Bharati Airtel to launch DTH services from Oct 9

Q

Bharti Airtel Commercially launchs DTH on 9th Oct'09 and will be covering 62 cities initially.
As per The Economic Times report in addition to Mpeg4 technology the following key features will be there.
1) Universal remote for both Set Top box and TV that offers enhanced viewer convenience
2)Highest Set Top Box memory enabling more interactive applications
3) Exclusive content such as World space radio
4) Interactive applications such as iMatinee (Book cinema tickets), iTravel (Browsw and book travel packages), iShop (Shop on TV for your favourite brands), iCity (Get your city's information) and Widgets (Update yourself on latest stock news). 8 screen iNews, 2/4 screen iSports
5) Amazing games with high quality graphics, refreshed every six weeks
6) Audio gain control for uniform audio levels across all channels
7) Simple and intuitive search
8) On screen account meter
9) Last viewed channel in case of power disruption/switch off
10) Low battery indicator on the screen.

for further details read
*economictimes.indiatimes.com/News_by_Industry/Airtel_to_launch_DTH_services/articleshow/3569736.cms

As per The Hindustan Times The packages start from Rs.2,499 for a six-month subscription, while the price band for the channels range from Rs.99 to Rs.424.
*www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/S...ine=Airtel+set+to+enter+DTH+television+sector

Any discount for the Airtel Landline or Mobile subscribers???....

*i34.tinypic.com/oqvgpx.jpgHeres the tariff:

*i34.tinypic.com/oqvgpx.jpg

T

gagandeep said:
Any discount for the Airtel Landline or Mobile subscribers???....

Yes, special offers for Airtel landline/moble/broadband customers.

ONe thing that they should add is high speed internet

M

Tariff source??

T

^^ *broadbandforum.in/bharti-airtel-dth/35799-bharti-airtel-dth-tariff-plan/ Same tariff plans here.

Airtel is the best pvt company in everything they run IMO
be it BB,cell service etc ...They are expensive than others but quality is one thing that differentiates them from others

..I beleive 100 % this service will be far more gud than any other DTH albeit a bit costly

The DTH market is getting crowded and confusing....

i guess i am goin to go with the one who has the least/no logo in the screen...its pretty annoying

Glad to see AirTel make an entry.

@Edburg...I agree.Even i will with the operator having smallest logo!

Actually even though big companies like Reliance,Airtel entered DTH, they are not reducing the cost to the subscriber....All DTH operators will cost the same.

W

qazranchi said:
6) Audio gain control for uniform audio levels across all channels

does this mean 5.1 channel DD or DTS sound?

I pay 280 bucks a month for 2 set top boxes with crystal clear picture and digital sound to my cablewala (Hathway).

Beat that Bharati, Reliance, Tata and Dish.

^^totally agree with you. I have Tata and Hathway at my home. Hathway picture quality rocks.

its a long time before it gets luanched!!!

hathway is NOT a local cable wallah. they used to be a pretty good ISP a few years back. they are spread over south india from what i remember.

T

mail2and said:
I pay 280 bucks a month for 2 set top boxes with crystal clear picture and digital sound to my cablewala (Hathway).

Beat that Bharati, Reliance, Tata and Dish.

Number of channels?

A

i have hathway...its nice and its not so expensive...

H

maybe i'll switch over to Airtel from DishTv.

Read abt it in todays newspaper.....letz see what it holds..

mail2and said:
I pay 280 bucks a month for 2 set top boxes with crystal clear picture and digital sound to my cablewala (Hathway).

Beat that Bharati, Reliance, Tata and Dish.

+1 , Even I use Hathway's digital service, it costs me Rs. 150/Month

, quality is excellent also I lost the channel count

Hathway..heard of it..but I'm still content with TATA, although I pay Rs.340 a month

I haven't counted the number of channels, but I get all Hindi entertainment channels, all movie channels, all sports channels and all news channels. And all the tiger/elephant type channels (Discovery) too.

The quality is amazing.

T

mail2and said:
I haven't counted the number of channels, but I get all Hindi entertainment channels, all movie channels, all sports channels and all news channels. And all the tiger/elephant type channels (Discovery) too.

The quality is amazing.

Means you are getting 200+ channels.

I

In what ways is it better then ADAG BigTV..???

just tell me few things

is it avail in all places ?
if available does it comes with Broadband...

T

naveen_reloaded said:
if available does it comes with Broadband...

No provider is even thinking of providing data services on DTH, now they are only concerned about retaining there existing customers by slashing prices.

And Airtel DigitalTV's site is not having full information about charges, locations covered. You can call their CC to check if services are available in your area.

2000Rs. one year subscription^^^^^

T

^^Its for 60-65 channels only, but they haven't explicitly mentioned if it includes STB as well and installation.

