Sun Direct adds Sun Neo and Sun Neo HD, removes Travelxp HD

After years of speculation and delay, the Sun Network’s long-planned Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs) Sun Neo and Sun Neo HD have been added on Friday (5 April) by Sun’s DTH platform, Sun Direct, on LCN 300 and 870 respectively. These, along with Sun Bangla HD and Sun Marathi HD, had been planned for many years, but it is only now that we are seeing the first signs of their launch. (Those two new regional HD channels, for the record, were launched in late November 2023 and added by both Sun Direct and Tata Play within days.)

Also, to make room for Sun Neo HD at the start of the HD channel lineup, Viacom18’s Hindi GEC Colors HD has moved from LCN 870 to 871, since the Sun network always keeps its own channels at the start of any genre. Moreover, Sun Neo won a slot in the latest DD Free Dish e-auction, and hence its test transmission has also been added there as well, similar to Sun Marathi which was present on DD Free Dish from its launch in 2021 until 2023.

However, the addition of the new channels comes at a cost: Sun Direct has simultaneously removed Travelxp HD, the lifestyle and travel channel from Celebrities Management Pvt. Ltd. (which also operates a 4K HDR feed), which was present on LCN 964. This means that Tata Play (LCN 765) and Dish TV (LCN 920) are the only DTHs left with the channel, since Airtel Digital TV does not have it either. The removal comes as Sun Direct has added the Star 4K service channel for the ongoing IPL season — though it is only available for specific Samsung TVs with a built-in DTH tuner — which takes up significant bandwidth, and hence Sun Direct may have been forced to remove an existing channel.

It is expected that Sun Neo and Sun Neo HD will be launched in the coming weeks, especially as the Tamil New Year falls in the middle of April. For the record, Sun Bangla was launched in February 2019 and Sun Marathi in October 2021, with their HD feeds being silently launched near the end of 2023. If history is any indication, we can expect that Tata Play will not take long to add Sun’s new Hindi entertainment channel, with other DTHs coming not long thereafter. The launch of Sun Neo and Sun Neo HD will be a welcome addition for the Hindi GEC sector, which has always been dominated by two channels — Star Plus in the pay sector, and Dangal in the free-to-air-space — and the SD version’s presence on DD Free Dish will be an added advantage as it looks to promote itself and enhance its visibility.