ITV

Tag: D2H

  • D2H launches DIA, an AI-enabled chatbot for customer service

    D2H launches DIA, an AI-enabled chatbot for customer service

    MUMBAI: D2H has launched the ‘D2H Intelligent Assistant’ (DIA), chatbot using the latest AI technology, for its customers. D2H Intelligent Assistant (DIA) is a one-stop solution platform for customers to solve their service queries through an automated assistant in real-time. For seamlessly handling customer problems and issues, a conversation mode approach in a friendly live chat format is used.

    Catering to the evolving needs of the customers for better, faster and more accurate resolutions of service queries and issues, ‘D2H Intelligent Assistant’ (DIA) comes with an array of exciting features, DIA seeks to make it easier, faster and simpler for D2H customers to resolve their queries and issues. 

    It is designed to process user requests and queries 24X7 through deep analytics and its artificial intelligence engine. DIA is enabled with a highly sophisticated machine learning system that enhances accurate, personalized customer service through a constant process of self-evolution and learning.

    D2H, Dish TV India Ltd corporate head-marketing Sugato Banerji said, “We have observed a growing need among our customers to opt for self-service channels for their routine queries and issues. Keeping this trend in mind, we are launching DIA – D2H Intelligent Assistant – a state of the art AI based intuitive chatbot that resolves a wide range of customer queries and issues on its own. DIA will significantly add to improving our customer service experience. The launch of DIA reaffirms the D2H promise of bringing the best of technology solutions for its customers.”

    DIA appears as a pop-up feature on the website and introduces itself as “DIA”. One can initiate a conversation by simply entering a message and enjoy a rich, personalised experience, delivering real-time responses, timely and pertinent to one’s D2H account. It also offers solutions to issues related to recharge offers, current balance, add-on service upgrades and even suggests best recharge offers.

  • ShortsTV brings the best of Indian short films

    ShortsTV brings the best of Indian short films

    MUMBAI: If you have exhausted your watchlist of films and web series and continue to seek unique content options and spellbinding stories, then we have you covered! From science fiction to drama, comedy to crime, ShortsTV brings you a specially curated selection of Indian short films featuring some of the finest talent from Bollywood. Tune in to watch the excellent performances from the likes of Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Jackky Bhagnani, Pravin Dabas, Sonali Kulkarni, among many others as they deliver the thrill of a strong story all under 40mins. ShortsTV is available across platforms such as Tata Sky, Airtel Digital TV, Dish TV and D2H.

    MY SUN SETS TO RISE AGAIN

    Starring Parvin Dabas, My Sun Sets to Rise Again is a beautiful dramatic story of forbidden love and one woman’s dreams that are bigger than the caste system that has suppressed her family for generations. Will her life take an unexpected turn, or will she make her own destiny?

    KALL KARO…SAMBHAL KE

    Directed by Sudhir Achary, the short film is a hilarious take on the incessant calls for insurance, credit card, instant loans…that we all have been troubled by. Here's some payback.

    REWIND

    Marriages are made in heaven. But what if your arranged marriage is with a girl with a past she would like to forget, but which you can never forget?

    CARBON

    Starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Jackky Bhagnani and Prachi Desai, Carbon is a dystopian science-fiction short film on global warming. Set in a futuristic world, the short film will underline the emotion of greed overpowering humans inhabiting the Earth.

    THE ETERNAL

    The film is about a boy who has a differently abled mind. He speaks to his Goddess Durga and imagines her talking to him with a lot of love and affection.

    SULTAAN

    Directed by Karan Vyas, Sultaan is the story of a drug dealer whose first offshore drug deal with Indian mafia goes horribly wrong. Watch as a selfish drug dealer survive on the streets of India with help of local slum kids and tries to escapes the country.

