PTI Oct 30, 2011, 11.18am IST

"Even a year ago, there was not much content available. Along with that, factors like increasing sales of LCDs and LEDs which support HD give us the confident that takers for HD boxes will go up," he said.

Major sports and 'edutainment' channels like ESPN, StarCricket, National Geographic and Discovery already have HD feeds. Star India and ZEE Network have also joined the HD bandwagon with the launch of the HD version of their movie and general entertainment channels.

Another incentive for DTH firms to drive HD penetration in the country is the higher average revenue per user (ARPU) from HD set top boxes.

"Our ARPU from the normal set top boxes is about Rs 152, while that from HD is Rs 454. So, it is definitely an important part of the strategy," Kapoor said.

Dish TV registered a net loss of Rs 48.56 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2011, while its net loss during the same period last year was Rs 45.17 crore.

The loss widened primarily due to Rs 30 crore forex loss incurred on account of hardening of dollar, which resulted in higher import cost (of the set-top- boxes).

The company also saw an increased sales and distribution cost of Rs 18 crore as it pre-ordered a larger number of STBs ahead of the festive season.

For FY'12, the company has set a target of 30-35 lakh new subscriber addition.