ACT Television, a premier Multi System Operator (MSO) headquartered in Bengaluru has today announced the launch of ACT Interactive TV service in the city of Bengaluru , with an investment of Rs 450 crore. With this launch, ACT becomes the first player to have introduced the Interactive TV service in Bengaluru. ACT has utilised the most advanced R&D expertise and technology with aesthetics and performance to transform the face of television in India with this new IPTV service. Set to revolutionise the Indian television market, Interactive TV is a system that delivers better than digital content services to subscribers using Internet protocol over a broadband connection in a closed network infrastructure. Interactive TV is also known as triple play service which allows television broadcasting, high-speed internet connection and telephony. Speaking at the launch, Mr Sunder Raju, MD, ACT Television said, “ India is one of the largest cable markets in the world and has tremendous potential. After going through intense R&D with the help of our technology group, we are very excited to be the first company to launch this revolutionary IPTV service in Bengaluru. Our aim is to provide our customers with the finest, most reliable and cutting-edge interactive TV service which is the future of the Indian television market.” He added further, “ACT Interactive TV will turn a television set into a convergence device. A viewer can watch his favourite TV channels, get movies of their choice at the click of a button from a huge library, with over 4000 films across three languages have been licensed, watch millions of videos available on the internet, record one program while watching another, pause & play live TV and connect various devices in the house to view images stored on them. Soon they will be able to play multi-user games, send emails and voicemails from their TV sets, conduct online shopping, education and banking using a compact remote. ACT will provide numerous features that will be available from the launch itself like Internet Videos, True Movies on Demand, pause & play live TV, record a program while watching another and Media Centre. Internet video is a service wherein, mere typing in the desired video name in the Search bar of the soft screen Key Pad, within Internet, will enable the user to watch all the related videos immediately without having to wait for hours to download them. True Movie on Demand is an exclusive feature which not only lets users watch all kinds of DVD quality movies and other favourite videos, but will also allow the users to watch these videos whenever they want, just at a click of the button. Over 4000 film titles in 3 languages have been licensed and the number is expected to grow. Media Centre feature allows users to transfer videos, photos and music directly from another gadget like a PC, camera, pen drive, etc onto the television set. This is not all; ACT plans to add features like Catch-up TV, which automatically records programs of the last 90 days from all the channels, E Shopping, a feature will help the user to virtually navigate through the entire store while sitting on the sofa at home, Online Education, Video on Phone, Travelogues, astrology, city info, news, stock and weather updates, cooking programs etc to its array of offerings soon. Online Education will bring interactive educational content in collaboration with leading educationists. With a mission to be the most admired in-home entertainment, education and interactive services company, ACT has identified and tied-up with the requisite technology partners including Oracle, Siemens, Cisco, etc. The price structure is perhaps the most attractive feature of this next generation ACT IPTV as it gives choice and flexibility to customers. The cost will completely depend upon the services a customer subscribes for. A customer can avail of IPTV services an economical rate of Rs 300 a month. ACT is as of now in its initial phase of launching Interactive TV service. Currently, ACT has test launched the IPTV service in Bengaluru, with the roll out happening in various phases. Subsequently, the IPTV service will be rolled out in other cities which have ACT’s presence like Indore and Nellore and then to other cities in India . ACT has been funded by IVFA (India Value Fund Advisors), which is a premier private equity investment fund focused on mid-sized firms in India . ACT began its operations initially by launching its digital cable service in Bengaluru, Indore and Nellore . Besides these cities, they are planning on expanding their cable digital services further in South and Central India . Besides IPTV, ACT has various service offerings under its domain like Digital Cable and Broadband Internet.
