DTH
Tata Sky selects IBM hybrid storage to mitigate data loss risk & swift data access
MUMBAI: Direct to home (DTH) operator Tata Sky has selected a new IBM hybrid storage system to help it better serve its 30 million customers.
Additionally, IBM has also opened its first public cloud data centre in India, which is located in Chennai. Part of IBM’s $1.2 billion investment to expand its global cloud footprint into every major financial market, the Chennai data center underscores IBM’s commitment to India, a key growth market for the company.
Tata Sky’s transition to IBM Cloud infrastructure has helped its business become more agile and reduce latency seen in day-to-day processes.
“As the fastest growing, direct-to-home, digital television satellite service provider in India, Tata Sky simply cannot operate without mission-critical storage that provides the utmost business continuity and operational efficiency in both our primary and disaster recovery sites,” said Tata Sky CIO N. Ravishanker.
The technology deployed at Tata Sky relies on mitigating risk of data loss and at the same time, accessing data swiftly. “With IBM DS8000 hybrid flash storage, our response time has significantly improved and queries now return in less than one second, bringing higher efficiencies,” he added.
The company is using IBM DS8000 systems as its primary storage for all critical workloads, including CRM, billing and disaster recovery.
Constant uptime and the risk of data loss is always at the forefront of data-driven enterprises, like Tata Sky, as well as banking, financial and healthcare operations. By 2020, 15 per cent of digital businesses will fail due to inadequate protection against downtime.
Security is also essential for both customer trust and business operations. The cost of a single data breach can spiral to $3.8 million, up 23 per cent since 2013. The DS8000 family meets these challenges by significantly improving the management of growing storage demands required by the realities of today’s digital businesses.
To accelerate business critical computing, IBM announced a new IBM DS8880 family of enterprise hybrid storage, a powerful, next generation system designed with real-time data insights for clients requiring increased performance, data protection and uncompromised, nonstop availability.
With the DS8880 mission-critical applications are accelerated — up to two times faster than previous generations, making it an ideal storage option for banking and financial industries, for use with electronic medical records, as well as for ERP, CRM and retail systems that need reliable, agile and constant access to data.
The latest architecture also mitigates risk since all components are redundant and can be upgraded online. This minimizes downtime to approximately 30 seconds per year — even less if a multi-site disaster recovery solution is also installed.
With a large-scale disaster, business continuance is just as important as data protection and the DS8880 allows remote mirroring that can be integrated with a high availability server capability to provide the highest levels of availability.
For those customers like Tata Sky that are looking for integration with cloud-based and mission critical environments, the DS8880 family offers powerful integration with IBM z Systems and other IBM compute platforms to improve business processes and services by enabling systems for the dynamic demands of analytics, big data and cloud environments. It maximises utilisation of resources, including staff productivity, space and cost with streamlined management and operations and 30 percent reduction in footprint5 on a new 19-inch rack.
“In today’s fast, analytics data-driven, cloud-based world, our clients need storage options that they can rely on and that directly impact their ability to deliver high quality service to their customers and outperform competitors. As part of IBM’s bold commitment to storage, today’s launch of the DS8880 family offers an ideal solution for clients like Tata Sky that require high performing, mission critical acceleration to manage the changing conditions in the modern enterprise,” said IBM Storage general manager Jamie Thomas.
The new DS8880 family of storage incorporates a high performance flash enclosure module providing optimised performance for mission critical applications. Additionally, the system can scale three petabytes, offering advanced features for compliance and security. The DS8880 graphical user interface (GUI) also includes intuitive navigation and streamlined configuration processes, providing customizable views, interactive menus and a configuration wizard to help administrators configure an entire solution in less than 30 minutes.
The new family of storage is available worldwide beginning 14 October, 2015 with a starting price of $50,000 and with new licensing packages for simplified ordering and installation.
DTH
DD Free Dish e-auction revenue dips to Rs 642 crore as slot sales fall
Revenue dips as revised norms reshape bidding in 94th round
NEW DELHI: Prasar Bharati’s DD Free Dish has closed its 8th annual, and 94th overall, e-auction for MPEG-2 slots with total collections of Rs 642 crore for the period April 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027.
That is lower than last year’s Rs 780 crore haul, with 55 slots sold compared with 61 in FY25–26. The softer topline reflects both a slimmer inventory and a recalibrated auction framework.
This was the first auction conducted after amendments to the e-auction methodology, including tighter eligibility norms and a revised reserve price structure for MPEG-2 slots. The stated aim was greater transparency and more serious participation. The immediate outcome appears to be more measured bidding in certain categories.
Day one set the tone. Eight slots were sold, six in the premium Bucket A+ and two in Bucket A. The strong early action in A+, which typically houses Hindi GECs and movie channels, reaffirmed the enduring appeal of mass Hindi programming on the platform.
Among the broadcasters securing slots in the initial rounds were Zee Entertainment Enterprises, Sony Pictures Networks India, Viacom18’s Colors network, Sun Network and Shemaroo Entertainment. Their continued presence signals that, despite the pull of digital platforms, Free Dish remains a strategic must have for legacy networks chasing scale in price sensitive markets.
The final bouquet of 55 channels leans heavily towards Hindi news, movies, devotional fare, Bhojpuri and regional programming.
In Hindi news, familiar heavyweights such as Aaj Tak, ABP News, India TV, News18 India, Republic Bharat and Zee News made the cut. Entertainment and movie offerings include Colors Rishtey, Star Utsav, Dangal TV, Sony Pal, Shemaroo TV, Goldmines, B4U Movies and Zee Biskope. Devotional viewers will find Aastha, Sanskar and Sadhna Gold among the selected channels.
Regional representation includes Sun Marathi, Fakt Marathi, PTC Punjabi and GTC Punjabi.
Equally telling were the absences. Broadcasters such as Big Magic, Filamchi Bhojpuri, India News, Bharat Express, Movieplex Maithili, TV9 Marathi, Shemaroo Marathibana, Zee Chitra Mandir and Satsang did not participate. The pullback is particularly visible across Marathi, Bhojpuri, Maithili and spiritual programming. Industry observers point to the revised reserve prices, tighter eligibility norms and a reassessment of commercial viability as possible factors.
DD Free Dish continues to beam into over 40 million homes, largely in rural and semi urban India. For advertisers and broadcasters alike, it offers efficient access to Bharat markets where pay TV penetration remains uneven and OTT subscriptions are limited.
The moderation in revenue this year may be read as a pause rather than a retreat. Fewer slots, a reworked auction playbook and evolving broadcaster strategies have clearly shaped outcomes. Yet premium Hindi entertainment retains its pull, and the platform’s mass reach remains hard to ignore.
As the FY26–27 line-up settles in, the mix of winners and walkaways will define the private satellite channel landscape on DD Free Dish for the year ahead.
