ITV

Category: Cable TV

  • TDSAT prohibits Scod18 from relaying IndiaCast channels

    TDSAT prohibits Scod18 from relaying IndiaCast channels

    MUMBAI: Scod18 Networking Pvt Ltd (Scod18), a multi-system operator (MSO), has been restrained by the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) from taking signals of IndiaCast Media Distribution Pvt Ltd’s (IndiaCast) channels from any other operator.

    The TDSAT has further ordered that the MSO cannot alienate or deal with its movable and immovable properties without the prior permission of the tribunal. The distribution company has also sought recovery of dues from Scod18 to the tune of Rs 2 crore.

    Accepting IndiaCast’s plea, the tribunal passed an order stating, “Pass an ad-interim ex parte order restraining the respondent from receiving signals of broadcaster’s channels from any other operator or service provider transferring or alienating or dealing with its movable and immovable properties without the prior permission of this tribunal.”

    IndiaCast has disconnected the signals of its channels to the MSO and it understands that the MSO might take signals of its channels from other platforms. Therefore, the company has taken a legal cover to restrain the MSO from indulging in piracy.

    The interim order will be applicable till the next date of hearing, which is 8 May. IndiaCast is the content monetisation arm of the TV18 and Viacom18 network. IndiaCast has a bouquet of 51 channels, including nine in HD  spanning across genres—general entertainment, kids, news, music, infotainment, and movies—in India.

    IndiaCast had pressed for an interim relief but the TDSAT stated that the same will be considered after giving an opportunity of filing a reply to the MSO.

    Scod18 has been granted four weeks’ time for its reply. The rejoinder, if any, may be filed within one week thereafter.

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  • Ortel to issue shares worth Rs 8.75 cr to promoters

    Ortel to issue shares worth Rs 8.75 cr to promoters

    MUMBAI: The board of directors of Ortel Communications, the multi-system operator (MSO), has approved the issue of equity shares to promoter group entities.

    According to the release issued to the BSE, the company has proposed to issue 25 lakh equity shares at an issue price of Rs 35 per share to the promoters on a preferential basis for an aggregate amount of Rs 8.75 crore.

    Furthermore, the board has also approved the issue of 9 per cent cumulative, non-convertible, redeemable preference shares for an amount not exceeding Rs 10 crore by way of private placement for a period of five years.

    It has also approved the acceptance of fresh inter-corporate loan of Rs 8 crore at 9 per cent per annum for a period of five years.

    The board has convened an extraordinary general meeting of the company on 9 April to approve the issue of equity shares and redeemable preference shares.

  • INDUSIND Media live telecasts “Magnetic Maharashtra Convergence 2018 – Global Investors Summit”

    INDUSIND Media live telecasts “Magnetic Maharashtra Convergence 2018 – Global Investors Summit”

    MUMBAI: INDUSIND Media & Communications limited of Hinduja Group provides the live telecast of events from  “Magnetic Maharashtra Convergence 2018 – Global Investors Summit” through their Indigital services for the benefit of all their viewers in Greater Mumbai, Maharshtra and some Key cities in India. The lvie telecast will be available on  their local channel 998 and HD channel 969 of Indigital from 18th to 20th February 2018

    The telecast would be an exclusive live coverage of the Mega Event “Magnetic Maharashtra Convergence 2018 – Global Investors Summit” from MMRDA Ground, BKC, Mumbai

    “Magnetic Maharashtra: Convergence 2018” is a  one-of-a-kind gathering of the best the State has to offer in Automobiles / Auto Components, Defence, Food Processing, IT/ITes, Electronics, Heavy Engineering and Pharmaceuticals. Magnetic Maharashtra: Convergence 2018 is Maharashtra’s first Global Investors Summit which is being regarded as one of the biggest events, on the lines of the ‘Make In India’ initiative launched by the Prime Minister

