The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : DTH companies come up with offers for World Cup

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 04, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

DTH companies come up with offers for World Cup

Staff Reporter

Offer free subscription

CHENNAI: With just 2 weeks left for the Cricket World Cup to kick-off, private direct-to-home (DTH) operators DishTV and TATA-Sky have announced attractive offers on their dishes, with the promise of enhanced viewership experience.

Both companies are hoping to hard sell their products in the run-up to the World Cup, especially in the Metro cities that have adopted the Conditional Access System regime. Chennai, of course, was the first to rollout CAS in September 2003, a decision that initially did not go down well with sports lovers.

On more occasions than one, they have been forced to play the guessing game on whether or not they will get to see the matches free on the cable network.

With the government passing an ordinance that private broadcasters must share television feed of important sports events with the Prasar Bharati, several cricket lovers are keeping their fingers crossed to catch the World Cup action live on Doordarshan. SET Max is the official broadcast partner for the event from India.

The DTH operators are also offering "stadium-like" experience through digital sound and other value-added services to attract the cricket fans. Viewers of both Tata-Sky and DishTV will also have slew of add-ons — such as multi-angle camera and on-demand highlights.

There is not much information available on the rental schemes for cable TV set-top boxes. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had recommended that cable TV operators must give set-top boxes on monthly rental schemes. But most last-mile operators in the city have said such options were not available for customers.

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