DTH
DirecTV selects Harmonic’s MPEG-4 AVC digital video solutions
MUMBAI: Harmonic Inc. announced that direct-to-home (DTH) satellite television provider DirecTV, Inc. has selected the DiviCom MV 100 standard definition encoder for new MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) based video services.
The most widely deployed MPEG-4 AVC-enabled encoder in the industry, the advanced technology of the MV 100 makes it possible to generate superior full resolution digital video. DirecTV is also utilising Harmonic’s DiviTrackXE statistical multiplexing solution and NMX Digital Service Manager, a unique service-oriented video infrastructure monitoring and control system.
“Harmonic is a long-time video headend solution partner to DirecTV. Harmonic’s DiviCom MV 100, which is being deployed to encode channels using MPEG-4 AVC, combined with the DiviTrackXE statistical multiplexing system is a technically advanced video compression solution,” said DirecTV chief technology officer Romulo Pontual.
“In the competitive North American market where there is a constant demand for new services, Harmonic’s digital video solutions offer DirecTV improved flexibility. Worldwide, our DiviCom MV 100 systems are powering more real-time and storage encoding applications for satellite DTH and content distribution services than any other platform. DirecTV’s selection of the MV 100 attests to the system’s advanced capabilities and Harmonic’s market leadership in ready-to-deploy MPEG-4 solutions,” said Harmonic Inc executive vice president Patrick Harshman.
The unique architecture of the MV 100 permits operators to select from a range of compression cores — MPEG-2, MPEG-4 AVC or SMPTE VC-1 — according to their unique technical requirements. Field-installable software modules allow an easy and cost-effective transition from one compression technology to another in a timeframe most appropriate to the operator’s business, in addition to continuous performance and video quality improvements.
Harmonic’s DiviTrackXE closed-loop statistical multiplexing system dynamically allocates bandwidth to each channel based on the complexity of the video being encoded, making it possible to achieve a significant scaling of channel density. NMX Digital Service Manager offers a powerful set of tools designed to streamline problem detection, analysis and resolution, implement advanced redundancy architectures, automate service and resource scheduling, as well as to facilitate system installation and configuration.
DTH
DD Free Dish e-auction heats up with 26 MPEG-2 slots sold in two days
Hindi movies, GEC and news dominate; Star Utsav Movies tops Day 2 at Rs 213.45 crore
MUMBAI- The bidding war on DD Free Dish is turning into a blockbuster and the slots are selling faster than popcorn at interval. Prasar Bharati’s 8th annual MPEG-2 e-auction delivered another strong day on Tuesday, with 18 more channels securing spots across movies, regional music and news buckets, taking the two-day total to 26.
Day 2 belonged to the movies and news categories. In Bucket A (Hindi Movies), Star Utsav Movies led the pack at Rs 213.45 crore, pipped only narrowly by Zee Action at Rs 213.4 crore. Goldmines landed at Rs 13.35 crore and Zee Anmol at Rs 13.3 crore, showing razor-thin price bands and fierce competition. Bucket B saw Zee Bioscope top at Rs 10.6 crore, Bhojpuri Cinema Rs 10.5 crore, B4U Bhojpuri Rs 10.2 crore, while Showbox, Unique TV and B4U Music each closed at Rs 10.25 crore.
News channels in Bucket C stayed tightly bunched: NDTV, Aaj Bharat, Zee News and India TV all secured slots at Rs 8.6 crore, with News Nation and ABP News slightly higher at Rs 8.65 crore. Bucket D rounded out with Russia Today at Rs 9.75 crore and GTC Punjabi at Rs 7.92 crore.
Day 1 had already set a premium tone, with eight slots snapped up – six in Bucket A+ (Hindi/Urdu GEC, starting reserve Rs 15 crore) and two in Bucket A (Hindi/Urdu Movies, starting Rs 12 crore). Sony PAL topped Day 1 winners at Rs 16.55 crore, Star Utsav Rs 16.25 crore, Shemaroo TV Rs 16.35 crore, Zee Anmol, Colors Rishtey and Sun Neo at Rs 16.40 crore each. Sony WAH took a Bucket A slot at Rs 13.95 crore and Zee Anmol Cinema at Rs 13.45 crore.
The surge reflects broadcasters’ hunger for DD Free Dish’s estimated 43–45 million rural and semi-urban households, where Hindi GEC and movies remain advertising goldmines.
The auction runs under the revised E-auction Methodology 2025 (amended 9 January 2026), with escalating reserves – Round 2 Bucket A+ at Rs 16 crore, Round 3 Bucket A at Rs 13 crore – and stricter eligibility to weed out speculative bids. Channels must be operational, available in the relevant language, and already carried on at least one private DTH, DD Free Dish or registered MSO.
With premium genres flying off the shelf, the coming rounds will test how deep pockets really are as reserves climb and tactical down-bidding gets harder. In India’s largest free-to-air universe, these auctions aren’t just about slots – they’re about who gets to stay on the screen that reaches deepest into the heartland.
