ITV

Category: Cable TV

  • Allahabad HC accepts Govt’s view to not press on DAS Phase III

    Allahabad HC accepts Govt’s view to not press on DAS Phase III

    NEW DELHI: Taking note of the Government position that “it will not press for requirement of having a set top box as of now,” the Allahabad High Court has put off to 28 January, a petition by the Allahabad Cable TV Operators Welfare Society seeking extension of the deadline of implementation of Phase III of digital addressable system (DAS).

     

    Justice Dilip Gupta and Justice Mukhtar Ahmad in their order said they did not feel the need of any interim order at this stage.

     

    The Court took note of the letter from an under secretary in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry citing that according to legal opinion, the extension order issued by the Bombay High Court was valid for the entire country.

     

    The letter was written to Assistant Solicitor General Chetan Mittal with regard to a similar case in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which was then dismissed as infructuous.  

     

    Counsel Vivek Singla had told the Punjab and Haryana High Court that “the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India has decided not to press the requirement of having a STB as for now till the decision of the cases, which are pending before various other Honourable High Courts.”

     

    The Ministry had also sent to Mittal a detailed note on the issue, apart from orders by the Hyderabad and Bombay High Courts.

     

    The Bombay High Court had relied on the Supreme Court order in the Kusum Ingots and Allous Ltd case where the apex Court had said that a High Court could give an order similar to that given by other High Courts if the circumstances were similar.

     

    The matter has already been stayed by other High Courts including Sikkim, Odisha, Chhattisgarh for the entire state, and for individual local cable operators in Karnataka and Kerala on the common plea that there was acute shortage in seeding of STBs.

     

    However, Ministry secretary Sunil Arora had told Indiantelevision.com earlier that the Centre would be moving the Supreme Court in this matter. Ministry sources said that the petition in the apex Court was likely to be an appeal against one High Court with an application that all other matters may also be heard simultaneously.

  • Allahabad HC accepts Govt’s view to not press on DAS Phase III

    Allahabad HC accepts Govt’s view to not press on DAS Phase III

    NEW DELHI: Taking note of the Government position that “it will not press for requirement of having a set top box as of now,” the Allahabad High Court has put off to 28 January, a petition by the Allahabad Cable TV Operators Welfare Society seeking extension of the deadline of implementation of Phase III of digital addressable system (DAS).

     

    Justice Dilip Gupta and Justice Mukhtar Ahmad in their order said they did not feel the need of any interim order at this stage.

     

    The Court took note of the letter from an under secretary in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry citing that according to legal opinion, the extension order issued by the Bombay High Court was valid for the entire country.

     

    The letter was written to Assistant Solicitor General Chetan Mittal with regard to a similar case in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which was then dismissed as infructuous.  

     

    Counsel Vivek Singla had told the Punjab and Haryana High Court that “the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India has decided not to press the requirement of having a STB as for now till the decision of the cases, which are pending before various other Honourable High Courts.”

     

    The Ministry had also sent to Mittal a detailed note on the issue, apart from orders by the Hyderabad and Bombay High Courts.

     

    The Bombay High Court had relied on the Supreme Court order in the Kusum Ingots and Allous Ltd case where the apex Court had said that a High Court could give an order similar to that given by other High Courts if the circumstances were similar.

     

    The matter has already been stayed by other High Courts including Sikkim, Odisha, Chhattisgarh for the entire state, and for individual local cable operators in Karnataka and Kerala on the common plea that there was acute shortage in seeding of STBs.

     

    However, Ministry secretary Sunil Arora had told Indiantelevision.com earlier that the Centre would be moving the Supreme Court in this matter. Ministry sources said that the petition in the apex Court was likely to be an appeal against one High Court with an application that all other matters may also be heard simultaneously.

  • Nandita Swamy quits Hathway Bhawani as independent director

    Nandita Swamy quits Hathway Bhawani as independent director

    MUMBAI: Hathway Bhavani Cable Tel & Datacom Limited’s Nandita Swamy has quit as an independent director and tendered her resignation as director with effect from 22 January. 

     

    With more than 20 years of experience, Swamy was independent director at the company since 31 March, 2015. 

