DD’s DTH may carry 200 free-to-air channels soon

New Delhi : In an important step to increase its reach and popularity, public broadcaster Doordarshan(DD) would give 200 free-to-air channels on its DTH platform.

”We are discussing the matter with the Prasar Bharati people, and I have asked them to try to increase the number of free-to-air channels to about 200,” Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters here after a function.

At present, the DD DIRECT+, as the DTH service of the DD is called, is envisaged to telecast 50 free-to-air TV channels (containing both Doordarshan and private channels).

The Satellite Earth Station for uplink of signals has been set up in Delhi. The service was inaugurated on December 16 in 2004. The high power Ku-band transponders of Indian Satellite INSAT-4B are being used for hosting the DD DIRECT+ services.

Ms Soni said the decision to increase the number of channels on DD DTH was in consonance with the objectives of the Ministry to make the public broadcaster of maximum use to the public.

Doordarshan has at present a network of more than 1400 transmitters spread throughout the country and its signals are available to about 90 per cent of the population. It was estimated that the coverage of remaining 10 per cent population with terrestrial (single channel) broadcast would have an enromous cost. It will also take a number of years and require huge manpower.

The public broadcaster will remove these bottlenecks by the use of an alternate technology option ‘Ku-band broadcasting’ which would enable the DD DTH platform to carry many more number of channels.

Ku-band transmission will provide coverage in all uncovered areas including remote, border, tribal, hilly and inaccessible areas in one go within a short time.

Other operators in private DTH service(private) are Dish TV, Tata Sky, Sun Direct, Airtel digital TV, Big TV and Videocon D2H.

Source: Sahilonline

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