Sun TV streams live on Reliance World

Sun TV and Reliance Communications have entered into an alliance which will enable live streaming of the channel on the Reliance World portal

Sun TV is now streaming its feed live on the Reliance mobile portal, Reliance World. And this includes the ads. Reliance streams its mobile TV channels online through a server, which in turn receives the feed directly from the news channel. This enables a `nearly’ live streaming of all programmes; the continuity, of course, depends on the handset and the network connection.

The portal was first launched in 2003 by Reliance (then Reliance Mobile) and already has seven news channels as part of its Mobile TV service. Sun TV, with a reach of 70 per cent in Tamil Nadu, is a valuable addition to the portfolio and will be available 24x7 on the portal.

V G Somasekhar, hub head, Tamil Nadu and Kerala said in a statement, “Our network rollout in the state (Tamil Nadu) will expand our coverage to 832 census towns, 130 SDCAs (short distance charging areas) and 201 Taluks by September 2007.”

Reliance World went pay in April 2005 and the Sun TV service will be available to users at Rs 15 for a 5-minute session and Rs 7 for downloads. The company has not made its expectations from the region public as this is the first time it has brought mobile TV to Tamil Nadu.

Currently, Reliance Communications is the only service provider which claims to be providing live streaming on mobile. The other operators only provide a video-on-demand service through TV clip downloads. However, such initiatives will not really get off the ground until the 3G policy is announced by the government by the year-end.

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