FACTBOX - Some facts about DTH providers in India

There are six private direct-to-home (DTH) service providers in India, with Dish TV the market leader. The government has a separate DTH platform dubbed DD Direct.

Following are details of DTH providers in India. Subscription figures are taken from their respective websites.

Dish TV

A division of Zee Network Enterprise

Launched operations in 2005

Number of subscribers: More than 9 million

Tata Sky

A joint venture of Tata Group and News Corp's STAR

Launched operations in 2006

Number of subscribers: About 5.5 million

Sun Direct

A part of Sun TV Network

Launched operations in 2007

Number of subscribers: More than 6.4 million

Reliance Big TV

Part of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group's Reliance Communications

Launched operations in 2008

Number of subscribers: About 3 million

Airtel Digital TV

A part of Bharti Airtel

Launched operations in 2008

Number of subscribers: More than 4.7 million

Videocon D2H

A part of Videocon Industries

Launched operations in 2009

Number of subscribers: More than 2 million

(Compiled by Manasi Phadke, Editing by Sunil Nair)