Doordarshan contributes to HDTV boom in South Asia

Doordarshan last year took up a pilot project of HDTV field production with new HDTV van, EFP camcorders and post production facilities. The Indian public broadcaster set up HDTV studios and field production as well as post production facilities for HDTV in four major cities. These technological initiatives and those of other Indian broadcasters have undoubtedly caused India to drive the HDTV boom in South Asia.

In the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) region, High definition (HD) TV reached 4.2 million people by the end of March 2015 and is set to boom over the next three years, according to a report from Dataxis.

Driven largely by the digitisation drive in India, the number of HDTV set-top boxes (STBs) seeded and the number of HDTV channels available in the region should lead to robust growth in the sector.

India accounts for more than 90% of the total HD subscribers in the SAARC countries — Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The number of HDTV channels in India has grown from just three in 2010 to fifty in the first quarter of 2015.