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  • MGM Channel to launch in India on Zee’s Dish TV

    MGM Channel to launch in India on Zee’s Dish TV

    MUMBAI: MGM Networks, a division of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., has announced a string of breakthrough distribution agreements in key Asian markets. The MGM Channel will roll out in India, the Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia.

    Debuting this month, the MGM Channel will be available on Zee’s Dish TV platform.

    MGM Networks executive vice president Bruce Tuchman said, “We are very excited to begin our newest chapter in the booming Indian market with this launch. Having previously seeded demand in India through a co-owned, co-branded channel with Zee TV, we are now launching a wholly MGM-owned, exclusively MGM-branded network in order to more fully mine the opportunities abounding in this dynamic market.”

    In the Philippines, Sky Cable, the country’s largest MSO, has just commenced the roll out of The MGM Channel as part of its new digital “Platinum” package offering. In Vietnam and Cambodia, Ho Chi Minh City Television and Phnom Penh Municipal Cable and Optical Television, respectively, have entered into distribution agreements with MGM Networks and recently introduced The MGM Channel to their customers.

    The MGM Channel’s launch into India and these new Southeast Asian markets are the latest milestones in an aggressive roll-out of the channel across Asia. Starting with its debut in South Korea in 2002, The MGM Channel followed up with a series of launches in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Macau, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. MGM Networks also launched a second branded channel in South Korea, called MGM Plus, following the successful launch of its first Korean network.

    “Our success and growth in Asia mirrors our success and growth elsewhere around the world. Over the last five years, MGM has increased its channel interests from approximately 25 countries and territories in a handful of regions to over 110 across Europe, Latin American, Africa, and Asia and the Pacific Rim,” added Tuchman.

    In Southeast Asia/Greater China, The MGM Channel is produced and distributed by MGM Networks through a strategic alliance with CNBC Asia Pacific. In South Korea, the channel is operated through a joint venture with leading local media companies, Skylife and Taewon Entertainment.

  • Walt Disney unveils wireless service specifically designed for families

    Walt Disney unveils wireless service specifically designed for families

    MUMBAI: Consistent with its strategic focus to pursue technologies that deliver outstanding creative content and services in new ways, The Walt Disney Company unveiled Disney Mobile (www.disneymobile.com) in the US, which is the first national wireless phone service specifically designed for families.

    Disney Mobile will operate as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) utilising the Sprint Nationwide PCS Network. This service will be a follow-up MVNO from the Walt Disney Company. Mobile ESPN, the only mobile phone service built from the ground up for sports fans was launched in the US in February.

    This was launched at the CTIA Wireless 2006 tradeshow in Las Vegas. This wireless service will launch in June with innovative features that, for the first time, allow parents to directly manage their family’s wireless experience.

    Unlike traditional family plans that focus on shared minutes, Disney Mobile will offer a comprehensive, family-tailored service. It will provide customisable tools to balance kids’ cell phone use with controls that allow parents to manage family phone use and help teach kids responsible use. In addition, Disney Mobile will come equipped with all the things tweens and teens are looking for in a cell phone today – from a camera to messaging to popular ring tones and content.

    At the core of Disney Mobile’s family plans are the Family Center features, which allow parents to:

        set spending allowances and track usage for voice minutes, text messaging, picture messaging and downloadable content
        determine the hours of the day and days of the week when kids can use their phones
        program restricted and always-on phone numbers to manage with whom kids may communicate
        prioritize important family messages
        locate kids’ phones with GPS capabilities

    Beyond the Family Center features, Disney Mobile will offer wireless voice service, text and picture messaging, and a broad range of entertainment and content that will appeal to every family member, and to Disney fans of all ages.

    “Given our strong commitment to embracing innovative technology, coupled with Disney’s outstanding creative content, Disney Mobile is perfectly positioned to transform the way families come together and stay connected. Parents will appreciate Disney Mobile’s unique capabilities to manage family communications, and tweens and teens get the functions they’re seeking in today’s wireless service,” said The Walt Disney Company president and CEO Robert A Iger.

    Disney Mobile phones will have a stylish, clam shell-style design that appeals to adults and kids alike, but the parents’ phones will be configured with additional, exclusive functionality for managing the family’s mobile experience. These controls may also be accessed via the Disney Mobile website.