  • Hathway leads the way in wireline net subs addition in Q3

    Hathway leads the way in wireline net subs addition in Q3

    BENGALURU: Over the past few years, multi-system operators, or MSOs, and cable television operators have been trying to enhance revenue by offering broadband internet services riding piggyback on their cable TV network wires. The second largest—considering that Atria Convergence Technologies is also an MSO and has far more broadband subscribers— cable television-wired broadband internet services provider, Hathway Cable & Datacom Services Ltd (Hathway) added more subscribers than any other wired internet service provider between October 2017 and December 2017. Going by data provided by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Hathway added 60,000 subscribers in the third quarter of fiscal 2018 (FY 2018) or the last quarter of calendar year 2017 (CY-2107). The TRAI report indicated that Hathway added 40,000 subscribers in Dec-17, the highest by any of top five wireline broadband internet services providers in the country. Since Sep-17 Hathway is the fifth largest wired broadband internet services provider in India.

    In its investor presentation, the now pure broadband internet services provider, Hathway, says that it added net 50,000 wireline broadband internet subscribers in Q3 2018. In the same investor presentation, Hathway claims that it has added 1.5 lakh broadband internet subscribers in CY-17–its subscriber base grew from 6 lakh at the end of December 2016 to 7.5 lakh as on 31 December 2018. TRAI data pegs Hathway’s subscriber base at 7.3 lakh as on the same date.

    It may be noted that both ACT and Hathway started off as MSOs, but now their core business focus is on wireline broadband internet services. In the case of Hathway, after restructuring, it is now a pure wired broad internet services provider, with its cable TV operations now under Hathway Digital Pvt Ltd. While ACT has continued to service its existing cable TV subscribers in the limited territory that it operates – South India mostly – its wireline broadband internet subscriber base has grown quite remarkably notwithstanding its geographical limitations. ACT added 1.6 lakh wireline broadband internet subscribers in CY-17 and 40,000 in Q3 2018. In Dec-17, ACT added 10,000 wireline broadband internet subscribers. ACT is the third largest wired broadband internet service providers in terms of number of subscribers in India with a subscriber base of 12.8 lakh. ACT is probably the largest private wireline broadband internet services provider in South India.

    TRAI provides data in units of million up to 2 fractions and hence the subscription numbers mentioned in this report are accurate to the nearest 10,000.

    The largest wireline broadband internet services provider in the country – the public sector Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) lost 5.7 lakh wireline broadband internet subscribers in CY-17 and 1.6 lakh in Q3-2018. In Dec-17, the public sector internet and telephony services provider bled 50,000 subscribers. It closed CY-17 or Dec-17 with a wired broadband internet subscriber base of 93.8 lakh.

    Indian telephone major Bharti Airtel Limited (Airtel) is the second largest wired broadband internet services provider in India – it closed Dec-17 with 21.5 lakh subscribers. Airtel added 1.1 lakh wired broadband internet subscribers in CY-17, 30,000 in Q3-2018 and 10,000 in Dec-17.

    The public sector Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Limited (MTNL) was once the third largest wired broadband internet services providers in the country, until it was replaced by ACT. MTNL lost 1.3 lakh wired broadband internet subscribers in CY-17, lost 40,000 subscribers in Q3 2018 and lost 10,000 subscribers in Dec-17. The company closed CY-17 with a wired broadband internet subscriber base of 9.1 lakh.

    Overall, the wireline broadband subscriber base in India declined by 2.8 lakh in CY-17, by 1.8 lakh in Q3 2018, but increased by 10,000 in Dec-17. The share of subscribers of the top five wired broadband internet service providers fell from 81.31 per cent as at the end of Dec-16 to 80.91 per cent at the end of Dec-17.

    The combined total number of subscribers of the top five broadband internet services in the country reduced by 3 lakh in CY-2017, reduced by 70,000 in Q3-2018 and remained the same in Dec-17 as in Nov-17 (144.5 lakh). It is quite obvious that the largest subscriber losses were by the public sector BSNL and MTNL. However, some MSOs such as Siti Networks Limited and regional player Ortel Communications had reported wireline broadband internet subscriber declines during CY-2017.

    Top 5 wireless broadband internet service providers

    As on 31 December 2017, the top five wireless broadband service providers were Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (16.009 crore) followed by Bharti Airtel (6.894 crore), Vodafone (5.243 crore), Idea Cellular (3.480 crore) and BSNL (1.257 crore).

