DTH in India

DTH IN INDIA DTH stands for Direct-To-Home television. With the DTH service you have the option and the access to view television programmes directly from a satellite with the aid of a personal dish. Once the DTH is installed you will have no need for the local cable operator, as it puts the broadcaster directly in touch with you. Prior to the entry of DTH cable operators could receive satellite programmes and they then distribute them to individual homes. DTH offers a better quality of viewing experience than cable service. It has greater penetration also and is able to reach out where cable TV is not able to reach DTH service was first proposed in India in 1996.

It did not pass approval due to concerns over national security and cultural invasion. DTH was finally allowed in 2000. Though there are several providers in the DTH arena, Tata Sky offers superior service with its wide range of products and interactive services. Tata sky offers five different packages to suit the varying needs of customers. It includes television channels in DVD quality picture and CD quality sound.

The channels one is able to watch will depend on the package selected. The popular channels available are STAR, Sony, Zee, SUN, HBO, Cartoon Network, Discovery, Disney, MTV, NDTV, ESPN, STAR Sports and National Geographic Channel. Tata Sky also offers various regional channels covering Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Oriya, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi and other languages. Tata Sky offers the facility to recharge your account, order a movie on Showcase and check your account balance and due date by sending them an SMS through your Registered Mobile Number (RMN). It also offers a range of interactive services that include Actve Cooking, Actve Wizkids, Actve Learning, Actve Stories, Actve Sports, Actve Games, Actve Newsroom, Actve STAR News, Actve Astrology and Actve Darshan.

Through Actve Cooking you can get your favorite recipe when you want. Master Chefs across the country offer four new and easy-to-cook recipes daily along with handy kitchen tips through this service. Actve Wizkids is aimed specifically at preschoolers to aid in continuing their learning process at home through a host of fun-filled games covering Mathematics, English language and General Knowledge. The games are refreshed regularly. Actve Learning is a quiz based educational service for children in the age group of 7-11 years covering Math's, GK and Science. Actve Stories features new stories in English and Hindi everyday from the Panchatantra, Jataka tales and Hitopadesh.

Children can read and listen to the stories at their own pace. Actve Sports allows you to watch your favorite matches with features like multiple camera angles, choice of commentary language, highlights on-demand and player statistics. This service is available only for select events. Actve Games provides a variety of interactive games for all age groups. These games can be played on TV with the Tata Sky remote. New games are added periodically.

The Search & Scan Banner allows you to know what is playing on another channel without changing the channel you are watching. These and host of other features are offered to make TV viewing comfortable and enjoyable.

Akshay is the Author of the Article "DTH in India". He is a well known writer of a popular blog on technology. His other interests include Sports and Advertising.