India’s public broadcaster Doordarshan is to expand its direct to home (DTH) DD Direct Plus TV platform with the addition of 16 channels by the end of 2012.
Taking the channel counf from 59 to 75, the move was announced by S Jagathrakshkan the Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting – and contrasts an earlier statement from Doordarshan network operator Prasar Bharati that between 200 and 250 channels would be supported by the DTH platform.
DD Direct Plus claims a 9m audience across India, while Doordarshan’s terrestrial TV network also reaches 92 per cent of India's population in 81per cent of the country’s geographical mass.
DD Direct Plus is the only free-to-air DTH platform currently operating in India, competing with services offered by privately run Dish TV, Tata Sky, Sun Direct, Airtel Digital TV, Videocon d2h, Reliance Digital TV.
