Bangalore, Jan. 4: Tata Sky, the direct-to-home (DTH) television service of the Tatas and STAR TV, will beam first into Mumbai homes on a pilot basis by mid-year and slowly expand services across the country.

“After Mumbai this April, we will expand across the urban areas of the country,’’ Tata Sons director J.J. Irani said here today.

Tata Sons holds about 80 per cent stake in the joint venture, with the balance held by Rupert Murdoch’s STAR. The investment by the partners is said to be nearly $500 million in the DTH project which is expected to beam around 150 digital channels.

Tata Sky has booked nearly all the transponders on the INSAT-4A satellite, which Isro launched in December. It has committed an annual revenue of Rs 100 crore to Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of Isro.

Tata Sky will telecast all the channels from the STAR stable and is expected to compete with the Essel group’s Dish TV and Doordarshan’s DTH bouquet. Reliance and the Chennai-based Sun TV group are also tying up to launch DTH services.

Speaking on budget hotels, Irani said Indian Hotels Company would start 30 IndiOne budget hotels across the country in the next two-three years, including 10 new hotels this year.

“The budget hotel category is an area we will expand rapidly,’’ he said, adding that the Tata group had carved a new segment by offering business class rooms for less than Rs 1,000 a night.