For at least the second time in more than a quarter of a century, TV content providers in India will use a sporting event as a marketing catalyst to launch an emerging technology — HDTV via satellite — in the world's second most populated nation.
Various direct-to-home distributors (virtually all DBS) such as Tata Sky, Dish TV, Reliance Big TV, and Airtel Digital are looking ahead to the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi next October as a prime target date for getting HD set-top boxes into as many Indian homes as possible. (One firm, Sun Direct, is the only DBS party offering HD content right now in India.)
Nearly 30 years ago, the Delhi Asian Games were used by TV service providers in the analog realm to help promote the advent of color television to India — and from all appearances it proved to be a big success. "Just as the Asian Games was the driver for color televisions in India, we believe the Commonwealth Games will drive HD service in the country," Dish TV COO Salil Kapoor told the Economic Times in New Delhi.
Dish TV, India's biggest TV provider, and Reliance Big TV are currently planning to begin distributing HD-ready boxes by June. Airtel Digital is tentatively planning to begin issuing HD STBs by late summer or early fall for the October games. (Tata Sky has not announced its specific HD-box plans yet.)
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