Aamir Khan launches tata sky plus

Mumbai, Oct 14 (UNI) Staying ahead of the stiff competition offered by big players in the Direct to Home (DTH) market in the country, Satellite TV leader Tata Sky today launched an innovative Tata Sky plus service today offering novel features to bag a big pie.

Tata Sky plus, aimed to revolutionise TV viewing in India, comes about three years after the Company's partner, SKY TV launched the service in England and offered viewers to rewind, record or pause live programmes through an intelligent set top box that could store upto 45 hours of programme and had two tuners.

Actor Aamir Khan launched the service here in the presence of media from across the country. The service would be initially available in all metros and key cities in the first phase covering around 50 markets and then move on the tier two cities, Mr Vikram Kaushik, CEO and MD of Tata Sky told newsmen.

Aiming to end October with a total subscriber base of 2.7 million, Mr Kaushik said that by end of 2012 the Tata Sky subscribers would cross the eight million mark.

The Company, a joint venture between Tatas and STAR TV, has already invested Rs.2,000 crore to create necessary infrastructure for DTH platforms and aimed to pump in Rs.2,000 crore more, Mr Kaushik said, adding such ventures would take at least a minimum of five years before turning the corner.

Replying to a question, he said Tata Sky was in talks with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for additional transponder capacities as all the Ku band transponders it had leased onboard INSAT 4A had been utilised to provide 150 channels as against over 400 channels currently available in the country and atlest three channels added every month.

''Our aim is to enhance to regional packages,'' Mr Kaushik said.

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