    Overall broadband internet subscription

    A majority of the 36.287 crore internet subscribers in India subscribe to wireless internet services through mobile phones and dongles – the number grew from 33.24 crore in Nov-17 to 34.457 crore in Dec-17. Fixed wireless subscribers –  (Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, Point-to-Point Radio & VSAT) declined to 4.4 lakh in Dec-17 from 4.5 lakh in Nov-17. As mentioned above, wired broadband internet subscribers grew by 10,000 from 178.5 lakh in Nov-17 to 178.6 lakh in Dec-17.

    The top five service providers constituted 93.80 per cent market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of Dec-17. These service providers were Reliance Jio Infocom Ltd (16.009 crore), Bharti Airtel (7.109 crore), Vodafone (5.244 crore), Idea Cellular (3.481 crore) and BSNL (2.195 crore).

    Other broadband internet service providers

    As also mentioned above, MSOs and LCOs or cable video service providers also provide wired broadband internet services in the country. These cable service providers have a number of subsidiaries and alliances, hence, broadband numbers are split as applicable. The consolidated subscription numbers of these entities could be larger than the numbers of some of the wired internet services providers mentioned above.

    Also Read :

    Nov 2017: Wireline internet bleeds subscribers

    Jio continues leading broadband subs addition while wireline internet loses subs in Oct

    RIL’s Rs 2.35 lakh crore investments in Jio start to payoff

  • GTPL reports higher numbers for Q3 2018

    GTPL reports higher numbers for Q3 2018

    BENGALURU: Indian multi system operator (MSO) and broadband internet services (broadband) provider GTPL Hathway Limited (GTPL) has reported a year-on-year (yoy) growth in standalone as well subsidiary companies revenues, operating profits and net profits for the quarter ended 31 December 2017 (Q3 2018, quarter, quarter under review). GTPL’s broadband internet business – GTPL Broadband is a 100 per cent subsidiary of GTPL. The company owns a 51 percent stake in GTPL Kolkata Cable & Broadband Pariseva Limited (KCBPL).

    GTPL standalone

    On a standalone basis, GTPL reported 22.7 per cent yoy growth in total revenue for Q3 2018 to Rs 195.50 crore from Rs 159.28 crore. EBITDA including other income in the current quarter was 46.5 per cent higher yoy at Rs 63.44 crore (32.4 per cent margin) as compared to Rs 43.31 crore (27.2 per cent margin). Net profit after tax more than quintupled (5.7 times) yoy in Q3 2018 to Rs 23.74 crore (12.1 per cent margin) from Rs 4.16 crore (2.6 per cent margin).

    The company reported 28.8 percent yoy growth in subscription revenue for Q3 2018 at Rs 106.3 crore from Rs 82.5 crore. Placement revenue increased 12.2 per cent yoy in the quarter to Rs 58.7 crore from Rs 52.3 crore. Activation revenue increased 20.8 per cent yoy in Q3 2018 to Rs 18 crore from Rs 14.9 crore.

    GTPL says that it has seeded 1.80 lakh  (1 crore = 10 crore = 100 lakh) set top boxes and increased CATV digital active subscribers by 1.40 lakh in the current quarter. It says that CATV digital paying subscribers increased by 1.10 lakh to 84.6 lakh in Q3 2018 as compared to 82.8 lakh subscribers in the immediate trailing quarter Q2 2018.

    The phase-wise breakup of GTPL’s digital paying subscribers is 5.6 lakh, 16.6 lakh, 20.4 lakh and 24.9 lakh for DAS phases I, II, III and IV respectively. Average revenue per user (ARPU) in Q3 2018 with respect to Q2 2018 has increased by Rs 2 to Rs 51 and by Rs 3 to Rs 61 in phases IV and III respectively; has remained stable at Rs 101 and Rs 96 for DAS phases I and II respectively.

