Essel Group owned direct-to-home (DTH) company Dish TV India Ltd. has renewed its contract with actor Shah Rukh Khan as brand ambassador.

The Bollywood king will continue to promote Dish TV in a fresh contract that is valid for 18 months. The leading DTH service provider had roped in Khan as its brand ambassador in 2007 to boost sales in a competitive market environment.

Shah Rukh tops the list of celebrity endorsements on TV according to a new Tam AdEx report.. “We have renewed the endorsement contract with Shah Rukh Khan for another eighteen months,” admits Dish TV COO Salil Kapoor

The economic slowdown seems to have had a positive rub-off on the DTH industry, as people have started restricting their entertainment bills and going out less. In the July-September ‘08 period, the DTH industry was adding six lakh subscribers per month, but the base jumped to one million in the October-December period.

Dish TV plans to mop up three million subscribers during the FY’10 fiscal, taking its total base to eight million in a turf that it is being hotly contested between Tata Sky, Sun TV, Reliance ADAG’s Big TV and Bharti’s Airtel digital TV