To keep our readers informed with all major happenings in Indian DTH we are back with our monthly DTH Performance Report. Find out every major activity from Tata Sky, Airtel Digital TV, Dish TV, d2h, Sun Direct and DD Free Dish from the month of August 2020 in this exclusive article.
Tata Sky
Tata Sky added 4 broadcaster channels on its platform namely- Jai Maharashtra, News India 24×7, Filamchi and DD Port Blair, while 2 channels- I News and Aaho Music were dropped.
The biggest news that came from Tata Sky last month was that they will shift their products manufacturing from other countries like Vietnam, Thailand to India to further the Make in India ambition.
The operator also announced that it will launch specific packs to cater Maharashtra and Bengal’s customers in which Star’s Hindi bouquet holdings will be replaced with Star’s Bengali and Marathi bouquets without any price change.
Tata Sky introduced a new offer as well for English entertainment viewers under which it is providing free access to Tata Sky Hits service channel that worth Rs 75 per month on subscribing with any English Combo HD, English Movies HD, English Entertainment HD, or English Movies Mini HD packs.
Airtel Digital TV
ADTV has removed the highest number of channels in August compared to others. The operator has dropped a total of 9 channels that includes Navtej 24×7, 99 Percent, Aastha Bhajan, Vedic, Sadhna Prime News, India News Haryana, India News Rajasthan, Care World and Swaraj Express. The platform also added 4 channels- Vidya, Nipuna, Aakash and Kalvi TV. ADTV is among the first DPOs that onboarded BBC’s broadcaster pack ‘BBC India Bouquet‘.
Airtel’s android-powered hybrid Xstream Box got a very handy feature via an OTA update. Users of this STB can now record TV channels into a pen drive and watch later. The recording feature is not free of charge though, customers have to subscribe with recording top up at Rs 33 per month.
Dish TV and d2h
Dish TV’s performance was poor in August, with the addition of just 1 broadcaster and 1 platform service channel. VTV Gujarati is the broadcaster channel added while Korean Active Drama is a new PS channel launched that will show dubbed Korean content in Hindi.
Dish TV has introduced some new packs, and acquisition offers in Kerala. It has brought in ‘Joy Malayalam Tamil HD’ and ‘Premier Jumbo HD’ special packs as part of the Onam offer.
d2h, on the other hand, did well last month by adding 6 HD channels on the platform. A total of 10 channels are added on d2h- Songdew TV, Siri Kannada, Zee Tamil HD, Zee Kannada HD, &Prive HD, Zee Keralam HD, Zee Telugu HD, Zee Cinemalu HD, Dangal Kannada and PS channel Korean Active Drama. 3 channels that are removed by d2h are GS TV, Dhinchaak and Live Life Shatayupathy.
Similar to Dish TV, d2h also launched some offers for Onam. It is offering 4 of its Kerala focused curated packages with extra validity for those recharging for 3 months along with new connection offers bundled with 6 months subscriptions.
Sun Direct
Sun Direct has added 6 channels and removed 2 channels. Amar Cinema, Enterr10 Bangla, Russia Today, Jinvani, Showbox and Kalvi V are the channels added while Onkar Truth Only and Music Fatafati got dropped.
Sun Direct brought Independence Day offer for its inactive customers wherein it is offering its curated pack Tamil DPO 1 at Rs 999 for 9 months, Telugu DPO 1 at Rs 993 for 7 months and Malayalam DPO 1 for 7 months at Rs 991.
DD Free Dish
Free-to-air satellite television provider DD Free Dish has added 2 channels Abzy Dhaakad and News State UP/UK. Hindi GEC channel Manoranjan Grand was removed from DDFD by Prasar Bharati as it failed to pay up the 5th instalment which was due in July.
Want to take part in choosing the best DTH of this month? Head over to our community forums and vote for the brand which you think has performed better than others.
