Bangalore: After Reliance's venture into the DTH arena, it's Airtel, the telecom provider which is stepping into it by making it available through 21, 000 retail locations. The new entrant will flaunt the digital TV with MPEG4 standard and DVB S2 technology.

Commenting on exploring the new sphere Manoj Kohli, CEO at Bharti Airtel (News - Alert) says, "Today we are starting a new chapter in our journey, one that adds a new dimension to our existing product portfolio and is a major step towards transforming Airtel from just a telecom brand to a lifestyle enabler. The launch of Airtel digital TV is the culmination of our three screens strategy, which is to be present across mobile phone, computer and TV screens."

There shall be Airtel relationship centers in 62 cities across India for delivery of the service which comes with a 20 percent larger dish antenna for better performance during rain. Moreover, the telecom provider will also include a universal remote for both set top boxes and TVs and it will also come with low battery indicator, a search interface and an on-screen account meter.

The DTH service also brings with it applications like iMatinee (book cinema tickets), iTravel (browse and book travel packages), iShop (shop on TV for your favorite brands), iCity (get your city's information) and Widgets (update yourself on latest stock news).

Apart from Airtel even Videocon is set to enter the market by this month.