ITV

Category: Cable TV

  • Cable TV distribution to get fillip from demonetisation

    Cable TV distribution to get fillip from demonetisation

    MUMBAI: The cable television distribution business, a section of which has been infamous for dealings in unaccounted money, will have to upgrade addressability in the backdrop of the decision to demonetise higher value currency. It is estimated that the analog subscriber base will come down by 37% this year as they switch over to digital cable under DAS III and IV, according to sector estimates.

    According to a FICCI-KPMG report, there are approximately 65 million analog cable television subscribers in India, around 37 million digital cable television subscribers, 44 million pay DTH (direct-to-home) subscribers and some 15 million free DTH (FTA) subscribers. The benefit of dealing in cash prompts most operators to under-report subscriber numbers and eventually revenue. However, this may substantially reduce with the new government move, experts said.

    KPMG partner – media & entertainment Jehil Thakkar said that, with digitisation (under DAS III and IV), TRAI has proposed new pricing for TV channels. The purpose was to make it affordable. With demonetisation, the cable operators may have to clean up their operations so that there was transparency in dealings with broadcasters.

    DAS could act as a catalyst for cable operators to reduce under-reporting. Demonetisation, experts said, could become a trigger for the switchover. Under-reporting of subscription revenue by the cable operator per individual or household had been estimated to be 15-20%. DTH, however, has overcome this issue by using a pricing strategy based on the number of channels seen by a consumer.

    Meanwhile, the release of a number of Telugu films including Intlo Deyyam – Nakem Bhayam and Ram Charan Teja’s Dhruva have been postponed. Box office earnings have gone substantially down for Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam films owing to demonetisation. Producers are being forced to defer releases due to low turnouts.

    Several film shoots have been suspended, and many theatres in Kerala are planning to shut shop owing to non-availability of low denomination notes. Work on national award-winning director Sidharth Siva’s new movie Sakavu too has been deferred.

    Income Tax officials meanwhile raided the house of the campaign manager of Puducherry chief minister V Narayanasamy and ex-MLA A John Kumar, seizing Rs. 14 lakh in cash. The ex-MLA of Nellithope, whose business is cable TV distribution, real estate etc, is also the manager of Narayanasamy’s campaign.

  • Cable TV distribution to get fillip from demonetisation

    Cable TV distribution to get fillip from demonetisation

    MUMBAI: The cable television distribution business, a section of which has been infamous for dealings in unaccounted money, will have to upgrade addressability in the backdrop of the decision to demonetise higher value currency. It is estimated that the analog subscriber base will come down by 37% this year as they switch over to digital cable under DAS III and IV, according to sector estimates.

    According to a FICCI-KPMG report, there are approximately 65 million analog cable television subscribers in India, around 37 million digital cable television subscribers, 44 million pay DTH (direct-to-home) subscribers and some 15 million free DTH (FTA) subscribers. The benefit of dealing in cash prompts most operators to under-report subscriber numbers and eventually revenue. However, this may substantially reduce with the new government move, experts said.

    KPMG partner – media & entertainment Jehil Thakkar said that, with digitisation (under DAS III and IV), TRAI has proposed new pricing for TV channels. The purpose was to make it affordable. With demonetisation, the cable operators may have to clean up their operations so that there was transparency in dealings with broadcasters.

    DAS could act as a catalyst for cable operators to reduce under-reporting. Demonetisation, experts said, could become a trigger for the switchover. Under-reporting of subscription revenue by the cable operator per individual or household had been estimated to be 15-20%. DTH, however, has overcome this issue by using a pricing strategy based on the number of channels seen by a consumer.

    Meanwhile, the release of a number of Telugu films including Intlo Deyyam – Nakem Bhayam and Ram Charan Teja’s Dhruva have been postponed. Box office earnings have gone substantially down for Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam films owing to demonetisation. Producers are being forced to defer releases due to low turnouts.

    Several film shoots have been suspended, and many theatres in Kerala are planning to shut shop owing to non-availability of low denomination notes. Work on national award-winning director Sidharth Siva’s new movie Sakavu too has been deferred.

