Expect to familiarise yourself with another one of those small branded dish antennae hanging outside people's home. Bharti Telemedia, has followed close on the heels of ADAG's Big TV with its Direct to Home (DTH) service called 'Digital TV' on October 9. This brings the total number of DTH services in India to six, with Dish TV, Sun Direct, Tata Sky and DD Direct plus being the other players in the field.

The launch was relatively low profile compared to the grand launch of Reliance Big TV. The service is available in 62 cities/towns and 21,000 retail points across the country. Digital TV will be offering 175 channels using the MPEG4 technology, and is HD-ready. The packages offered vary between zones, prices start at Rs 2,499 in the North Indian market, and Rs 1,499 in the South Indian market. Included are ten World Space channels, and a single remote for both the TV and the Set-top¬box, which is a first for DTH services in India. The entry of Big TV and Digital TV has started off a huge price war between DTH service providers, with all of them trying to grab a foothold.

Dish TV and Tata Sky have slashed prices (to as low as Rs 100 per month), introduced new and innovative packages, and are amping up the bells and whistles of the service in terms of providing value added services and interactive content.
It is in this last area that Digital TV is hoping to excel. Using the Infosys Digital Convergence Platform, Digital TV is offering local news, weather and traffic reports, offering user customisable widgets, and a host of other interactive content. Also in the offing are applications with iCity, iNet and tPortal which allows for an Internet-like experience on your television, without interrupting your viewing pleasure. More applications from Infosys are in the pipeline as well.

Currently, there are 7.5 million DTH users in the country, with Dish TV broadcasting to 4 million pairs of eyeballs, and clearly in the lead. Tata Sky, Sun Direct and Big TV in that order are the next biggest players. DD Direct plus is only popular in the more remote regions of the country, and offers only free content at present. The market is expected to expand rapidly in the next few years.