Dish TV to install DTH services in train soon

After successfully rolling out mobile direct-to-home units for cars, Dish TV, will soon install its DTH services on-board Railway Minister Lalu Prasad's special train.

This will be followed by Dish TV's installation on-board luxury tourist train (Palace on Wheels), a Goan cruise liner and on Ashok Leyland buses. Dish TV is already fitted on-board 21 Kingfisher aircraft.

This move will make Dish TV, an Essel Group company, the first DTH operator to have installed their DTH services in consumer homes, cars, buses, aircraft, cruise liners and on trains. "Dish everywhere is our motto.

We aim to provide our DTH services across all platforms, whether moving, flying or stationary," a senior Dish TV executive said. This move is likely to help the company market its services to the potential consumers more effectively.

Currently, there are three private DTH operators in the country -- Dish TV, Tata Sky and Sun Direct. Apart from Dish TV, no other DTH service provider has been able to provide its services on aircraft, cars or trains. At least two more new DTH operators -- Big TV from Reliance Communications and Bharti Airtel — are slated to launch their services shortly.

In order to establish that the DTH signals can work on a fast-moving train, Dish TV will initially install its special DTH equipment on-board Railway Minister Lalu Prasad's special train. The special hardware for this purpose is being sourced from Israel and costs about Rs 1,80,000.

Once the successful trial run on-board the railway minister train is over, Dish TV will get the permission to install its services on luxury tourist trains too, company sources said.

Of the 5.5 million DTH subscribers in the country, Dish TV has already cornered over 3.2 million subscribers followed by Tata Sky (a joint venture between Tata Sons and Star India).

The company is believed to be in talks with other leading airline companies for installing its services but no formal agreements have come through so far.

"In the last five months, we have sold over 500 units of Dish TV mobile for cars and now we plan to extend our services to trains, ships and bus," Samir Juneja, head of mobile Dish TV, told Business Standard.

According to sources, Dish TV has also entered into arrangements with Ford Motors to provide Dish TV fittings as a genuine accessory on the sale of its sports utility vehicle Ford Endeavour. A similar deal is expected to be announced with General Motors too, Juneja said.

The company expects to sell at least 30-40 Dish TV mobile units each month along with the sales of SUV's from both Ford and General Motors.

Explaining the reasons for providing its DTH services across various platforms, Juneja said: "Mobile Dish TV helps us showcase our technological capabilities and creates goodwill for us." Currently, Dish TV mobile units are installed in the cars of some of the leading businessmen, film stars and politicians.

"A mobile DTH unit is costly and is meant for the driver-driven cars. But its application on-board trains will help tourists and other passengers stay in touch with the world even as they move between towns," Juneja said.