    The service will be available to consumers at www.disneymobile.com and at Disney Mobile kiosks in malls throughout the US. Additional retail distribution channels are planned for later in the year. Pricing plans, which will be detailed closer to consumer availability, will be competitively priced with other family mobile plans and will include Family Center features as part of the basic service. Handset pricing will start at $59.99 when purchased with a two-year service agreement.

    “Disney Mobile uses sophisticated technology to make family communication better and easier to manage than ever before. We have addressed what parents are looking for in a comprehensive mobile service, while also balancing the needs of what kids want in a cell phone. Never before has a mobile service offered such a feature-rich, customisable experience for both parents and kids,” said Walt Disney Internet Group president Steve Wadsworth.

    The centerpiece of the Disney Mobile experience is the innovative Family Center features, which are accessible on Disney Mobile phones and www.disneymobile.com. Its features include:

    Family Monitor
    Disney Mobile’s Family Monitor feature can help make surprise cell phone bills a thing of the past by giving parents the unique ability to manage their kids’ cell phone use real-time. A parent can set monthly allowances for each kid for key aspects of cell phone use, including voice minutes, text and picture messages, and downloadable content such as ringtones, wallpapers and background themes.

    Call Control
    Disney Mobile’s Call Control feature allows parents to use an online tool to designate when kids can use their cell phones, as well as who they can and cannot call. Parents can choose the day of week or even the time of day they will allow their kids to use their phones, eliminating use at inappropriate times such as during school hours or late at night.

    Family Locator
    The Family Locator feature allows parents to locate their kids’ phones using advanced Global Positioning System (GPS) technology. Parents can access the Family Locator feature from their phones or from www.disneymobile.com by entering a PIN which each parent personally selects. Once access is authorized, parents can locate their kid’s phone by selecting “locate” through the feature. When the phone’s location has been found, the location, a map of the location, and an indication of accuracy appear.

    Family Alert!
    Family Alert! allows family members on the same Disney Mobile family plan to send each other prioritised messages so the messages are unlikely to be missed. Family Alert! messages prominently appear on the handset screen whenever the phone is idle, causing family members to acknowledge messages before using the phone for other services.

    “Parents told us that they value the extra convenience and security a cell phone provides the family, but they also expressed a desire to be able to supervise their children’s cell phone use and avoid the horror stories they have heard about excessive mobile bill surprises. Disney Mobile’s Family Center features give parents the best of both worlds. It provides the ultimate in flexibility for parents, giving parents maximum visibility to their family’s phone usage, and allowing them to apply as much or as little control as they see appropriate for their kids,” said Disney Mobile senior vice president and general manager George Grobar.

    ENTERTAINMENT
    In addition to its Family Center features, Disney Mobile will also offer parents, tweens and Disney fans of all ages a wide variety of Disney and other family-appropriate content to personalise and customise their Disney Mobile phones. The “Theme-It” function will allow multiple screens of the phone to be re-themed with a selection of related content chosen by the subscriber.

    Disney Mobile subscribers will also enjoy a broad offering of Disney content. The Disney Zone includes exclusive ‘Vault Disney’ content only available to Disney Mobile subscribers and applications that will extend many of the online and offline worlds of Disney. At launch it will include a Radio Disney application that will allow direct interaction with Radio Disney and its family friendly music.

    There also will be a broad assortment of general entertainment content to complement the service’s Disney offerings.

  • TVHead licenses Tetris for interactive TV

    TVHead licenses Tetris for interactive TV

    MUMBAI: Capitalising on a truly global game phenomenon, TVHead has secured the worldwide interactive TV rights for Tetris – including cable, satellite and IPTV – through 2010. The games-on-demand television network will provide the game to cable and IPTV subscribers as part of its premium offerings.

    With its user-friendly interface and addictive appeal, Tetris is believed to be the world’s best selling electronic game, due to its wide availability on almost every modern computer and game system available.

    “Tetris is more than just a game… it’s a phenomenon with a level of consumer loyalty and awareness equal to top TV programs. Not only is Tetris the number one downloaded wireless game by a large margin, but it has also been incredibly successful on every other platform on which it has been introduced. We are thrilled at the opportunity to provide Tetris to TV audiences because television is the perfect casual games platform. By offering such a consumer-demanded blockbuster, TVHead enables operators to keep their game playing subscribers happy and in front of the TV,” said TVHead CEO and founder Sangita Verma

    TVHead will offer two versions of Tetris: Tetris Classic and Tetris Battle. In the classic Tetris puzzle game, players must clear horizontal rows to score points by creatively rotating and aligning falling blocks while the action accelerates with every move.

