BIG TV launches India’s first HD DVR Service

HD DVR set-top box with 3-in-1 features -

• HD capabilities -
• Digital video recording features with recording up to 200 hours -
• Universal remote to control TV-DVD-Set Top box

Forges Alliance with five Channels to bring HD services in India Most affordable HD DVR service @ Rs 7490

Mumbai, May 5th 2010: Reliance BIG TV, the DTH home entertainment service from Reliance Communications, as part of its business strategy announced a path breaking, first-of-its-kind technological innovation that will redefine the DTH landscape in the country.

Today, Reliance Big TV commences the roll-out of India’s first High Definition set-top box with Digital Live TV Recording capabilities. Reliance Big TV is rolling out its HD DVR set-top box across top 100 cities in India and will be supported by India’s largest distribution infrastructure of a home entertainment service covering 6500 towns with a network reach of over 100,000 retail points.

Commenting at the launch of Reliance Big TV HD DVR, Mr. Sanjay Behl, CEO, Reliance Big TV said, “"This is India's first product with a dual benefit of High Definition viewing and Digital Video Recorder in a single Set Top Box. Further, Reliance BIG TV is the only service provider to offer recording capability upwards of 200 hours and a universal remote control which can manage upto 3 devices. This launch is part of Reliance Big TV’s relentless pursuit of quality and profitable growth by blending best in technology, content experience, reach and service to bring world-class entertainment experience to our customers"

The high definition feature of Reliance Big TV HD DVR offers five times clearer & sharper image quality with two million pixel resolution and digital surround sound effect. The digital video recording capabilities offer features like pause, play and rewind Live TV, record Live TV to allow you to record a program while watching another channel.

The competitive advantage of Reliance Big TV HD DVR is its capability to record up to 200 hours of video programming, offering double the recording capacity compared to the competitive products in the market. Reliance HD DVR signifies that the consumer shift from standard definition (SD) to High Definition (HD) is well underway. Reliance Big TV’s HD DVR service aims to revolutionize TV viewing by offering to consumers the dual benefit of High Definition video and advanced digital video recording features.

Reliance Big TV is also offering a 3-in-1 Universal Remote to enable its subscribers to the advantage of using single remote to control three devices namely, the TV, Set-Top Box and any other music/ disc player system.

Reliance Big TV is the first Indian DTH operator to offer a HD DVR set top box with a Universal Remote.

Reliance Big TV HD DVR set top box is priced at Rs. 7490/- making it the most competitive offering in the market.

In the non-south market, Reliance Big TV is launching the entry offer at Rs. 7990/- bundled with three months of Diamond Pack. In the southern market the entry offer is priced at Rs. 7,790/- bundled with five months of value pack with a full bouquet of sports channels.  For existing Reliance Big TV customers the company is offering an upgrade option from SD to HD DVR at an exceptional price of Rs. 5,990/-.

As a part of its HD launch, Reliance Big TV has signed a HD content deal with National Geographic to offer its HD channels in India. Reliance Big TV as a part of its HD launch will offer the HD channels complementary through entry offers to all new customers. Over the next two months Reliance Big TV will launch five new HD channels and a host of HD content by forging strategic alliances with top global HD content providers.

Reliance Big TV will launch its HD DVR marketing campaign across top 100 cities as part of the launch phase. It will comprise of an aggressive multimedia campaign across television, print, digital, social, retail media and BTL mediums. The company plans to spend over Rs. 100 Cr. as part of its launch campaign.

As a part of its strategic business plans, the company is adding two new transponders that will allow Reliance Big TV additional bandwidth to offer more HD content and channels for the next one year as well as increase it overall channel capacity to over 300. The company also plans to launch six new interactive services during this fiscal.

About Reliance BIG TV DTH: A wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Communications, India’s largest integrated telecom service provider, offers India’s first fully Digital Home Entertainment Service using MPEG-4 platform, under BIG TV DTH brand. The world’s most advanced MPEG4 DTH technology platform enables BIG TV DTH to offer over 200 TV, Cinema and Audio channels, the highest by any other DTH operator in the country. With 32 exclusive movie channels in English, Hindi and Regional languages, BIG TV DTH offers a choice of 600 new movies every year, unmatched by any DTH or cable operator in the country.

The country’s largest on-ground infrastructure for a Home Entertainment created by Reliance BIG TV DTH would enable the company to serve over 5 million new customers every year and will offer multiple price points and packaging offers to suit needs of all customer segments. The state-of-the-art Customer Service mechanism is fully functional and ready to serve a minimum of 50,000 customers every day in 11 Indian languages. Available at launch at 1-lakh retail outlets across 6500 towns, over 2000 exclusive Reliance branded stores, BIG TV DTH is the largest retail rollout of a Home Entertainment Service in India. BIG TV DTH Toll Free Number: 1-800-200-9001; Website: www.BIGTV.co.in SMS BIGTV to 55454.