January 2010

SUN DIRECT PUSHES HD

High Definition (HD) TV offers the clarity of the cinema screen on the new generation of flat screen TV sets. Reception of HD TV channels also requires the use of special HDTV capable satellite or CATV STBs. Each HD TV channel requires the transmission of 3 times the digital bits that support a Standard Definition (SD) TV channel. During the past 3 years, HDTV has gained widespread popularity, particularly for sports telecasts. International DTH platforms today offer a choice of more than 150 HD TV channels.

In India, SUN Direct was the first to commence HD TV transmissions, in April 2009. The HD service commenced with just 2 channels, from SUN TV's regional bouquet. "We have about 1,000 customers on our HDTV platform, which was launched on a trial basis in April this year, we hope to get in about 45,000-50,000 HDTV subscribers by the end of this fiscal" said Tony D'Silva, COO, Sun Direct.

SUN Direct has contracted Samsung India to now locally manufacture HDTV STBs for the DTH platform. Sun Direct consumers will receive the HDTV STB against a payment of Rs 9,990 which will also include 1 year's subscription to 5 HD channels that have been promised shortly on Sun Direct. The HDTV STBs will also be capable of receiving the SD transmissions on which all the other TV channels are broadcast on the Sun Direct DTH platform.. Infact, the HDTV STB purchase - which is primarily targeted at urban subscribers - will also include an annual Metro channel pack subscription.

FULL TRANSPONDER FOR HD

Speaking to reporters at the launch of Samsung's HDTV STB, Mr Tony D'Silva, Chief Operating Officer, Sun Direct said, "We have a dedicated transponder for the HD channels on the same satellite on which the Sun Direct channels beam from. One transponder can carry 7 HD channels. Right now it is too expensive to beam all the channels in HD so for the moment we will launch with 5 channels including a Hindi GEC, Tamil GEC, English Movies, Kids, Educational channel and Tamil/Telugu movies."

SUN Direct deploys MPEG-4 compression for both - its SD and HD TV broadcasts.

5 HD CHANNELS PROMISED

Sun Direct TV said it will be offering a selection of 5 television channels including Hindi GEC, Tamil GEC, English Movie, Kids, Educational and Tamil/ Telugu movies on its new service. Mr D'Silva added that the company has tied up with Cartoon Network for a HD channel for kids, UTV World Movies for English movies.

The National Geographic HD channel, and SUN TV's flagship GEC channel will also be included in the HD TV bundle. Where necessary, SUN TV content that has been shot in SD will be up-sampled to HD, for re-transmission as a HD channel.

SAMSUNG TIE UP

Sun Direct has tied up with Samsung to promote its HDTV service. Samsung's HDTV STBs manufactured for Sun Direct will feature an HDMI output for HDTV. Samsung will also help Sun Direct in below the line promotion of the new service. The company has about 400 Samsung exclusive stores across India where the Sun Direct set-top-boxes would be promoted along with Samsung HDTVs.

60% of all Samsung India's TV sales are for HD ready models. " Next year we expect Full HD to be about 80 % of our LCD TV sales," Mr Ravinder Zutshi, Deputy Managing Director, Samsung India told the press, at the launch function.

RAPID GROWTH PREDICTED

Sun Direct is India's fastest growing DTH platform. It currently reaches more than 4.8 million homes and targets to touch 6 million homes by end March 2010. However, the growth in numbers has been driven by predatory pricing. Typically, a Sun Direct subscriber pays Rs 2,400 which provides a STB and satellite dish, along with 12 months subscription. Clearly, Sun Direct hopes to boost its bottom line with the introduction of the HDTV service, though in this case too, the Rs 9,990 probably reflects the cost of the hardware, with the annual HDTV and Metro pack subscriptions thrown in free. Will SUN get its targeted 45,000 HDTV subscribers by end March this year ? That could position it well, when the New Delhi commonwealth games are transmitted in HD by Doordarshan, in August this year. n