Sun Direct is an Indian subscription based

satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location.ITU Radio Regulations, Section IV. Radio Stations and Systems ...

service provider, owned by Sun Group. It was launched in December 2007. It transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in India. Sun Direct uses

MPEG-4 MPEG-4 is a group of international standards for the compression of digital audio and visual data, multimedia systems, and file storage formats. It was originally introduced in late 1998 as a group of audio and video coding formats and related ...

digital compression, transmitting HD Channels and SD Channels on

MEASAT-3 MEASAT-3 was a Malaysian communications satellite which was successfully launched on 11 December 2006 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. In March 2003, MEASAT Satellite Systems Sdn. Bhd. of Malaysia ordered a Boeing 601HP satellite, givin ...

at 91.5°E.

History

Sun Direct is a joint venture between the Astro Group of

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

and the SUN Group of India. Sun Group entered into an MoU with the Astro group on 27 January 1997, when Aircel was not in existence. But, since the government of India did not allow the use of KU band

transponders In telecommunications, a transponder is a device that, upon receiving a signal, emits a different signal in response. The term is a blend of ''transmitter'' and ''responder''. In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a flight trans ...

for DTH services, the project was put on hold, the firm said in a statement. After the DTH policy was announced by the government in December 2007, Astro picked up a 20% stake in Sun Direct TV. The stake was valued at approximately $115 million. Sun Direct TV was registered on 16 February 2005. However, the failed launch of Sun Direct INSAT 4C resulted in Sun Direct's lack of transponders, delaying the launch. The service was finally launched on 18 January 2008, after availability of transponders from Indian National Satellite System. In December 2009, Sun Direct was launched in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

, the country's financial capital, and announced its pan- India launch. By 2009 it became the leading DTH provider with 3 million subscribers.Business : Sun Direct launches sD services
The Hindu (9 April 2009). Retrieved on 17 January 2012.

INSAT-4B glitch and satellite change

On 7 July 2010, a power glitch in the Indian National Satellite System satellite turned down the DTH system partly and SUN Direct announced that the service would be free till all the services were restored. Partial service was restored on Indian National Satellite System Sun Direct with 193 channels. Meanwhile, SUN Direct is now transmitting 173 channels on

for an uninterrupted transition of Sun Direct customers from the Indian National Satellite System at 93.5 °E.Insat 4B at 93.5°E
LyngSat. Retrieved on 17 January 2012. to

at 91.5 °E.Sun Direct on Measat 3 at 91.5°E
LyngSat. Retrieved on 10 September 2017. As of 2017, Sun Direct uses eight transponders equally split between

and GSAT-15, with three being added in that year itself. HD channels are being beamed from the four transponders on GSAT-15.

Sun Direct GO

In 2023, the company announced the forthcoming launch of Sun Direct GO, a

subscription The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a product or service. The model was pioneered by publishers of books and periodicals in the 17th century. It ...

video-on-demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typical static broadcasting ...

and over-the-top

streaming Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...

service. The platform was expected to offer a variety of content, including movies, TV shows, web series, live TV channels, and original content.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sun Direct High-definition television Direct broadcast satellite services Television networks in India Indian brands Companies based in Chennai Telecommunications companies established in 2007 Mass media companies established in 2007 Sun Group Indian companies established in 2007 2007 establishments in Tamil Nadu