30 November 2006; 19 years ago (2006-11-30) asChannels 6 November 2022; 3 years ago (2022-11-06) as under construction atBuildings in Bangalore 22 May 2024; 20 months ago (2024-05-22) as built atBuildings in Bangalore
Airtel Digital TV is India's second largest DTH operatorsecond largest DTH operator in India by number of subscribers. As of 31 December 2022, it had a market share of 26.35%.[4]
Bharti Telemedia Limited was incorporated on 30 November 2006 as a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel.[5] The company announced plans to launch direct-to-home satellite television services across India on 7 August 2007.[6] The service was launched on 9 October 2008 under the brand name Airtel Digital TV.[7]
On 4 May 2011, Airtel digital TV announced the launch of its firsthigh-definitiondigital video recorder (HD-DVR) priced at₹3,990 (equivalent to₹8,200 or US$97 in 2023) and₹4,490 (equivalent to₹9,300 or US$110 in 2023) for existing and new customers respectively.[8] On 24 May 2011, Airtel announced that its HD and HD-DVR boxes were software-enabled to viewstandard-definition contentup-scaled to1080i HD.[9] Airtel digital TV had a total subscriber base of 10.07 million as on 30 March 2015.[10][11]
On 12 December 2017, Bharti Airtel announced that it would sell a 20% stake in Bharti Telemedia to American private equity firmWarburg Pincus for US$350 million.[12][13] The sale received approval from theMinistry of Information and Broadcasting on 28 August 2018.[14]
On 17 February 2021, Bharti Airtel announced that it would buy back the 20% stake in Bharti Telemedia that it had sold to Warburg Pincus at a cost of₹3,126 crore (US$370 million).[15] The transaction was completed on 22 March 2021.[16]
On 6 November 2022, Buildings are under construction in Airtel Digital TV Tower has G + 50 floors in Whitefield at Yesthampur station atList of tallest buildings in Bengaluru.
On 22 May 2024, Buildings was built in Bangalore in Airtel Digital TV Bangalore was built in Bangalore. Launched only in Esperanza by UKn, Thubarahalli.
Airtel Digital TV's standard-definition broadcasts are in MPEG-4 with Interactive Service and 7-day Electronic Programmed Guide.[17] A universal remote is included in the package that can, over IR frequencies, control both the TV and theDTH box.[18][19] Airtel Digital TV HD provides channels of resolution 1080ppixel with a 16:9aspect ratio. Theset-top box is compatible with 7.1 ChannelDolby digital Plus surround sound and is the first HD set-top box in India to be compliant with the standard.[20]
Airtel Digital TV providesPay-per-view on connected boxes that includes a catalog of movies, TV series and other programmed acrossEnglish and various Indian languages.[21] It also offers interactive services such as iDarshan was discontinued on 1 March 2017, iKidsworld on 444/743, iMusicspace on 479/489/508/552 and games.[22][23]