    GTPL Broadband

    The company says that GTPL Broadband’s total income in Q3 2018 increased 7 per cent yoy to Rs 34.2 crore from Rs 32 crore. EBITDA grew 31 per cent yoy to Rs 10.1 crore from Rs 7.7 crore. PAT increased 9 per cent yoy to Rs 3.9 crore in the current quarter from Rs 3.6 crore.

    The company claims that GTPL Broadband has added 12,000 broadband internet subscribers in Q3 2018 as compared to 10,000 in Q2 2018. Its broadband internet subscriber base at the end of Q3 2018 was 2.72 lakh. Broadband internet ARPU in the quarter remained steady at Rs 487 as compared to Q2 2018 and increased from Rs 472 in Q2 2017.

    GTPL Kolkata Cable & Broadband Pariseva Limited (KCBPL)

    KCBPL’s total income grew 61 per cent yoy to Rs 44.7 crore from Rs 27.8 crore. Subscription CATV revenue increased 69 per cent yoy to Rs 30.3 crore in Q3 2018 from Rs 17.9 crore. Placement revenue in the current quarter grew 12 percent yoy to Rs 7.7 crore from Rs 6.9 crore. Activation revenue in Q3 2018 almost tripled (2.93 times) yoy to Rs 4.7 crore from Rs 1.6 crore.

    KCBPL’s EBITDA grew 7.17 times yoy in Q3 2018 to Rs 16 crore from Rs 2.2 crore. The company reported PAT of Rs 2.2 crore in Q3 2018.

    Also Read :

    GTPL Hathway pockets Rs 480-mn Gujarat govt contracts

    GTPL Hathway reports higher numbers and flat q-o-q ARPUs

    GTPL launches high-speed internet on GPON FTTX technology

  • Hinduja Ventures appoints Ashok Mansukhani as MD; net profit remains flat

    Hinduja Ventures appoints Ashok Mansukhani as MD; net profit remains flat

    MUMBAI: Hinduja Ventures Ltd (HVL) whole-time director Ashok Mansukhani has been elevated as the managing director of the company for two years from 30 April 2018 to 29 April 2020. Mansukhani completes his existing term as whole-time director on 29 April.

    The appointment was effected at the meeting of the board of directors today. Mansukhani was appointed as the MD and CEO of Hinduja Media Group in February 2017 following Tony D’Silva’s exit.

    Mansukhani is a postgraduate from Delhi University and completed his masters in English literature from Kirori Mal College, Delhi University, and his LLB from K C Law College, Bombay University.

    After a distinguished career in Central Government as an Indian Revenue Service Officer for 22 years, he joined the Hinduja Group in 1996 and has handled various senior responsibilities in the Group, in media and Corporate sphere. Mansukhani has been past president of the Multi System Operator Alliance (MSO Alliance) representing all leading MSOs in the country.

    The Board of HVL at its meeting held today approved un-audited standalone financial results for the quarter and nine months ended 31 December 2017.

    HVL, on a standalone basis, reported total income of Rs 169.12 crore for the nine months ended 31 December 2017 as against Rs 173.91 crore for the nine months ended 31 December 2016.

    Net profit for the nine-month period in 2017 stood at Rs 88.80 crore as against Rs 88.39 crore during the corresponding period in 2016, an increase of 0.47 per cent.

    For the quarter ended 31 December 2017, total income of the company stood at Rs 64.88 crore compared with Rs 53.58 crore for the quarter ended 30 September 2017 and Rs 52.79 crore for the quarter ended 31 December 2016.

    Net profit for the quarter ended 31 December 2017 stood at Rs 33.76 crore as against Rs 29.55 crore for the quarter ended 30 September 2017 and Rs 35.99 crore for the quarter ended 31 December 2016.

    IndusInd Media & Communication Ltd (IMCL), a Hinduja Group subsidiary, continues to make inroads into India’s rural areas through its head-end-in-the-sky (HITS) platform. IMCL is the only digital platform operator (DPO) to cover all 29 states and 4 union territories. This is due to major penetration in the past 12 months utilising NXT Digital’s HITS platform.

    The company feels that there is scope for deployment for DPO to an additional 30 million homes in the rural universe of 99 million homes. Another 20 million homes await power to households and will begin to watch television in the next three years.

