MUMBAI: Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group’s (ADAG) direct-to-home (DTH) venture Big TV has bagged the official DTH partnership rights for the Indian Premier League (IPL).

BIG TV, which is slated to launch later this year, has bagged the rights for Rs 1.37 billion (Rs 137 crores) for the next four years.

Reliance Entertainment president Rajesh Sawhney said, “We at Big TV are excited at being chosen the DTH partner of the DLF IPL. As an official partner of this premier event, Big TV will play its role in the enhancement of the league and in the process add to its own business and public profile.” Bharti Airtel, however, declined to comment on the issue."

The tender for the DTH partner was made public today. Under the terms, Big TV will be contributing Rs 342.7 million (Rs 34.27 crores) a year as a part of its commitment to IPL as the official DTH partner.

IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi said, "We at the Indian Premier League are happy to partner with sunrise sectors like DTH."

BIG TV is slated to launch with 200+ channels, of which 30 will be exclusive movie channels. The movie channels will cover Bollywood, Hollywood and regional movies. It will also have interactive games, news, sports etc. The service will also have features such as interactive mosaic channels; advanced predictive search by director, actor, title, keyword; personalised ‘Top 10 ’ channel list amongst others.