Independent TV (India)

Independent TV, formerly Reliance Big TV, was an Indian direct to home (DTH) television operator. It was a subsidiary of Reliance Communications till 2018 and later became part of Pantel Technologies & Veecon Media.[1]

For other uses, see Independent Television (disambiguation).

Independent TV
IndustrySatellite television
Founded19 August 2008 (2008-08-19) (as Reliance Digital TV)
FounderAnil Ambani
FateUnable to pay operation cost to Antrix, services shutdown
HeadquartersBlock, 1st Floor, Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City,
Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra
,
India
Area served
India
Key people
Vivek Singh (Director), Gurdeep Singh (Director), Rachakonda Venkata Ramana (Director), Vivek Prakash (Director)
ServicesDirect-broadcast satellite, pay television, pay-per-view
OwnerReliance Communications(2008–2018)
Pantel Technologies & Veecon Media(2018–)
ParentPantel Technologies & Veecon Media

History

Independent TV originally launched as Reliance Big TV on 19 August 2008.[2] The service acquired 1 million subscribers within 90 days of launch, due to limited competition from other operators in the market. The service was later renamed to Reliance Digital TV. The operator was acquired by Pantel Technologies & Veecon Media in January 2018.[3]

In March 2018, the company launched a pre-booking DTH offer. The company took bookings and collected revenue from customers, but the service connections were not installed.[4] After launching the DTH offer, the Pantel Technologies & Veecon Media group rebrand the company as Independent TV.[5]

The company was unable to provide installation to customers and not returned money to there millions of customers which they collected without installation as prebooking offer, they since their agreement with STAR India group had expired due to nonpayment. On 23 July 2018, Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) requested Star India and Independent TV to enter into a fresh agreement within 4 weeks.[6]

The company's service was disrupted after further payments to the Antrix corporation were missed. Independent TV closed its services on 12 June 2019.[7]

Independent TV Limited is a DTH Licensee of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB), Govt of India. This license has been renewed on 19 June 2019 for a further period of six (6) months, like for all other DTH licensees in India today, and is valid till 31 December 2019. All the conditions precedents defined by MIB, Govt of India, have already been successfully complied with, and acknowledged as of 5 July 2019. The satellite services of the DTH operator are temporarily suspended. Independent TV limited has launched a new go-to-market business drive named “ITV 2.0” for its channel partners, to resume its Business Operations again for consumer acquisition and service delivery[8] As of January 2020, with TRAI's The Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicator Report July – September 2019, it has acknowledge that Independent TV has fully shut down operations taking the count of pay dth operators to four.[9]

See also

References
  1. "Reliance Digital Tv Profile | EMIS". www.emis.com. Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  2. "Reliance Big TV plans to divest 49% in DTH arm". www.rediff.com. 29 April 2009. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
  3. "RCom seals deal to sell off BIG TV: Pantel Tech, Veecon Media buying Anil Ambani's DTH business". www.businesstoday.in. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  4. NDTV, profit team (21 March 2018). "Reliance Big TV Offers Free Access To Channels. Here's How To Avail It". NDTV. India: New Delhi Television Media group. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  5. DTHForum, adithya (28 July 2018). "Reliance Big tv Is Now Independent Tv". India: DTHForum. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  6. Television Post, TVP Bureau (23 July 2018). "TDSAT asks STAR India and Independent TV to enter into fresh agreement within 4 weeks". India: Television Post. Archived from the original on 24 August 2018. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  7. Sharma, Arpit. "Independent TV Subscribers Face Disruption as Company Fails to Pay Dues". telecomtalk. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  8. Kudikala, Chakri. "ITV 2.0 Aka Independent TV to Restore DTH Operations on August 15". Telecom Talk. Telecom Talk. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  9. Kudikala, Chakri (9 January 2020). "Independent TV Shuts Down Services, Total Pay DTH Operator Count Becomes 4 in India: Trai". Telecom Talk. telecomtalk.info. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
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