Looks like JeevanSathi.com won’t be able to find a DTH partner, for a while. Its peers – Shaadi (People Interactive) and Bharatmatrimony (Consim Info) have found DTH partners in Dish TV and Tata Sky. Bharatmatrimony has been live (details here) on Tata Sky as Actve Matrimony for a while now, and Shaadi announced their plans yesterday (via release). There isn’t another DTH player in the market – BIG TV (from Reliance ADAG) is still in the works, and Bharti Telemedia (Airtel) has had FDI issues.

Update: Was just informed that there is another DTH player – DD Direct. Wonder what the service will be called if JS ties up with them — Direct Saathi?

How does this work?
In case of Shaadi Active, users can search for a bride or groom, according to age, community, caste, profession etc, and the subscriber can choose to contact him/her. A problem – it appears that there will be a limited search database, refreshed on a daily basis, and not the entire database.

Actve Matrimony also has limited access – to around 1000 profiles every week, and listings are on an op-in basis from premium subscribers. DTH users can also seek contact details via SMS to Tata Sky, and Tata Sky subscribers are offered the service free of cost. Interestingly, information is being displayed without name and photo. some details here.

What this is all about


Another distribution channel. For a potential user who doesn’t have a PC, this also allows him/her to use the service in the privacy of his/her home, without the need for going to a cybercafe or a matrimonial point.

Dish TV claims around 3.5 Million registered users, while Tata Sky claims 2.3 Million. It remains to be seen how many of these will actually be “Active users” of the matrimonial service on DTH, but with the lack of growth of broadband, and the small mobile interface, DTH would work well. I wonder if such a service can be launched on Digital Cable as well, since that’s got greater reach than both the DTH services combined.

Disclosure: I own an inconsequential number of shares of Info Edge, which owns Jeevansathi.com.