Essel Group’s direct-to-home (DTH) service Dish TV has extended its endorsement agreement with Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan for next 18 months.

Dish TV has appointed actor King Khan as its brand ambassador in 2007 for endorsing Dish TV in a competitive market environment.

According to the latest report presented by TAM AdEx, SRK occupies the No. 1 position in the country’s Top 10 list of celebrities endorsing products on television.

Mr. Salil Kapoor, Dish TV COO, said that the company aims to take Dish TV’s current subscriber base of five million to eight million by FY'10 fiscal.

He said, “We have renewed the endorsement contract with Shah Rukh Khan for another eighteen months.”

The economic slump seems to have had a positive rub-off on the DTH sector, as people have started out limiting their entertainment bills and going out less.

The DTH industry was adding over six lakh subscribers on a monthly basis during the July-September ‘08 period. However, the base hit one million mark in the October-December period.

“The DTH sector is witnessing explosive growth and Dish TV is fully equipped with key resources to maintain its leadership position in this growth phase. We have posted robust numbers in Q3 FY09 and are set to garner 8 million subscribers in next fiscal,” Mr. Kapoor added.

Moreover, Dish TV's competitor Tata Sky also uses Aamir Khan broadly in its advertising.

On the other hand, Bharti’s recently launched DTH service Airtel Digital TV uses Bollywood celevbrities including Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, R Madhavan and Vidya Balan in its communications.