ITV

Tag: STB

  • ABS partners PT Sarana Media to launch Indonesian DTH FreeViews platform

    ABS partners PT Sarana Media to launch Indonesian DTH FreeViews platform

    MACAU: Leading satellite operator ABS has announced today that it will partner with PT Sarana Media Vision (SMV), using SMV’s DTH license to launch a consumer FreeView satellite service – FreeViewSat – across Indonesia in January 2017. The service will be called SMV FreeViewSat and will initially broadcast over 60 television channels via the ABS-2, ABS-2A and ABS-6 satellites in both Ku and C-band.

    For the first time in Indonesia, a free-to-view platform will be available throughout the entire country, allowing advertisers the opportunity to reach the full potential of the Indonesian audience.

    The FreeViewSat model will promote maximum distribution and the cost of the STB & dish will be less than US$35. Customers will only need to make this one-time purchase to enjoy all the TV channels on the platform (with no monthly recurring subscription fees).

    Tom Choi, CEO of ABS commented that “SMV’s FreeViewSat will be very attractive for Indonesia by providing great quality international and unique domestic programming to the entire country. The goal is to deliver high quality entertainment and educational content affordably to all – For the first time, everybody, not only the affluent or those in the urban areas, will be able to receive high quality programming for free, with just a one-time purchase of a set-top box and dish. FreeViewSat will also give advertisers the first real opportunity to reach the whole population of Indonesia, even in rural areas. ABS is delighted to be partnering and supporting this highly worthwhile venture.’’

    At launch in January, FreeViewSat will carry at least 30 local Free-to-Air channels and more than 30 high quality international channels. The number of channels will continue to grow to over 100 channels in the first 6 to 12 months as new and interesting content is added.

    FreeViewSat will be available via 75cm Ku band dishes from 75E on ABS-2 and ABS-2A, and via 1.6m C-band antennas from 156E on ABS-6 simultaneously, so that consumers have the choice of small dishes, or larger ones with better rain protection. Since Indonesia already has over 10 million C-band antennas installed, the adoption rate is expected to be rapid.

    ABS has selected the ABV conditional access and middleware system, along with Ali chips for its Set-Top Boxes.

    Confirmed channels for launch include:

    TV9 Nusantara, TVRI Nasional, DAAI TV, TV One, ANTV, Metro TV, Trans 7, Trans TV, SCTV, Indosair, Kompas TV, Net TV, Bali TV H2, Bloomberg TV, France 24, Fix & Foxi, Action Hollywood Movies, Pulse TV, Al Jazeera English, CCTV-News, CCTV-4, CCTV-9, Russia Today, MediaCorp Channel, Landscape HD, TRACE Urban and TRACE Sport Stars, B4U Music, B4U Movies, NDTV 24/7 and NDTV Good Times, and many more

  • Next FreeDish auction after MPEG4 operationalisation

    Next FreeDish auction after MPEG4 operationalisation

    NEW DELHI: With MPEG4 under final trials and existing channels having received extensions for their licences, the next e-auction of Doordarshan FreeDish will only take place around February 2017.

    Doordarshan had, early last month, formally announced that its free-to-air direct-to-home (FTA DTH) platform was capable of carrying 104 television channels and 24 channels would be added to the existing 80 channels after the launch of MPEG4 technology.

    While three new channels were added in an auction held over two days in mid-October, 24 got their year-long extensions. DD officials also confirmed that FreeDish will soon be capable of carrying up to 250 channels.

    In line with the ‘Digital India’ and ‘Make in India’, DD has decided to implement Indian CAS (iCAS) on DD FreeDish Platform. iCAS (which is an initiative of the central government) is being introduced in 24 MPEG-4 channels. The introduction of iCAS will provide enhanced viewing experience.

    DD officials said these additional 24 MPEG-4 SDTV channels will be available to viewers in FTA mode. The existing viewers will continue to get 80 SDTV channels, but will have to obtain iCAS-enabled authorised set-top boxes for accessing all 104 channels.