  • ShortsTV celebrates one year of bringing the best short films to India

    ShortsTV celebrates one year of bringing the best short films to India

    MUMBAI: ShortsTV, a leading next-generation content platform delivering high quality short entertainment to global audiences, celebrated its one-year anniversary of bringing award-winning short films from across the globe to India with a reception at the British High Commissioner’s residence in New Delhi. Present at the celebration were the British High Commissioner, Sir Dominic Asquith KCMG, and ShortsTV  chief executive Carter Pilcher. The celebration began with a congratulatory speech from the British High Commissioner and was followed by a screening of the Academy Award winning British short film Stutterer.

    Debuting in India in 2018 exclusively on Tata Sky, ShortsTV has been one of their fastest growing services in its first year of operations in India. It is now available across most of India’s major DTH platforms, including Dish TV, d2h and Airtel Digital TV, reaching over 60 million households, which represents 85% of the country’s satellite TV market. 

    Speaking on the one-year anniversary in India, Pilcher,  said, “We are thrilled to celebrate our first year of bringing ShortsTV to India. We couldn’t have done it without our great partners Tata Sky, who helped us to get launched, and Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films for their support in getting great movies out. I’d also like to thank our new partners where we launched last month – Airtel Digital TV, Dish TV and d2h. Our mission is to bring to the world the highest quality short entertainment on the face of the earth. India is our most important market and we launched with 30% of our catalogue being made in India. By next year 50% of short films aired on ShortsTV will be Indian made. That is 400-500 hours of Indian short films that we will be launching on television.”

    Commenting on the success of ShortsTV in India, British High Commissioner to India, Sir Dominic Asquith KCMG, said, “We see a lot of traffic back and forth between the UK and India across business, investment and technology, but the creative collaboration is sometimes less visible. Within a year of launching in India, UK-based ShortsTV has brought short films by Oscar nominees and winners to over 60 million households here. I look forward to seeing how their ambition to increase collaboration with Indian filmmakers opens up new opportunities for Indian-made short films at the Oscars.”

    ShortsTV is pioneering a new type of entertainment in India: highest quality, entertaining movies from leading Indian and international talent in short form, and audiences have taken note.  ShortsTV’s depth of films is unrivalled, drawing from a growing catalogue of more than 13,000 Indian and international short movies. Top of the list are award-winners from all the biggest international award franchises: Oscars, BAFTAs and Cannes and the biggest Hollywood and Bollywood stars: Benedict Cumberbatch to Jackie Shroff and Judi Dench to Radhika Apte. Furthermore, the ShortsTV India catalogue brings the  best of Indian short films from leading producers, including Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films, Terribly Tiny Tales, Whistling Woods and Humara Movies.

    The ShortsTV service is available ad-free on Dish TV and d2h as ‘ShortsTV Active’ (channel 135), on Airtel Digital TV as ‘Airtel ShortsTV’ (channel 259) and on Tata Sky as ‘Tata Sky ShortsTV’ (HD channel 112 and SD channel 113).

    In addition, ShortsTV is the exclusive distributor of the annual Oscar Nominated Short Films theatrical release, bringing them to Indian cinemas for the first time this year with PVR Cinemas. They also founded the Best of India Short Film Festival, which received over 3000 entries and aims to qualify more Indian short films for Oscar consideration.

  • Dish TV adds 42K subscribers in Q2 2020

    Dish TV adds 42K subscribers in Q2 2020

    BENGALURU: India DTH major Dish TV India Ltd (Dish TV) reported 42,000 net subscriber additions for the quarter ended 30 September 2019 (Q2 2020, quarter or period under review), During the six-month period ended 30 September 2020 (H1 2020), the company says that it added 251,000 net subscribers. The company reported  subscription revenue of Rs 79.2 crore for the quarter under review.

    With programming cost becoming a pass-through item in the New Tariff Regime, subscription and operating revenues for the quarter are not comparable with the corresponding period last year.

    Dish TV’s operating revenue in Q2 2020 declined 44 percent to Rs 893.18 crore from Rs 1,594.29 crore. The company reported a net loss of Rs 96.37 crore for Q2 2020 as compared to a profit of Rs 19.73 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter. EBITDA for Q2 2020 was Rs 540.46 crore, which was 3.7 percent lower than the Rs 540.62 crore in Q2 2019.

