Airtel digital launches personal recorder

NEW DELHI: Airtel digital TV launched its personal video recorder (PVR) on Thursday, only the second DTH player after Tata Sky to do so. With a recording capacity of up to 100 hours and 160 GB hard disk, the direct-to-home (DTH) service from Bharti Airtel has priced the product at Rs 6,990. The recorder, which would allow viewers to record, pause or rewind live television, will be avaliable to the existing Airtel users for an upgrade at Rs 5,990.

"It’s a unique application that integrates television to mobile phones and will enable our consumers to use their cell phones to record television from anywhere,” said Ajai Puri director & CEO, DTH, Bharti Airtel. The consumer can access the recording facility by downloading the television programme menu on their cell phones, he added.

Globally, personal video recorders, also known as digital video recorders, have a significant market share. More than 30% of the content watched by the subscribers in the UK, USA, Japan and Australia is recorded television rather than live television.

"We believe that not only existing DTH subscribers would buy our digital TV recorder, but also high-end cable subscribers having LCD television are also likely to shift to PVRs," said Mr Puri. Globally, 35-40% of the new DTH subscribers buy personal video recorders. Mr Puri believes in the long term, India could see a similar growth.