    Income Tax officials meanwhile raided the house of the campaign manager of Puducherry chief minister V Narayanasamy and ex-MLA A John Kumar, seizing Rs. 14 lakh in cash. The ex-MLA of Nellithope, whose business is cable TV distribution, real estate etc, is also the manager of Narayanasamy’s campaign.

  • AT&T, Comcast, Charter and Dish Network emerge among top cable, satellite and telco pay-TV operators

    AT&T, Comcast, Charter and Dish Network emerge among top cable, satellite and telco pay-TV operators

    MUMBAI:  AT&T (IPTV + Satellite), Comcast    (Cable), Charter (Cable), Dish Network  (Satellite), Verizon (IPTV), Cox (Cable), and Altice (Cable) have emerged as the top seven cable, satellite and telco pay-TV operators in the third quarter this year.

    FierceCable has tallied a look at the third-quarter earnings season, ranking the top satellite, cable, and telco pay-TV operators and studying their performance through key metrics, including average revenues per user (ARPU) and subscriber growth.

    Top US Pay TV Service Provider Metrics Q3 2016 (ranking by subscribers)
    Rank   Platform Subscribers (millions) Net Adds ARPU*
    1 AT&T IPTV + Satellite 25.292 -3,000 $118.09
    2 Comcast Cable 22.428 32,000 $148.47
    3 Charter Cable 16.887 -47,000 $80.81
    4 Dish Network Satellite 13.643 50,000 $89.44
    5 Verizon IPTV 4.673 36,000 n/a
    6 Cox Cable 4.146 3,000 n/a
    7 Altice Cable 3.598 -41,000 $117.80

     

    Source- Fierce Cable

    Meanwhile, satellite, cable, and telecommunications-based subscription video services lost 430,000 customers in the third quarter, according to SNL Kagan, giving the industry a loss of 1.3 million subscribers. The research firm’s count for the third quarter is lower than the 486,000 estimate given by MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett last week. UBS experts sent analysis of the overall video industry in the United States, showing losses and gains in the past few years in this space. The firm said that it estimated that the pay TV subscribers base of U.S. multichannel including Sling TV,  dropped by 0.6 per cent year over year in the third quarter, similar to the drop in both the first quarter and the second quarter.

    MoffettNathanson experts said the overall subscriber declined in the pay-TV space in the last 10 years. Dish Network’s Sling TV service has affected the trend, the experts said. Experts said that Charter, Comcast, and other cable companies are scoring over telco providers such as Verizon and AT&T as also on satellite providers such as Dish Network. In the broadband internet space, UBS experts marked impressive performance of Comcast and Charter against Verizon and AT&T.

    According to Firece Cable, in the third quarter, around 94,000 pay-TV customers were lost by cable operators, SNL Kagan said. This was still the sector’s best performance in 10 years.  AT&T’s decision to give priority to the growth of DirecTV generated 323,000 new subs for the platform in the third quarter, offsetting huge losses for Dish Network in satellite. In the 12-month period ending 30 September, SNL Kagan calculated that Dish Network’s Sling TV added 925,000 customers.

  • AT&T, Comcast, Charter and Dish Network emerge among top cable, satellite and telco pay-TV operators

    AT&T, Comcast, Charter and Dish Network emerge among top cable, satellite and telco pay-TV operators

    MUMBAI:  AT&T (IPTV + Satellite), Comcast    (Cable), Charter (Cable), Dish Network  (Satellite), Verizon (IPTV), Cox (Cable), and Altice (Cable) have emerged as the top seven cable, satellite and telco pay-TV operators in the third quarter this year.

    FierceCable has tallied a look at the third-quarter earnings season, ranking the top satellite, cable, and telco pay-TV operators and studying their performance through key metrics, including average revenues per user (ARPU) and subscriber growth.

