With the promise of bringing along a totally new viewing experience for Indian subscribers, the direct-to-home (DTH) broadcast biggie, Sun Direct, Wednesday introduced its high-definition (HD) services. The company has worked into an arrangement with Korean chaebol Samsung, to cater for the supply of the set-top-boxes required for the newly-launched services.

Announcing the launch of the HDTV technology, Sun Direct officials said that the higher resolution of the world's best digital broadcast platforms will perk up the viewer experience by about five times vis-à-vis the conventional platform of the ordinary TV. The HDTV actually boasts of better images and enhanced picture-quality, along with sharper and clearer sound.

Commenting on the new HD services, Sun Direct COO, Tony D'Silva, said: "We believe that in the constantly changing viewership dynamics and taste, to keep the viewer continuously happy and engaged we need to offer them new and exciting options and HD is another first from the Sun Direct stable."

Mentioning Sun Direct's "landmark achievement" of having crossed the three million active-subscriber base mark in March 2009, D'Silva said that, with the noteworthy achievement the company - an 80:20 joint venture between the Maran family and the Astro Group of Malaysia -makes the grade as the number two service DTH provider, which it would try to better in the coming fiscal year.