ITV

Category: Cable TV

  • Hathway’s Jagdish Kumar bags Outstanding CEO of the Year (MSO) award

    Hathway’s Jagdish Kumar bags Outstanding CEO of the Year (MSO) award

    MUMBAI: Hathway Cable and Datacom managing director and CEO Jagdish Kumar was awarded the ‘Most Outstanding CEO of the Year (MSO)’ at the 6th edition of BCS Ratna Awards 2015 organized by Aavishkar media group on 19 March, 2015 at the Kingdom of Dreams in Gurgaon. The awards saw a gathering of eminent personalities from the cable, satellite and broadcasting industry. 

     

    He was recognized for leading Hathway through the critical digitization phase of the cable TV industry by successfully implementing Phase I and II of digitization, building a robust broadband business and pushing the envelope by rolling-out the packaging model, which is the next reality of the digital cable TV industry.

     

    Under his leadership, Hathway has attained leadership position in the digital cable TV market, gearing up for Phase III and IV of digitization and steering the company’s strong business portfolio including HD and broadband towards profitability.  

     

    Hathway was also conferred with the ‘Best MSO of the Year’ and the ‘Most Outstanding MSO Broadband Service Provider’ for its efforts in taking the digitization mandate forward aggressively and offering broadband services with unique features to its customer base, respectively.

     

    On this recognition by the industry, Kumar stated, “This award is for the excellent team at Hathway, which is one of the best in the industry. It’s a privilege and honor for me to lead this dedicated team, which has made Hathway, the leading digital cable and broadband services company in the country.”

     

    Instituted in the year 2010 and organized  annually by Aavishkar Media Group, one of the forerunner groups in the Indian Broadcasting & CATV Industry since  25 years, BCS Ratna  awards is one of India’s Biggest Awards on Broadcasting, Cable TV, DTH, New Technology, Distribution & Digital Media Industry and is judged by an esteemed panel of experts from across the media fraternity.

  • Ortel Communications makes below par debut on bourses

    Ortel Communications makes below par debut on bourses

    BENGALURU: Ortel Communications Limited (Ortel) debuted at Rs 160.05 per share on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), about 11.6 per cent below its listing price or Rs 181 per share on 19 March. The company had issued its shares at Rs 181 each early this month in its initial public offer (IPO), which was under subscribed by about 25 per cent.

     

    The high for the day was Rs 168.05 and it closed at Rs 162.25 on the NSE. Close to 26520 shares traded on the NSE at traded value of about Rs 43.90 lakh. 

     

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

     

    On the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the stock breached the lower circuit of Rs 171.95 with a turnover of Rs 5.11 lakh and a total traded quantity of 2964 shares.

     

    Financial industry sources explain that though the company is in the last mile connectivity business, its performance over the last few years has been dismal and hence the poor opening.

     

    The Ortel IPO opened on 3 March, 2015 for up to 1.2 crore (12 million) equity shares of face value of Rs 10 each including a share premium per equity share. The price band was fixed from Rs 181 to Rs 200 per equity share. The issue constituted 39.25 per cent of Ortel’s fully diluted post-issue paid up equity share capital and included up to 60 lakh fresh issue shares and 60 lakh shares by the selling shareholder NSR-PE Mauritius LLC. Facing a lukewarm response, the company had to cut the offer size by 36.7 lakh shares, pruning the NSR component from the IPO to that extent.

     

    The company had allotted 25.57425 lakh equity shares (28.416 per cent of QIB portion) at the rate of Rs 181 per share aggregating Rs 46.29 crore to Axis Mutual Fund and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, before the IPO opened.

     

  • 150 MSOs get 10 year licence under DAS; 27 denied permission

    150 MSOs get 10 year licence under DAS; 27 denied permission

    NEW DELHI: Another 11 multi-system operators (MSOs) all over the country have been granted permanent registration for 10 years to operate the digital addressable system (DAS) during the last two months, thus bringing the total to 153 as compared to 142 by December-end.

     

    Most of these MSOs had been given provisional permission earlier.    

       

    The MSOs who have received permission as on 5 March after the last list released of 7 January are:

     

    – Cossco Communications Limited of Shyamnagar for West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Sikkim, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura under Phase – I, II, III & IV;

     

    – Netset Media Services of Jamnagar for the state of Gujarat; Satlinks of Pallakad for the state of Kerala; 

     

    – Vishwam Cable Network of Porbandar and Suraj Cable Network of Rajkot for Phase II, III and IV in Gujarat; 

     

    – Kaizen Digital Services for Karnataka in Phase – II, III and IV except Mysore city; 

     

    – Utkal Cable Vision of Orissa for the third and fourth phases pan India; 

     

    – SS Cable Network of Balaghat for Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra,Odhisha & Jharkhand under Phase – I,II,III & IV; 

     

    – Chelikam Networks of Tirupati for Phase III & Phase IV of Chittur, Kadapa, Ananthpur and Nellore Districts of Andhra Pradesh; 

     

    – DDC CATV Network of Delhi for pan India in all phases; and

     

    – Mohit Sai Cable Network of Vizayanagram for Vishakapatanam, Vizayanagaram and Srikakulam District in III and IV phase in the state of Andhra Pradesh.  