    Although FreeDish will remain free to air with no monthly or periodic fee, the viewers will be required to register with DD FreeDish on getting the new STB from Doordarshan authorised STB dealers.

    Slots on DD FreeDish are allocated to private channels through a transparent system of e-auction. DD earned Rs 980 million in 2014-15, Rs 1800 million in 2015-16, and Rs 1040 million till September in 2016-17. The 31st auction brought Rs 1293 million (Rs 129 crore ) last month.

    FreeDish was launched with a modest bouquet of 33 channels in December 2004, and now carries eighty TV channels and 32 radio channels. This includes 22 Doordarshan channels and two parliamentary channels.

    DD officials said implementation of iCAS and authorisation of STB original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) by Doordarshan will give a major thrust to ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India’. At present, a majority of STBs are imported. However, the introduction of iCAS will help in standardization of STBs and encourage quality STB manufacturing in India.

    Also read:   FreeDish ready to beam 104 TV channels; 24 on MPEG4

    Three new TV channels join DD FreeDish bouquet; 24 get extension

  • Next FreeDish auction after MPEG4 operationalisation

    Next FreeDish auction after MPEG4 operationalisation

    NEW DELHI: With MPEG4 under final trials and existing channels having received extensions for their licences, the next e-auction of Doordarshan FreeDish will only take place around February 2017.

    Doordarshan had, early last month, formally announced that its free-to-air direct-to-home (FTA DTH) platform was capable of carrying 104 television channels and 24 channels would be added to the existing 80 channels after the launch of MPEG4 technology.

    While three new channels were added in an auction held over two days in mid-October, 24 got their year-long extensions. DD officials also confirmed that FreeDish will soon be capable of carrying up to 250 channels.

    In line with the ‘Digital India’ and ‘Make in India’, DD has decided to implement Indian CAS (iCAS) on DD FreeDish Platform. iCAS (which is an initiative of the central government) is being introduced in 24 MPEG-4 channels. The introduction of iCAS will provide enhanced viewing experience.

    DD officials said these additional 24 MPEG-4 SDTV channels will be available to viewers in FTA mode. The existing viewers will continue to get 80 SDTV channels, but will have to obtain iCAS-enabled authorised set-top boxes for accessing all 104 channels.

    Although FreeDish will remain free to air with no monthly or periodic fee, the viewers will be required to register with DD FreeDish on getting the new STB from Doordarshan authorised STB dealers.

    Slots on DD FreeDish are allocated to private channels through a transparent system of e-auction. DD earned Rs 980 million in 2014-15, Rs 1800 million in 2015-16, and Rs 1040 million till September in 2016-17. The 31st auction brought Rs 1293 million (Rs 129 crore ) last month.

    FreeDish was launched with a modest bouquet of 33 channels in December 2004, and now carries eighty TV channels and 32 radio channels. This includes 22 Doordarshan channels and two parliamentary channels.

    DD officials said implementation of iCAS and authorisation of STB original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) by Doordarshan will give a major thrust to ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India’. At present, a majority of STBs are imported. However, the introduction of iCAS will help in standardization of STBs and encourage quality STB manufacturing in India.

    Also read:   FreeDish ready to beam 104 TV channels; 24 on MPEG4

    Three new TV channels join DD FreeDish bouquet; 24 get extension

  • Q2-17: Dish TV adds 2.59 lakh subscribers

    Q2-17: Dish TV adds 2.59 lakh subscribers

    BENGALURU: Indian direct to home (DTH) company Dish TV India Limited (Dish TV) has reported growth across important financial and operational parameters including operating revenues (TIO) , EBIDTA and subscription numbers. The company reported addition of 2.59 lakh net subscribers for the quarter ended 30 September 2016 (Q2-17, current). It closed the quarter with 151 lakh subscribers. Average revenue per user (ARPU) for Q2-17 was Rs 162 in the current quarter versus Rs 161 in the corresponding year ago quarter..

