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Big TV launches HD with DVR, STBs priced at Rs 7490
MUMBAI: Reliance Big TV has launched its high-definition (HD) set-top box with digital video recording (DVR) technology, making it the first DTH operator in India to offer such a service.
The Reliance ADAG company has priced the HD DVR set-top box at Rs 7,490, lesser than Sun Direct HD available at Rs 10,000.
The service will be rolled out across India‘s top 100 cities.
Big TV has also launched entry offers for the south and non-south markets. For non-south markets, Big TV has bundled the STB with three months of Diamond Pack subscription for Rs 7,990.
In the southern market, the entry offer is priced at Rs 7,790 bundled with five months of value pack with a full bouquet of sports channels.
For existing Big TV customers, the company is offering an upgrade option from SD to HD DVR at an exceptional price of Rs 5,990.
Big TV CEO Sanjay Behl said, “This is India‘s first product with a dual benefit of HD viewing and digital video recorder in a single STB. Further, Big TV is the only service provider to offer recording capability upwards of 200 hours and a universal remote control which can manage up to three devices.”
The company expects the top 10 per cent of its existing customers to opt for the HD DVR service. Big TV is also eyeing 10 per cent of the monthly new activations from the top 100 cities.
“The HD services are available at a higher price, so there is likelihood that more affluent and higher income households will be opting for this. We believe, out of 2.5 million subscribers of Big TV, the top 10 per cent would go for the upgradation,” Behl told Indiantelevision.com.
The launch of the HD service is also targeted towards improving Arpus (average revenue par user). Big TV is eyeing a 25-30 per cent higher Arpu from its HD service, Behl said. However, he declined to comment on the current Arpu levels.
“This launch is part of our pursuit of quality and profitable growth by blending best in technology, content experience, reach and service to bring world-class entertainment experience to our customers,” Behl said.
As a part of its HD launch, Big TV has signed a HD content deal with National Geographic to offer its HD channels in India. It will offer the HD channels complementary through entry offers to all new customers. It is in talks with CBS, ESPN, FoX News and Discovery. it plans to launch over the next two months five new HD channels and a host of HD content by forging strategic alliances.
Big TV also said Wednesday it plans to launch six new interactive services during the fiscal.
The company will launch its HD DVR marketing campaign across top 100 cities as part of the launch phase. It will comprise an aggressive multimedia campaign across television, print, digital, social, retail media and BTL mediums.
The high definition feature of Big TV HD DVR offers five times clearer and sharper image quality with two million pixel resolution and digital surround sound effect, the company said. The DVR capabilities offer features like pause, play, rewind live TV and record Live TV.
The HD DVR offers up to 200 hours of recording capacity. It also offers a 3-in-1 universal remote to control the TV, STB and any other music/ disc player system.
The company currently has eight Ku-band transponders on Measat. “We are adding two transponders that will allow us bandwidth to offer more HD content and channels for the next one year. We plan to increase our overall channel capacity to over 300,” said Behl.
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Inshorts Group chief Deepit Purkayastha joins IAB video council for Southeast Asia and India
The co-founder and chief executive of the short-form content platform has been inducted into the IAB SEA+India Video Council, giving India a stronger voice in shaping digital video frameworks
NOIDA: India has long been the world’s most chaotic, multilingual and mobile-first digital market. Now, one of its most prominent short-video executives is getting a seat at the table where the rules are written.
Deepit Purkayastha, co-founder and chief executive of Inshorts Group, has been selected as a member of the IAB SEA+India Video Council for 2026. Run by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the council brings together senior leaders from Southeast Asia and India to shape standards, best practices and measurement frameworks for the fast-evolving video and digital advertising ecosystem.
The timing is pointed. According to the IAMAI-Kantar Internet in India Report 2025, over 588 million Indians are now consuming short-video content, with growth increasingly driven by rural and non-metro audiences. India’s active internet user base has crossed 950 million, with 57 per cent of users now coming from rural markets. Yet the frameworks that govern how video consumption is measured and monetised were largely designed for single-language, Western markets and have struggled to keep pace with the scale, diversity and complexity of India’s digital landscape.
Purkayastha is no stranger to these debates. He already serves on the AI Council at Marketing and Media Alliance India and as co-chair of the Digital Entertainment Committee at the Internet and Mobile Association of India. His induction into the IAB SEA+India Video Council extends that influence into the global video standards arena.
Inshorts Group sits squarely at the intersection of these forces. Its flagship product, Inshorts, India’s highest-rated short news app, reaches 12 million active users with 60-word news summaries. Its sister platform, Public App, reaches 80 million monthly active users across more than 700 districts and 12 languages, serving communities that most global platforms barely register.
Purkayastha said the opportunity was about building something more representative. “India today sits at the centre of the global video ecosystem, but the frameworks that define how value is created and measured have not always kept pace with the realities of our market,” he said. “Being part of the IAB SEA+India Video Council is an opportunity to contribute to a more representative and future-ready approach, one that accounts for diversity in language, context, and user intent.”
As a council member, Purkayastha will contribute to shaping regional standards across video advertising, measurement and platform governance, with a focus on frameworks that are native to India’s multilingual, mobile-first ecosystem rather than imported from global benchmarks designed elsewhere.
For years, India has been content to play by rules written for other markets. Purkayastha’s induction is a signal that it is done waiting to be consulted and ready to start writing them.