    Additionally, Tetris Classic will include high scores, multiplayer and advance play modes. Tetris Battle, a new multiplayer version currently in development, begins when a player submits his or her ‘best of’ game as a challenge to others. Competitors can then select to play against this game—being dealt the same pattern and speed of falling blocks—to see if they can best the score. Highest scores continue to move up the ranks with postings on leader boards and prizes for obtaining high-score benchmarks. Rankings span first local, then regional, and finally national status.

    TVHead is also working with Blue Planet Software Inc., the exclusive worldwide licensing agent for The Tetris Company, to create a consistent multi-platform game experience in which players are able to compete against each other using television and PCs.

  • Discovery to launch mobile, broadband channels in US

    Discovery to launch mobile, broadband channels in US

    MUMBAI: Today television content providers are looking to take advantage of new media platforms like the internet and mobile.

    Discovery in the US will launch Discovery Mobile for mobile video. It will also launch two new broadband channels, Discovery Channel Beyond and Travel Channel Beyond, for Internet users.

    Discovery Mobile will be a 24-hour mobile programming network featuring original content from Discovery’s core program genres. It will debut in the third quarter of 2006. The network’s content will consist of segments ranging in length from 30 seconds to four minutes, categorized into 20-minute blocks. Material will include made-for-mobile series, abbreviated versions of Discovery programs, never-before-seen footage, and user-generated content. The service is targeted to users 15-39.

    The two Internet channels will short-form programmes, as well as user-generated documentaries, over the Internet. TLC, Animal Planet and Discovery Health Channel will also launch on broadband in the coming months.

  • Broadband growing rapidly worldwide, says study

    Broadband growing rapidly worldwide, says study

    Research agency In-Stat/MDR has forecast that the number of broadband subscribers worldwide will surpass 46 million by the end of 2002.

    The number of broadband subscribers is expected to grow rapidly over the next three years to surpass 120 million by 2005, according to the agency. The news comes on the heels of figures released by the Federal Communications Commission, The number of broadband connections in the US increased by 33 per cent during the second half of 2001, according to the Federal Communications Commission.

    In late 2001, DSL became the most widely used broadband access technology when the number of worldwide DSL subscribers exceeded 17 million. However, in the US, cable modem subscribers continue to outnumber DSL subscribers by a wide margin. According to In-Stat/MDR, other broadband access technologies such as satellite broadband, Fiber-to-the Home, and fixed wireless service account for only five percent of current worldwide broadband subscribers.

    The number of homes and businesses using high-speed lines to connect to the Internet increased from 9.6 million to 12.8 million lines in the US at the end of the year.

    This compares with a 36 percent rise in the first half of 2001 when the number of high-speed lines increased from nearly 7.1 million to 9.6 million. Of the 12.8 million high-speed lines in service at the end of 2001, 11 million served residential and small business subscribers, a 41 percent increase on the first half of 2001 when 7.8 million residential and small business subscribers could connect to the Net using high-speed lines.

    Around 7.4 million of the total number of high-speed lines in service at the end of last year were advanced service lines that provide services at speeds exceeding 200 kilobits per second (kbps) in both directions. This is an increase of 25 percent on the first six months of the year. About 5.8 million residential and small business subscribers had advanced service lines, according to the report.

    At the end of 2001, the presence of high-speed service subscribers were reported in all fifty states, and in 79 percent of the nation’s zip codes.

    ADSL lines in service increased by 47 per cent during the second half of the year, from 5.2 million to 7.1 million lines, while cable modem service increased by 45 percent, from nearly 3.6 million to 5.2 million lines.

     

  • Cricket: BCCI debunks bidders’ objections

    Cricket: BCCI debunks bidders’ objections

    NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Cricket and controversy in India are synonymous now.

    The latest round of allegation and counter-elucidations relates to overseas cricket telecast rights for Indo-Pakistan cricket matches to be played in neutral venues with one set of bidders alleging “irregularities” in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
    The charge that the Indian cricket board is allegedly biased towards Sahara One Media & Entertainment, which is presently telecasting the ongoing India-England home cricket series on Sahara One channel, however, has been dismissed by the BCCI as “making a mountain of a molehill.”

