Sun TV now on Reliance mobile phones

Reliance Communications Ltd entered into an agreement with Sun TV Network Ltd to beam all Sun TV programmes on Reliance mobile handsets on a 24-hour basis.

The value-added service by Reliance Communication was launched on Wednesday and this facility is available across the country on a uniform pricing structure.

"Sun TV programmes will be available in three formats. The first format is video streaming, where Reliance network users will be able to view Sun TV programmes within a few seconds of them being aired on television.

The other way is to download one-minute video clips, where the gist of the programmes will be made available to the users. In regions where video-enabled phones are not available or used much, the programmes' audio format will be available to users," Mahesh Prasad, president - applications, solutions and content group, Reliance Communications, said.

To watch Sun TV programmes through video streaming on mobile phones, users will be charged Rs 15 per session of five minutes each. "From our experience with other television channels, most users watch the video of a particular programme for 2-3 minutes, with the maximum viewing duration being five minutes.

For downloading and viewing a particular video clip, the charges are Rs 7 per download, which is on a promotional offer as we normally charge Rs 10 per download," Prasad said. The user will additionally be billed for network charges, which is 10 paise per 10 Kb (kilobyte) of traffic.

Reliance Communications has tie-ups with almost all leading news and entertainment channels to provide video streaming facility on Reliance Mobile World, popularly known as R World. Reliance Communications is also working on encapsulating Sun TV programmes and making them available to users.

W Hansraj Saxena, chief operating officer, Sun TV Network, said that this is an exclusive tie-up. , however, refused to comment on the revenue-sharing model under the agreement or Sun Network's investment in the tie-up.

Reliance Communications has a subscriber base of around 30 million in India, with 26 lakh subscribers in Tamil Nadu.

"Over 50 per cent of Reliance mobile handsets have video screening facilities and we have not worked on the revenue contribution by content-based services and applications. But, we can say that around 12 per cent of the entire traffic carried on the Reliance mobile network is contributed by content-based services and applications," he said.

In similar tie-ups in the telecommunication space, there have been instances of provision of content-based applications and services to the users.

Hutch tied up with Radio Mirchi last year to launch 'visual radio' while Airtel and Reliance tied up with Walt Disney to offer 30-seconds made-for-mobile video shots of a few cartoon series. A few mobile service providers including Tata Indicom, Airtel and Hutch allow their subscribers to download video songs at fixed rate.