     

    Swamy served as whole time director of the Vidal Health group where she handled finance and corporate affairs. She also acts as consultant for companies such as Price Waterhouse Tax, Hong Kong, TTK Healthcare TPA, Swiss Re Healthcare Services and Nova Medical Centers.

  • Nandita Swamy quits Hathway Bhawani as independent director

    Nandita Swamy quits Hathway Bhawani as independent director

    MUMBAI: Hathway Bhavani Cable Tel & Datacom Limited’s Nandita Swamy has quit as an independent director and tendered her resignation as director with effect from 22 January. 

     

    With more than 20 years of experience, Swamy was independent director at the company since 31 March, 2015. 

     

    Swamy served as whole time director of the Vidal Health group where she handled finance and corporate affairs. She also acts as consultant for companies such as Price Waterhouse Tax, Hong Kong, TTK Healthcare TPA, Swiss Re Healthcare Services and Nova Medical Centers.

  • Liberty-owned MSO Virgin Media to axe 900 jobs over 2 years

    Liberty-owned MSO Virgin Media to axe 900 jobs over 2 years

    MUMBAI: Liberty Global owned MSO Virgin Media is planning to axe as many as 900 jobs in the UK over the next two years.

     

    In this business reorganisation exercise, the company said it will now focus on network expansion. As a part of the restructuring, some employees will also be moved to other roles within the company.

     

    Virgin Media CEO Tom Mockridge “Over the last three years Virgin Media has been transformed. We’re expanding, investing and growing our business. The proposed reorganisation will give us an even sharper focus on the customer, network expansion and business growth.”

     

    Virgin Media, which is one of the UK’s biggest telecommunications brands, providing fixed and mobile telephone, TV, and broadband internet services, was bought by American tycoon John Malone’s Liberty Global in 2013 for ?15 billion.

  • Liberty-owned MSO Virgin Media to axe 900 jobs over 2 years

    Liberty-owned MSO Virgin Media to axe 900 jobs over 2 years

    MUMBAI: Liberty Global owned MSO Virgin Media is planning to axe as many as 900 jobs in the UK over the next two years.

     

    In this business reorganisation exercise, the company said it will now focus on network expansion. As a part of the restructuring, some employees will also be moved to other roles within the company.

     

    Virgin Media CEO Tom Mockridge “Over the last three years Virgin Media has been transformed. We’re expanding, investing and growing our business. The proposed reorganisation will give us an even sharper focus on the customer, network expansion and business growth.”

     

    Virgin Media, which is one of the UK’s biggest telecommunications brands, providing fixed and mobile telephone, TV, and broadband internet services, was bought by American tycoon John Malone’s Liberty Global in 2013 for ?15 billion.

  • Q3-2016: Siti Cable turnaround; Reports Rs 56 crore profit; operating revenue up 67%

    Q3-2016: Siti Cable turnaround; Reports Rs 56 crore profit; operating revenue up 67%

    BENGALURU: Last year, the DTH industry, led by the Essel Group’s Dish TV reported profits, and the trend has continued so far over the next two quarters. For the quarter ended 31 December, 2015 (Q3-2016, current quarter), it is another Essel group company, from the carriage industry – Siti Cable Network Limited (Siti Cable) that has reported a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 56 crore (1.5 per cent margin on operating revenue or OPREV) as compared to a loss of Rs 18.5 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter and a loss of Rs 19.4 crore in the immediate trailing quarter. The growth essentially has been driven by higher activation revenue in the current quarter due to the 15 lakh subscribers added in Q3-2016.

     

    Note: 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10 million = 1 crore

     

     

    EBIDTA in the current quarter more than doubled (up 2.6 times) YoY at Rs 129.9 crore as compared to Rs 50.1 crore and also more than doubled QoQ (up 2.5 times) from Rs 51.5 crore.

     

    Over the nine month period ended 31 December, 2015 (9M-2016), the company reported a PAT of Rs 0.9 crore as compared to a loss of Rs 56.6 crore during the corresponding year ago nine-month period. The company reported an EBIDTA of Rs 220 crore in 9M-2016 as compared to an EBIDTA of Rs 136.3 crore in 9M-2015.