    If that’s not enough, media reports from Pakistan hint that while the BCCI is going ahead full steam with the proposed cricket matches — 25 in number over a period of few years — actually no formal agreement exist between it and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), which is as much owners of the cricket matches as the Indian cricket board.

    On the last day of submission of financial bids for Indo-Pak cricket on neutral venues, some companies like Zee Telefilms, ESPN Star Sports and Nimbus today have alleged that tender documents criteria “seem to have been totally ignored by Sahara in the bid submission process.”

    Not only one of the bidders has written a letter to the BCCI president and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, after marking it to other officials like the marketing head chief Lalit Modi, but a sequence of happenings as it happened have been detailed.

    BCCI has fixed a reserve price of $ 5 million dollars a match and the total revenue generated could be in excess of $120 million.

    The basic thrust of the allegations listed in the letter, a copy of which is available with Indiantelevision.com, is not only the Sahara group submitted its bids after the deadline of 11 a.m. today, but also flouted a condition of bringing the bids in open envelopes.

    “…the Sahara financial bid was in unsealed condition and was actually taken out of the envelope for approximately 10 to 15 seconds,” the letter states, adding that all the other bidders present objected to it and lodged their formal protest on Sahara’s late arrival too.

    While Sahara One Media and Entertainment refused to make any comments when contacted by Indiantelevision.com, BCCI vice-president Modi dismissed the allegations by saying the other bidders were simply splitting hairs over a small issue.

    “There has been no irregularity,” Modi insisted, “If people feel that on a small technical issue, we would disqualify a newcomer (Sahara has never bagged telecast rights till the recent India-England series), then they have to think again.”

    According to Modi, the other companies were attempting to form a “cartel” in an effort to hammer down the prices.

    “It almost seems that some companies are ganging up against a newcomer’s entry. It also seems a cartel is being attempted so that the price (of the telecast rights) could be lowered,” Modi told Indiantelevision.com.

    Asked whether the BCCI has a formal deal with the PCB before going ahead with sale of telecast rights of Indo-Pak cricket, Modi criticized the Pakistani media for raising unimportant issues, which are of “no consequence.”

    “The very fact that we are going ahead with the bidding process shows that PCB and the BCCI have an understanding. Has the PCB said anything formally?” the businessman-turned-sports administrator countered

    Meanwhile, the protest letter concludes by stating, “We believe that the new BCCI administration has conducted the earlier tender processes with complete transparency and fairness. There have been instances in the past, where companies have been disqualified on technical grounds.

    “Keeping these facts in mind, we trust that in all fairness, the Sahara financial bid should not be considered. We are hopeful that the BCCI will take a fair decision on this occasion as well.”

    Whether the BCCI takes note of the protests lodged by the likes of Zee, ESS and Nimbus can only be gauged when the financial bids are opened on Thursday (6 April) and the successful candidate announced

  • Indiantelevision.com’s Media, Advertising, Marketing Special Report

    New emerging technologies are going to change the way we consume media. It is a dynamic and constantly morphing scenario that confronts media researchers and marketers. Indiantelevision.com introduces the first of a series of studies by Group M’s Maxus, which will cover a wide range of issues.

    Indiantelevision.com would welcome such similar studies that add to a better understanding of our media landscape.

    In this, the first such paper, Maxus dwells on Television and Generation Next.

    “Incredibly Young India”! This might well be an appropriate coinage given the current demographics of the Indian population. Over the next decade, marketers are looking at the most lucrative and influential youth market in Indian history.

    But crucial to profiting from this increasingly critical section of our society will also be a proper understanding of this fickle and extremely hard to please generation.

    The fact that India is getting ‘younger’ is also reflected in our advertising – in 2005, advertising directed at the youth comprised 20 per cent of total ad spends, up from 16 per cent a few years ago. (Maxus estimates)

    However, worryingly, youth engagement with TV is on the wane – time spent on TV is progressively declining.

    Time Spent on TV viewing per day Index to 2002
     
    (Source: TAM, 15-24 years, SEC A)

    A look at similar numbers for housewives confirms that this is a youth only trend – housewife viewing is at best flat with spikes in some years.

    Time Spent on TV viewing per day Index to 2002
     
    (TG: Housewives, 25-44, SEC A)

    So while more money is chasing the youth on TV year after year, the worry for marketers is the declining returns on their investment. TV channels aimed at the youth need to also contend with this problem. How do they get Gen Next to watch more TV?

    Why is this happening?