    Dish TV reported 11.9 per cent higher y-o-y subscription revenue of Rs 728.8 crore for Q2-17, as compared to Rs 651.4 crore. Operating revenue in the current quarter increased 9.6 per cent y-o-y to Rs 779.6 crore from Rs 711.2 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. (Refer Note 2.1 and 2.2 below)

    Segment Revenue

    Three segments contribute to Dish TV’s numbers – DTH; Infra Support Services; and ‘Others’.

    DTH segment revenue in Q2-17 declined 14.2 per cent to Rs 509.55 crore from Rs 594.16 crore in Q2-16. The segment reported 15.5 per cent lower operating profit in the current quarter at Rs 86.43 crore as compared to Rs 102.24 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter.

    Infra Support services segment reported 13.7 higher y-o-y revenue of Rs 280.65 crore in Q2-17 vis-à-vis Rs 246.91 crore in Q2-16. The segment’s operating profit declined 39.3 per cent in the current quarter to Rs 12.30 crore from Rs 20.26 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter.

    ‘Others’ segment revenue increased 3.5 per cent in Q2-17 to Rs 5.59 crore from Rs 5.40 crore in Q2-16. The segment’s operating profit grew 5.3 per cent in the current quarter to Rs 2.80 crore from Rs 2.6 6 crore in Q2-16.

    A look at the other numbers reported by Dish TV

    Dish TV reported PAT of Rs. 70.1 crore in Q2-17, down 19.4 per cent as compared to Rs 87 crore in Q2-16.

    EBIDTA in the current quarter increased 3.6 per cent to Rs 264.2 crore from Rs 255 crore in Q2-16.

    Expense in the current quarter increased 12.9 per cent y-o-y to Rs 51.51 crore from Rs 456.2 crore. Employee Benefits Expense increased 23.1 per cent y-o-y to Rs 36.4 crore from Rs 29.58 crore. Other operating expenses in the current quarter declined 30.8 per cent to Rs 70.14 crore from Rs 101.30 crore in Q2-16..

    Licensing fees in the current quarter increased 1.3 per cent to Rs 54.52 crore from Rs 53.81 crore in Q2-17. Programming/Content and other costs in Q2-17 increased 17.4 per cent to Rs 238.92 crore from Rs 203.54 crore in Q2-16.

    Dish TV managing director Jawahar Goel said, “Torrential rains in many parts of the country often force consumers to defer buying a new DTH connection while the existing ones may delay recharging if the going gets too tough. Both sales and recharge however normalize subsequently if the festival season hits early. Targeting phase 3 & 4 markets, our subscriber additions during the quarter remained in-line with expectations.”

    Expressing his views on the regulatory developments, Goel, said, “While the draft Regulations have been formulated with an intention of subscriber welfare, there are certain omissions, optimistic presumptions as well as unanswered questions that would hopefully be addressed once the final orders see the light of the day. We appreciate the spirit of transparency and non-discrimination that have been the guiding force behind these draft orders and hope that DTH would soon get the level playing field that it has been seeking. Restrictions placed on carriage fees should go a long way in correcting the industry macro environment.”

    “We continue to remain positive about other regulatory interventions including the proposed new license regime for the DTH sector and the impending nationwide roll-out of Goods and Services Tax (GST). The centre proposing 12 per cent and 18 per cent as the standard rates for majority of the taxable goods is a welcome step,” he added.

    Discussing the results, Goel said, “Healthy subscriber additions led to a 11.9% y-o-y growth in subscription revenues. EBITDA margin was 33.9 per cent. Net Profit for the quarter was Rs. 701 million (Rs 70.1 crore) and positive Free Cash Flow was Rs. 791 million (Rs 79.1 crore).”

