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Source: The Financial ExpressAnil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) owned Big TV, that has recently entered the nascent but highly competitive direct-to-home (DTH) segment, is planning to offer high definition (HD) content in India by buying thousands of hours of programming from international channels and packaging them here. With widescreen, crystal clear cinematic picture and surround sound, HD content is expected to attract niche viewership once it catches on in the country. Such content is created through special cameras and high-end technology.Although dearth of HD compliant TV sets and HD content have stymied the growth of HD services in India, that is set to change by the turn of the year. While television manufacturers like Sony are planning to bring HD-compliant TV sets to India, a few HD channels are also expected to be in place by then. Arun Kapoor, president, Big TV, said, “We can buy a few thousand hours of programming from international channels and package them in India as a channel.”Broadcasters like Star, Sony and ESPN have HD content internationally, which could be brought to India, say industry sources. Niche services like HD content are crucial for attracting viewership in top Indian markets. As such, in the DTH business, average revenue per user (ARPU) is very low at Rs 200 per subscriber, said Kapoor. Big TV has identified that the revenue in the top 100 markets in India will be driven by value-added-services and HD content and are high ARPU markets, while the revenue for the rest of India will be driven by subscriptions.“Next year, Big TV hopes to showcase 15-20 HD channels. Currently, the set-top-box of all DTH players except for Big TV is Mpeg 2 compliant which does not support HD content.
