AsiaSat and the Essel Group have announced the signing of an agreement for the use of multiple C-band transponders on AsiaSat 4 for a new digital Headend-in-the-Sky (HITS) delivery platform to distribute pay-TV signals to all cable operators, serving millions of cable homes, throughout India.
Through this platform on AsiaSat 4, cable operators will be able to receive up to 150 digital television channels, thereby giving a great impetus to the digitalisation of the cable networks in India. Headend-in-the-Sky (HITS) is a delivery model that allows cable operators to sell a readily encrypted high quality digital package of channels received from a single satellite to their subscribers.
The arrangement will enable the cable operators to offer a greater choice of channels with a small investment. It will also help the content providers to have more transparency on audience penetration. An Essel Group company, WWIL plans to convert its existing analogue cable service to those using HITS service distribution in all the existing cities and targeted new cities across India.
The Essel Group is India’s largest media enterprises, with diversified interests in Broadcasting (Zee TV), DTH (Dish TV) and Cable Networking (WWIL) operations.