    Notes:The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee – Rs (also conventionally represented by INR). The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:
    (a) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10,000,000 = 10 million = 1 crore.
    (b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 arab = 1 billion.

  • Q2-17: Dish TV adds 2.59 lakh subscribers

    Q2-17: Dish TV adds 2.59 lakh subscribers

    BENGALURU: Indian direct to home (DTH) company Dish TV India Limited (Dish TV) has reported growth across important financial and operational parameters including operating revenues (TIO) , EBIDTA and subscription numbers. The company reported addition of 2.59 lakh net subscribers for the quarter ended 30 September 2016 (Q2-17, current). It closed the quarter with 151 lakh subscribers. Average revenue per user (ARPU) for Q2-17 was Rs 162 in the current quarter versus Rs 161 in the corresponding year ago quarter..

    Dish TV reported 11.9 per cent higher y-o-y subscription revenue of Rs 728.8 crore for Q2-17, as compared to Rs 651.4 crore. Operating revenue in the current quarter increased 9.6 per cent y-o-y to Rs 779.6 crore from Rs 711.2 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. (Refer Note 2.1 and 2.2 below)

    Segment Revenue

    Three segments contribute to Dish TV’s numbers – DTH; Infra Support Services; and ‘Others’.

    DTH segment revenue in Q2-17 declined 14.2 per cent to Rs 509.55 crore from Rs 594.16 crore in Q2-16. The segment reported 15.5 per cent lower operating profit in the current quarter at Rs 86.43 crore as compared to Rs 102.24 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter.

    Infra Support services segment reported 13.7 higher y-o-y revenue of Rs 280.65 crore in Q2-17 vis-à-vis Rs 246.91 crore in Q2-16. The segment’s operating profit declined 39.3 per cent in the current quarter to Rs 12.30 crore from Rs 20.26 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter.

    ‘Others’ segment revenue increased 3.5 per cent in Q2-17 to Rs 5.59 crore from Rs 5.40 crore in Q2-16. The segment’s operating profit grew 5.3 per cent in the current quarter to Rs 2.80 crore from Rs 2.6 6 crore in Q2-16.

    A look at the other numbers reported by Dish TV

    Dish TV reported PAT of Rs. 70.1 crore in Q2-17, down 19.4 per cent as compared to Rs 87 crore in Q2-16.

    EBIDTA in the current quarter increased 3.6 per cent to Rs 264.2 crore from Rs 255 crore in Q2-16.

    Expense in the current quarter increased 12.9 per cent y-o-y to Rs 51.51 crore from Rs 456.2 crore. Employee Benefits Expense increased 23.1 per cent y-o-y to Rs 36.4 crore from Rs 29.58 crore. Other operating expenses in the current quarter declined 30.8 per cent to Rs 70.14 crore from Rs 101.30 crore in Q2-16..

    Licensing fees in the current quarter increased 1.3 per cent to Rs 54.52 crore from Rs 53.81 crore in Q2-17. Programming/Content and other costs in Q2-17 increased 17.4 per cent to Rs 238.92 crore from Rs 203.54 crore in Q2-16.

    Dish TV managing director Jawahar Goel said, “Torrential rains in many parts of the country often force consumers to defer buying a new DTH connection while the existing ones may delay recharging if the going gets too tough. Both sales and recharge however normalize subsequently if the festival season hits early. Targeting phase 3 & 4 markets, our subscriber additions during the quarter remained in-line with expectations.”

    Expressing his views on the regulatory developments, Goel, said, “While the draft Regulations have been formulated with an intention of subscriber welfare, there are certain omissions, optimistic presumptions as well as unanswered questions that would hopefully be addressed once the final orders see the light of the day. We appreciate the spirit of transparency and non-discrimination that have been the guiding force behind these draft orders and hope that DTH would soon get the level playing field that it has been seeking. Restrictions placed on carriage fees should go a long way in correcting the industry macro environment.”

