Dish TV, the DTH arm of Zee group which will list on the stock markets in October-November this year, expects to break-even by fiscal 2008-09.

"We hope to break-even in 2008-09 by when we will corner about four million subscribers," Dish TV head Jawahar Goel told reporters here after launching a 'Sports Active' service on the platform's Zee Sports channel.

The market in the DTH is segment is hotting up with Rupert Murdoch's Star and Tata combine Tata-Sky already offering competitive prices in comparison to Dish TV while formidable players like Sun TV [ Get Quote ] and Anil Dhirubhai Ambani [ Images ] Group waiting in the wings.

Moreover, with conventional cable services going digital as well as entry of Conditional Access System (CAS) in metros, apart from the much-awaited launch and expansion of IPTV, DTH faces a lot of competition not only from within the segment but also other content delivery platforms as well.

Goel, who is investing close to Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) over the next couple of years to launch interactive and other value-added services on Dish TV, is hopeful that DTH will be among the preferred platforms with consumers.

Dish TV, which started services from non-metro markets when it began services in late 2003, today boasts of 1.4 million subscribers and is gradually making in-roads into bigger cities.

The listing of the Zee arm was announced as part of the demerger of the group. "We hope to list on the stock exchanges by October-November," Goel said.