TIME Broadband will be launching two on-demand IPTV specific channels - one devotional channel from the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKON), and an educational channel from the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), reports Mint. Consumers will have to pay over and above the monthly subscription charges that they pay for IPTV.
But really, what’s the point? Is this what India wants “On Demand”? The first thing a user would probably ask, when choosing between DTH and IPTV, is whether the regular bouquet of channels is available or not. So does My Time have channels like STAR Plus, Aaj Tak, STAR World, Zee TV, SET, ESPN, STAR Sports, Times Now, CNN-IBN, CNBC-TV18 and others. Take a look around Time Broadband’s websites - both this and this - and you really can’t tell. And Time Broadbandband is targeting 1 million subscribers in 1 year. Am rather surprised that Mint didn’t ask about how they intend to achieve this magical number.
Really makes me wonder what IPTV service providers are upto. TIME Broadband, IOL Netcom and Smart Broadband have all made announcements over the past year, but we really haven’t seen anything, in terms of numbers, from them. The only numbers we have, are from BSE listed IOL Netcom, which reported a net loss of Rs. 9.68 crores last quarter, with revenues of Rs. 3.04 crores.
Related:
– India’s IPTV Guidelines: VAS, New Channels Require Govt Approval
– IPTV Finally Gets The Govt Nod In India; The Journey So Far
– Smart Broadband To Launch IPTV Services With HFCL And MTNL; An HFCL Group Company?
