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Reliance set for DTH foray in July Big TV, the direct-to-home (DTH) service of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group (ADAG) is all set for a nation wide launch in July, sources in Reliance Communications (RCom) told . As a precursor to the launch, the Big TV homepage ( www.bigtv.co.in), which had gone live earlier this year, says: “For as little as under Rs 100 a month, you can get over dozens of digital as well as pay-per-view channels and much more.” A spokesperson for RCom refused to comment on the development. According to recent media reports, customers will have to pay only Rs 1,000 upfront for a Big TV connection, making it the cheapest DTH player in the country. Compression tech Big TV uses the MPEG-4 compression technology, which is known to provide DVD-like video and CD-like audio quality TV-viewing. Moreover, this technology will enable Big TV to provide up to 250 TV channels, which would be more than what any existing DTH operators provide. DD Direct, Zee’s Dish TV, Tata Sky and Sun Direct are the existing players in the DTH space. Apart from Sun Direct, which uses MPEG-4 technology, all others use the MPEG-2 compression technology. The Big TV service has been test run in homes of the ADAG group employees — with a 60-channel offering — for the last few months. Bharti Telemedia and Videocon’s Bharat Business Broadcast Channel are the other companies that are expected to enter this space in the near future.