Giant dish antennas of direct-to-home (DTH) service providers are coming up on multi-storeyed buildings even before residents move into them.

The antennas, much larger than conventional ones, are capable of serving multiple flats in the buildings. The DTH companies are hoping that residents will sign up for their services en masse since they won’t have to install antennas individually.

In buildings where flats have been occupied, residents said while there wasn’t any rule preventing them from opting for cable or a different DTH service, there was “peer pressure” against “spoiling the view with a lone black wire or a small dish”.

According to industry sources, nearly 2,000 multi-dwelling units (MDUs) — as the system of distributing DTH signals to multiple TV sets through larger dish antennas is known — had either been set up or were being set up in the city.

Insider estimates put the number of cable and DTH homes in the Calcutta Metropolitan Area at 23 lakh and 2 lakh, respectively.

“MDU installations started in Calcutta about two years ago and is increasing now,” Pradip Sureka, the president of Credai Bengal, the state chapter of a national body of real estate developers, told Metro.

He stressed the importance of giving residents of multi-storeyed buildings a choice of DTH service providers.

Not all realtors do that. Rudrajit Sharma, who moved into a south Calcutta estate 18 months ago, said the developer did not consult residents before inking the MDU deal with Tata Sky.

DTH service providers offer “large sums” to realtors, either directly or through dealers, to set up MDUs. The amount varies according to the size of the project.

“The local cable operator tries to prevent such deals because it affects his business,” said an industry source.

“An MDU brings many customers at one go for the company. There are advantages for the end-user as well. The building is not cluttered with small dishes and wires. Moreover, DTH installation charges for consumers are waived in most cases,” said a Tata Sky distributor.

A Dish TV spokesperson said installing one big dish instead of several small ones was cost effective for the company.

Avrajit Kar of South City, a housing estate of 1,672 flats where residents are free to decide how to watch satellite television, said they enjoyed prompt response from the DTH firm that set up MDUs in the compound.

“We decided to go for Airtel Digital TV MDU after weighing our options. The company keeps service staff posted in our estate round the clock. But that is possibly because of the concentration of subscribers here,” said Kar.

Sugata Saha, a former Tata Sky customer, who moved into an MDU of the same company recently, felt a bigger dish made for better picture quality.