    The growing propensity to multi task also makes inroads into the TV preserve – not only is the youth much more on the move (college, tuition, evening job, partying…), they are also consuming multiple media simultaneously – SMS a friend, while on a chat site with FM blaring. The SMS shorthand has also shortened attention spans making the youth clamor for constant newness.

    But of course, the biggest change agent has been the Wiring of Gen Next’ – a phenomenon sweeping urban India – SMS, internet, gaming, iPods…

    Apart from the technology, these gadgets fulfill a very basic youth need of providing a network: their virtual, private world offers them the peer group belonging and security, exchange of information and a social cocoon that helps fight loneliness characteristic of nuclear families today.

    Most of the entertainment options that appeal to this whole new segment is actually done with others and not alone. Be it going to multiplexes, hanging out in coffee pubs, sweating it out at gaming parlours or chatting online – all are group acts.

    Hence the cult rise of IPods, chat rooms, networks, Google, iTunes and PodCasts, on line messengers…

    All the gadgets and entertainment options mentioned above are:

    Interactive and/or consumer created
    Warm and friendly inviting active participation
    Platforms where there are very few pre-set norms or content limitations
    So, is it doomsday for TV?

    Certainly not! TV has some inherent strengths – the challenge for TV is to amplify its strengths and leverage the new digital world to expand its youth catchment.

    The starting point of course has to be content. In the convergence era of information, communication and entertainment, the last remains a bastion for a (relatively) large screen, audio-visual medium like TV.

    This is the area that TV needs to build on and develop far greater depth in content. The question is how? For one, we really need to stop thinking of the youth as one amorphous mass of wired, accessorised, colloquialised beings.

    The content generators have to realize that there are at least four life stages that are spawned in the decade of 15-24 years – leaving school, college years, early work life and in some cases, matrimony – each with their own share of angst and joy. While some content has meaningfully focused on the first two, nothing has been done on the rest

    The possibilities are many:

    A soap completely scripted by the audience through emails and the winning contestant being sent on a creative writing course to a US university
    A news hour exclusively showcasing reports from “Citizen Journalists” (anyone with camera-mobile), who can SMS/email in their content
    A muti-contestant Gaming platform on TV completely enabled at the back-end to require just a mobile phone to participate
    A few ideas, like the ones above, have in fact been experimented with by various channels. However, these have been a smattering on the larger landscape of music countdown shows! One way to increase impact for these shows would be to package them in a ‘youth’ time slot. We have an afternoon band for the ladies at home, one early evening for kids, but no time band exists which invites youngsters into ‘their’ world.

    The second big focus area for TV needs to be on becoming a part of the digital youth network. In this regard, content providers need to augment their content through the digital world as well as sample it through the digital world.

    Snippets of programming converted into mobile/mail friendly formats like 3GP or MPEG and mailed/SMS’d out
    Creation of specific chatrooms on popular portals that help the prospective audience understand (and augment) the programming intent
    Previous episodes easily accessible online, but for the fresh episodes they have to tune in
    In the end, TV will be an integral part of the digital world – the challenge for TV will be to retain its glory as the defining point of entertainment – just like its content be it cricket or serials dominates the drawing room and kitchen conversations, will it also dominate the canteen, the SMS, the blogs and other ways in which the youth communicate?

     

  • Zee Sports can break even in 18 months time: channel head

    Zee Sports can break even in 18 months time: channel head

    NEW DELHI: Zee Sports, the youngest of the sports channel beaming into Indian cable homes, could breakeven within 12 to 18 months time, according to a senior channel executive.

    “These are early days, but the channel can possibly breakeven in 12 to 18 months time as its revenues increase. Especially now that cricket will be aired,” Zee Sports business head Himanshu Mody told Indiantelevision.com today.

    Part of the Subhash Chandra-promoted Zee Telefilms, Zee Sports believes it has struck gold after bagging the telecast rights of one-day cricket that India will play against Pakistan, Australia, England and West Indies over the next five years on neutral venues.

    Zee has invested approximately Rs 300 million in its sports channel started over a year back.

    Zee Telefilms bagged the telecast rights for approximately $ 219 million, beating the likes of ESPN Star Sports, Sahara One Media & Entertainment and Nimbus.

    According to Mody, a cricket property like this is definitely going to drive up the subscription revenues and could be leveraged in different ways on various platforms over the five year contract period till 2011.