@Charan: You in bangalore right ? Help me switch from Tata Sky to Hathway. Where is their office ? And is the cost really Rs. 150/- ? How many channels ?

Yes..tht's all tht waz mentioned in the paper ad...hav u seen the commercial on TV?

MetalheadGautham said:
@Charan: You in bangalore right ? Help me switch from Tata Sky to Hathway. Where is their office ? And is the cost really Rs. 150/- ? How many channels ?

[offtopic]
Yes I am from Bangalore, but the deal with Rs. 150/Month has a catch .. we are very old customers and our house is the central area and most of the connections to other house goes thro house. he will have to atleast spend 5 days in relocating the connections if we ditch him

.. that the reason we are paying just 150 bucks

, I think the regular amount is somewhere between 300-350 with all paid channels.

BTW Hathway is not the only cable company providing STB, AFAIK CityCable also gives STB, You can check with your local cable walla, if he is a partner with CityCable or Hathway then you can avail the STB
[/offtopic]

Two features that I liked in Airtel DTH...

1) Integrated worldspace radio
2) Single remote for STB/TV

The 20% larger dish could do something good during the monsoons!

^^how abt if u have two TV in ur house ? do we have to pay xtraaaa ?

H

Charan said:
[offtopic]
I think the regular amount is somewhere between 300-350 with all paid channels.
[/offtopic]

i used to pay 300 bucks to Hathway to get all paid channels when i was in Delhi.

M

offtopic..

i saw ad on tv yesterday, and boy... kareena rocks!!!

ontopic..

and am glad that airtel made a DTH initiative...

Oh...so much of competition

Btw which is better.... :idea:

AIRTEL DTH
TATA Sky (zinghalala)
BIG TV (Reliance)
Dish TV (Dish Karo WIsh Karo)

mastermunj said:
offtopic..

i saw ad on tv yesterday, and boy... kareena rocks!!!

ontopic..

and am glad that airtel made a DTH initiative...

I thought the girl who played wife of Rahul was cuter

^^^
+1 me too

_

cute

M

comp@ddict said:
I thought the girl who played wife of Rahul was cuter

i could not move my eyes away from kareena..

lemme see this ad again today evening and can talk about the wife of rahul..

but i personally do not believe in eying other's wives

mastermunj said:
i could not move my eyes away from kareena..

Golden kareena....don't worry saif is also there.So,she is safe.

mastermunj said:
lemme see this ad again today evening and can talk about the wife of rahul..

Y wait 4 an add in TV..just c it youtube...by setting rewind or pause...

mastermunj said:
but i personally do not believe in eying other's wives

Shariff ladka...or m i wrong abt u....

M

^^ You are absolutely right... am very shariff..

well, youtube is blocked in my office... so have no option but to wait till evening..

and however tough safe is... he can not save kareena from my powerful eyes .. haha..

by the way, has anyone from digit forum applied for airtel dth??

Name of rahul's wife is Richa!

T

^^Yes you have to buy different one for every provider.

M

^^ Soon this will also be sorted out allowing any set top box to be used with any service provider.

Let there be high competition and govt will assure customer satisfaction just like we get it in telecomm

T

^^It will take atleast a year before this proposal is applied in practice.

^^^
yeah like the mobile number portability

_

M

^^ lol...

one year is not a big period i would say.

Look at the revolution that happened in telecomm during 2000 & 2001.

Let time come and DTH + IPTV will boom in india giving maximum entertainment to customers at the best possible rates..

T

IPTV in India?

It's won't be reaching the masses any time soon, 2mpbs unlimited connection costs Rs. 2200 pm at present. Who is able to afford that?

It will become famous only when people get 8mpbs unlimited at Rs. 2000pm, and I don't think this will happen even in 5 years from now.

1 year
Rs. 2000
175+ channels
Wagera wagera movies etc etc

T

^^You won't get 175+ channels in Rs. 2000 package.

This is their starting offer(shuruwat mein toh kuch dena hi padega)

That's AFAIK^^^

T

In North India. Gold package gives you just 113 channels free for 6 months @ Rs. 2,500. And you are thinking of getting 175 for Rs. 2000 for a year. It can' t be that cheap(includes hardware+installation as well)

I guess.pata nahi..they r not giving much of info(if they did, i din notice, was lukin at RIcha)

T

^^Only 60(+5) channels are there in Rs. 2000 package.
There site is not working fine for me.

Hmm, letz see what they tell in their future ads(i hope richa is there too lolloz)

T

^^No info is there about plans after the free subscription period elapses either. Just welcome offers are shown as of now.

Yes..and the ads on paper, tv...when will they know that we need facts too!!!!!

H

called up their cc 2day.they said:
1>no special plans as of now for existing Airtel mobile/bb subscribers.
2>to get all 175+ channels (ultra package) u'll hafta pay 3.5k (6months free viewing and after that 424 pm)

i think DishTv is a whole lot cheaper.