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  • Hathway reports improved standalone Q3 results

    Hathway reports improved standalone Q3 results

    BENGALURU: The demerged Hathway Cable and Datacom (Hathway) reported standalone profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 23.87 crore (17.2 per cent of operating revenue) for the quarter ended 31 December 2017 (Q3 2018, quarter under review), 70.4 per cent higher as compared to PAT of Rs 14.01 crore (10.7 per cent of operating revenue) in the immediate trailing quarter Q2 2018 (q-o-q).  It may be noted that Hathway’s numbers for Q3 2017 included both cable television and broadband numbers and hence, cannot be compared with Q3 2018 revenues that include only broadband revenue. Hence, Hathways numbers for the current quarter have been compared to its numbers from the immediate trailing quarter Q2 2018 (quarter ended 30 September 2017). As a matter of fact, after the transfer of Hathway’s cable television business as a slump sale since Q1 2018, the company has reported PAT for each quarter.

    Hathway’s total revenue of Rs 144.53 crore for the quarter under review was 5.4 per cent more q-o-q than Rs 136.97 crore. Revenue from operations in Q3 2018 was 5.8 per cent higher q-o-q at Rs 138.61 crore than Rs 131.4 crore.

    Hathway’s total comprehensible income (TCI) for the current quarter was 71.9 per cent higher q-o-q at Rs 24.01 crore as compared to Rs 13.98 crore. Simple operating EBIDTA for Q3 2018 at Rs 60.2 crore (43.3 per cent of operating revenue) was 14.2 per cent higher q-o-q than Rs 52.55 crore (40.1 per cent of operating revenue).

    Hathway’s total expenditure in the quarter under review declined 1.9 per cent q-o-q to Rs 120.70 crore from Rs 123.07 crore. Finance costs in the current quarter declined 13.1 per cent q-o-q to Rs 17.54 crore from Rs 20.19 crore. Employee benefits expense in Q3 2018 increased 7.6 per cent q-o-q to Rs 11.33 crore from Rs 10.53 crore. Other expenses in the quarter declined 2.5 per cent q-o-q to Rs 34.20 crore from Rs 35.07 crore. Other operational expenses reduced 0.5 per cent in Q3 2018 to Rs 32.89 crore from Rs 33.06 crore.

    Also Read :

    Hathway Cable & Datacom reports improved numbers for Q2-18

    Hathway Bhawani MD and CEO Sameer Joseph quits

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  • TDSAT rules in favor of DEN Networks, directs ZEE entertainment to provide channels on RIO basis

    TDSAT rules in favor of DEN Networks, directs ZEE entertainment to provide channels on RIO basis

    In a major victory for DEN Networks – TDSAT (Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal) directed ZEE Entertainment Limited (ZEEL) to provide channels to DEN Networks on RIO basis dismissing ZEEL’s claim that SMS and CAS of DEN were not compliant with the regulations. 

    TDSAT has passed this order in favour of DEN Networks after taking cognizance of Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited (BECIL) audit report which found that DEN’s systems are fully compliant with TRAI regulations. 

    Earlier, DEN had filed a petition in TDSAT to go on RIO with ZEEL till the time both the parties are not able to negotiate for agreed terms of settlement and further agreement on Content Subscription. And TDSAT in its order dated 15th January 2018 had directed  BECIL to hold an audit of the DEN Networks’ to find out whether it is regulation compliant or not.

    Both the parties are in dispute due to outstanding dues and non-renewal of their commercial arrangement which expired on December 31, 2017.  

    In its order, the Tribunal had also directed both the parties to appear before CA Mediator on February 5, 2018 and asked the Mediator to submit / furnish the result of the mediation proceedings within 10 days. 

    Accepting the request of BECIL for additional time, the Tribunal had granted it six weeks’ time to submit the audit report of three JV companies of DEN Networks having independent DAS license alongwith independent head-end separate CAS and SMS servers.  

    The Tribunal also asked DEN Networks to release the pending / outstanding dues of Rs 23.50 Crore which DEN had withheld subject to resolution of the dispute. 

