Technology war, which was associated with the CDMA and GSM-based operators, is now set to shake up the direct-to-home (DTH) entertainment industry.

Cable and DTH viewers are set to get a wider choice, with Anil Ambani Group firm Reliance Communications expected to start nationwide commercial operations of its DTH service from August 15.

'Big Digital TV DTH', a subsidiary of Rcom, is aiming to capture a substantial share of the DTH market that is projected to cross 25-million user base in the next three years.      

Today, Big Digital has informed that it has finally bagged the official direct-to-home (DTH) partnership for the BCCI's Twenty20 cricket tournament Indian Premier League (IPL) for the next four years.

Under the terms, BigTV will be contribute Rs 34.27 crore per year as part of its commitment to the IPL as the official DTH partner.

DTH services, introduced in India in July 2006, currently serve 13 million customers, according to industry estimates.  

Of this, an estimated 6 million are customers of DD Direct, a free DTH service of public broadcaster Prasar Bharati, while Tata Sky, DishTV and Sun are estimated to have a user base of around 6-7 million.      

Recently, the company has completed its trial runs across 2,400 towns. The company is believed to have placed order for 5 million Set Top Boxes with Korean and Taiwanese vendors to meet its requirements in the first year.

Apart from this, Bharti Group, which runs India’s biggest mobile phone services firm by customers, plans to launch a direct-to-home or DTH television service within eight weeks.