Airtel DTH in India

freaks

Hi All,

Yesterday I saw the Airtel Digital Setup box and its Remort for the first time in
one of the Airtel Showroom.

The first look itself is very impressive it just looks like PS2(Much bigger).
Let me describe it more,

Full black in colour. There was a change in all aspects. For example The buttons
are located on the top of the box not in the front like in other STBs. The Smartcard
socket was located in the back pannel. And a USB port(like in BIG TV) wsa on the right side
of the box. But what made me to disappoint was the output ports.
It has only composite A/V output and a RF out. Not even a component output (like in BIG TV).
But in webiste it is mentioned as HD Ready... I dont know what that means.

Coming to Remote..... This is the best Remote out of all the DTH I have seen.
It also comes in a full black with the Airtel logo in the center navigation keys...... it also has
4 colour buttons like in Sky and Big remote.

Thats all to describe..


Coming to the package..

a. 2000 / 1year subscription = South pack(basic pack for south) - 79
channels + Settop box + installation + World space radio(10 ch) + 5
Intractive services
This pack includes almost all the major regional channels are
alvailable (I checked only tamil.. sorry for others)

b. 2500 = a + (South Economy pack 38 channels / 6 month subscription)
Which includes AXN,discovery,pogo,mtv,cartoon channels, set max, and
major news channels and more

c. 3500 = a + b + (South Ultra 27 channels/ 6 month sub)
All sports channels, Movie channels + etc

d There are also many topups available(like booster packs in mobile...)
for one month validity for Selected channels.....

Here is the complete list of channels provided by airtel dth service or airtel digital tv as they call themselves.

Airtel dth channels list

Radio

WorldSpace Radio Urdu,
WorldSpace Radio Wellness,
WorldSpace Radio Hindi Film,
WorldSpace Radio Indian Classical,
WorldSpace Radio Pop,
WorldSpace Radio Rock,
WorldSpace Radio Telugu,
WorldSpace Radio Carnatic Music,
WorldSpace Radio Bengali,
WorldSpace Radio Gujarati

Kids

Animax
Cartoon Network
Disney Channel
Hungama TV
Nickelodeon
Pogo
Toon Disney


Entertainment

Star One
Star Plus
Star Utsav
Star World
NDTV Imagine
Sab TV
Sahara One
Set Max
Sony TV
Colors
9x
Zee Cafe
Raj TV
ETV
AXN
DD Bharati
DD 1

Infotainment

Animal Planet
Discovery Channel
History Channel
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]


Sports

DD Sports
ESPN
Neo Sports
Neo Cricket
Star Cricket
Star Sports
Ten Sports
Zee Sports

Lifestyle and Music
Fashion TV
Discovery Travel and Living
NDTV Good Times
B4U Music
9XM
MTV
Channel V
Zoom
VH1
Zee Trendz
Sun Music

Religious Channels

Aastha
God TV
Sanskar

Movies

UTV Hindi Movies
World Movies
Zee Studio
HBO
Pix
Zee Studio
Filmy
Star Movies
Zee Talkies
MGM

News Channels

BBC World News
CNN
India TV
NDTV India
NDTV 24x7
NDTV Profit
News24
DD News
Aaj Tak
Times Now
Manorama News
Headlines Today
IBN 7
Star News
CNBC TV18
CNN IBN
CNBC Awaaz
SUN News
UTV Business News

Regional Channels

Asianet
DD Lok Sabha
DD Rajya Sabha
DD GyanDarshan
DD Urdu
ETV Oriya
ETV Bihar
ETV Rajasthan
ETV Gujarati
ETV Bangla
ETV Kannada
ETV 2
ETV Marathi
ETV Urdu
Jaya Plus
Jaya TV
Akash Bangla
Maa TV
MH1
Star Majha
Star Ananda
Star Vijaya
Star Jolsha
Zee Gujarati
Zee Marathi
Zee Punjabi
NE TV
OTV
Kalaingar TV
Isaiaruvi
Kiran TV
Surya TV
Chutti TV
DD Kashir
Asianet Plus
PTC Punjabi
TV9 Telugu
Sun TV
Gemini TV
KTV
Udaya TV
Udaya Movies
Teja TV
TV9 Kannada
Zee Kannada
ZEE Telugu
24 Ghanta
Kairali TV

Interactive Channels
iShop
iAstro
iTravel
iMatinee
iLearn
iCity
iNet
Games
iNews
iSports

IMPORTANT : The below channels are no broadcasted by airtel dth digital tv service :
Zee TV
Zee Cinema
Zone Reality TV
UTV Bindass

There wont be a lot of takers for airtel dth in my opinion because they do not include zee tv and a huge population in India watches these channels which are not included.

With the DTH scene getting hotter and hotter day by day, it is indeed not surprising to see these new services entering newly spending millions only for their ad campaign. The latest to enter the DTH scene in India is Airtel DTH. They enter an already competitive market with Dish TV and Tata Sky leading the scene and with the recent entry of Big TV making it even hotter. And now with Airtel Direct to Home Service it has indeed become even more hot and interesting. Interesting for the fact that what will be their next marketing strategy will be for the existing as well as Airtel DTH Services. They have named their service as Airtel Digital TV.

And to start off Airtel has really caught all the attention it need with their launch ad. With this Airtel’s Digital TV Launch Ad, they have proven that they are indeed going not going to lag behind but instead going to target or hit the market with the bang. Indeed with this [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] ad they have crossed the half well.

This ad starts of a person named Rahul just coming out of the airport and become surprised to see a huge welcome party waiting for him with 100s of people (said to be mostly the characters and musicians, cartoon characters which you can see on TV) welcoming him with the banner “Welcome Rahul”.

Then actors Madhavan and Vidya Balan welcoming him and travel along with him in a Limousine which is actually driven by a Ferrari Formula 1 Driver.

Then when he reaches home he sees cricketers, Zaheer Khan and Gautam Gambir receiving him on the elevator along with other sports persons. Then when he reaches home he sees Karina Kapoor along with his wife. Then comes the legend, A.R. Rahman who was seen playing a piano. Then he sees Saif Ali Khan asking him to sit on the couch. The next scene turns out with [Only registered and activated users can see links. ], minus Madhavan and Vidya Balan, standing behind with Saif handing over the remote to let him watch the TV which is powered with Airtel Digital TV.

This is an indeed caught-the-attention sort of ad that Airtel has come up with their campaign but will it turns into acquiring customers, only their service and rates will decide it.

I wonder what will be the response to this from other DTH players in India. I am also keenly expecting to see what will be the response with Big TV now after their recent tussle.

Airtel certainly must have spent a bomb on the ad. The ad which is nearly 20 second long will cost a lot to air on prime time TV.

I do not believe in these fancy ad's. I have often found that the bigger and fancier the ad, the more dud the product. Word of mouth publicity is much better. The movie A Wednesday is a prime example what a really good product can do. The intial pickup may be slow but when it picks up, it is as deadly as an avalanche.

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