    “In the months to come by, Zee Sports will be a power to reckon with,” Mody said with glee after this victory, having failed twice earlier to bag big ticket cricket properties, which included the domestic Indian rights for four years that was snared by Nimbus for $ 612 million.

    Asked whether the investments could be recovered as there’s an overdose of cricket all round on television, Mody said the present rights for 25 one-day matches were different from other rights and had its advantages.

    “What we have bagged is one-day cricket, which has more value (in terms of viewership) than five-day Test cricket. Moreover, India-Pakistan clashes mostly go down very well with viewers and advertisers alike,” Mody explained.

    Zee Sports is also keen to share the terrestrial telecast with the Indian pubcaster Doordarshan and doesn’t think such simulcast would hit its revenues — advertising or subscription.

    “We are keen to share cricket with DD and will offer the best deal possible,” Mody said.

  • ESS to share with DD semis, final of soccer World Cup

    ESS to share with DD semis, final of soccer World Cup

    NEW DELHI: ESPN Star Sports has reached an in-principal agreement with the government to make available the semi-final and final matches of FIFA World Cup soccer to Indian pubcaster Doordarshan.

    Confirming the development, ESPN India MD RC Venkateish said as an icing on the cake and a goodwill gesture, DD may end up with having the opening ceremony of the soccer feast too.

    ESS, which holds the exclusive rights of the soccer World Cup for the India region, will share the feeds of the above mentioned matches with DD on a 75:25 revenue share basis.

    This sort of a pact is on the lines of concessions that private broadcasters, holding exclusive rights for events held outside India, are ready to make involving Grand Slam tennis tournaments and important cricket series.

    Asked whether DD will have to do without the soccer World Cup as the `listed sports’ have not been notified as mandated by the newly-formulated downlink norms, a senior government official gave a non-committal answer.

    “The list of sports of national importance is not yet ready to be notified. So nothing definite can be said on soccer at the moment,” I&B additional secretary P Singh said today on the sidelines of a press conference called by Prasar Bharati, which manages DD and All India Radio.

    The downlink norms state that irrespective of the rights holder, all sporting events of national importance will have to be shared with the national broadcaster, Prasar Bharati, on a mandatory basis. This also includes events taking place outside India.

    However, both Ten Sports and ESS have moved the courts appealing against this norm.

    The month-long soccer World Cup, which begins in June 2006, is a hot property for any broadcaster in the world and despite India never reaching even the qualifying stages of the tournament, the number of soccer fans here is legion.

    Being one of ESS’ biggest properties for the year, the channel has already announced a slew of initiatives that it is hoping will build excitement.

  • DD to demand carriage fee from broadcasters for DTH service

    DD to demand carriage fee from broadcasters for DTH service

    NEW DELHI: Prasar Bharati has decided that it would demand an annual carriage fee of Rs.10 million from private broadcasters to be on its DTH platform, DD Direct+.

    “We have written to some broadcasters on this and are awaiting their response,” Prasar Bharati CEO KS Sarma said today during an annual Press meet.
    According to him, after DD Direct+ increases its capacity to 51 television channels from May, a fee would be taken for being aboard the world’s first subscription-free DTH service, which on last count had approximately 1.1 million subscribers.

    Over 40 broadcasters, including some Indian and foreign religious channels, German pubcaster DeutcheWelle and the proposed AlJazeera International English news channel, are waiting in the queue to hop on to DD Direct+ seeing its obvious advantages.

    “We don’t anticipate any problems regarding drop-outs from the present lot as many channels are waiting with the requisite fee in hand for our nod,” Sarma said, adding some entertainment channels, including South Indian ones, too have evinced interest.
    However, charging a monthly subscription from the subscribers has been ruled out. “We want to remain free for some more time,” Sarma explained.

    To subscribe to DD Direct+ DTH service, a consumer has to buy the hardware for approximately Rs. 3,000, which can be considered as one time investment. No monthly subscription is charged from subscribers.

    Apart from DD Direct+, the other DTH player in the country is Subhash Chandra-controlled Dish TV. A Rupert Murdoch and Tata joint venture is proposing to launch Tata Sky DTH service later this year in market that might yield 15 per cent to DTH services over the next two-three years.

    Meanwhile, Prasar Bharati informed that a low-cost DTH set-top box has been launched in the market for radio channels.

    “We are quite excited by this and would strengthen our services to take advantage of this low-cost receiver,” All India Radio DG Brijeshwar Singh said.