DD Direct Plus- Channel Count to go up from 59 to 75 by this year

India’s public broadcaster Doordarshan (DD) is raising the number of TV channels on its direct to home (DTH) platform DD Direct Plus from 59 to 75 by the end of 2012.

The decision, reported by Indian Television, was given by the Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting S Jagathrakshkan. This is despite earlier indications from Prasar Bharati, which operates the Doordarshan network, that between 200 and 250 channels would be supported by the DTH platform.

According to Dreamdth.com, DD Direct Plus is the only free to air DTH platform in India, competing with the six private DTH providers Dish TV, Tata Sky, Sun Direct, Airtel Digital TV, Videocon d2h, Reliance Digital TV.

DD Direct Plus has a reported viewer base across India of 9 million. DD’s extensive terrestrial TV network also reaches 92 percent of India’s vast population in 81percent of the country’s geographical mass.