Reliance Jio's new Rs 198 broadband plan is now available for users across India. But this can definitely mean that the customers may not get to see Media Cable after all. For the unaware, Media Cable is a highly anticipated product from Reliance Jio, which, even after more than six years of the announcement, has not made it to the market. The premise or the purpose of the product is to let users connect their smartphones to their TVs to play content directly on the TV. The TV doesn't even have to be a smart one. You can use any old TV as well and mirror your device on it. This would have helped the users watch IPL (Indian Premier League) easily on TV.
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But that's likely not going to happen now. Reliance Jio announced a new Rs 198 per month broadband plan for users. With this plan, users will get 10 Mbps of speed and unlimited data every month, which is just like every other plan, 3.3TB per month. Users just need to pay Rs 100 more to get access to OTT (over-the-top) platforms with this plan. These platforms would include JioCinema, where you can also watch IPL. The best thing is that users will also be given a free Jio STB (Set-Top Box), which they can connect to their TVs for watching OTT content.
Again, the TV doesn't need to be a Smart TV for the Jio STB to function properly. Jio would also want things to go wireless today, and instead of introducing a Jio Media Cable, the best way to go forward is to make getting access to Jio STB so affordable that you don't have to worry about your entertainment needs on the TV. The JioCinema app has already seen several million downloads in the last few days, as users who watch IPL on their phones or laptops can easily watch it for free through it.
Reliance Jio is likely looking to disrupt the pay TV market with its new broadband plan. It is very affordable and replaces the need for getting a traditional Set-Top Box from any of the DTH (Direct-to-Home) operators. DTH players will have to find a solution to counter this move from Reliance Jio so that they don't lose more customers in the short term.