  • Dual LCN helping consumers, says KCCL’s Shaji Mathews

    Dual LCN helping consumers, says KCCL’s Shaji Mathews

    MUMBAI: Kerala Communicators Cable Ltd (KCCL) CEO Shaji Mathews believes dual local channel numbers (LCN) is helping consumers and that its fate should be left to the market.

    2017 saw many channels, especially news broadcasters, raising the issue of channels broadcasting themselves on two LCNs thus creating biased ratings in their favour. Their contention was that the channel gets overarching visibility for viewers. “I don’t see any problem in dual LCN and why the government is restricting dual LCN. They need to rectify the rating system if they see some issues in the rating of a channel. Dual LCN is helping the consumer and we should leave it to the market to decide,” Mathews told Indiantelevision.com in an interaction.

    The structure of the Indian cable and satellite TV distribution market is evolving, led by digitisation of cable network mandated by the government. The Kerala cable industry has benefitted from the digitisation process with over 5000 cable operators and 50 lakh active subscribers.

    KCCL is an initiative of independent cable TV operators in Kerala under the guidance of Cable Operators Association (COA). COA is an umbrella union of local cable operators all over Kerala. KCCL has around 25 lakh active subscribers according to Mathews. The digitisation in the state was complete in March 2017.

    “In Kerala, the majority of the market is with KCCL and Asianet Cable. Apart from this, there are about a dozen small cable operators. The size of the state’s cable industry is around Rs 100 crore,” says Mathews.

    Mathews shares that the overall revenue has gone up because pay subscribers have increased. “The ARPU (average revenue per user) remains the same after the shift to digital from analogue, which is below Rs 200 in Kerala,” Mathews reveals.

    He says that small cable operators didn’t complete the digitisation on time because of various reasons such as non-availability of STBs and expecting the dates to be postponed.

    For KCCL’s first project-Kerala Vision Channel-raised a share capital of Rs 1.5 crore in 2006. The channel today covers 20 lakh homes in Kerala. Now its share capital is enhanced to Rs 10 crore with the approval of Registrar of Companies, SEBI and other government authorities. The capital outlay for the second major project is Rs 8.5 crore, 50 per cent of which has already been raised from the existing shareholders.

    There is already a cumulative investment of Rs 500 crore in the cable TV industry in the form of equipment, networking, studios and other infrastructure owned by individual cable TV operators all over the state with a consolidated turnover of Rs 250 crore per annum.

    Mathews lashed out at broadcasters who indulge in discriminative pricing. “To keep the competition going, the big broadcasters give their channel feeds to small operators for very low rates which forces us to negotiate and accept their terms and conditions.”

    The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had clarified that a channel can only be present at one LCN number and the landing page would be considered as a separate one which is not allowed and TRAI has the right to investigate and take action.

  • DEN readies Android-based STB for Feb launch

    DEN readies Android-based STB for Feb launch

    MUMBAI: Multi-system operator (MSO) DEN is all set to revamp its old hybrid set top box (STB) into a smart STB. The new STB will support 4k HD as well as internet access. 

    A trial for the same is already in process is what DEN Networks CEO SN Sharma informed analysts. He added that the revamped STBs have been planted across the country and the response so far from the subscribers has been good. The trial will go on till February and the prices will be announced during the middle of the month itself. 

    The MSO is also in talks with two Indian broadcasting giants, Star and Zee. It also renewed deals with Sony and IndiaCast in 2017 for a span of two years.

    DEN, which has 13 million cable audience and 8.4 million active subscribers, is also planning to grow its broadband business. The company will be sharing its plan by the end of financial year 2017-18. DEN currently has a net subscriber base of 2.15 lakh with 60 per cent active subscribers. 

    Currently in only 10 select cities across 4 states of the country, MSO has plans to stretch in more 10 cities. 

    DEN Networks CFO Rajesh Kaushal predicted that the future expenditure will be more in broadband and less in cable, as most of the boxes are already lifted and the subsidy is very less on it. 

    DEN previously spent Rs.11 crore for seeding in the existing 10 cities and for expanding to more 10 cities the cost will be around Rs.10 crores.