DTH
Zee’s Dish DTH service to have 100 channels by April-end
NEW DELHI: Having managed to gain a toehold in the market, Dish TV, the first KU-band DTH service in the country, is now looking at expanding its market share through some aggressive marketing and wooing of subscribers by almost doubling the number of channels available on the platform.
Dish TV is all set to add 50 more channels to the platform taking the tally to 100 by April end. Contacted by indiantelevision.com, Essel Group spokesperson Ashish Kaul confirmed the development.
Dish TV is the brand name under which Subhash Chandra’s companies, ASC Enterprises Ltd. (the licence holder) and Zee Telefilms (responsible for implementation) have launched the DTH service. A new entity, called New Era Entertainment, too has been formed to look after the marketing of the service.
At present, a Dish TV subscriber gets 50 channels with ESPN and Star Sports being the last two channels to be added to the list last month. The other channels are pre-dominantly from the Zee Turner bouquet with Dish TV leveraging Zee Telefilms vast film library by launching several movie channels on the DTH platform, including Zee Classic (old Hindi films), FX Movies (English action movies), Premier Movies and Smile TV (mostly comedy-oriented sitcoms and films).
Though aggressive marketing has not been a USP of Dish TV till now, but with the addition of new channels from April end, a marketing blitzkrieg has also been lined up to beef up the overall communication and marketing strategy.
However, with the introduction of two sports channel on the DTH platform, the monthly subscription for Dish TV too would see a hike to approximately Rs 220 from the existing Rs 100 per month.
At the moment, the Dish TV service is beamed via transponders on Insat satellites. But with the commissioning of ASC Enterprises own satellite under the Agrani project, slated for later this year the platform is expected to move on to Agrani. In the Agrani project, global majors Alcatel and Arianespace together have 13 per cent equity stake in Agrani satellite Services Ltd., a subsidiary of ASC Enterprises Ltd. Having invested close to $ 20 million. The deal with Arianespace was signed in 2002.
The Agrani satellite project is estimated to cost around Rs 11.5 billion, including pre-operative costs and finance costs. Financial institutions and banks have committed Rs 6.500 billion debt for the project with a 1.4:1 debt equity ratio.
DTH Operator
JC Flowers withdraws NCLT plea against Dish TV over EGM demand
Move eases pressure on DTH firm as long-running shareholder dispute cools
MUMBAI: In a breather for Dish TV India, JC Flowers Asset Reconstruction has withdrawn its petition before the National Company Law Tribunal seeking directions to convene an extraordinary general meeting.
The development was disclosed by Dish TV in a regulatory filing, confirming that the petitioner chose to withdraw the case during a hearing at the Mumbai bench of the tribunal. A detailed order from the bench is still awaited.
The petition, originally filed under Sections 98 to 100 of the Companies Act, 2013, sought to push for an extraordinary general meeting to address governance issues at the company. The case had its roots in a prolonged shareholder tussle dating back to 2021, when Yes Bank, then the largest shareholder, was at odds with the promoter group led by Subhash Chandra over board reconstitution.
JC Flowers had stepped into the picture as an assignee of Yes Bank’s stressed assets, effectively continuing the legal push initiated earlier. The withdrawal now signals a pause, if not a closure, to that chapter of dispute.
While the reasons behind the withdrawal have not been formally detailed, the move reduces immediate legal pressure on Dish TV, which has been navigating both operational and regulatory challenges in recent years.
For now, the focus shifts back to the company’s business fundamentals, even as the legal dust settles, at least temporarily, on one of its more closely watched shareholder battles.
