| Dish TV, which unveiled ESPN and Star Sports some months
back on the platform, has already added a few channels to its stable
since then, like Trace from MCM and Euro Sports. Media reports have
also quoted Sony Entertainment Television India executives saying
that negotiations are on with Zee for Sony channels to join the Dish
TV platform.
In addition, with the increased number of offerings, Dish TV is
in the process of finalising a pricing structure for various tiers
of service for the service. The subscription fee for the basic tier
of DTH service would be kept around Rs 100 (approximately $2.5).
The Zee executive said that as the channels and value-added services
increase, there has to be different pricing for various tiers as
one single price would not make the business commercially viable.
"The various price structures are being worked out and would
be put in place in the next quarter," the Zee executive said.
Dish TV claims to have got 140,000 DTH boxes out in the market,
but this need not necessarily mean that the total number of subscribers
would also be the same.
Gearing up for impending competition from the proposed Tata-Star
combine DTH service, Dish TV is looking at doing some value additions
to the service. One such service being looked at is high-speed Internet
connections through satellite to a DTH subscriber, which would come
at a cost. The Internet service is likely to be introduced in the
last quarter of 2004.
Incidentally, ASC Enterprise, a Subhash Chandra-promoted company
that holds the licence for DTH service in the country, has dropped
its plan to put into orbit a customised satellite. The satellite
project was being implemented by an ASC subsidiary, Agrani Satellite
Services Ltd. The plan now is to buy off the shelf an existing and
orbiting satellite.
Dish TV is a venture of Essel Group, promoted by Chandra. The group's
business interests include media programming, broadcasting and distribution,
packaging, entertainment, online gaming and telecom, all of which
are undertaken in close synergies with Zee Telefilms, Siticable,
Playwin, E-city, Esselworld, Intrex, Cyquator, Essel Propack and
ITZ Cash Card.
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