Reliance Launches BIG TV DTH; What About IPTV?

It’s over 3 years since we first heard Reliance ADA Groups DTH venture, and finally, they’ve launched BIG TV. Interestingly, the company - Reliance BIG TV Ltd - is a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Commnications…takes me back to that interview that Kamla Bhatt did with Rajesh Sawhney, President of Reliance Entertainment a year and a half ago, where he outlined the ADA Groups strategy of having a presence across the value chain - as content creator, licensor and distributor. Can listen to it here.

So BIG TV DTH will be the distribution arm, and there are 20 BIG TV channels planned as well. BIG TV is being priced at Rs. 1490 + recharge coupons, and offers over 200 TV channels in the MPEG4 format. Note that Airtel is also using MPEG4 for their DTH service. BIG TV claims that the retail channel for BIG TV will cover 1 lakh outlets in 6500 towns, but this part of the release easily takes the cake:

“An army capable of installing over 15,000 daily connections with specially trained installers would ensure fulfillment of every customer order within 48-72 hours.”

Reliance also has also had an IPTV service in the works…when will that be launched?

Related:
– Is Airtel Getting Its IPTV & DTH Act Together?
– Is Videocon Looking To Acquire Loss Making IPTV And VoIP Co IOL Netcom?

BIGAdda Goes Mobile; WAP Site Blocked By Airtel?

BIGAdda, the social networking site from the Reliance ADA Group has gone mobile with the launch of SMS and WAP services, and a Mobile Application. I just tried to access the WAP site - http://wap.bigadda.com via my Airtel Live connection, and received the following message -

“Gateway received an invalid response from the upstream gateway”

This is yet another indication of the issues that GPRS users face - mobile operator networks in India are not neutral,and access to sites is controlled; this issue was raised by Microsoft last month, during discussion on VAS. Note that the site might work with Airtels other GPRS plan - Mobile Office - but it is access via Airtel Live! that really matters; it’s automatically enabled for GPRS enabled handsets, is pay-per-use, and is likely to have substantially more users than Mobile Office, which costs Rs. 499 per month. Note that I haven’t been able to use Fring since I switched from Mobile Office either.

BIGAdda concurrently offers three mobile based services - SMS, WAP and a Mobile App; I tried the online flash demo, since mobile access wasn’t possible -

Register Via Mobile: This will allow BIGAdda to add mobile-only users, and should be the norm for mobile services. Note that BIGAdda is also encouraging users to SMS the BIGAdda WAP link to other users to get them on board as well. So if you get SMS invite spam (like the email invite spam we’re already getting), you know whom to blame.
SMS Alerts: Well, they’re supposedly free, but read the fine print, and BIGAdda is controlling costs by allowing only 2 Alerts per day. They’re using the short code 55454
Phone Backup: Well, isn’t Phone Backup what OnMobile bought VoxMobili for? If I remember correctly, OnMobile’s phonebackup service is priced at Rs. 40 per month…BIGAdda is also offering a phone backup service, but they don’t appear to be pushing this service much. It will given them access to substantial user data and connections.
Mobile Text, Photo & Audio Scribbles: BIG Adda is allowing users to scribble (scrap/public message) audio, text and photos via the mobile.

It was evident that would go mobile once they launched a MoBlog for their celebrity blogger - Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan.

Valuation Woes Delay Reliance Entertainment-Soros $100 Million Deal: Report

Well, this is BIG news indeed: it appears that Reliance Entertainment’s fund-raising and valuation-building efforts have hit a road block. ET reports that though the deal isn’t done yet, though it hasn’t fallen through either: term sheets were signed in March, but valuation and “other issues” are holding back investment. Both Reliance and Soros’ representatives have declined to comment. More details on why the deal is not yet done at ET. We’re trying to contact Reliance Entertainment President Rajesh Sawhney for a confirmation.

Readers will remember that Reliance Entertainment had announced an investment of $100 million for just a 3 percent stake, valuing the company at around $3 Billion. Note that Reliance Entertainment comprises of BIG Movies, BIG Music, and digital ventures BIG Animation, Zapak (online gaming), Jump Games (mobile gaming), BIG Flix (online streaming, offline video rental) and BIG Adda (social networking). Of these, substantial investment plans have been announced for Zapak and BigAdda, and JumpGames has paid, reportedly, over $50 million for its deal with Manchester United.

Do note that Soros was among the seven investors who put in $14 Billion Rs. 14 Billion in Reliance Telecom Infrastructure Ltd.