     

    So has the cable industry in India with Siti Cable results as a harbinger of profits, turned the corner, and could start reporting profits from now on, or is this a one off good result? Only time will tell.

     

    Siti Cable reported a 66.9 per cent YoY OPREV growth in the current quarter at Rs 369.9 crore as compared to Rs 221.6 crore and a 57.9 per cent QoQ growth as compared to Rs 234.2 crore. For 9M-2016, Siti Cable reported 26.7 per cent YoY OPREV growth at Rs 832.3 crore as compared to Rs 649.9 crore.

     

    Siti Cable executive director & CEO V D Wadhwa said, “Focussing on our guiding principle of creating value for all stakeholders, the company has achieved the financial turnaround for the first time in the history of the company and reported PBT of Rs 56 crore in Q3-FY16 and Rs 5.1 crore for the nine months of FY16. At Siti Cable, our efforts to strive for operational excellence continue and during the quarter the company has added 1.1 million digital subscribers, over 10,000 broadband customers and achieved all-time high EBITDA growth of 159 percent YoY. We expect this momentum to sustain in the coming quarters. We are also aggressively looking for inorganic growth opportunities in the geographies, which make strategic sense for us to expand and have acquired some networks in the western part of the country which shall add additional 1.5 million subscribers to our existing subscriber base of 10.7 million. We strongly believe in cohesiveness among like-minded players and are actively engaged in our efforts as a consolidator in the industry.”

     

    Revenue streams

     

    The company reports four revenue streams: Subscription, Carriage, Activation and Broadband. Revenue from all the streams grew, with activation showing the highest YoY and QoQ growth. Subscription revenue in the current quarter increased 7.4 per cent YoY at Rs 145.8 crore (39.8 per cent of OPREV) as compared to Rs 135.7 crore (61.2 per cent of OPREV) and grew 5.3 percent QoQ from Rs 138.5 crore (58 per cent of OPREV). 

     

    Carriage revenue in the current quarter grew 9.8 per cent YoY to Rs 60.5 crore (16.4 per cent of OPREV) as compared to Rs 55.1 crore (24.9 per cent of OPREV) and was almost flat (grew 0.3 per cent) QoQ as compared to Rs 60.3 crore (25.7 per cent).

     

    Activation revenue in the current quarter was almost eight times (grew 7.7 times) YoY at Rs 105 crore (28.4 per cent of OPREV) as compared to Rs 13.6 crore (6.1 per cent of OPREV) and grew by more than five times (5.4 times) QoQ as compared to Rs 19.4 crore (8.8 per cent of OPREV).

     

    Broadband revenue in the current quarter almost doubled (grew 99 per cent) at Rs 13.9 crore (3.8 per cent of OPREV) as compared to Rs 7 crore (3.2 per cent of OPREV) in Q3-2015 and increased 49.5 per cent QoQ as compared to Rs 9.3 crore (4 per cent of OPREV).

     

    Subscription numbers

     

    The company has added 15 lakh cable subscribers in the current quarter to reach a subscription base of 122 lakh from 107 lakh in the immediate trailing quarter. Digital subscribers increased by 10 lakh to 68 lakh from 58 lakh. The company says that it has added 11 lakh digital subscribers in the current quarter as compared to 3.3 lakh added in Q2-2016. HD subscribers in Q3-2016 have gone up to 35,372 from 25,000 in Q2-2016. Broadband subscribers in the current quarter increased 17 per cent to 1,07,000 from 91,450 in Q2-2016.

     

     

  • Q3-2016: Siti Cable turnaround; Reports Rs 56 crore profit; operating revenue up 67%

    Q3-2016: Siti Cable turnaround; Reports Rs 56 crore profit; operating revenue up 67%

    BENGALURU: Last year, the DTH industry, led by the Essel Group’s Dish TV reported profits, and the trend has continued so far over the next two quarters. For the quarter ended 31 December, 2015 (Q3-2016, current quarter), it is another Essel group company, from the carriage industry – Siti Cable Network Limited (Siti Cable) that has reported a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 56 crore (1.5 per cent margin on operating revenue or OPREV) as compared to a loss of Rs 18.5 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter and a loss of Rs 19.4 crore in the immediate trailing quarter. The growth essentially has been driven by higher activation revenue in the current quarter due to the 15 lakh subscribers added in Q3-2016.

