In early 1992, South Mumbai received the first beams of satellite TV and suddenly there was a cable sneaking into my house through a window. There were suddenly four new channels to tune into (BBC World, MTV, Prime Sports, Star TV) apart from DD and Metro and by the end of the year Zee and the * cablewala*’s local channel had filled up all the 8 slots on my National TV set. Since that moment in 1992 when I joyously watched World Wrestling Federation action (and mocked the "do not try at home" disclaimer whilst pinning down my younger brother in a choke hold), the next seminal shift in my TV watching habit only happened 15 years later when I got DTH(Direct-to-Home) installed. This time, I actually KNEW what trash I was surfing on the idiot box, thanks to the built-in program guides. I was empowered with information, though I still didn’t have much control over the schedule.
Luckily, I didn’t have to wait another 15 years for third big shift. Its mid-2009 and for a month now, I’ve been experiencing the nirvana that is IPTV (Internet Protocol Television). I was skeptical when the folks from Airtel first came knocking with the offer and actually signed up chiefly for the broadband component of the "triple play" scheme that Airtel’s ‘digital TV – interactive’ division is testing in the NCR region. For a thousand bucks a month they’re offering 135-odd channels via IPTV, unlimited wireless broadband at 256 Kbps and a landline connection. I was a bit annoyed when I didn’t hear from them for nearly two weeks after signing the 4,000 rupee "setup fee" cheque and was expecting the worst. Then, a day after my cheque actually got encashed, two smartly uniformed technicians knocked on my door with tons of equipment. They put on some very cool looking cloth-shoes over their actual shoes before entering and got to work in a manner so professional, that it was unnerving. Cable was neatly laid and clipped to the walls and brought into the TV room. Two slim boxes were plugged into power sockets – one wireless router and one set-top box. I dismissively plugged the landline cable into my all-in-one printer to use as a fax instead of a phone. The Wi-Fi was working fine – at least it delivered the speed they promised, and the only bit left was the TV.
Thanks!
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