    “We continue to remain positive about other regulatory interventions including the proposed new license regime for the DTH sector and the impending nationwide roll-out of Goods and Services Tax (GST). The centre proposing 12 per cent and 18 per cent as the standard rates for majority of the taxable goods is a welcome step,” he added.

    Discussing the results, Goel said, “Healthy subscriber additions led to a 11.9% y-o-y growth in subscription revenues. EBITDA margin was 33.9 per cent. Net Profit for the quarter was Rs. 701 million (Rs 70.1 crore) and positive Free Cash Flow was Rs. 791 million (Rs 79.1 crore).”

    Notes:The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee – Rs (also conventionally represented by INR). The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:
    (a) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10,000,000 = 10 million = 1 crore.
    (b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 arab = 1 billion.

  • YuppTV set to close Rs 100-crore plus funding

    YuppTV set to close Rs 100-crore plus funding

    MUMBAI: The OTT video space is slated to get hyper-competitive with a slew of broadcaster-led players and even deep-pocketed telcos haring into it. YuppTV, one of the early movers, has now decided to fortify its financial resources in a bid to face the onslaught.

    The company – led by Uday Reddy – says it is on the threshold of closing its second round of funding which will see it adding funds running into three digit crore to its kitty. Speaking to Hindu BusinessLine, Reddy said that the company has already pocketed $15 million in its Series A, and was about to close its next round of fund-raising.

    Reddy sees the market heading toward consolidation. “We are contemplating acquiring a firm to strengthen our leadership,” Reddy informed BusinessLine. YuppTV has also appointed the Telugu superstar Mahesh Babu as its brand ambassador.

    It offers a bouquet of services including 200 TV channels, seven-day catch-up TV, 100-plus TV shows, and 5,000 plus movies as a VOD service. Its subscription packages vary from Rs 5 a day to Rs 30 a week to Rs 99 a month.

    YuppTV is taking a major step with making Babu the ambassador. Babu is a big name of Tollywood, and it is sure that the collaboration will work great for the promotion of the channel.

    The web portal of YuppTV was established in 2006, offers more than 898 Indian TV Channels in 13 languages that include Kannada, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, Marathi, Oriya, Gujarati, Punjabi, Sinhalese, Urdu and English. The best part of YuppTV is it allows access through 25 devices to six screens, Internet STBs, connected TVs, PCs, smart phones, smart BluRay players, gaming consoles and tablets.

  • YuppTV set to close Rs 100-crore plus funding

    YuppTV set to close Rs 100-crore plus funding

    MUMBAI: The OTT video space is slated to get hyper-competitive with a slew of broadcaster-led players and even deep-pocketed telcos haring into it. YuppTV, one of the early movers, has now decided to fortify its financial resources in a bid to face the onslaught.

    The company – led by Uday Reddy – says it is on the threshold of closing its second round of funding which will see it adding funds running into three digit crore to its kitty. Speaking to Hindu BusinessLine, Reddy said that the company has already pocketed $15 million in its Series A, and was about to close its next round of fund-raising.

    Reddy sees the market heading toward consolidation. “We are contemplating acquiring a firm to strengthen our leadership,” Reddy informed BusinessLine. YuppTV has also appointed the Telugu superstar Mahesh Babu as its brand ambassador.

    It offers a bouquet of services including 200 TV channels, seven-day catch-up TV, 100-plus TV shows, and 5,000 plus movies as a VOD service. Its subscription packages vary from Rs 5 a day to Rs 30 a week to Rs 99 a month.

    YuppTV is taking a major step with making Babu the ambassador. Babu is a big name of Tollywood, and it is sure that the collaboration will work great for the promotion of the channel.

    The web portal of YuppTV was established in 2006, offers more than 898 Indian TV Channels in 13 languages that include Kannada, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, Marathi, Oriya, Gujarati, Punjabi, Sinhalese, Urdu and English. The best part of YuppTV is it allows access through 25 devices to six screens, Internet STBs, connected TVs, PCs, smart phones, smart BluRay players, gaming consoles and tablets.