    Top US Pay TV Service Provider Metrics Q3 2016 (ranking by subscribers)
    Rank   Platform Subscribers (millions) Net Adds ARPU*
    1 AT&T IPTV + Satellite 25.292 -3,000 $118.09
    2 Comcast Cable 22.428 32,000 $148.47
    3 Charter Cable 16.887 -47,000 $80.81
    4 Dish Network Satellite 13.643 50,000 $89.44
    5 Verizon IPTV 4.673 36,000 n/a
    6 Cox Cable 4.146 3,000 n/a
    7 Altice Cable 3.598 -41,000 $117.80

     

    Source- Fierce Cable

    Meanwhile, satellite, cable, and telecommunications-based subscription video services lost 430,000 customers in the third quarter, according to SNL Kagan, giving the industry a loss of 1.3 million subscribers. The research firm’s count for the third quarter is lower than the 486,000 estimate given by MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett last week. UBS experts sent analysis of the overall video industry in the United States, showing losses and gains in the past few years in this space. The firm said that it estimated that the pay TV subscribers base of U.S. multichannel including Sling TV,  dropped by 0.6 per cent year over year in the third quarter, similar to the drop in both the first quarter and the second quarter.

    MoffettNathanson experts said the overall subscriber declined in the pay-TV space in the last 10 years. Dish Network’s Sling TV service has affected the trend, the experts said. Experts said that Charter, Comcast, and other cable companies are scoring over telco providers such as Verizon and AT&T as also on satellite providers such as Dish Network. In the broadband internet space, UBS experts marked impressive performance of Comcast and Charter against Verizon and AT&T.

    According to Firece Cable, in the third quarter, around 94,000 pay-TV customers were lost by cable operators, SNL Kagan said. This was still the sector’s best performance in 10 years.  AT&T’s decision to give priority to the growth of DirecTV generated 323,000 new subs for the platform in the third quarter, offsetting huge losses for Dish Network in satellite. In the 12-month period ending 30 September, SNL Kagan calculated that Dish Network’s Sling TV added 925,000 customers.

  • DEN divests further 25 per cent from Delhi Dynamos

    DEN divests further 25 per cent from Delhi Dynamos

    MUMBAI: Indian cable TV major DEN Networks is increasingly getting itself out of the sports den it had gotten itself into earlier. Today, the Sameer Manchanda-promoted SN Sharma-run Goldman Sachs-backed multisystem operator (MSO) informed the BSE that it had divested another 25 per cent equity from its sports initiative DEN Sports in favour of Wall Street Investments.

    The latter represents the business interests of the UAE-based entrepreneur Dr Anil Sharma-run GMS group. GMS is a world major buyer of ships for recycling.

    The price at which the equity stake has been transferred was not disclosed to the stock exchange, but Wall Street Investments holding in DEN Sports has gone up to 80 per cent equity while DEN Network’s has fallen to 20 per cent. DEN Sports controls 100 per cent of DEN Soccer which manages the Indian Soccer League Delhi-franchise owning Delhi Dynamos F.C.

    Wall Street Investments, on its part, has received Registrar of Companies permission to change the name of the two firms to Delhi Sports and Delhi Soccer. And DEN Networks also gave the name change the go-ahead following a board meeting.

    Earlier this year, DEN Networks had lopped off 55 per cent of its stake in DEN Sports to Wall Street Investments at a price of Rs 43.32 crore.

    The cable TV firm has been under pressure from its investors to get back to business basics and monetise better the cable TV digitisation process that India has been going through over the past three years. It rehired co-founder SN Sharma from Reliance Jio as the CEO to get its house in order.

  • DEN divests further 25 per cent from Delhi Dynamos

    DEN divests further 25 per cent from Delhi Dynamos

    MUMBAI: Indian cable TV major DEN Networks is increasingly getting itself out of the sports den it had gotten itself into earlier. Today, the Sameer Manchanda-promoted SN Sharma-run Goldman Sachs-backed multisystem operator (MSO) informed the BSE that it had divested another 25 per cent equity from its sports initiative DEN Sports in favour of Wall Street Investments.

    The latter represents the business interests of the UAE-based entrepreneur Dr Anil Sharma-run GMS group. GMS is a world major buyer of ships for recycling.

