Essel's ASC to bring Dish TV direct-to-home in October

India will join a select club of countries where cable and satellite television is delivered Direct-To-Home(DTH).

The first licence-holder for DTH, Essel Group's ASC Enterprises, has already started test runs of its DTH services, Dish TV, and the commercial launch is expected in October.

Indian which has 44 million cable and satellite households has a diverse topography and it is not possible to lay cable everywhere. DTH involves transmission of TV channel signals through a satellite direct to a viewer, so one can bid goodbye to the cable operator. There is no ground infrastructure required except for a pizza-sized dish antenna that can be fixed any where rooftop, window, terrace all that is needed is a view of the sky. It does not matter if there are mountains or tall buildings around, as the signals are carried in the exclusive and powerful KU band, so people in remote connected areas too can access cable and satellite TV through DTH. In fact, ASC's focus would be on non-metros initially.

It is learnt "sufficient" set-top boxes (STBs) have come in apparently taking advantage of the duty relaxation announced to smoothen the CAS rollout. Enquiry's made by ET revealed that since the government has neither specified that the integrated receiver decoders (IRDs another name for STBs) should be only CAS enabled, nor stipulated that STBs for DTH should be imported only after the licence issue, imports had already taken place.

Ashish Kaul, vice president, corporate brand development, Essel group said. "Our services was slated for launch this quarter of 2003 irrespective of any concessions. However, it makes perfect business sense to pass on the benefits to the consumer." The entry level STB is priced about Rs.5,000 while a high-end one is about Rs.12,000. Asked how much the total package would cost a consumer, Mr. Kaual said, "A basic customer premise equipment dish antenna, STB smart card etc would be in the region of Rs.4,000 Rs.5,000 with a basic subscription of Rs.150.

-The Economic Times