ITV

Tag: Salil Kapoor

  • Dish TV ties-up with Hungama to launch music service

    Dish TV ties-up with Hungama to launch music service

    MUMBAI: Keeping in mind the ever growing demand in music, direct to home (DTH) operator Dish TV has tied up with Hungama to launch Music Active, which will provide subscribers with music across 10 different genres.

     

    The active service will enhance Dish TV’s portfolio in the field of value added services (VAS) and provide unlimited music to its subscribers.

     

    Catering to the need of Bollywood music lovers and other streams of music such as devotional, western, and pop music Music Active will have a mix of Bollywood hits and Bollywood retro. Simultaneously reaching out to the music lovers of other genres, Music Active will also have international hits, international classics, devotional, ghazals, Bhojpuri, Kannada, Tamil and Carnatic hits.

     

    Customers of the active service will be able enjoy uninterrupted music unlike music channels. Music Active is completely ad free. Another important advantage for music lovers would be that unlike music apps, there will be no buffering of songs leading to steady entertainment.

     

    The service while will be free from 27 August to 6 September, it will then be made available at an introductory price of Rs 35 till 31 October and will be priced at Rs 45 starting 1 November, 2015. The audio service can be availed by giving a missed call on 18002700096. Music Active will be available on channel number 671 on Dish TV.

     

    Dish TV chief operating officer Salil Kapoor said, “Being a pioneer and market leader, it has been our constant endeavour to make television viewing a wholesome experience for the entire family and to increase affinity with our audiences by providing them the choice of content they would like to watch. Dish TV has always taken the lead in enhancing the value proposition and believes in providing the maximum and the best in entertainment to its subscribers. We are delighted to tie up with Hungama for launching Music Active, with the launch of Music Active, we are continuing with our legacy of offering another unique service for our consumers who are inclined towards music and will have this great opportunity to enjoy music of all genres in the close comfort of their homes.”

     

    Hungama.com CEO Siddhartha Roy added, “Music Active co-launched by Hungama and Dish TV will bring uninterrupted and ad-free music to subscribers. We are proud to associate with the DTH service as we bring subscribers their favorite music across 10 different genres ranging from Bollywood, regional, devotional to international, etc. I am certain that Dish TV subscribers will enjoy grooving to Bollywood, regional and international music’s most popular hits and retro tracks only on Music Active.”

  • Dish TV ups Malayalam channels offering to 28 with Janam TV

    Dish TV ups Malayalam channels offering to 28 with Janam TV

    MUMBAI: Direct to home (DTH) operator Dish TV has added Malayalam news channel Janam TV in its bouquet for its Kerala viewers. Dish TV now offers the maximum regional entertainment amongst all DTH players with a total of 28 Malayalam channels and services on its platform. 

     

    Dish TV’s subscribers in Kerala will be able to watch Janam TV on channel number 730. 

     

    Dish TV India chief operating officer Salil Kapoor said, “Being a pioneer and market leader, Dish TV has always stood up to its promise of providing maximum width and depth of content with an overall of 500+ channels & services. Dish TV has always taken the lead in enhancing the value proposition and believes in providing the maximum and the best in entertainment to its subscribers. Our endeavour is to increase affinity with our audiences by providing them the choice of content they would like to watch. And now by adding Janam TV exceedingly popular Malayalam news channel in our channel bouquet, we take pride to offer maximum Malayalam content to our customers in Kerala and we will continue to expand our offerings with further additions.”

  • Dish TV takes HD channels offering to 45 with Comedy Central HD

    Dish TV takes HD channels offering to 45 with Comedy Central HD

    MUMBAI: Keeping in mind the promise of providing maximum high-definition channels; Dish TV has added another HD channel – Comedy Central HD to its portfolio.

     

    With this, Dish TV has taken its HD channel & services count to 45, which is the highest in the country so far. It may be recalled that Videocon d2h recently upped its HD offering to 39 channels with the addition of Colors Infinity HD and Nat Geo Wild HD.

     

    Dish TV chief operating officer Salil Kapoor said, “Latest trends suggest that the growth of the High Definition category over the past year together with rising sales of flat panel TVs (LED/LCD) has added a new dimension to superior HD viewing experience. With the usage of DTH connections with HD boxes, the experience quotient for the subscribers is all set to go up. We are proud to announce the addition of Comedy Central HD channel on our platform. Dish TV has a complete offering and mix of High-Definition entertainment, music, news and regional language channels and has maximum content with 45 HD channels and services, making it the highest in the country.”

     

    Viacom18 EVP and head of English entertainment Ferzad Palia added, “We are thrilled to be a part of Dish TV’s HD offering. Comedy Central HD is the country’s premier English comedy destination and it is great that our viewers will now get to enjoy their daily dose of fun and laughter in high definition.”

