Airtel Launches Satellite TV Service in India

Airtel Launches Satellite TV Service in India

Bharti Airtel (News - Alert) Limited has unveiled its new direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV service. Starting Thursday, the service will be available to customers through 21,000 retail locations, including Airtel Relationship Centers in 62 cities across India.

Airtel digital TV uses the latest MPEG4 standard with DVB S2 technology. Apart from being high definition ready, this latest technology also enables delivery of more complex interactive content. The company also that Airtel digital TV uses a 20 percent larger dish antenna that offers better performance during rain.

Airtel believes that the Indian DTH segment offers immense growth potential. The company said it is well-placed to emerge as a leading player in this segment.

The new service provides interactive applications such as iMatinee (book cinema tickets), iTravel (browse and book travel packages), iShop (shop on TV for your favorite brands), iCity (get your city's information) and Widgets (update yourself on latest stock news).

Airtel will offer a universal remote for both set top boxes and TVs. The service delivers, among other things, exclusive content including world radio and games. If there is a power disruption, the system remembers the last viewed channel. There is also a low battery indicator on the screen, a straightforward search interface, and an on-screen account meter.

The company noted that it has a team of 800 professionally-trained service engineers and 24x7 customer care reps.

“Today we are starting a new chapter in our journey, one that adds a new dimension to our existing product portfolio and is a major step towards t ransforming Airtel from just a telecom brand to a lifestyle enabler,” said Manoj Kohli, CEO at Bharti Airtel (News - Alert), in a statement. “The launch of Airtel digital TV is the culmination of our three screens strategy, which is to be present across mobile phone, computer and TV screens.”

Source: http://satellite.tmcnet.com/