The Hindu Business Line : Direct-to-home connection<br>Dish TV: Not a feast for the eyes, yet

FOR TV viewers today, DTH is the buzzword; hoardings and advertisements are exhorting them to buy the dish that will transform their small screen. Offers now available provide a DTH (Direct-to-Home) system at prices substantially lower than what it was a year ago.

Aggressive promotional campaigns could lure you into buying the system. If you are tempted to go in for it, resist. It is not time yet. If you live outside Chennai, you will have a cable connection that ensures you your preferred programmes on pay channels. So you can afford to wait before shifting to DTH.

Prices of a DTH connection and channel packages are likely to decline due to competition and a rising consumer base, even as content improves. There could be a repeat of what was witnessed in the mobile phone services. So you would be better off ignoring the sales pitch for DTH made by Doordarshan for DD-Direct+ and by the Zee group for Dish TV. These are the only DTH services available.

By next year, Sun Direct (a Sun Network offering) and Space TV (a joint venture between the Tatas and the Star group) will also offer DTH services, adding to the choice. In the UK, the Rupert Murdoch group, which owns Star, distributed the dish at a nominal price and built a mass base. Space TV could adopt a similar strategy in India to seed and expand the market.

Why DTH? This facility will increase the number of channels you receive. More important, you will enjoy picture and audio quality of a kind that your present cable connection or antenna cannot provide. You can also play video games and watch movies telecast exclusively by the DTH- service provider. Over time, the DTH console could also provide you round-the-clock link to the Internet, customised content and pay-per-view options, to name a few of the range of services possible.

Buying a DTH connection would involve a sizeable investment initially. That is likely to be compensated by lower monthly costs for receiving channels and access to services that are not offered by cable operators.

To receive pay channels, you also have the option of buying a set-top box. This will offer you digital content and access to a large number of channels. It is, however, only a close second to DTH. The latter is also not a location-specific facility and you can take the dish along if you shift residence. The one risk is of that of theft. Though DTH has its pluses, waiting for a year will ensure better deals. By postponing the buy, you could have on your rooftop a dish that can eventually make you the master of choosing the channels you want to pay and watch. Options now available in DTH do not place you in such a position.

DD Direct+: This is a free DTH service, though you will have to pay for the dish and the set-top box. There is no monthly outgo. It offers 19 Doordarshan, 14 private and 12 All India Radio audio channels (www.ddindia.gov.in and www.ddnews.com/DTH). Unless you are an avid Doordarshan viewer, this service is best avoided. Aaj Tak, Sun TV and BBC World are the only widely watched channels available in this bouquet. There is no point investing in this service just for those three channels. You may be better off with your cable connection, or if you have steered clear of one, just use the old-fashioned antenna to tune into the DD channels.

Dish TV: This DTH service (www.dishtvindia.com) from the Zee group offers access to several pay channels. There is, however, a big problem on content. Several popular channels are not available on this platform. Channels from the Star and Sony group and the popular ones, such as Discovery, Animal Planet, AXN, Ten Sport and MTV are missing on this service.

Dish TV offers five packages (refer accompanying table for pricing and content). Dish Welcome — the basic package — offers three channels that are popular in their genre and may be of interest to viewers: ESPN, Star Sports and Cartoon Network. Depending on the language you choose, you can receive a few additional channels. In most languages, leading channels are not available.

You would have to opt for the other packages to have a set of channels that interest you. You would need Dish Plus to have access to a few movie-related channels. Other packages could run you up a monthly bill of Rs 360-400.

Dish Pick offers the flexibility to choose from a set of regional channels; you would have to pay between Rs 30 for three channels and Rs 100 for all. This will add to the monthly cost.

For buying a DTH connection, Dish TV now offers two plans — Dish Har Chhat Par and Dish Har Chhat Par Maxi at Rs 3,990 and Rs 4,990 respectively. Prices have been reduced by about Rs 2,500. As an incentive, subscription charges have been waived for the first year. The first offers only the Dish Welcome package, making it unattractive. With the other package, you would have to pay about Rs 250 per month to have access to a few attractive channels in such genre as news and movies. The Maxi offer provides more channels on news and movies for an additional outgo of Rs 1,000. This is at a substantial discount to the monthly rate. This is attractive, but only when compared to the base variant on offer. In both plans, the subscription charges are between Rs 360 and Rs 400 from the second year. This is an expensive deal, since most popular channels are missing on this DTH platform.

Steer clear of Dish TV now and consider it only if the channels that are now missing come on board. If you want access to ESPN, Star Sports, CNBC, HBO, Cartoon Network, Pogo and a few movie channels, this service may appear appealing. But despite the concessional offer now available, you are better off continuing with your cable connection, as it is less expensive compared to the likely costs that you will incur second year onwards.

You may be tempted to opt for a set-top box if you are looking for better quality and gaining control over what channels you receive. Unless you are in Chennai, resist the temptation and wait for six to 12 months for better deals.

Set-Top Box in Chennai: The Conditional Access System is unlikely to be removed in Chennai, as a large proportion of viewers get the channels they prefer at just Rs 100 a month. In Chennai, the set-top box service by SCV and Hathaway are superior in terms of pricing and content compared to the DTH options that are now available. If you choose SCV, consider a combination of SCV Gold plus Ten Sports and Cartoon Network. If you are an avid investor and want CNBC, the SCV Platinum offers the best value for money. Hathaway also offers packages with similar profiles.

For a monthly rent of between Rs 160 and Rs 300 and an initial investment of Rs 4,000, this service allows you choice of channels from different bouquets. This monthly rent includes Rs 100 paid to the cable operator for 72 free-to-air channels and the cost of the package that you choose.

(The web sites of DD Direct+ and Dish TV provide details of how DTH works.)

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