DTH satellite television service providers such as Tata Sky have become extremely popular among consumers in the last couple of years or so, because they eliminate the monopolies of middlemen like the neighbourhood cable operators (who are more likely to indulge in unfair and restrictive trade practices) and are better equipped to deal with the challenges that are likely to be faced by the satellite television industry in the future than the latter.



DTH in India is undoubtedly a boon in a number of ways. The entry of new players in the direct to home has ensured that the consumers pockets are not hit as hard now as they were in the past. DTH covers a wider geographical area than the cable operators (whose reach is limited only to a part of a suburb or a particular locality).



Apart from offering high-quality content at an affordable price, DTH operators have better technology and are able to deal directly with the end user and beneficiary of the service, namely the consumer.



DTH is a relatively simple technology to use. It comprises a band with a high frequency called the Ku band and a small dish antenna that is usually placed on the rooftop or found hanging out of the window of the users house. The diameter of the dish antenna is no more than one metre long.



The biggest plus point of DTH is that it offers crystal-clear DVD-quality picture and CD-quality sound with stereophonic effects. The transmission is encrypted and the decoder or the STB (set-top box) at the users end unscrambles the signals and the user can use a smart card or a viewing card (which has a microchip) to enjoy his or her favourite shows on a plethora of channels. DTH operators do not black out channels at regular intervals like the cable operators.



Every coin has two sides. The flip side of DTH service operators such as Tata Sky is that they are often accused of offering many useless channels. They offer over 140 channels and many more are in the pipeline, but consumers complain that they are forced to pay for many channels that they dont even watch while surfing various channels with their remote controls.