  • Dish TV adds 9 Malayalam channels for Kerala market

    Dish TV adds 9 Malayalam channels for Kerala market

    MUMBAI: In yet another move to diversify its presence in the market, direct-to-home (DTH) operator Dish TV has added nine new Malayalam channels in its bouquet for viewers in Kerala.

    Dish TV now offers the maximum regional entertainment amongst all DTH players with a total of 27 channels and services on its platform in the state. The DTH player also has the widest overall content basket with a bouquet of 500+ channels and services.

    The latest addition of the channels include: Kaumudy, Reporter, TV New, People, Jeevan, Safari, Kochu, Kappa and Goodness. Dish TV offers various Malayalam channels across different subscription packs in all genres like movies, news, devotional and general entertainment for the Malayali speaking audience.

    Dish TV India chief operating officer Salil Kapoor said, “Being a pioneer and market leader Dish TV has always stood up to its promise of providing maximum width and depth of content with an overall of 500+ channels and services. Dish TV has always taken the lead in enhancing the value proposition and believes in providing the maximum and the best in entertainment to its subscribers. Our endeavor is to increase affinity with our audiences by providing them the choice of content they would like to watch. And now by adding nine exceedingly popular Malayalam news and entertainment channels in our channel bouquet, we take pride to offer maximum Malayalam content to our customers in Kerala and we will continue to expand our offerings with further additions.”

    The list channels as follows:

  • Epic widens reach; launches on Dish TV

    Epic widens reach; launches on Dish TV

    MUMBAI: With a view to broaden its reach, segmented Hindi entertainment channel Epic has now hopped on to the Dish TV direct to home (DTH) platform.

     

    Epic will be available on Dish TV on channel no. 121. The channel will be available to all Dish TV subscribers on free preview till 1 July, 2015. Epic specializes across genres such as action, drama, comedy, supernatural and narrative non-fiction content, set against Indian historic and mythological eras.

     

    Dish TV India COO Salil Kapoor said, “Being a pioneer and market leader, Dish TV has always stood up to its promise of providing maximum entertainment to its customers. We are delighted to add Epic to our bouquet of channels. With this addition, Dish TV maintains its leadership in Hindi entertainment with maximum Hindi GEC in the industry. The Epic channel’s offering will enable our consumers to watch the very best of the segmented Hindi entertainment in the space of Indian history and mythology.”

     

    Epic founder and managing director Mahesh Samat added, “We are happy to announce our availability on Dish TV, which is Asia’s largest DTH brand. It will extend our reach to a wide spectrum of Dish TV users and will allow them to experience high quality stories on Indian history and mythology.”

     

    With this, Epic is now available across key DTH players such as Tata Sky, Airtel, Videocon, Dish TV, and Reliance Digital TV along with major cable players like Hathway and Den Networks amongst others.

  • DishTV launches Anandam Active to showcase Ravishankar’s teachings

    DishTV launches Anandam Active to showcase Ravishankar’s teachings

    MUMBAI: Direct to Home (DTH) operator DishTV has launched Anandam Active at the Art of Living headquarters on 14 May, 2015. The service will showcase teachings of the spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar.

     

    This service will be available to subscribers for a monthly fee of Rs 59. Anandam Active will be available across cities, semi urban and rural areas of India.

     

    Anandam Active will have harmony of spirituality, health, culture, social concerns, mythology, science, and education. This service will also have capsules of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar at regular intervals, spreading the word of hope and faith.

     

    Sri Sri Ravishankar said, “I am extremely happy at the launch of Anandam Active service only on Asia’s largest DTH player, DishTV. This service has made it possible for millions of people who due to their hectic lifestyles cannot attend live discourses in my Ashram to now listen and learn The Art of Living, even at the remotest part of the country. Together, we hope to make world a better place to live.My blessings are with everyone who is a part of this initiative.”

     

    DishTV chief operating officer Salil Kapoor added, “We are delighted to be partners in this noble initiative. It has been our constant endeavor to make television viewing a wholesome experience for the entire family. We have always believed in offering unique content to our subscribers. With the launch of Anandam Active, we are continuing with our legacy of offering another unique service for our consumers who are spirituality inclined and will have this great opportunity to enjoy Sri Sri’s teachings in the close comfort of their homes.”

     

    Talking about the initiative the content provider for the Anandam Active, Amazing India Television chief executive officer Ajay Kumar asserted, “Anandam Active is launched on the auspicious occasion of Guru Ji’s birthday. The key message of Art of Living is to celebrate life and spread happiness. Anandam Active echoes the same mission and hopes to achieve a positive behavioral change within the masses, who will consume this content. Sri Sri’s teachings on Anandam Active will remove the hindrance of the physical distances with the people at large and will enable us to interact with a much larger audience to share our thoughts and ideology. We firmly believe that DishTV, Asia’s largest direct to home entertainment company shall prove to be a priceless partner in this endeavor.”

