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Bharti Airtel on Wednesday launched a new 'Internet TV' set top box at a price of ₹ 4,999 with one month of subscription of all channels (SD and HD) free.
The new set top box, which will be available on Amazon.in exclusively for the next 30 days and is being offered in the top 20 cities, runs on Google's Android TV OS and supports the app store which brings in apps and games support. The set top box also has support to handle linear programming as well which means consumers can watch regular TV channels on it.
This means that the consumer will be able to stream Netflix content directly. Airtel, which says that it is already talking to other content makers such as Amazon Prime Video, hotstar and Voot, is also offering the new set top box with one year DTH subscription at a price of ₹ 7,999.
HT had reported first that new set top boxes from multiple national TV operators were on their way and would bring in functionality that would kill the need for consumers to buy streaming devices such as Chromecast, Anycast and Apple TV along with the need to buy smart TVs.
"Airtel's new set top box can make any dumb TV smart and kills the need for having streaming devices such as Google Chromecast or Apple TV as it comes with its own casting hardware," Sunil Taldar, CEO and director of DTH division, Bharti Airtel, told HT.
He added that the new set top box also solves the need for users to watch Netlfix-like content on bigger screens.
Airtel's new Internet TV set top box also will come in with voice command support on remote just like any smart TV remote along with a specific new controller for playing games. The set top box gets connectivity from WiFi and also has a LAN port for connection.
Interestingly, the set top box, which comes with 8GB of internal memory, sports USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports for adding expandable storage upto 2TB. The USB ports can also be used to attach Bluetooth dongles to connect phones to the box. Consumers can also install apps on the expandable memory once the internal memory is used up.
Airtel in a statement also said that existing customers can upgrade to the new Internet TV set top box at a price of ₹ 3,999. Further, Airtel is offering 10GB and 25GB of extra broadband data to all existing Airtel broadband customers with plans under and above ₹ 999 respectively.
However, Airtel recommends a broadband speed of 4Mbps but claims that 2Mbps connections can also help stream content to the box easily. The new set top box, Airtel said, comes with 4K content support along with the facility to record and rewind Live TV channels. Recording has to be done on external hard disks via USB ports.
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