    The price at which the equity stake has been transferred was not disclosed to the stock exchange, but Wall Street Investments holding in DEN Sports has gone up to 80 per cent equity while DEN Network’s has fallen to 20 per cent. DEN Sports controls 100 per cent of DEN Soccer which manages the Indian Soccer League Delhi-franchise owning Delhi Dynamos F.C.

    Wall Street Investments, on its part, has received Registrar of Companies permission to change the name of the two firms to Delhi Sports and Delhi Soccer. And DEN Networks also gave the name change the go-ahead following a board meeting.

    Earlier this year, DEN Networks had lopped off 55 per cent of its stake in DEN Sports to Wall Street Investments at a price of Rs 43.32 crore.

    The cable TV firm has been under pressure from its investors to get back to business basics and monetise better the cable TV digitisation process that India has been going through over the past three years. It rehired co-founder SN Sharma from Reliance Jio as the CEO to get its house in order.

  • Justice Sachdeva refuses more time for cable digitisation

    Justice Sachdeva refuses more time for cable digitisation

    MUMBAI: The Delhi High Court has asked two cable operators to ensure that all analogue connections are converted to digital by 24 November while denying grant of any further time for installation of digital set-top boxes. The central government had asked all cable operators to install set-top boxes by 31 December, 2016.

    Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva ordered the cable operators to make sure that the conversion is over by 24 November, and all its subscribers are clearly informed about the switchover.

    “The notification was issued by the Government on 11 November, 2011. Around five years have elapsed from the said date when the operators were made aware that they have to change over to DAS. The petition was filed in February, 2016, and now we are in November. The petitioners have already got sufficient time to complete the installation of set-top boxes and the changeover to DAS. Even post the filing of the present petition, approximately nine months have passed,” the court noted as it said there was no justification for granting more time.

    The two cable operators had gone to court seeking time for installation of STBs while appealing that, till the completion of the installation, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting be restrained from discontinuing supply of analogue signal.

    On 3 November 2016, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation hailed the order passed by the Delhi High Court dismissing nine DAS-related petitions. The petitions also dealt with the time extension for implementing digital addressable system (DAS) in certain areas of Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and Uttar Pradesh under Phase-III, the deadline for which had expired on 31 December 2015. There is however no change in DAS Phase IV deadline, which continues to be 31 December 2016. With the dismissal of these petitions, the stay granted by various high courts in areas covered by the above-mentioned nine cases stands vacated and will no longer apply.

    Meanwhile around 30 more multi-system operators (MSOs) received provisional registration in October. The total of MSOs has risen to 1033 with just around seven weeks to go for switching off analogue signals and completion of digital addressable system for cable television in India. While the total of provisional licences as on 31 October went up from 774 to 804, the number of permanent licences (10 years) remained static at 229.

  • Justice Sachdeva refuses more time for cable digitisation

    Justice Sachdeva refuses more time for cable digitisation

    MUMBAI: The Delhi High Court has asked two cable operators to ensure that all analogue connections are converted to digital by 24 November while denying grant of any further time for installation of digital set-top boxes. The central government had asked all cable operators to install set-top boxes by 31 December, 2016.

    Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva ordered the cable operators to make sure that the conversion is over by 24 November, and all its subscribers are clearly informed about the switchover.

    “The notification was issued by the Government on 11 November, 2011. Around five years have elapsed from the said date when the operators were made aware that they have to change over to DAS. The petition was filed in February, 2016, and now we are in November. The petitioners have already got sufficient time to complete the installation of set-top boxes and the changeover to DAS. Even post the filing of the present petition, approximately nine months have passed,” the court noted as it said there was no justification for granting more time.

    The two cable operators had gone to court seeking time for installation of STBs while appealing that, till the completion of the installation, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting be restrained from discontinuing supply of analogue signal.