  • Dish TV comes on board as official partner for Kolkata Knight Riders

    Dish TV comes on board as official partner for Kolkata Knight Riders

    MUMBAI: Gearing up for the Indian Premier League (IPL), direct to home (DTH) operator Dish TV India has extended its association with Kolkata Knight Riders as an official partner for the fourth time. This year’s tournament will start on 8 April 2015. As part of the association, the logo of Dish TV will be prominently featured on the non lead arm of the jersey of KKR players.

    DishTV COO Salil Kapoor said, “Through this association, we would like to pull entertainment a notch higher for all cricket fans. We look forward to the tournament and hope that Kolkata Knight Riders emerges as a champion in this season of IPL as well.”

     

    Continuing its relationship with Shah Rukh Khan Dish TV expects its association with the KKR co-owner to bring good luck to the team. Through this partnership, there will also be an engagement of player with consumers and trade partners.  Furthermore, this season Dish TV will be reaching out to the consumers through the digital space through interesting contests and engagement opportunities on KKR’s Facebook and Twitter pages.

     

    KKR CEO Venky Mysore stated, “With the fine performance of Team KKR over the last four years, which includes IPL championships in 2012 and  2014, we have been able to generate a lot of interesting content for our fans and supporters. This is where the partnership with Dish TV is a perfect fit. Integration of exclusive KKR content through the extensive reach of Dish TV will give people an inside peak into what makes Team KKR work! “

  • Dish TV aims to boost ARPU with differential pricing strategy

    Dish TV aims to boost ARPU with differential pricing strategy

    MUMBAI: Taking the path that cable operators often do, Direct To Home (DTH) operator Dish TV has decided to offer differential pricing across different cities.

     

    Dish TV chief operating officer Salil Kapoor tells Indiantelevision.com that with the DTH operator having over 40 High Definition (HD) channels and superior quality, the consumers would not mind the “marginal jump.”

     

    According to Kapoor, Indian consumers can no longer be treated as “one size fits all,” especially in metro segments. Kapoor believes that the consumer today has the capacity to pay slightly more for a quality product. “This differential pricing is our strategy to give a boost to our Average Revenue Per User (ARPU),” Kapoor informs.

     

    As part of the first phase, metro cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Pune will be targeted. Each pack in these four cities will now cost an additional Rs 10. The revised prices came into effect from 26 February, 2015.  

     

    Dish TV has already introduced differential pricing for its regional brand, Zing. While in Maharashtra, the pack price is pegged at Rs 189, in the state of Odisha it has been priced at Rs 175. Since the strategy worked successfully for its sub brand Zing, Kapoor is of the opinion that it would also work for Dish TV. 

     

    While the packages have currently been introduced for the metros, no decision on other cities has been taken as yet.

  • Dish TV fortifies sports packaging for ICC Cricket World Cup

    Dish TV fortifies sports packaging for ICC Cricket World Cup

    MUMBAI: Cricket fans are currently glued to their television sets as the ICC Cricket World Cup kicked off this past weekend. Service providers such as Airtel Digital TV, Videocon d2h, Tata Sky, Sun Direct and Dish TV too are celebrating the onset of the event.

     

    While Tata Sky and Videocon d2h are pushing their 4K set top boxes, DTH operator Dish TV has decided to fortify its sports packaging to offer a maximum of 12 sports channels during the gala event.

     

    When asked how the DTH platform planned ahead of the World Cup, Dish TV chief operating officer Salil Kapoor says, “We conducted a pan India consumer survey, which revealed that the millennial generation has tremendous interest in sports and that HD is the preferred choice for watching sports. The research also showed an interesting angle that usually in a family its only one person who is interested in sports, the rest are still focused on GEC, movies, music etc.”

     

    Kapoor further says that keeping these insights in mind, the platform re-looked at its packaging. “First we decided to up the HD quotient and added maximum number of HD channels. We now have 39 HD channels. We even fortified our sports packaging, offering maximum sports channels (12) in India,” he informs.

     

    When quizzed about his views on a few DTH platforms focussing on the launch of 4K, which has limited content, Kapoor opines that while 4K is definitively a superior technology, the content for this technology is minimal in India. According to him the sale of DTH HD boxes is directly proportional with the sale of LCD TVs, which constitutes around 65-70 per cent in India, whereas 4K TVs are far too expensive and marginal compared to LCDs.

