With the India-Australia cricket series just two weeks away, Dish TV is planning to add Neo Sports bouquet of channels to its platform. The move is aimed at attracting more subscribers, which the Essel group’s direct to home (DTH) service provider lost to prime competitor Tata Sky.
Dish TV Senior Vice-President Deepak Mehrotra said, “There is a substantial demand for Neo sports bouquet as cricket matches are screened on this channel. We have taken notice of the same and are planning to add this channel to the Dish TV platform. As the India-Australia series is just two weeks away, we will soon take a final call in this regard.”
Until now, Dish TV did not provide these channels as it had certain disputes with the Nimbus management, which runs the Neo channel bouquet, over subscription charges. This allowed Tata Sky to garner many new subscribers. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had sold the telecast rights of all international and domestic cricket matches organised by the board within India to Nimbus Television. Dish TV launched its new channel package called “Happy Home” that provides 125 satellite channels at a monthly subscription of Rs 100.
The firm is in the final stages of tariff negotiation with Nimbus Television. “They offer the bouquet at Rs 42 and we are negotiating on this price. Once the channel is added platform, subscribers can avail it by paying the additional charges,” Mehrotra stated. Dish TV already has 37 lakh subscribers across India and it is targeting to reach 50 lakh by March 2009. The company is also setting up Dish Shoppees, which would provide an one-time solution to all problems and queries related to Dish TV service.
“We will have 1,500 Dish TV shoppees operational by December-end all over India,” he added.