Dish TV has announced that it will offer a basic channel pack free for all users who shift to their service from an existing cable TV connection in the four metro cities. The pack is called Lifetime Free TV. The new initiative comes just before the digitization deadline, which is set to be implemented on 1st November 2012.

Under the new offer, all new users will be able to access 70 channels free for a lifetime, even if the balance goes down to Rs 0 in their account. There will be 70 channels as a part of this package, across various genres - Hindi GEC, Hindi movies, music, devotional, lifestyle, news and regional. As a rule, all DD channels will be offered within this package. However, no High Definition (HD) channels will be offered as a part of this pack. However, the fine-print of this offer is that users will have to recharge with Rs. 200 minimum once every 6 months.

The Digitization of cable television networks is set to be implemented from 1st November 2012 across the four metro cities. All users subscribing to a cable service will need to buy a set top box to be able to view channels, regardless of whether the channel is paid or free to air from the broadcaster end.