'ASE has 15,000 DTH subscribers'

The Subhash Chandra-promoted ASC Enterprises, which is India's first direct-to-home television broadcaster, today said that the company has logged 15,000 subscribers in two weeks time.

Dish TV, the DTH service of ASC Enterprises, was launched on October 2.

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"We have had a good response from the market from the date of its soft launch. This trend can only grow now with the launching of our promotional campaign for the DTH service in December," said Ashish Kaul, vice-president -- corporate brand development for Essel group.

The DTH service is also adding additional channels to its bouquet. Premier Cinema, which will showcase latest Hindi blockbusters not more than 5 years old, and Action TV will be added to the Dish TV's DTH bouquet in the coming weeks taking the tally of exclusive channels for the company's DTH platform to 5.

Value-added services -- such as video games, personal video recorder, pay-per-view, near video-on-demand -- are also being offered by Dish TV.

According to Kaul, "Dish TV will not only have high quality video and audio but advanced features such as electronic programming guide, control on viewing via parental lock are also being offered."

The company is also launching five international channels. These are being launched exclusively on its DTH platform.

The company will be offering old Hindi movie channel, Golden Cinema, comedy channel, Smile TV, action movie channel, Action Cinema and English action films channel FX channel. These channels will be available over and above the basic bouquet that is presently being offered for Rs 100 plus tax as an introductory offer.

The DTH service also offers general entertainment channels such as Zee TV, SABe TV, Sahara Manoranjan, DD National, DD Metro, Zee News, AajTak, Sahara Samay, NDTV India, Headlines Today, NDTV 24X7, CNN, BBC CNBC, Alpha channels from Zee bouquet, ETC Punjabi, DD Regional, Asianet, Maa, Jaya TV, Zee Cinema, DD Sports, Ten Sports, Trendz TV among others.

ZEE Music, ETC Music, MTV, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and Splash TV, Zee English, Reality TV, Care TV and Zee MGM.

Pointing out that the DTH service of the company has massive potential in the country, Kaul said, "A large percentage of households are not serviced by cable operators because of economical non-viability. Substantial number of households in such areas have the paying capacity but do not have access and hence are high potential for Dish TV services being an untapped market."