India's national broadcaster, Doordarshan (DDI), may carry an expanded satellite bouquet of 200 free-to-air channels by the end of 2012, RapidTVNews reports.
DD currently broadcasts 21 of its own TV channels direct-to-home (DTH) by satellite, and also carries 21 channels from All India Radio, plus 16 private channels.
RapidTVNews quotes IBN Live News as saying officials believe low carriage rates, compared to those of India's private DTH operators, and a high national reach may attract more broadcasters to the DDI platform.
In total, over 32 million homes in India now subscribe to the six private DTH platforms: Dish TV, Tata Sky, Sun Direct, Airtel Digital TV, Reliance Digital TV and Videocon d2h.
"About 150 channels including some prime entertainment ones have already evinced their keen interest to broadcast through our platform," one senior official from the Information & Broadcasting Ministry was quoted as saying.
"The inclusion of more channels would also trigger a competition in the market and a slash in subscription rate by other players...a win win situation for the customers," the official said.
Broadcasters wishing to place their channels with DDI's DTH service must, however, participate in an e-auction and fulfil the existing criteria.
India's DTH service is expanding at a rate of 1 million subscribers a month, with 50 percent of the growth happening in rural areas, according to the ministry.
DD currently broadcasts 21 of its own TV channels direct-to-home (DTH) by satellite, and also carries 21 channels from All India Radio, plus 16 private channels.
RapidTVNews quotes IBN Live News as saying officials believe low carriage rates, compared to those of India's private DTH operators, and a high national reach may attract more broadcasters to the DDI platform.
In total, over 32 million homes in India now subscribe to the six private DTH platforms: Dish TV, Tata Sky, Sun Direct, Airtel Digital TV, Reliance Digital TV and Videocon d2h.
"About 150 channels including some prime entertainment ones have already evinced their keen interest to broadcast through our platform," one senior official from the Information & Broadcasting Ministry was quoted as saying.
"The inclusion of more channels would also trigger a competition in the market and a slash in subscription rate by other players...a win win situation for the customers," the official said.
Broadcasters wishing to place their channels with DDI's DTH service must, however, participate in an e-auction and fulfil the existing criteria.
India's DTH service is expanding at a rate of 1 million subscribers a month, with 50 percent of the growth happening in rural areas, according to the ministry.
(Source : Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union)
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