(20 October 2008 6:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Big TV, the direct-to-home (DTH) arm of Reliance Communications, has mopped up 500,000 subscribers within two months of launch and expects to touch five million in the first year of its operations, a senior company executive said.

"Almost 50 per cent of our subscribers have come from the South. We have had an average run rate of 10,000 and touched 500,000 subscribers in 50 days. This is equivalent to 40 per cent of the industry's gross additions during the last two months. About 60-70 per cent of our subscribers have come from the top 200 towns," said Big TV president Arun Kapoor.

As part of its ramp-up plan, Reliance has also tied up with LG to offer its DTH service at Rs 700 (instead of Rs 1490) for those customers who buy 29-inch television sets. The offer is valid till 31 October.

"The total DTH subscriber base will expand to 18 million and we would be touching five million subscribers with 12 months of operations. We are fully-geared to add over 400,000 subscribers every month with an on-ground infrastructure spanning 6500 Indian towns," said Kapoor.

Big TV will be launching its DVR service this year. "We are also coming up with interactive cricket and interactive news within two months. We are in talks with a leading sports broadcaster and two news channels," said Kapoor.

Big TV expects to offer 15-20 HD channels by the middle of next year, adds Kapoor.

Big TV will be doubling its channel bouquet to 400 by next year. It will add four more Ku-band transponders to its current eight on Measat, which will enable it to offer more channels.