T

^^And Tata Sky 99Rs per month plan is better than Airtel's 99Rs pm plan.

hellgate said:
called up their cc 2day.they said:
1>no special plans as of now for existing Airtel mobile/bb subscribers.
2>to get all 175+ channels (ultra package) u'll hafta pay 3.5k (6months free viewing and after that 424 pm)

i think DishTv is a whole lot cheaper.

But if the customer care rocks and the service is the best I don't mind paying high prices... just like Airtel broadband.

M

ThinkFree said:
IPTV in India?

It's won't be reaching the masses any time soon, 2mpbs unlimited connection costs Rs. 2200 pm at present. Who is able to afford that?

It will become famous only when people get 8mpbs unlimited at Rs. 2000pm, and I don't think this will happen even in 5 years from now.

what's the realation between tariffs of 2 mbps and 8 mbps and IPTV?

Do you think that you need an unlimited connection for IPTV? LoL.

H

^^^ and u just dont seem to get 1 thing correct is wthout cheap broadband how can u xpect chaep iptv when it'll be using pretty high bandwidth for transmission.

T

mrbgupta said:
what's the realation between tariffs of 2 mbps and 8 mbps and IPTV?

Do you think that you need an unlimited connection for IPTV? LoL.

You mean even if tariffs for 2mbps connection are sky high, private companies will be subsidising them for people like you for IPTV. Do you know how much bandwidth will be used if you watch TV channels using IPTV?
And you think a 2mbps connection will be enough for watching TV and downloading content on computer at the same time.

for now, IPTV is a nono, in future when 8mbps gets dirt cheap(when 100mbps will be there) then IPTV will gain ground

ThinkFree said:
You mean even if tariffs for 2mbps connection are sky high, private companies will be subsidising them for people like you for IPTV. Do you know how much bandwidth will be used if you watch TV channels using IPTV?
And you think a 2mbps connection will be enough for watching TV and downloading content on computer at the same time.

IPTV is cheap. You know BSNL has already launched IPTV in Jaipur

Read this
*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showthread.php?p=933441

Most Channels in Rs 150. IT is going to be launched next month in my city. Came in Newspaper

T

Sukhdeep Singh said:
IPTV is cheap. You know BSNL has already launched IPTV in Jaipur

Read this
*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showthread.php?p=933441

Most Channels in Rs 150. IT is going to be launched next month in my city. Came in Newspaper

I am not talking about BSNL/MTNL who compromise on quality . I had explicitly mentioned that it was the case for private companies. Even if it's cheap, but still it would be sharing the bandwidth with your internet connection, which at present is very less.

ThinkFree said:
I am not talking about BSNL/MTNL who compromise on quality . I had explicitly mentioned that it was the case for private companies. Even if it's cheap, but still it would be sharing the bandwidth with your internet connection, which at present is very less.

Wrong, BSNL and MTNL dont have bad quality. See the threads at various places, people indeed good speeds on their braodband. I do agree that support sucks but the things get "Sarkari" forget support.

As for IPTV from Private players, The bandwidth for IPTV will be sperate. You will three lines to your home, one for Phone, 1 for TV and one for BB

T

^^I don't think so. At present same line is used for MTNL landline+broadband in Delhi, don't know about IPTV.

ThinkFree said:
^^And Tata Sky 99Rs per month plan is better than Airtel's 99Rs pm plan.

but tata sky sucks like **** dude.
its best avoided at any cost.

T

^^But I had heard that it's better than DishTV in terms of service and picture quality.

I'm happy with TATA Sky^^^^^^^^^^^

M

ThinkFree said:
^^I don't think so. At present same line is used for MTNL landline+broadband in Delhi, don't know about IPTV.

Then why r u commenting like an expert? I am using IPTV.you have no idea how IPTV runs.

Offtopic :Chill it out guys. IPTV runs on the same line but has a dedicated channel for itself. So you can continue to browse internet, watch IPTV, talk on the phone at the same time.
Since IPTV has its own channel, it does not relate to your internet bandwidth etc.

Ontopic : I have been waiting for Airtel DTH for over 6 months now. Seems like it has been worth the wait, gonna buy it very soon

comp@ddict said:
I'm happy with TATA Sky^^^^^^^^^^^

me2!!!!

That tariff is insanely costly. 3.5k for 6 months. f off airtel. I get all channels for 12 months at a price of 3k (installaiton costs included).

No second thought. TATA Sky is the best among satellite TV's. Best in support and lot lot lot better pricing.

To get all channels for a year I pay 3k for TATA Sky but for Airtel, I pay 6k. TATA Sky is the way to go now. Greedy Airtel!!!!

A

plz visit this thread