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Star to switch bands to revive DTH project

In a major strategy shift, Rupert Murdoch’s STAR TV is planning to revive its ambitious direct-to-home television broadcast project by shifting it to the C-band instead of the earlier planned Ku-band.

STAR’s DTH project has been stuck for over two years as the Union government has not opened up satellite television broadcasting on Ku-band. Transmission on C-band is permitted.

Sources said STAR TV’s executive director for DTH project in India, Urmila Gupta, is flying to Hong Kong in the first week of December alongwith other senior executives for a detailed presentation to STAR’s chairman and chief executive Gareth Chang.

The idea to start the DTH broadcasting services in India on C-band was mooted by Chang himself, sources said. STAR is launching DTH broadcasting services in Hong Kong in August 2000 and the company management believes that the same basket of channels can be marketed in the DTH service in India as well.

According to sources, STAR’s DTH service in Hong Kong will launch a bouquet of over 20 channels. STAR can, thus, provide over 30 channels in India as nearly 10 STAR channels are already available in the country. STAR channels currently available in India are STAR Plus, STAR World, STAR Movies, STAR Sports, Sky News, Fox News, National Geographic, Channel V and STAR News.

"STAR management is keen to launch DTH services on C-band in India," a source said. However, broadcasting on C-band may affect the reach of its DTH services to some extent as it requires a much bigger dish antenna compared to the one needed for catching Ku-band signals. The C-band dish antenna has a diameter of around six feet while the Ku-band antenna diameter is about two feet.

The Ku-band transmission, therefore, has a wide potential market including people living in small houses or flats. Sources said STAR is ready to make its entry in the Indian DTH market on C-band transmission even though it is aware that the clientele would primarily be of people who live in big houses.

The industry believes that the government will open up satellite television broadcast on Ku-band. The government has already formed a high-powered committee under the chairmanship of home minister LK Advani to recommend a policy on DTH broadcasting. The committee is yet to take a decision on the issue. It is believed that the government will include a policy decision on DTH services in the Broadcasting Bill which is currently under preparation. The Bill may be presented before Parliament within the next six months.