Mumbai : Barely three weeks back, in mid-July, the Hinduja Group had announced its world class Headend In The Sky (HITS) service, called NXT DIGITAL, which has been built exactly as per cable fraternity needs, to help the cable distribution fraternity make a smooth transition from analog to digital as Digital Addressable Services (DAS) roll out in Phase 3 and 4 markets. And in the brief period since, NXT DIGITAL has already signed up a large number of subscribers.
Tony D’Silva, MD – Grant Investrade Limited, announced, “In just over three weeks since NXT DIGITAL was announced, it has already been signed up to reach 1 million analog TV households in Phase 3 markets through LMOs and MSOs who have opted for its services.
“In the past 21 days,” D’Silva said, “we have reached out to the cable fraternity across several cities, and I am delighted to share that they are extremely excited about NXT DIGITAL.
“The LMOs and MSOs see it as a partner that will not only help them make the mandated transition from analog to digital, but remain independent and owners of the networks they have built with sheer dint of hard work over the years,” D’Silva said.
The roll-out of Digital Addressable Systems in Phase 3 and 4 markets across 110 million TV households* is being seen as the biggest and the most significant step for the Media and Entertainment industry in India, and in the scenario, NXT DIGITAL, from Grant Investrade Limited, a subsidiary of Hinduja Ventures Limited, will empower the cable distribution fraternity working with an estimated 110 million* analogue TV households in the market to help them make the transition to digital by end-2016.
The Hinduja Group has made significant investments in the NXT DIGITAL platform: a state-of-the-art broadcast facility in Noida has been designed and purpose-built to provide top quality service, which will roll out in end-August this year. While the satellite-based service will have a national footprint, in view of the deadline for DAS rollout, Grant Investrade Limited is concentrating on the Phase 3 and Phase 4 markets for its marketing and subscription drive to enable the cable fraternity provide digital services there.
Awareness drive: Grant Investrade Limited (GIL) has launched an awareness drive across key Phase 3 and 4 markets, showcasing its services portfolio, technology capabilities and quality of services. The campaign will use all media consumed by this primary target audience, including but not limited to Radio, local-media and OOH.
The advantages of HITS and NXT Digital: HITS is a world-class technology which provides Television channels to cable operators through a satellite and enables wider reach. Not only this, cable TV services through HITS technology are acknowledged around the world for combining the benefits of both Cable and DTH at an economical price, and being able to surmount the technical challenges faced by cable and dth services when it comes to consumer delight. Being on C band, NXT DIGITAL services will not face the problems of rain attenuation which often hits Ku-band based DTH signals during rainfall.
The NXT DIGITAL service will provide Television channels to cable operators through a satellite instead of the traditional cable television headend where multitudes of satellite dishes and antennas are used to grab cable stations from dozens of communication satellites. The low comparative capital investment is expected to be the biggest draw for the network owner, apart from the additional revenue opportunity through VAS services – something which is not possible with DTH. Hence the network owner will no longer have to worry about high investment costs to provide Digitized cable TV services.