     

    Note: 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10 million = 1 crore

     

     

    EBIDTA in the current quarter more than doubled (up 2.6 times) YoY at Rs 129.9 crore as compared to Rs 50.1 crore and also more than doubled QoQ (up 2.5 times) from Rs 51.5 crore.

     

    Over the nine month period ended 31 December, 2015 (9M-2016), the company reported a PAT of Rs 0.9 crore as compared to a loss of Rs 56.6 crore during the corresponding year ago nine-month period. The company reported an EBIDTA of Rs 220 crore in 9M-2016 as compared to an EBIDTA of Rs 136.3 crore in 9M-2015.

     

    So has the cable industry in India with Siti Cable results as a harbinger of profits, turned the corner, and could start reporting profits from now on, or is this a one off good result? Only time will tell.

     

    Siti Cable reported a 66.9 per cent YoY OPREV growth in the current quarter at Rs 369.9 crore as compared to Rs 221.6 crore and a 57.9 per cent QoQ growth as compared to Rs 234.2 crore. For 9M-2016, Siti Cable reported 26.7 per cent YoY OPREV growth at Rs 832.3 crore as compared to Rs 649.9 crore.

     

    Siti Cable executive director & CEO V D Wadhwa said, “Focussing on our guiding principle of creating value for all stakeholders, the company has achieved the financial turnaround for the first time in the history of the company and reported PBT of Rs 56 crore in Q3-FY16 and Rs 5.1 crore for the nine months of FY16. At Siti Cable, our efforts to strive for operational excellence continue and during the quarter the company has added 1.1 million digital subscribers, over 10,000 broadband customers and achieved all-time high EBITDA growth of 159 percent YoY. We expect this momentum to sustain in the coming quarters. We are also aggressively looking for inorganic growth opportunities in the geographies, which make strategic sense for us to expand and have acquired some networks in the western part of the country which shall add additional 1.5 million subscribers to our existing subscriber base of 10.7 million. We strongly believe in cohesiveness among like-minded players and are actively engaged in our efforts as a consolidator in the industry.”

     

    Revenue streams

     

    The company reports four revenue streams: Subscription, Carriage, Activation and Broadband. Revenue from all the streams grew, with activation showing the highest YoY and QoQ growth. Subscription revenue in the current quarter increased 7.4 per cent YoY at Rs 145.8 crore (39.8 per cent of OPREV) as compared to Rs 135.7 crore (61.2 per cent of OPREV) and grew 5.3 percent QoQ from Rs 138.5 crore (58 per cent of OPREV). 

     

    Carriage revenue in the current quarter grew 9.8 per cent YoY to Rs 60.5 crore (16.4 per cent of OPREV) as compared to Rs 55.1 crore (24.9 per cent of OPREV) and was almost flat (grew 0.3 per cent) QoQ as compared to Rs 60.3 crore (25.7 per cent).

     

    Activation revenue in the current quarter was almost eight times (grew 7.7 times) YoY at Rs 105 crore (28.4 per cent of OPREV) as compared to Rs 13.6 crore (6.1 per cent of OPREV) and grew by more than five times (5.4 times) QoQ as compared to Rs 19.4 crore (8.8 per cent of OPREV).

     

    Broadband revenue in the current quarter almost doubled (grew 99 per cent) at Rs 13.9 crore (3.8 per cent of OPREV) as compared to Rs 7 crore (3.2 per cent of OPREV) in Q3-2015 and increased 49.5 per cent QoQ as compared to Rs 9.3 crore (4 per cent of OPREV).

     

    Subscription numbers

     

    The company has added 15 lakh cable subscribers in the current quarter to reach a subscription base of 122 lakh from 107 lakh in the immediate trailing quarter. Digital subscribers increased by 10 lakh to 68 lakh from 58 lakh. The company says that it has added 11 lakh digital subscribers in the current quarter as compared to 3.3 lakh added in Q2-2016. HD subscribers in Q3-2016 have gone up to 35,372 from 25,000 in Q2-2016. Broadband subscribers in the current quarter increased 17 per cent to 1,07,000 from 91,450 in Q2-2016.

