Monday 14 October 2013

Top DTH operators launch mobile TV apps

With the increasing number of smartphone users in India, mobile has become a potential market to offer TV on the go.
According to a Smartphone Incidence Study 2013 compiled by Nielsen Informate Mobile Insights, there are 51 million smartphone users in urban India today, an 89 per cent increase from 2012, when there were just 27 million users. And this precisely is the reason why the top two direct-to-home (DTH) players are going after this population, trying to catch them on-the-go with their respective applications. While last week market leader Dish TV launched DishOnline, its over-the-top (OTT) live TV viewing application, Tata Sky today announced the launch of a similar application, ‘Everywhere TV’. Tata Sky’s application will be launched by the end of the month, enabling subscribers to watch Live TV on their mobile phones. Although Tata Sky already has a mobile app, ‘Everywhere TV’ will offer more features including ‘Recording’ – where the user can record, pause and fast forward the shows; VOD – for Tata Sky PVR subscribers with over 2000 videos which can be downloaded to watch offline; Catch up TV – showcasing episodes of subscribers’ favourite programmes from the past week and more. Tata Sky chief commercial officer Vikram Mehra said, “Our research has shown that lifestyles are getting busier in today’s day and age. Today over 60 per cent of the (Tata Sky) population use the internet to view videos on their smartphones and tablets either at home or at office. ‘Everywhere TV’ is a unique service for all those subscribers who want to keep in touch with their favourite shows and channels that they have subscribed on Tata Sky, even when they are on move, through their mobile handsets.” Tata Sky’s app will be available for the Android and iOS platforms and on 4G/3G/EDGE mobile and broadband/ Wi-Fi internet connections. Tata Sky’s service will be priced at Rs. 60 per month for a bouquet of over 50 channels in the initial phase with popular Hindi and English entertainment, music, sports and news channels. In order to promote the new offering, Tata Sky has launched two ad commercials on the latest innovation conveying the idea of carrying television in the pocket through amusing stories. Mehra added, “The commercials communicates television viewing among mature audiences has reached the next level, when one’s mobile are referred to as ‘TV’ due to the Tata Sky ‘Everywhere TV’.” As per Nielsen’s study, metros have the highest penetration of smartphones at 23 per cent, which has witnessed an increase from 10 per cent in 2012. The increase in numbers mirrors that of tier I and II cities, which stood at 6 per cent in 2012 and went up to 13 per cent in 2013. The study pegs smartphone users at 17 per cent of the total mobile phone user base in urban India, with 50 per cent of smartphone users being under the age of 25.

Source:
http://cablequest.org/news/new-media/item/3341-top-dth-operators-launch-mobile-tv-apps.htmlSource: http://cablequest.org/news/new-media/item/3341-top-dth-operators-launch-mobile-tv-apps.html

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