DD Direct Plus lowers caririage fees - new channels to join

DD Direct Plus, Doordarshan's free-to-air direct-to-home service, aims to have a pack of 100 Tv channels on its platform by the end of this year.
It currently offers 46 TV channels, apart from 21 channels of All India Radio.
This has become possible by lowering the annual carriage fee that broadcasters have to pay. Following this proce reduction, DD Direct has added Japan’s NHK TV earlier this month and this, it is now beaming three foreign channels including Korean Broadcasting Corporation and Deutsche Welle.
Accordding to a source in DD , Another 10 foreign channels are expected to join the platform soon .
DD Direct brought down the carriage fee last year from 250,000 US Dollars to 60,000 US Dollars along with a service tax of 7,200 US Dollars . Foreign broadcasters, however, have to pay a carriage fee of 500,000 US Dollars.
The imposition of the carriage fee of 250,000 US Dollars had resulted in almost all news and many general entertainment channels quitting the platform.
At present, the only private Indian news channel on the platform is Total TV.
DD Direct is the first DTH platform to be launched in India had initially it has been offering free carriage to different FTA channels. As a result, almost all the news channels had come on the platform. But many left when the high carriage fee was fimposed .
Sources in DD say new steps were being taken to get back the channels and also invite newer FTA channels to join the platform and the reduction of the fee in mid last had only been the first step .