     

    “It will take some time for this technology to pick up in India and broadcasters to start producing content in 4K. Till then HD will dominate the content market. Understanding this, we introduced 39 HD channels, which are the highest in the country,” he says.

     

    Talking about how the repackaging will help the platform, Kapoor says that they call it a “cricket plus approach,” which highlights something for everyone to enjoy in High Definition.

     

    “The consumer has already taken notice of our enhanced services and the numbers have started ringing in. We will expand our new consumer base significantly. The marketing activities are planned to promote the HD edge that we have as a brand,” he concludes.

  • DTH players gear up ahead of the World Cup

    DTH players gear up ahead of the World Cup

    MUMBAI: The upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup is this year’s biggest sporting event that promises to not just entertain fans of the sport but also provide windfall gain to advertisers and sponsors. Not be left out are direct to home (DTH) players, who are planning to rake in some moolah through various initiatives. 

     

    DTH operator Tata Sky recently launched India’s first 4K set top box (STB) for its existing customers as well as to entice a new bunch of subscribers.

     

    When asked if the move will help increase its subscriber base, Tata Sky CEO Harit Nagpal says, “Those who have invested in 4K television will need a 4K set top box to watch the matches. So it will help the customers who already have 4K TV, to watch the 4K transmission with the help of the STB.”

     

    For Rs 6,400 subscribers can purchase the Tata Sky 4K STB while existing subscribers can buy it for Rs 5,900. Apart from relaying 4K content, the box can also showcase Standard Definition (SD) and High Definition (HD) channels. The STB has the capability of delivering Ultra High Definition picture quality and Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 surround sound. 4K at 8.3 megapixels (3840×2160) has approximately four times the pixels as that of 2K (1920×1080) – the current HD standard.

     

    Sun Direct managing director Mahesh Kumar too agrees that the World Cup will help increase its existing subscriber base. He reasons, “One, cricket is a religion in India and given that the first few days of the tournament starts off with an India Pakistan match – the fervour is going to be high from the start of the tournament. Two, even though the months of February and March are traditionally dull for DTH due to exam fever, we expect the cricket fever to take prominence and more new connections to come in during this period.  Post IPL the love of cricket has transcended countries with the foreign player participation in local leagues, hence viewer interest will be high not only in India playing matches but also in matches with other countries.”

     

    The DTH operator is offering the Star Sports bouquet on its bestselling Cinema + Sports packs. “This is indeed a big plus for our subscribers who can watch the world cup and best of sports during the World Cup and beyond with Sun Direct,” added Kumar.

     

    Sun Direct is offering its Cinema + Sports package at Rs 195 per month. It will be focusing mainly on this pack for the World Cup as it feels this covers most of the requirements of its customers. It will be coming out with high decibel campaigns on TV and print supported with BTL initiatives and digital media to give a 360 degree communication ahead of the World Cup, informs Kumar.

     

    Airtel Digital TV too has jumped on the World Cup bandwagon. For all customers buying Samsung Curve and UHD TV, it will offer HD DVR connection at the same cost as that of an HD connection. Customers will receive   discount coupons worth Rs 2650. Customers can enjoy watching the matches on an HD DVR by just paying Rs 2350. This box, which has an inbuilt hard disk of 500 GB can record content up to 750 hours enabling a customer  to record and watch the world cup matches at a convenient time. Also customers will get free subscription for up to 12 months through a scratch card offer. On other Samsung models, it is offering a discount coupon of Rs 660 on its HD+ variant. This comes along with an eight GB pen drive worth Rs 399, which is offered free. Additionally customers will get free subscription for up to 12 months through a scratch card offer.

     

    This edition of the World Cup will see the first global broadcast of cricket in 4K. Official broadcaster Star will telecast select matches, including India’s opening match against arch-rivals Pakistan, in the 4K format. Online shopping websites like Snapdeal, Amazon and Flipkart have priced the 4K TV’s between the range of Rs 60,000 (lower end) while the higher end categories are priced at an upwards of Rs one lakh.

     

    Videocon d2h too has launched 4K Ultra HD services. It has priced its STB at Rs 6590 for new customers while existing customers can upgrade to 4K DTH for Rs 5990. In addition to 4K channels and content, subscribers can use the STB to view Standard Definition (SD) and High Definition (HD) channels. While the website of Videocon d2h states that delivery of the STB will be made within two weeks from the date of booking, a call made to a customer care executive revealed that it would take around 48 hours.

     

    Dish TV chief operating officer Salil Kapoor expects the cricket World Cup to help further increase its existing customer base and therefore has tweaked its packaging. “Our packaging is very sports centric. Every tier of our packaging has the maximum number of sports channels. We have also kept in mind that HD will play a big role in the World Cup and therefore have maximum number of HD sports channels,” he says.