  • FreeDish ready to beam 104 TV channels; 24 on MPEG4

    FreeDish ready to beam 104 TV channels; 24 on MPEG4

    NEW DELHI: Doordarshan today formally announced that it is now capable of carrying 104 television channels on its free-to-air direct-to-home FreeDish. 24 channels that are being added to the existing 80 channels will be directly be launched on MPEG4 technology.

    DD officials also confirmed that FreeDish will soon be capable of carrying up to 250 channels.

    In line with the ‘Digital India’ and ‘Make in India’, DD has decided to implement Indian CAS (iCAS) on DD FreeDish Platform. iCAS (which is an initiative of the central government, is being initially introduced in 24 MPEG-4 channels. The introduction of iCAS will provide enhanced viewing experience.

    DD officials said these additional 24 MPEG-4 SDTV channels will be available to viewers in FTA mode. The existing viewers will continue to get 80 SDTV channels, but will have to obtain iCAS-enabled authorised set-top boxes for accessing all 104 channels.

    Although FreeDish will remain free to air with no monthly or periodic fee, the viewers will be required to register with DD FreeDish on getting the new STB from Doordarshan authorised STB dealers.

    Slots on DD FreeDish are allocated to private channels through a transparent system of e-auction. DD earned Rs 980 million in 2014-15, Rs 1800 million in 2015-16, and Rs 1040 million till September in 2016-17. The next auction – the 31st – is slated for 5 October. FreeDish was launched with a modest bouquet of 33 channels in December 2004, and now carries eight TV channels and 32 radio channels.

    The platform has a rich bouquet of channels consisting of 22 Doordarshan channels, two parliamentary channels, seven general entertainment and music channels each, 18 movie channels, 13 news channels, three religious channels and eight channels of other genres.

    DD officials said implementation of iCAS and authorisation of STB original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) by Doordarshan will give a major thrust to ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India’. At present, a majority of STBs are imported. However, the introduction of iCAS will help in standardization of STBs and encourage quality STB manufacturing in India.

    For authorisation of STB OEMs, a series of meetings were conducted by DD DG Supriya Sahu and her team with the Indian STB manufacturers, Department of Telecom and Information Technology, C-DAC, chip set manufacturers and other stakeholders.

    After active consultation with all the stakeholders, DD started the process for rolling out MPEG-4 STBs for its DD FreeDish with iCAS. Doordarshan has invited e-applications for authorisation / empanelment of STB OEMs to sell / distribute DD-approved CAS-enabled DD FreeDish set-top boxes (STB) in India.

    Once the Indian STB OEMs are authorised by DD, they will start manufacturing quality STBs in India. They will set up their distribution network all over India for selling Indian STBs and providing services to Doordarshan FreeDish viewers. Doordarshan DTH has also planned to set up customer care service for DD FreeDish viewers and has planned extensive complaint redressal mechanism.

  • FreeDish ready to beam 104 TV channels; 24 on MPEG4

    FreeDish ready to beam 104 TV channels; 24 on MPEG4

    NEW DELHI: Doordarshan today formally announced that it is now capable of carrying 104 television channels on its free-to-air direct-to-home FreeDish. 24 channels that are being added to the existing 80 channels will be directly be launched on MPEG4 technology.

    DD officials also confirmed that FreeDish will soon be capable of carrying up to 250 channels.

    In line with the ‘Digital India’ and ‘Make in India’, DD has decided to implement Indian CAS (iCAS) on DD FreeDish Platform. iCAS (which is an initiative of the central government, is being initially introduced in 24 MPEG-4 channels. The introduction of iCAS will provide enhanced viewing experience.

