Sun shines on Dialog TV

By Cheranka Mendis

 Adding yet another dimension to their portfolio of channels, Dialog TV (DTV) recently tied up with India’s largest business conglomerate, the Sun Group to offer Dialog TV viewers three channels from the Group.

 Accordingly Sun TV, KTV and Sun Music will be available on Dialog TV for purchase and for those who pay a monthly sum of Rs. 1949; the channels will be available for free. Speaking to the Daily FT Group Chief Marketing Officer and CEO of Dialog TV Nushad Perera stated that Tamil channels were a major requirement for the system and with the sign up of the deal the gap has now been bridged. With the inclusion of the three channels, Dialog TV now offers a total of 75 channels for the customers.

Perera stated that the reason behind the new chancels was that the Zee channel going out of the bouquet they offer. “Zee Channel is leaving the satellite and therefore we are bringing in Sun to replace it. Zee Tamil is being replaced by Sun TV, Zee Sports by Ten Sports and Zee Café by Warner TV. This way our customers have replacements to the ones that are going out,” Perera said.

 “According to the partnership we at DTV agreed to give guaranteed revenue to Sun Group. We have taken that risk for the enjoyment of the customers. However, with the growth experienced in the last three years we are positive about the outcome of the project.”

DTV has further good news for their customers as DTV is all set to launch 'Thi package' for homes that use only the Tamil dialect in their homes. Under this a multitude of Tamil cable channels along with a few local channels are available at

A low cost. Existing customers can even modify their package to the ‘Thi’ Package.

DTV, now on their fifth year of service (initiated in 2007) has over 150, 000 customers with steady growth of demand. Perera asserted that 2010 has been a good year for the company with December marking the highest sales month with some 12,000 connections being subscribed. “The product is well accepted by all parts of the community. The demand has seen a steady growth over the years and the past three years have been significant in that aspect,” he said, “we see an emerging trend of people accepting DTV as an alternative for normal TV.”