Date:10/07/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/07/10/stories/2004071008700400.htm

Tamil Nadu

Doordarshan's free-to-air Direct-to-Home broadcast soon

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, JULY 9. Doordarshan will "very soon" launch its free-to-air Direct-to-Home (DTH) broadcast, DD Direct, according to a senior representative of the state-run broadcaster.

"We will be starting operations with a 30-channel bouquet, of which 17 will be Doordarshan channels. We are talking to private broadcasters to fill in the rest," R.K.Gupta, Engineer-in-Chief, said today at a seminar on DTH Broadcast organised by the Broadcast Engineering Society (BES) here.

The cost of a dish antenna and set-top box (STB) would be "Rs. 3,000 or less." Though the cost might be a "little high" initially, the technology would cost less when the volume increased, Mr. Gupta said. At present, STBs were being imported. As many Indian companies started manufacturing them, the cost should come down, he said.

Doordarshan was allotted Rs. 2,563 crores in the 10th Plan for modernisation and digitalisation. The broadcaster opted for the DTH because the platform would enable it to achieve 100 per cent coverage. Doordarshan at present reached 90 per cent of the country with about 1,400 low-power transmitters. Only hilly areas were yet to be covered. Due to their remoteness, the installation costs for terrestrial broadcast were prohibitively high, Mr.Gupta said.

Within a decade of its entry, cable television captured 40 million of the 82 million TV-owning homes.

Y.Gopala Rao, Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Electronics (which manufactures STBs for DTH broadcast), estimated that the DTH would be able to reach 20 million homes in the next five years.

N.S.Ganesan, president of BES, said that the time was ripe for DTH to be introduced.