    DD officials said these additional 24 MPEG-4 SDTV channels will be available to viewers in FTA mode. The existing viewers will continue to get 80 SDTV channels, but will have to obtain iCAS-enabled authorised set-top boxes for accessing all 104 channels.

    Although FreeDish will remain free to air with no monthly or periodic fee, the viewers will be required to register with DD FreeDish on getting the new STB from Doordarshan authorised STB dealers.

    Slots on DD FreeDish are allocated to private channels through a transparent system of e-auction. DD earned Rs 980 million in 2014-15, Rs 1800 million in 2015-16, and Rs 1040 million till September in 2016-17. The next auction – the 31st – is slated for 5 October. FreeDish was launched with a modest bouquet of 33 channels in December 2004, and now carries eight TV channels and 32 radio channels.

    The platform has a rich bouquet of channels consisting of 22 Doordarshan channels, two parliamentary channels, seven general entertainment and music channels each, 18 movie channels, 13 news channels, three religious channels and eight channels of other genres.

    DD officials said implementation of iCAS and authorisation of STB original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) by Doordarshan will give a major thrust to ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India’. At present, a majority of STBs are imported. However, the introduction of iCAS will help in standardization of STBs and encourage quality STB manufacturing in India.

    For authorisation of STB OEMs, a series of meetings were conducted by DD DG Supriya Sahu and her team with the Indian STB manufacturers, Department of Telecom and Information Technology, C-DAC, chip set manufacturers and other stakeholders.

    After active consultation with all the stakeholders, DD started the process for rolling out MPEG-4 STBs for its DD FreeDish with iCAS. Doordarshan has invited e-applications for authorisation / empanelment of STB OEMs to sell / distribute DD-approved CAS-enabled DD FreeDish set-top boxes (STB) in India.

    Once the Indian STB OEMs are authorised by DD, they will start manufacturing quality STBs in India. They will set up their distribution network all over India for selling Indian STBs and providing services to Doordarshan FreeDish viewers. Doordarshan DTH has also planned to set up customer care service for DD FreeDish viewers and has planned extensive complaint redressal mechanism.

  • DD notifies tenders for FreeDish MPEG4 STBs

    DD notifies tenders for FreeDish MPEG4 STBs

    NEW DELHI: Tenders submitted for set top boxes suitable for MPEG4 upgradation of the country’s only free-to-air direct-to-home platform DD FreeDish will be opened on 25 October 2016.

    In an announcement, the Indian pubcaster Doordarshan said that original equipment manufacturers filing tenders for this purpose would have to be DD authorized OEMs to sell DD approved Indian conditional access system (iCAS) and firmware/middleware-enabled boxes. 

    Those applying would have to buy the form for Rs 10,000 and then give earnest money for Rs 1 million and deliver the STBs within a period of three months.

    A DD official, who did not want to be named, said it was clear that DD will not be paying any money to those who are found suitable but will only approve their bids in accordance with the parameters set for suitability of the STBs. The earnest money was only aimed at getting genuine manufacturers, he added.

    India is expected to have 173 million paid cable and satellite home in India by the beginning of next year and the official added that the exact number of FreeDish subscribers would be known when the Indian Conditional Access System (iCAS) system becomes fully operational. Since any individual can buy a FreeDish antenna and set it atop his house, it is difficult to indicate the number of subscribers.

    A pre-bid conference would be held on 3 October 2016.

    The application form, including technical and financial details, can be downloaded from website www.tenderwizard.com/PB. E-application notice is also available on Doordarshan website www.ddindia.gov.in using the link tender notice (engineering) or from eprocure.gov.in/cppp.

    Earlier, indiiantelevision.com had reported that FreeDish had plans to add 24 new channels, increasing the number from 80 to 104.

    The platform has space for 80 channels altogether, including its own channels and Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha TV along with 24 All India Radio channels.

    Sources told indiantelevision.com that FreeDish is being encrypted through iCAS to keep a tab on the number of subscribers, but it would remain free-to-air.

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