    Company Speak

    The company claims in a media release, that the seasonally weak second quarter came bundled with other external challenges this time. Slowing subscriber additions due to a not so robust macro-economic environment, price undercutting by peers, along with heavy rains and flooding in many parts of the country made subscriber acquisitions and retention a challenging task. Dish TV India however chose to be resilient making the best

    of every opportunity coming its way.

    “Setting aside the price undercutting resorted to by some peers in parts of the country, Dish TV India maintained a fine balance between subscriber acquisition and the cost of such acquisition. The company intentionally avoided adding extremely value conscious subscribers,” said Dish TV group CEO Anil Dua.

    Dish TV CMD Jawahar Goel said, “It is evident that even in the New Regime, there has been a propensity to push low rated channels into bouquets with the objective of increasing the viewership of high rated channels. If the Regulation gets implemented in entirety, there would be better pricing that would ensure wider consumption of channels. Content would be subject to subscriber’s filtration and as a distributor we would only be procuring popular content that sells.”

    Let us look at the other numbers reported by Dish TV

    Total Income for Q2 2020 declined 44.3 percent y-o-y to Rs 896.77 crore from Rs 1,609.96 crore. Total Expenditure for the period under review declined 44.3 percent y-o-y to Rs 879.67 crore from Rs 1,580.35 crore.

    Operating expenses in Q2 2020 declined 77.6 percent y-o-y to Rs 193.48 crore from Rs 864.77 crore. Employee benefits expenses in Q2 2020 declined 29.7 percent y-o-y to Rs 44.03 crore from Rs 62.62 crore. Other expenses in Q2 2020 increased 8.7 percent y-o-y to Rs 134.65 crore from Rs 123.83 crore.

  • Dish TV India launches ‘Shorts TV Active’ on DishTV and d2h platforms

    Dish TV India launches ‘Shorts TV Active’ on DishTV and d2h platforms

    MUMBAI: Keeping up the promise of providing unique content and quality entertainment to its subscribers, Dish TV India Limited, world’s largest single-country DTH Company recently announced the launch of a new value added service ‘Shorts TV Active’ in partnership with ShortsTV, the world’s only TV channel dedicated to short movies. With the launch of this new service, customers can now enjoy an uncluttered ad-free HD films packed with 10000+ premium movie titles. The service is available at a nominal subscription price of Rs.59+ taxes per month.

    With the focus on leveraging short films to expand reach among Indian viewers, the Shorts TV Active’ service will offer upto 7000 short films, including 600 renowned, award winning Indian movies to all its subscribers. Under the new service, the subscribers can access some of the spectacular award-winning and Oscar nominated short films like Adnyat, The School bag, Dark Brew, Juice, Skin, Late afternoon and many more. The service will feature short content across different genres like animation, fiction, comedy, drama etc.  The international library includes Oscar shorts, Cannes shorts, Bafta shorts, Sundance shorts etc and similarly the Indian library includes Large Short Films, Pocket Films, Terribly Tiny Tales, Whistling Woods and Humara movies.

     “We are delighted to launch the unique short content service ‘Shorts TV Active’ which will offer award winning & international short movies on DishTV & d2h platforms. We, at Dish TV, have always aimed at continuously bringing new engaging content for our audiences. Going further on that route, we have partnered with Shorts TV to offer this unique valued added service. This service is meant for the segment of our viewer base that prefers to consume entertainment in small format. We hope to continue on our path to provide the best of entertainment to our customers,” Dish TV India Limited executive director and group CEO Anil dua commented.

     “ShortsTV is pioneering a new type of entertainment in India – highest quality movies from leading Indian and international talent but in short form. Indian audiences and filmmakers are consuming and producing short films like never before and we’re thrilled to be bringing the world’s best short entertainment to the Dish TV and d2h platforms. Subscribers are in for a real treat – from side-splitting comedies to heart-wrenching romance, hair-raising thrillers and award-winners from around the world, we’ve got it all!,” ShortsTV chief executive Carter Pilcher said.