     

     

  • MIB to not press for DAS Phase III execution till High Courts rule on pending cases

    MIB to not press for DAS Phase III execution till High Courts rule on pending cases

    NEW DELHI: Faced by various High Courts extending the deadline of implementation of Phase III of Digital Addressable System (DAS), the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has told the Punjab and Haryana High Court that “it will not press for requirement of having a set top box (STB) as of now.”

     

    In view of this, Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain dismissed as infructuous a petition by cable operator Parbobh Rattan seeking extension the ground that there was shortage of STBs.

     

    Counsel Vivek Singla told the Court that “the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India has decided not to press the requirement of having a STB as for now till the decision of the cases, which are pending before various other Honourable High Courts.”

     

    Earlier, Assistant Solicitor General Chetan Mittal was informed through a letter by an under secretary, Anil Kumar, that legal opinion was clear that the interpretation of the Bombay High Court was clear that the earlier orders of the Hyderabad High Court relating to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana applied to the entire country.

     

    This was stated in the letter asking Mittal to defend the petition before the Punjab and Haryana High Court and telling him that there was very little time for filing a counter-affidavit on the issue.

     

    The Ministry also sent Mittal a detailed note on the issue, apart from orders by the Hyderabad and Bombay High Courts.

     

    The Bombay High Court had relied on the Supreme Court order in the Kusum Ingots and Allous Ltd case where the apex Court had said that a High Court could give an order similar to that given by other High Courts if the circumstances were similar.

     

    In this case, all the cases relate to shortage in seeding of STBs.

     

    However, Ministry Secretary Sunil Arora had told Indiantelevision.com earlier that the Centre would be moving the Supreme Court shortly. Ministry sources said that the petition in the apex Court was likely to be an appeal against one High Court with an application that all other matters may also be heard simultaneously.

     

    The matter has already been stayed by other High Courts including Sikkim, Odisha, Chhattisgarh for the entire state, and for individual local cable operators in Karnataka and Kerala.

  • AP & Telangana MSO VSML opts for Nagra’s OpenTV content protection

    AP & Telangana MSO VSML opts for Nagra’s OpenTV content protection

    MUMBAI: As the Indian cable television landscape gears up to get fully digitised by the end of this year with the Digital Addressable System (DAS) in place, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana based multi system operator (MSO) Venkata Sai Media Private Limited (VSMPL) has taken a step forward and opted for Kudelski Group’s Nagra anyCAST and OpenTV solutions for the launch of its digital cable and high-speed broadband offering.

    Nagra is an independent provider of content protection and multiscreen television solutions. The launch marks the first commercial deployment of OpenTV middleware and the first user interface to support Telugu language with a cable operator in India. Nagra’s anyCAST content protection and OpenTV middleware technologies were selected by the operator in the context of the government-mandated transition to digital, to provide local cable operators in the state of Andhra Pradesh with access to a variety of digital TV services under the brand name ‘Media Vision.’ These will include 276 SD and 24 HD services with plans to introduce value added services (VAS) like video-on-demand (VOD), home shopping and more. “We are excited to deliver these new digital services to local operators as part of the ongoing digitisation efforts in India. Nagra was the vendor of choice in this effort providing pre-integrated conditional access and set-top box software solutions across multiple chipsets. This was a key factor in helping us deliver the services quickly and efficiently,” said VSMPL. “VSMPL has acted quickly to meet the digitisation timeline set forth by the Indian government and is now able to reach more local operators with our pre-integrated, scalable and fast time-to-market solutions. We are pleased to have been able to support them in this effort helping them deliver advanced functionalities and robust content protection to whole new cable market. We wish them much success with their new platform,” added Nagra SVP sales – Asia-Pacific Jean-Luc Jezouin. VSMPL’s new service will enable a new generation of digital TV services for local cable operators. It boasts built-in features powered by OpenTV middleware such as PVR and targeted advertising and a user interface adapted to the region’s multi-lingual landscape. Robust content protection is provided by the Nagra anyCAST Security Services Platform, which supports a range of services from basic free-to-view to enhanced content like 4K Ultra HD. VSMPL claims to have close to one million subscribers in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.