Sat-Forum.Net

The brand positioning of the channel and its presence on DD Free Dish targets rural audiences, with dubbed shows from other Sun channels in the launch lineup.On 15 April 2024 (Monday) the Sun TV Network, South India’s largest broadcaster, marked its entry into the Hindi GEC (general entertainment) sector with the launch of its free-to-air (FTA) offering Sun Neo in both SD and HD feeds. The launch had been put on hold for several years after the COVID-19 pandemic, and it was only recently — with the launch of Sun Bangla HD and Sun Marathi HD — that rumours of Sun Neo’s launch resurfaced. Like Sun Bangla and Sun Marathi, and unlike the broadcaster’s South Indian channels which are all pay channels, Sun Neo is an FTA channel with an added presence on DD Free Dish.

With a launch lineup of four serials that are dubbed adaptations of existing shows of the Sun network’s other channels, plus the fact that the SD feed has been added on DD Free Dish, the new channel is clearly looking to tap into DDFD’s unmatched rural viewer base in the Hindi heartland states. At least for the first few days, Sun Neo has also been writing its name in the Devanagari script, positioned just below the main logo in the bottom right corner of the screen — the corner that all Sun channels have always used.


Among DTH platforms, Sun Neo has thus far been officially added only on Sun Direct — SD: LCN 300, HD: LCN 875, changed from 870 — and DD Free Dish, but in practice, Dish TV users tuned to the NSS6/SES8 satellites for non-South Indian viewers also receive the channel from DDFD due to the closeness in their satellites. However, it is expected that more DTH operators will add the channel in the coming days, as it slowly but steadily expands its presence and visibility by way of word-of-mouth and promotional campaigns from the Sun network.

With the launch of Sun Neo — which had been rumoured since 2021 but put on the back burner for a long time since then — the Sun network has finally marked its entry into the cut-throat FTA Hindi GEC sector, which is singlehandedly dominated by Dangal from the Enterr10 Network, which has consistently been one of India’s top 5 most-watched channels as per the BARC weekly ratings. Other FTA networks like Shemaroo (Shemaroo TV and Shemaroo Umang) and IN10 Media (Ishara and Nazara) have not been as successful as Dangal in leveraging the millions of DD Free Dish viewers in the north and west of the country.