Technology Blog

Reliance BIG TV Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Communications Ltd., today announced the launch of 32 exclusive Movie Channels including a dedicated Kannada Movie Channel. The company also launched India’s first Subscription Video on Demand service on BIG TV DTH using which BIG TV customers can watch 600 movies every year.

“BIG TV truly harnesses the convergence of technology, information and entertainment to deliver the largest bouquet of content, ever done in India. BIG TV Customers would have access to 32 exclusive movie channels over and above the currently available movie channels”, said Mr. Mahesh Prasad, President – Application Services Group, Reliance Communications. “South India is the fastest growing, fiercely competitive and most exciting market for BIG TV to be in. Regional Movie Channels including a dedicated Tamil Movie Channel, with fully Digital Picture and Sound experience, would be amongst the key differentiators to create an unmatched Home Entertainment Service in South Indian TV homes”, he added.

BIG TV DTH service is available at 1 Lakh retail outlets, including over 240 Reliance World and 2000 Reliance Mobile Stores, across 6500 towns in the country. BIG TV DTH Service would be available at 6552 outlets, including 18 Reliance World and 48 Reliance Stores, across 388 cities in Karnataka. Over 28885 outlets across 1614 South Indian towns would retail BIG TV’s Fully Digital Home Entertainment Service.

“Superior content appealing across customer segments and regions with highest levels of customer service at prevailing price points are the pillars of our strategy to become the largest Home Entertainment Service in first year of launch. Subscription Video-on-Demand would redefine Pay-per-View market in the country by making premium content affordable and accessible at click of a button”, said Mr. Arun Kapoor, CEO – BIG TV DTH. “The Home Entertainment market in India has a huge appetite for Movies, which has been hugely underserved till date. BIG TV DTH would address this huge latent demand by offering 600 new movies every year at fully Digital picture and sound experience. BIG TV DTH is undoubtedly the Best Value Proposition for Home Entertainment Service for the 120 Mn Indian TV households”, he added.

Using the Worlds Most advanced MPEG 4 technology, a generation ahead of MPEG 2 platform used by other DTH operators; BIG TV DTH offers over 200 TV, Cinema and Audio Channels, the largest by any DTH or Cable Operator in the country. With the unique strengths in the telecommunications and entertainment sectors embedded within the Reliance ADA Group, BIG TV DTH brings together the best class technology and the widest choice of popular content suited across customer segments and regions.

“The launch of BIG TV DTH is amongst the largest retail rollout of a Home Entertainment Service in the World and larger than the Brand rollouts of many FMCG and Consumer Durable Brands in India”, said Mr. Sanjay Behl, Group Head – Brand and Marketing, Reliance Communications. “The BIG TV brand marks the beginning of a new era of TV viewing in Indian homes. BIG TV DTH service shift of TV content control from broadcaster to customer hands, through an in-house 32 movies 24X7 multiplex, 10 digital quality music channels, next-generation technologically advanced “easy-to-use” user guides and plethora of customer delight features

The country’s largest distribution and customer service infrastructure for Home Entertainment Service built by BIG TV DTH enables it to serve over 5 million new customers every year. The customer service and support infrastructure comprises of an army of 5400 specially trained installers, capable of installing over 15,000 connections daily and within 48-72 hours of every customer order.

Tracing the ethos and philosophy of Reliance ADA Group, at the time of its launch, BIG TV DTH offers over 100 channels more than any competing offering, has a retail presence of 2-3 times more than any other DTH operator and offers services in more than double the number of cities / towns any DTH operator has still reached.

BIG TV’s Fully Digital Home Entertainment Service is available at Rs. 1490 including set of box, subscription is free and for RS. 500 free 12 months subscription. It includes 32 exclusive movie channels.

Reliance’s BigTV is launching it’s DTH service on august 15th.

The service will have 32 cinema channels, and will be distributed via 700 distributors across the country.

The company is believed to have placed order for 5 million Set Top Boxes with Korean and Taiwanese vendors to meet its requirements in the first year. The company has already completed trial runs across 2,400 towns and the service is currently available for customers of other Reliance ADAG group companies for Rs 1,000. – source

Quick look at Indian DTH Market

• Two key players – DIshTV and Tata Sky.
• Current subscriber base stands at 6.5-7 million (total TV household in India ~124 mn).
• By 2011, the DTH subscriber base is expected to grow to 25mn.

Currently, Tata Sky and ESPN are fighting a legal battle over pricing issues. Expect more such stuff, as the market is evolving and new entrants like Reliance might play on underpricing strategy which incumbents might fight difficult to catch up with.

Airtel too is launching it’s DTH service in the next 2 months.

Cable and DTH viewers are set to get a wider choice, with Anil Ambani Group firm Reliance Communications expected to start nationwide commercial operations of its DTH service from August 15.     

‘Big Digital TV DTH’, a subsidiary of Rcom, is betting big on the huge potential of home entertainment in the Indian households.     

It is estimated that India has over 124 million TV households, with roughly 80 million using the conventional cable delivery platform.

DTH operators in the country, Tata Sky, DishTV and Sun are estimated to have a user base of around 7-8 million.     

Big Digital TV DTH would announce its tariff plans in the next few days before the launch of services, sources close to the development said.     

When contacted company spokesperson refused to comment.     

Sources, however, said Big Digital TV DTH would unleash an aggressive launch plan with an aim to become the largest DTH operator in the country in the first year of operation.      

The company is believed to have placed order for 5 million Set Top Boxes with Korean and Taiwanese vendors to meet its requirements in the first year, they said, adding Big Digital TV is targetting to capture a substantial share of the DTH market that is projected to cross 25-million user base in the next three years.     

The company has already completed trial runs across 2,400 towns and the service is currently available for customers