Originally posted on TV & Radio Sri Lanka blog...
According to information coming in, Dish TV Sri Lanka has commenced testing on SES8 95E 12170H 40700 DVB-S. According to information there are about 27 channels being tested. Most of these channels are either Pakistani, Bangladeshi & Afghan channels.
It seems that since most of these channels cannot be downlinked in India, Dish TV will use Sri Lanka as a base to launch services across Asia. No local/International channel is available at the moment from SES8. It's likely that most of the international channels will be provided to Sri lanka from the original India focused links and the regional ones will come from the SES8 satellite and will be released on a country to country basis. A combination of SES8 & existing satellites will probably be used to service these regions.
It's not clear as to the feeds that Dish TV Sri Lanka will carry, for example will HBO be the Singapore feed or the Indian feed, will AXN be the Indian feed or the Singapore? Its possible for Dish TV Sri Lanka to uplink only the special Singapore feeds/regional channels from Sri Lanka and open up those that carry the Indian feeds from their existing links, saving them cost. They could also block those channels that are not allowed in Sri Lanka like Sony Pix, HBO India & AXN India.
Dish TV's strategy with Sri Lanka is still unclear, however judging from the channels on test on SES8, it seems clear that Dish TV Sri Lanka is not only targeted at Sri Lanka but rather at the whole of the subcontinent region.
Await the launch of our newest blog dishtvlk.blogspot.com soon!
