Star rises on the DTH horizon

[icernet-admin at listserv.cddc.vt.edu]

The Tatas and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp have ambitious direct-to-home TV
plans. They will be spending over Rs 1,600 crore on DTH. They are aiming at
not just upscale subscribers but, eventually, the mass market. This $350
million gamble could challenge the stranglehold cable operators have on
their hapless customers and fundamentally change the rules of the satellite
channel distribution game. The two groups involved in this huge play are, of
course, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp and the Tatas. News Corp, the global
media company, has been taking on cable operators across the globe.
Strikingly, the News Corp-Tata combine is looking at an aggressive pricing
strategy - a monthly subscription fee of Rs 250 to Rs 400 for up to 80
channels. That suggests that instead of just focusing on rich subscribers in
the metropolitan cities, the venture will aim at the mass market. "The
eventual plan is to cover the whole country," confirms a top Tata group
executive. The Tata-News Corp duo is, in fact, quite clear that it's not
positioning DTH as just a niche platform but as an alternative to cable TV
services.

Source:
http://www.business-standard.com/ice/story.asp?menu=71&story=36009