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National Broadcaster Doordarshan is planning to make an aggressive pitch in the Direct-to-Home (DTH) market by increasing the number of channels to nearly 120 on its DTH service which has now been renamed 'Free Dish'.
Sources told PTI that the DTH service was earlier named DD Direct Plus but the new name was chosen in a bid to highlight the fact that viewers of this DTH platform do not have to pay any monthly payment.
Doordarshan's DTH service at present offers 59 channels which include 21 channels of DD besides 38 other channels of varying genres like entertainment, musical, devotional, educational, news, foreign channels, officials said.
They said DD is now moving to expand its channel-carrying capacity and equipment are being procured to increase the total carrying capacity of the DTH platform to nearly 120 channels, which doubles the present capacity of 59 channels.
Officials said that with the increase in number of channels, a substantial increase in the viewership base is also expected, especially keeping in view the fact that it's essentially a free service.
An official said it is expected that by the time the phase-IV of digitalisation is completed, DD will have a substantial portion of the DTH market as every viewer will have to install a set top box due to the digitalisation process.
PTI
Sources told PTI that the DTH service was earlier named DD Direct Plus but the new name was chosen in a bid to highlight the fact that viewers of this DTH platform do not have to pay any monthly payment.
Doordarshan's DTH service at present offers 59 channels which include 21 channels of DD besides 38 other channels of varying genres like entertainment, musical, devotional, educational, news, foreign channels, officials said.
They said DD is now moving to expand its channel-carrying capacity and equipment are being procured to increase the total carrying capacity of the DTH platform to nearly 120 channels, which doubles the present capacity of 59 channels.
Officials said that with the increase in number of channels, a substantial increase in the viewership base is also expected, especially keeping in view the fact that it's essentially a free service.
An official said it is expected that by the time the phase-IV of digitalisation is completed, DD will have a substantial portion of the DTH market as every viewer will have to install a set top box due to the digitalisation process.
PTI
