Sun Direct

Sun Direct is an Indian Satellite television service provider, It was launched in December 2007.[2] It transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in India. Sun Direct uses MPEG-4 digital compression, transmitting HD Channels on GSAT-15 at 93.5°E and SD Channels on MEASAT-3 at 91.5°E.[3] Sun Direct currently offers total 475+ channels and services, along with many other active services. It is the first service provider to launch HD Counterpart.

SUN DIRECT
TypePrivate
IndustrySatellite television
FoundedDecember 2007 (2007-12)
Headquarters73, MRC Nagar Main Road, MRC Nagar, Chennai, India
Area served
India
Key people
Kalanithi Maran (Chairman)
ProductsSatellite television, pay television, pay-per-view
RevenueIncrease ₹1,845 crore (US$230 million) (FY 2021)[1]
Increase ₹738 crore (US$92 million) (FY 2021)[1]
Owners
Websitewww.sundirect.in

History

Sun Direct is a joint venture between the Astro Group of Malaysia and the SUN Group of India. Sun Group entered into an MoU with the Astro group on 27 January 1997, when Aircel was not in existence. But, since the government of India did not allow the use of KU band transponders for DTH services, the project was put on hold, the firm said in a statement. After the DTH policy was announced by the government in December 2007, Astro picked up a 20% stake in Sun Direct TV. The stake was valued at approximately $115 million.[4] Sun Direct TV was registered on 16 February 2005.[5] However, the failed launch of Sun Direct INSAT 4C resulted in Sun Direct's lack of transponders, delaying the launch.[6] The service was finally launched on 18 January 2008, after availability of transponders from Indian National Satellite System.[7]

Sun Direct spread rapidly all over the country owing to the lowest pricing of any DTH services in India. In December 2009, Sun Direct was launched in Mumbai, the country's financial capital, and announced its pan- India launch. By 2009 it became the leading DTH provider with 3 million subscribers.[8] This makes it the second largest DTH service provider in India. In April, 2010 Sun Direct became the No.1 DTH service provider in India with 5.8 million subscribers and soon launched its HD service in India.

INSAT-4B glitch and satellite change

On 7 July 2010, a power glitch in the Indian National Satellite System[9][10] satellite turned down the DTH system partly and SUN Direct announced that the service would be free till all the services were restored. Partial service was restored on Indian National Satellite System Sun Direct with 193 channels. Meanwhile, SUN Direct is now transmitting 173 channels on MEASAT-3 for an uninterrupted transition of Sun Direct customers from the Indian National Satellite System at 93.5°E.[11] to MEASAT-3 at 91.5°E.[12] Sun direct now uses 4 MEASAT-3 Transponders (TP's) and 3 INSAT-4B TP's to provide DTH services. Additionally through an exclusive agreement with BIG TV, a DTH arm of Reliance ADAG group, Sun Direct Shares 2 TP's of BigTV (BIG TV holds 12 TP's in MEASAT-3), i.e. BIG TV allows Sun Direct to get signals of FTA channels to Sun Direct. Sun Direct stopped its Standard Definition Sun Direct TV services from INSAT-4B and moved its High Definition TV Services to INSAT-4B; Sun Direct now broadcasts its entire Standard Definition TV from MEASAT-3.

As of 2017, Sun Direct uses eight transponders equally split between MEASAT-3 and GSAT-15, with three being added in that year itself. HD channels are being beamed from the four transponders on GSAT-15.[13][14]

2021 power glitch

On 21 June 2021, several Transponders of MEASAT-3 went off due to dead solar panels. This resulted in over 150 channels on Sun Direct going off air, which prompted the company to shift many of the important channels to other transponders. All the channels resumed within a day as alternative transponders were provided by MEASAT Satellite System.

Subscriber base and market share

As of September 2021, Sun Direct is the fourth largest satellite television provider in India with a subscriber base of approximately 12.34 million and a market share of 17.91%.

See also

References
  1. "Kalanithi Maran's Sun Direct reports 22% growth in FY21 revenue". Exchange4media. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  2. "About Sun Direct". www.sundirect.in. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
  3. "Sun Direct - LyngSat". Sun Direct. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
  4. Sun, Astro deny media reports of impropriety in deal. The Economic Times. 16 February 2011
  5. PIL plea against Sun DTH services. Hindu.com. Retrieved on 17 January 2012.
  6. Lack of transponders hits DTH expansioN. Rediff.com. Retrieved on 17 January 2012.
  7. Sun TV group’s special offer for DTH Archived 21 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  8. Business : Sun Direct launches sD services. The Hindu (9 April 2009). Retrieved on 17 January 2012.
  9. INSAT-4B Spacecraft Affected by Power Problem. isro.org
  10. Power problem with Insat-4B. Sify.com (12 August 2010). Retrieved on 17 January 2012.
  11. Insat 4B at 93.5°E. LyngSat. Retrieved on 17 January 2012.
  12. Sun Direct on Measat 3 at 91.5°E. LyngSat. Retrieved on 10 September 2017.
  13. TelevisionPost Team (18 July 2017). "Sun Direct turns profitable at net level for full fiscal for first time". Television Post. In FY17, Sun Direct added three transponders on GSAT 15. It has a total of eight transponders, equally split between Measat 3 and GSAT 15.
  14. Eluvangal, Sreejiraj (4 April 2017). "With New Tech, Sun Direct Launches India's Cheapest HD Packs". Ultra News. At present, it is beaming its HD channels from four transponders located on ISRO's newly launched GSAT-15 satellite.
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