    On 3 November 2016, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation hailed the order passed by the Delhi High Court dismissing nine DAS-related petitions. The petitions also dealt with the time extension for implementing digital addressable system (DAS) in certain areas of Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and Uttar Pradesh under Phase-III, the deadline for which had expired on 31 December 2015. There is however no change in DAS Phase IV deadline, which continues to be 31 December 2016. With the dismissal of these petitions, the stay granted by various high courts in areas covered by the above-mentioned nine cases stands vacated and will no longer apply.

    Meanwhile around 30 more multi-system operators (MSOs) received provisional registration in October. The total of MSOs has risen to 1033 with just around seven weeks to go for switching off analogue signals and completion of digital addressable system for cable television in India. While the total of provisional licences as on 31 October went up from 774 to 804, the number of permanent licences (10 years) remained static at 229.

  • DAS III: IBF welcomes Delhi HC order

    DAS III: IBF welcomes Delhi HC order

    MUMBAI: The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) has welcomed the order passed by the Delhi High Court on 3 November 2016 dismissing nine DAS-related petitions. The petitions dealt with the time extension for implementing digital addressable system (DAS) in certain areas of Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and Uttar Pradesh under Phase-III, the deadline for which had expired on 31 December 2015.

    There is no change in DAS Phase IV deadline, which continues to be 31 December 2016.

    With the dismissal of these petitions, the stay granted by various high courts in areas covered by the above-mentioned nine cases stands vacated and will no longer apply.

    The Delhi High Court, dismissing these petitions, has also directed the petitioners to switch over to digital addressable systems within three weeks i.e. by 24 November 2016 and inform the subscribers by running a scroll on their networks about the digital switchover deadline

    The high courts in various parts of the country had earlier granted stay in certain matters on DAS Phase III deadline. The stay orders had stalled the implementation of DAS Phase III in those areas. This prompted the MIB to move the Supreme Court to get all the cases transferred to the apex court.

    The SC made Delhi High Court as the designated court for all cases related to DAS Phase III. The above-mentioned order of the Delhi High Court has removed the impediments in implementation of DAS in Phase – III areas.

    The IBF has advised all its member-broadcasters to apprise all its affiliate multi-system operators (MSOs) and local cable operators about the said switchover deadline of 24 November 2016 in these Phase – III areas and make it clear that after the said date the channels can be received only through a digital set-top box. The subscribers in these areas are advised to immediately contact their respective local cable operators (LCOs)/MSOs to ensure the installation of STBs before the expiry of the above-mentioned deadline.

  • DAS III: IBF welcomes Delhi HC order

    DAS III: IBF welcomes Delhi HC order

    MUMBAI: The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) has welcomed the order passed by the Delhi High Court on 3 November 2016 dismissing nine DAS-related petitions. The petitions dealt with the time extension for implementing digital addressable system (DAS) in certain areas of Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and Uttar Pradesh under Phase-III, the deadline for which had expired on 31 December 2015.

    There is no change in DAS Phase IV deadline, which continues to be 31 December 2016.

    With the dismissal of these petitions, the stay granted by various high courts in areas covered by the above-mentioned nine cases stands vacated and will no longer apply.

    The Delhi High Court, dismissing these petitions, has also directed the petitioners to switch over to digital addressable systems within three weeks i.e. by 24 November 2016 and inform the subscribers by running a scroll on their networks about the digital switchover deadline

    The high courts in various parts of the country had earlier granted stay in certain matters on DAS Phase III deadline. The stay orders had stalled the implementation of DAS Phase III in those areas. This prompted the MIB to move the Supreme Court to get all the cases transferred to the apex court.

    The SC made Delhi High Court as the designated court for all cases related to DAS Phase III. The above-mentioned order of the Delhi High Court has removed the impediments in implementation of DAS in Phase – III areas.

    The IBF has advised all its member-broadcasters to apprise all its affiliate multi-system operators (MSOs) and local cable operators about the said switchover deadline of 24 November 2016 in these Phase – III areas and make it clear that after the said date the channels can be received only through a digital set-top box. The subscribers in these areas are advised to immediately contact their respective local cable operators (LCOs)/MSOs to ensure the installation of STBs before the expiry of the above-mentioned deadline.