Reliance ADAG To Kick-Off Big TV On Tuesday

August 19, 2008 · Filed Under Reliance ADAG 
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Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group is expected to kick-off the much-awaited Big TV, the Direct-To- Home service from Reliance’s Big TV DTH service on Tuesday, August 19th, in Mumbai, reported the media.

Big TV is the fourth player in the DTH sector of 7-million subscriber market, following Dish TV that entered DTH space in 2003, Tata Sky in 2006 and Sun Direct in 2007. Doordarshan’s DD Direct Plus launched in 2003 is the other player that provides free-to-air service. If media reports are to be believed, the Big TV would be launched with over 200 channels in the basic bouquet, the largest offering compared to other operators.

Initially, Big TV is expected to come out with three to four schemes on the set top boxes similar to offers from the rival DTH operators. The company is likely to offer its monthly subscription fees at aggressive price points of around Rs.200-Rs.250. Big TV is also likely to bundle offers like discounts on 26-inch LCD television sets along with its subscription.
Big TV is expected to offer 25 movie channels, 8-10 special interactive offerings, and game channels using the MPEG-4 compression technology. Under MPEG-4, service providers could compress about 30 % more channels per transponder compared to those with MPEG-2, which is used by Dish TV and Tata Sky. Meanwhile, Sun Direct is the other player that uses MPEG-4 compression technology.

Media reports citing sources close to development said that Big TV is the first direct-to-home service that is set to commercially launch its backup infrastructure site in Bangalore along with its Mumbai site. This back up infrastructure is developed to automatically provide a buffer against service problems that could affect customers during times of bad weather, poor signal or power failure at an estimated cost of Rs.100 crores.

Industry sources expect the competition between the three existing DTH operators on the pricing front to intensify following Big TV’s foray into DTH. The sources added that Reliance Big TV would likely spend Rs.200 crores on marketing and promotion in the first year of its launch.

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