Al Jazeera English adds nine million homes through Tata Sky

Sees India as a huge market but denies plans to launch any other channel in India

Ananya Saha | Delhi | April 27, 2012

The Qatar-based English news channel, Al Jazeera, has announced its launch on Tata Sky from April 26, 2012. In November 2011, the channel had entered India via Dish TV. Tata Sky will enable the channel to reach an additional nine million Indian households, taking its total reach across the country to over 25 million households. Globally, Al Jazeera English is available in over 260 million households across 130 countries.

“We are delighted to be launching on Tata Sky, and I would like to take this opportunity to welcome all our new viewers in India to Al Jazeera English,” said Al Anstey, Managing Director of Al Jazeera English. The channel will remain free-to-air.

On why it took so long for Al Zareera to sign on the next DTH platform, Diana Hosker, Regional Distribution Director, Al Jazeera Network, said, “The gap happened because of capacity issues. Tata and Dish DTH platforms will help us reach the critical mass in India, which is a critical market for us.”

Hosker informed that Paul Johnson has been recently hired as the new Marketing Director to oversee marketing in the Indian subcontinent. The channel is looking at affiliate marketing and wider campaigns as it gains a bigger foothold in India. She, however, refuted the possibility that the new hire implies the launch of any other channel in India.

Mukund Sharma, Associate Vice-President, Tata Sky, said, “We will be promoting the channel in our usual way by sending B-mail to current subscribers and incorporate the creatives once we receive them from the channel, on our Help channel.”

Al Jazeera is also planning to air the exclusive six-part observational documentary 'Indian Hospital' beginning May 3, 2012, on its international channel. Anmol Saxena, Bureau Chief - India, Al Jazeera English, said, “We will be introducing more India-specific content on the global feed. However, there will be no India-specific feed for now.”

Going forward, the channel hopes to be available on every distribution platform.

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