Times Group introduces ‘exclusive’ content online for subscribers

Times Group, India’s largest media group, has taken a step towards what may eventually be a paid model for online news by introducing ‘exclusive’ content for registered users. For now, registration and membership is free. Users can sign in using their Facebook or Google IDs, without having to type a single word. PAID MODEL? The move […]

Tata Sky to add five more HD channels to take total to 86

Tata Sky, the Indian DTH operator with the highest amount of spectrum and channels, will add five more HD channels to take the total high-definition offerings on the platform to 86. The new channels being added tomorrow are DSports, MTV HD+, Surya (Malayalam), Udaya (Kannada) and Gemini Movies (Telugu). With 86 HD channels, the operator […]

Zee launches ‘nationalist’ news channel Hindustan with no TRP obsession

Zee Media Ltd, the news broadcasting company of the Essel Group, has launched Zee Hindustan, a self-described ‘nationalist’ Hindi news channel. Most Indian news channels are ‘nationalist’ already, and it is unclear how the new venture from the media house plans to be sufficiently different. “Indian Television Industry will witness the new age News business […]

Zee Entertainment slashes channel prices ahead of TRAI regulation

Zee Entertainment, one of the four big broadcasting groups of India, has become the first player to bring its channel prices in line with an upcoming regulation issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. Zee’s new tariff card prices its channels a fraction of what they are being sold for in the market at […]

Airtel Digital increases HD channels to take on Tata Sky

Airtel Digital has bounced back into reckoning in fast growing high-definition DTH market by adding capacity from the newly launched SES-9 satellite and could emerge a strong challenger to Tata Sky in coming days. The SES-9 satellite was launched last year and new transponders were made available to Airtel earlier this year. Over the last several […]

Arnab Goswami’s Republic TV launching this weekend

Republic TV, the English-language television channel headed by journalist Arnab Goswami will go on air on several cable and DTH platforms in India starting Friday evening. Official confirmation came from Dish TV, India’s oldest DTH platform, which confirmed that the channel will be made available starting from Saturday. Subscribers of Dish TV will get the […]

Republic TV will be nationalist, pro-military & global – Arnab Goswami

Republic TV, the upcoming news channel, will be staunchly nationalist and pro-military, and will attempt to bring back ‘balance’ into a media dominated by a small set of academics and intellectuals in the capital, going by the comments of Arnab Goswami, the head of the channel. “All Indians should be pro military and pro India. If that makes […]

Tata Sky starts testing Arnab Goswami’s Republic TV, launch tomorrow?

Arnab Goswami’s Republic TV’s is reported to be readying for its launch next week, with DTH operator Tata Sky starting test transmission of the channel. The channel is expected to carry the number 616, and be officially available from 10 PM on Friday, May 5. UPDATE: The channel will be launched this weekend. Separately, the channel […]

Zee Entertainment takes Bollywood to Mexico with new channel

Zee Entertainment Enterprises entered the Latin American market with the launch of its Spanish-language Bollywood movie channel, Zee Mundo in Mexico and Ecuador. The channel offers Bollywood movies, telenovelas and series. Other countries in the region will be addressed in coming months, the company indicated. ZEE is the first-ever Indian broadcaster to take mainstream channels […]

Anil Ambani group relaunches Bigflix to take on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video

The Anil Ambani Group has relaunched Bigflix, the homegrown competitor to Netflix, with an expanded focus covering regional language content as well as an eye on audiences outside India. The service will have 2000 HD movies in nine Indian languages to start with, the group said. These languages are Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Punjabi, Malayalam, Gujarati, […]

Working Reliance Jio ‘DTH’ video uploaded by Gujarat-based test user

A video of a working Reliance Jio ‘DTH’ TV has been leaked by a Gujarat-based Youtube user, even as Airtel unveiled its own ‘Internet TV’ today. The Youtube user demonstrates a working set-top-box, complete with HD channels and various other features. Even though the uploader calls it Jio DTH, there is nothing in the video […]

Ortel Communications slashes broadband tariff as Reliance Jio threat looms

With the prospect of the entry of Reliance Jio into the cable and broadband market, Ortel Communications — the largest cable network in Orissa and an emerging player in neighboring states, has slashed its broadband rates. The company has removed all its sub-1 Mbps plans and replaced them with plans having speeds of 1 Mbps […]

Govt moves to block ABS Free Dish DTH service

Government of India has moved to block the signals of ABS Free Dish, a free DTH service in India, but questions remain as to how practical the move is. “Ministry of Home Affairs mentioned that the transmission of DTH service by ABS is without any application to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and not […]

With new tech, Sun Direct launches India’s cheapest HD packs

Sun Direct, the DTH service from Sun Network, has unveiled three new HD subscription plans that make it the cheapest provider of HD TV services in India. The plans are priced at Rs 51, 101 and 150, including taxes. The cheapest pack provides 23 HD channels — with the exact composition depending on the language […]

Dish TV slashes basic pack rate to Rs 33/month to take on DD Free Dish

Dish TV, India’s oldest DTH operator, has unveiled an offer that is by the far the cheapest from any private operator in India. Under the new ‘DishTV Non-Stop Offer’, the company is offering a clutch of free-to-air channels to its subscribers for three years in return for a one-time payment of Rs 1,149. To compare, […]

New TRAI rules to hit Zee Entertaiment, Star, Sony and Sun TV

The regulator’s new rules on the pricing of television channels in India, which will come into effect in six months, will reduce the clout of big broadcasting companies such as Zee Entertainment Enterprises, Sony, Star India and Sun TV, while encouraging smaller media owners. So far, bigger groups enjoyed a key advantage — they could […]

New TRAI rules to make HD channels cheaper by 70%, HD access fee illegal

New rules on the pricing of television channels are likely to make the viewing of HD and sports channels in India cheaper and make charges such as ‘HD Access Fee’ totally illegal. The rules were issued on Friday and will come into effect within six months of it being published in the gazette. The most important […]

PVR enters its 49th city with 3-screen multiplex at Moradabad

PVR Ltd, India’s largest chain of film exhibition halls, said it had entered its 49th city with the opening of a new multiplex in Moradabad. The three-screen, 631-seat facility was opened inside the newly opened Parsvnath Mall. The facility marks the 11th city in Uttar Pradesh that is home to a PVR complex. With this, […]

Den Networks to introduce 4K, gaming box this year

Den Networks, one of India’s top three cable companies, is planning to introduce4K services and ‘open’ set-top-boxes with gaming support this year, CEO S N Sharma said. “We definitely are aware that 4K is also around the corner and the box development is already in progress may be in next three to four months’ time,” […]

With 90 HD channels, Sun Direct set to overtake Tata Sky as No.1 HD DTH player

Sun Direct,  the DTH arm of Sun TV Network, could soon emerge as the No. 1 provider of HD TV channels in India, according to a distributor privy to the company’s plans. The DTH operator has recently acquired several transponders on a new satellite owned by the ISRO, the Indian space agency, next to its primary […]