Of the bid price, Rs 1.1 crore will be deposited within one month of placement and another Rs 1.1 crore within two months along with service tax of 14.5 per cent on the bid amount.

    The balance bid amount will be deposited within six months, failing which the deposited amount will be forfeited and the channel discontinued after a 21-day discontinuation notice.