  • Dish TV re-launches duration packs with special benefits

    Dish TV re-launches duration packs with special benefits

    MUMBAI: Amid the ongoing change in the cable and broadcasting sector, direct-to-home (DTH) operators are coming up with new plans to keep subscribers satisfied. Major DTH operator Dish TV has introduced new offers which will provide extra days of subscription with long duration packs.

    The subscribers of three months or more long duration packs will get seven extra days to their credit whereas on purchasing a long-term subscription of six months or more, they will get to enjoy 15 additional days of subscription. Moreover, users who buy a long-term plan of 11 months or more will get 30 extra days on their plan.

    Its other brand d2h had previously also introduced similar benefits on buying long-term plan but with more choices. Along with these mentioned three slabs of Dish TV, d2h users will get 60 extra days on 22 months subscription, 90 days on 33 months subscription, 120 days on 44 months subscription and 150 days on a long-term subscription of 55 months.

  • Brand D2H brings a new perspective, introduces ‘Alag Hi View’ campaign for the festive season

    Brand D2H brings a new perspective, introduces ‘Alag Hi View’ campaign for the festive season

    MUMBAI: Dish TV India Limited, the world’s largest single-country DTH Company, launched a new brand campaign for its D2H brand titled ‘Alag Hi View’ for the forthcoming festive season. The campaign aims to highlight the younger, innovative avatar of D2H brand, bringing out its technologically advanced offerings & customer centric solutions. With this campaign, D2H is providing variety of offers to customers for the upcoming festive season. Now, new customers can opt for Standard Definition and High-Definition connections with 100 percent special cashback offer that includes a set top box along with a popular recharge pack, starting at just Rs 2100 for SD connection, Rs. 2500 for D2H HD connection and Rs 2600 for HD with RF Remote connections. With the cashback offer, customers can redeem the full offer amount from their D2H payment account for up to 12 months.

    The core idea of the TVC is that technology isn’t just simplifying life of our core customer base of young people, it is making them more aware, opening up their minds, and it helped them have a very different point of view. This is the core insight around which the brand platform was built. It captures the mind-set of this audience and the brand’s philosophy in one evocative line -‘Alag Hi View Hai!’

    The current TVC highlights how D2H offers something different and how that enables the consumer to have a different point of view either in life or when it comes to watching television. The campaign brings alive the different product / service offerings D2H has in a youthful, vibrant way. 

    The new campaign ‘Alag Hi View’ highlights the unique offerings of D2H brand for this festive season. The TVC ‘Alag Hi View’ has a montage of situations with Diwali festival as the backdrop and showcases D2H bringing families and friends together with D2H’s varied offerings. The product window includes D2H’s technologically advanced products such as Smart Remote Mobile App, Radio Frequency Remote and HD STBs. 

    Commenting on the new D2H campaign, Mr. Anil Dua, Group CEO – Dish TV India Limited said, “Our D2H brand believes in giving our customers technological advanced solutions to enhance their TV viewing experience. Through this new campaign ‘Alag Hi View’, we would like to highlight the unique customer experience and technological solutions offered by D2H platform in India. D2H is transforming the way we watch television, with its advanced Smart Remote Mobile App, RF Remote, HD STBs and now taking forward our vision of providing customers with a robust and enhanced television viewing experience. Adding to its unique technology solutions is a unique cashback offer this Diwali, with which we wish to light our customer’s TV viewing experience this Diwali.”

    Speaking on the new campaign, Mr. Sugato Banerji, Corporate Head – Marketing, D2H brand said, “The hero of the new D2H campaign is our very different Diwali offer. In the process we are also positioning D2H a technology driven brand for the younger tech savvy generation. Today’s gen X is about having a perspective, a view and an opinion. This campaign celebrates this spirit.”

