NEW DELHI: Dish TV, India's first direct-to-home (DTH) service, has got itself a new managing director in Rajiv Garg.

Garg, who has been with the Essel Corporate Group for the last three years, will be responsible for spearheading all initiatives at Dish TV with an aim to achieve rapid expansion.
 

Garg's appointment, according to sources in the company, has been made in New Era Entertainment Network Limited (NEENL), which manages the affairs of Dish TV. His involvement would expand the existing Dish TV team, which also includes the company's CEO and old Zee hand Sunil Khanna.

The sources said that, in recent times, under Garg's leadership, Dish TV has seen an upsurge in the subscriber base. Incidentally, within the company his designation is being referred to as Dish TV's activity managing director.
 
 

Garg has diverse industry experience and his previous stints in senior positions include Raymond's Ltd, Jindal Saw Pipes Ltd, and Lazard India Ltd.

One of the recent achievements of Garg has been to successfully launch `har chhat par' (a dish on every roof top) marketing initiative that envisages slashing the price of hardware and set top box by up to 50 per cent. This has seen an upsurge in the subscriber base of Dish TV, which is presently over 200,000.

This scheme gives consumers more than 86 channels for Rs 3,990, which includes a digital set top box, satellite dish antenna, installation fees and subscription charges for one year.

With the government clearing the DTH applications of Space TV (a Tata and Star joint venture) and Sun Group, the industry expects renewed and hectic activity in this segment of broadcasting. But before Space TV and Sun establish their DTH services, they would have to contend with Dish TV, which certainly enjoys a first-mover's advantage, as also Indian pubcaster KU-band free service DD Direct Plus.

Dish TV currently offers 113 TV and 13 radio channels.