Big TV cuts entry price to Rs 1,490

Televisionpoint.com Correspondent | Mumbai
The price war in the direct-to-home (DTH) market just got hotte. Reliance ADAG's DTH company Big TV has slashed the entry price to Rs 1,490, which would offer 64 channels and three-month free subscription to consumers, in addition to free access to 20 video-on-demand movie channels.

The company has also revised its lowest monthly subscription package to Rs 100 by adding paid channels to the free-to-air bouquet. Some of the other revised features of its festive offer include offering a 12-month free subscription package at Rs 2,190 and a six-month premium package with 120 movies free.

Arun Kapoor, CEO, Big TV, said, "We believe our festive offer is 33% cheaper than any other DTH company. We are recording the highest subscriber additions and believe our new packages will help us add more subscribers. The entire industry is adding 6-7 lakh subscribers per month, which means the DTH industry is expanding like never before."

Kapoor also said that Big TV would bring DVR service to the market by the end of this year. DVR, which a allows viewers to record programmes on one channel while watching another and play the recording later, is said to be the next big thing in the evolving DTH market.

Big TV also plans to offer 200 more channels by the end of next year on its DTH platform. "We have currently eight transponders and will get four more shortly. By the end of 2009, we would launch 200 more channels, taking the total to 400." Kapoor says.