    Speaking on the new campaign, Mr. Arko Bose, Group Creative Director, Mullen Lintas Lowe Group – said, “’Alag hi view’ mirrors the thought process of the youth today. They have different perspectives and different ways of doing things, meandering away from the traditional approaches. With television viewing evolving itself in distinct ways using the plank of technology, we feel that the campaign finds a sweet spot in balancing youth-speak and brand philosophy.”

    This latest campaign has been conceptualized by Mullen Lintas Lowe Group and is now live across India. 

  • Merged Dish TV reports maiden numbers for fiscal 2018

    Merged Dish TV reports maiden numbers for fiscal 2018

    BENGALURU: The merged entity comprising of two Indian DTH players – Dish TV India Ltd reported its maiden fourth quarter and fiscal numbers for the periods ending 31 March 2018 (Q4 2018, quarter under review, FY 2018 year or fiscal under review). The two entities of the new behemoth Dish TV India Ltd were – Dish TV India Ltd and Videocon d2h Ltd before the merger. Dish TV and Videocon d2h had reported profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 82.12 crore and Rs 30.44 crore respectively for fiscal 2017. Individual revenues in fiscal 2017 were Rs 3,014.38 crore and Rs 3,071.73 crore for Dish TV and Videocon dh2 respectively. On 22 March 2018, Videocon d2h had merged with and into Dish TV India Ltd with the appointed date of the merger being 1 October 2017, or for the latter half of financial year 2018. The post merger consolidated operating revenue of Dish TV post merger for FY 2018 was Rs 4.634.16 crore and consolidated net loss was Rs 84.50 crore. Subscription revenue was Rs 4,216.7 crore. Consolidated total comprehensive loss (TCL) for FY 2018 was Rs 81.33 crore.

    Dish TV’s fiscal 2018 numbers are not comparable with FY 2017 in the form presented by the company for FY 2018. Financials of Dish TV India Ltd for the quarter ended 31 March 2018 thus represent three months’ financial performance each of Dish TV India Ltd and Videocon d2h Ltd. Similarly, financials of Dish TV India Ltd for the year ended 31 March 2018 represent 12 months’ financial performance of Dish TV India Ltd and six months financial performance of Videocon d2h Ltd. Both companies had reported separate financials for the quarter ended 31 December 2018 (Q3-2018, immediate trailing quarter, previous quarter).

    Subscriber numbers

    The merged company – Dish TV India Ltd had a subscriber base of 2.3 crore with a market share of about 37 per cent at the end of Q4 2018. This makes it the largest private DTH player in the country. ARPU (average revenue per user) of the merged entity for Q4 2018 was Rs 201. For Q3 2018, individually Dish TV had reported ARPU of Rs 144, while Videocon d2h had individually reported ARPU of Rs 208.

    Let us look at the other numbers reported by the merged Dish TV

    Simple consolidated EBIDTA for fiscal 2018 was Rs 1316.02 crore (28.4 per cent of operating revenue). Total expenditure for FY 2018 was Rs 4,786.23 crore. Employee benefit expense during the year under review was Rs 209.61 crore. Operational cost in fiscal 2018 was Rs 2,476.60 crore. Finance costs were Rs 396.37 crore. Other expenses were Rs 620.82 crore.

    Dish TV’s numbers for the fourth quarter

    Since the Dish TV-Videocon d2h merger happened in the third quarter of fiscal 2018, a year on year (y-o-y) comparison would not be an apples-to-apples comparison. We have compared how it fared in the fourth and third quarters (quarter over quarter or q-o-q) of 2018.

    The merged Dish TV India Ltd consolidated revenue from operations reduced 5.1 q-o-q in the quarter under review to Rs 1,532.37 crore from Rs 1,614.33 crore in Q3-2018. Consolidated total revenue reduced 5.7 per cent q-o-q to Rs 1,545.11 crore from Rs 1,638.50 crore.

