DTH or Direct to Home has a new name — Direct to Office. Doordarshan has launched its DTH operations where it matters most — Shastri Bhavan which houses I&B Minister Jaipal Reddy and senior officials of the Government.To begin with, the free-to-air DTH operation was meant for remote areas of the Northeast not accessed by cable or Doordarshan. With nearly Rs 500 crore set aside for DTH, the Prasar Bharati Corporation was keen on launching the services in the Northeast first.The services were announced with much fanfare last year after the government gave its approval to the Corporation. For now, the channels available on DTH are DD’s 26 channels including the regional ones. As Doordarshan negotiates with private satellite channels Star, ZEE and a host of other free-to-air channels like Sahara and Sun, no deals have been signed yet. Some like Eenadu backed off from getting into any arrangement with Doordarshan.Unlike other Direct-To-Home operators, notably ZEE which launched its services in October last and Star, which is yet to get the ministry’s clearance, the Prasar Bharati Corporation’s DTH is free-to-air meaning the viewer does not have to pay for the services.Star’s recently rehashed Star Plus, recast as Star Utsav was being wooed by Doordarshan. CEO Peter Mukherjea had said, the commercial arrangements had not been finalised. He has to pay only for the receiver/set-top box which has been priced at Rs 3,500. For the channels they are free.DD’s DTH comes in the wake of the Government still mulling over Star’s proposal. And with the Ministry of Finance raising objections on the huge sum that DD was required to pay to get on Rupert Murdoch’s BSkyB, Direct to Office seems to be right step forward.
