Dish TV, the DTH arm of Zee group which will list on the stock markets in October-November this year, expects to break-even by fiscal 2008-09.

"We hope to break-even in 2008-09 by when we will corner about four million subscribers," Dish TV head Jawahar Goel told reporters here after launching a 'Sports Active' service on the platform's Zee Sports channel.

The market in the DTH is segment is hotting up with Rupert Murdoch's Star and Tata combine Tata-Sky already offering competitive prices in comparison to Dish TV while formidable players like Sun TV [Get Quote] and Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group waiting in the wings.

Moreover, with conventional cable services going digital as well as entry of Conditional Access System (CAS) in metros, apart from the much-awaited launch and expansion of IPTV, DTH faces a lot of competition not only from within the segment but also other content delivery platforms as well.

Goel, who is investing close to Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) over the next couple of years to launch interactive and other value-added services on Dish TV, is hopeful that DTH will be among the preferred platforms with consumers.

Dish TV, which started services from non-metro markets when it began services in late 2003, today boasts of 1.4 million subscribers and is gradually making in-roads into bigger cities.

The listing of the Zee arm was announced as part of the demerger of the group. "We hope to list on the stock exchanges by October-November," Goel said.