    The merged entity reported consolidated PAT of Rs 118.21 crore (7.7 per cent of operating revenue) as compared to a loss of Rs 118.21 crore in the immediate trailing quarter Q3 2018. Consolidated simple EBITDA in Q4 2018 was 19.5 per cent lower q-o-q at Rs 400.65 crore (26.2 per cent of operating revenue) as compared to Rs 497.84 crore (30.8 per cent of operating revenue). Adjusted consolidated EBITDA (Dish TV claims that a onetime merger expense of Rs 60 crore was accounted for in Q4 2018) was 7.5 per cent lower q-o-q in Q4 2018 at Rs 460.65 crore (30.1 per cent of operating revenue) as compared to Rs 497.84 crore). Consolidated TCI in Q4 2018 was Rs 119.86 crore as compared to a consolidated TCL (total comprehensive loss) of Rs 166.31 crore in the previous quarter.

    The merged Dish TV’s consolidated total expenditure was almost the same at Rs 1,611.80 crore in Q4 2018 as compared to Rs 1,612.36 crore in Q3 2018. Operational cost in Q4 2018 increased 2.2 per cent q-o-q to Rs 866.36 crore from Rs 847.74 crore. Employee benefit expense during the quarter under review reduced 0.7 per cent to Rs 66.856 crore from Rs 67.30 crore in Q3 2018. Finance cost in Q4 2018 reduced 7.3 per cent q-o-q to Rs 132.94 crore from Rs 143.38 crore. Other expenses in Q4 2018 reduced 1.5 per cent q-o-q to Rs 195.97 crore from Rs 198.92 crore.

    Company speak

    In Dish TV’s earnings release, the company’s CMD Jawahar Goel said, “There is significant growth potential both in the short and the long term when it comes to acquiring new subscribers. While in the short term, digitisation will continue to feed subscriber additions, government schemes focused on bridging the urban/rural divide, increasing farm incomes and electricity connection to rural households will create demand for new televisions and pay-tv connections in the years to come.”

    On the merged Dish TV, Goel said, “It’s time to now put all thoughts to action and deliver what is expected from two leading platforms when they come together. I am happy to share that merger integration across functions has been successfully completed and new roles, responsibilities and key deliverables have been well received by our team.”

    “I see a new sense of passion and urgency all around in the company and believe that we have everything we need to surge ahead,” added Goel.

    Three well recognised and powerful brands- Dish TV, d2h and Zing are now being marketed under the Dish TV India Ltd umbrella. Dish TV group CEO Anil Dua said, “Revenue would be further fortified through Value Added Services, some of which have already been cross rolled-out on all three brands. With demonetization, poor rural demand and merger related distractions behind us, we are confident of a sharp turnaround in our operating and financial performance in this fiscal.”

    Also Read :

    Videocon d2h, Dish TV merger comes to fruition

    Dish TV-Videocon d2h to bank on economies of scale

    Videocon d2h delists from NASDAQ, merger with Dish TV likely on 22 March

  • Dish TV, Videocon d2h merger: CCI seeks TRAI views

    MUMBAI: CCI has sought TRAI’s views on the proposed merger of Dish TV and Videocon d2h and as to whether or not the deal, leading to formation of Dish TV Videocon Ltd., will violate anti-trust laws.

    Dish TV, owned by Zee Entertainment (ZEEL) and the DTH arm of Videocon Industries had in November last year announced their merger. Dish TV, as per the proposed terms, will own 55 per cent in the new entity, according to Livemint.

    A TRAI official confirmed that CCI has sought its views on the subject.

    Dish TV India managing director Jawahar Goel had said that “the arrangement of the scheme is merger and we never envisaged a buyout.” The Board of directors of the two giants had earlier approved a scheme of arrangement for the amalgamation of Vd2h into Dish TV and the execution of definitive agreements in relation to such amalgamation.

    Pursuant to the Scheme, it was earlier reported, Dish TV Videocon shall issue 857.791 million shares as consideration for the scheme and the Vd2h shareholders shall be allotted 2.021 new shares of Dish TV Videocon for every one share held in Vd2h (subject to certain adjustments as set out in the Scheme), which would result in Dish TV shareholders owning 1,066.861 million existing shares or 55.4% of Dish TV Videocon, and Vd2h shareholders owning 857.791 million new shares or 44.6% of Dish TV Videocon.

    The fully diluted share count of Dish TV at 1,066,863,665 shares, which will lead to 857,785,766 shares of Dish TV Videocon being issued to Vd2h shareholders. Exchange ratio rounded off to two decimal places. One Vd2h ADS represents four equity shares of Vd2h.

    The proposed transaction was expected to create a leading cable and satellite distribution platform in India. Dish TV Videocon would serve 27.6 million net subscribers in India, as of September 30, 2016, on a pro-forma basis, out of a total of 175 million TV households in India highlighting significant room for growth. The combined entity would have revenue of Rs. 59,158 million and EBITDA of Rs. 18,262 million on a pro-forma basis for the fiscal year ended 31 March 2016 positioning it as a leading media company in India. The proposed transaction is expected to provide better synergies and growth opportunities and enable Dish TV Videocon to provide differentiated and superior service to all customers through deeper after-sales, distribution and technology capabilities, and also become a more effective partner for TV content providers in India.

    The proposed transaction remained subject to approvals, including from the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the stock exchanges, shareholders and creditors of both companies, the Competition Commission of India, the High Court of Bombay and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The proposed transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2017.

  • DTH players roll out festival offers

    DTH players roll out festival offers

    MUMBAI: Brands are bursting Diwali offers. As the festive season draws closer, all the D2H players, one after the other, are extending lucrative offers to consumers to buy their products and subscribe to their service. Tata Sky had run a promotional offer between 8 and 21 August on its tenth anniversary, under which it allowed subscribers to watch all its 500 plus channels at no extra cost.

    DishTV has now come up with a special Diwali HD offer. Customers can opt for a high-definition set-top box at minimal additional cost just by paying Rs. 120 extra. The subscribers can also view HD channels via DishTV’s small HD entertainment add-on packs.

    DTH operator Videocon d2h has hopped on to the bandwagon of the promotional offers. Videocon boasts of a 11-12 million active subscriber base and has branded the promotion as “Khushiyon kee Diwali.”

    New Videocon subscribers will have to pay only Rs 1820 for HD or Rs 1620 for a standard definition connection. On choosing a monthly subscription plan, the newbie can instantaneously upgrade themselves to the next higher upgrade plan for two months at no cost. Additionally, existing subscribers can also avail of the free two month upgrade by coughing up just Rs 10 extra on their monthly plan. The DTH operator had upped its prices by a minimum of about Rs 20 a month across subscription packges on account of the rise in service tax, various levies and other input costs.

    Says Videocon d2h executive chairman Saurabh Dhoot: “The festive season is all about mega enjoyment. This year our Diwali offer covers everyone from our existing subscriber to the potential subscriber opting for a new connection from Videocon d2h. This offer blends perfectly with our brand promise of providing wholesome entertainment for the family.”

    Adds Videocon d2h CEO Anil Khera: “Our Khushiyon kee Diwali promotion from 1 October to 30 November h Nov gives our existing consumer to enjoy the festive season with an upgrade to the next higher monthly plan for 60 days. We strongly believe that this attractive offer will create waves in the market in this festive season.”

    Videocon d2h offer subscribers 570 channels and services, including a host of regional channels. It offers a wide range of active services like smart services including smart English, smart games.

    DishTV’s HD sachets capture the interest of consumers towards HD viewing by offering them the channels at a nominal price of Rs.75 for one. This offering enables DishTV subscribers to select these small packs as per their preferences and needs. “With users aspiring for HD channels, this move is to encourage them to embrace HD channels at a minimal cost,” said DishTV CEO Arun Kapoor.

    For new HD connections, customers will now have to pay an introductory price of Rs. 1990 which will include subscription of one-month super family pack or jumbo pack and one HD add-on for one month at no extra cost. The new connection will also include a universal remote. DishTV has a complete offering and mix of 51 high-definition entertainment, music, news and regional language channels. The offer is available across all parts of the country.