     

    The list of MSOs, who have been refused permission as on 28 February, has gone up to 27 from 26 with one more MSO being denied permission. Some of those in the cancelled list applied as early as March 2013.

     

    MSO sources, however, said that the approved list was in addition to the 140 whose names had been approved earlier in March last year.

     

    The Ministry website mib.nic.in has listed the areas and the date from which the MSOs have been given permission.

     

  • US Federal Trade Commission sues DirectTV for cheating consumers

    US Federal Trade Commission sues DirectTV for cheating consumers

     NEW DELHI: The broadcasting giant DirecTV is facing a lawsuit from American Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleging that the pay TV operator has deliberately misled millions of subscribers about the costs of viewing its programme line up.

     

    The action has started at a Federal Court in San Francisco.

     

    The FTC states that DirecTV “deceptively advertised” an apparent one-year subscription contract but failed to tell consumers that viewers would be committing to a two-year contract.

     

    The FTC says a large portion of DirecTV’s subscribers could be affected. Moreover, the second year was going to be much more expensive for viewers, and that hefty cancellation charges would be levied if subscribers cancelled.

     

    FTC Consumer Protection Bureau head Jessica Rich said, “We require businesses to be truthful and to give consumers the information they need to make informed choices about goods and services. Companies cannot hide important information from consumers to trick them into buying goods and services — and that’s what we allege DirecTV did.”

     

    DirecTV denies any deception, saying that it has worked hard to make the ordering process as clear as possible, and that either in writing or via a web-based order or verbally if ordered over the phone, all its terms and conditions are explained.

  • DEN Networks hikes foreign investment limit to 74 per cent

    DEN Networks hikes foreign investment limit to 74 per cent

    MUMBAI: Close on the heels of multi system operator (MSO)  Hathway Cable and Datacom’s decision to increase the foreign investment limit in its company, DEN Networks has now followed suit.

     

    It may be recalled that in January this year Hathway decided to increase the foreign investment limit from 49 per cent to 74 per cent. 

     

    DEN Networks, which is currently building its broadband base and also working towards digitisation in phase III and IV, is looking at attracting overseas capital into the company.

     

    DEN Networks has got the approval from the board of directors to increase the foreign investment limit in the company by Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) and Foreign Portfolio Investors etc. from the current 49 per cent to 74 per cent. This, subject to approval of the shareholders, Foreign Investment Promotion Board of India, Ministry of Finance (FIPB) among others.

     

    In an announcement to the BSE, DEN Networks said, “The board of directors of the company has approved through circulation, increase in foreign investment limit in the company by Foreign Institutional Investors, Foreign Portfolio Investors etc., under the Portfolio Investment Scheme in accordance with Schedules 2 and 2A of Foreign Exchange Management Act (Transfer or Issue of Security by a person Resident Outside India) Regulations, 2000 (FEMA 20) from existing 49 per cent to 74 per cent of the issued and fully paid-up share capital of the company, subject to the approval of the Shareholders, Foreign Investment Promotion Board of India, Ministry of Finance (FIPB) and all other applicable acts, laws, rules, regulations, circulars, directions, notifications, press notes guidelines and statutory approvals, if any.”

    The approval of shareholders for aforesaid resolution will be taken through Postal Ballot in accordance with section 110 of the Companies Act, 2013 read with Rule 22 of the Companies (Management and Administration) Rules, 2014, the release further added.

  • Siti Cable completes QIP; allots shares to QIBs

    Siti Cable completes QIP; allots shares to QIBs

    MUMBAI: Confidence, it appears is returning to select cable TV counters, the slow pace of digitization despite.

     

    The Essel Group owned national MSO Siti Cable Network’s long-standing effort to raise funds through a qualified institutional placement (QIP) successfully closed today.

    The company informed the Bombay stock exchange (BSE) late in the evening that its QIP Committee had allotted 6,31,74,540 shares on receipt of  Rs 221.11 crore from a group of qualified institutional bodies (QIBs) .

    The QIP issue for an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs 250 crore commenced on 27 February 2015 and closed on 4 March. The issue was made a premium of Rs 34 per Rs 1 share which was a discount of Rs 1.41 on the floor price.

    The Siti Cable counter had spurted to a 52 week high of Rs 38.50 on 4 March.

     

    Siti Cable informed the BSE that the QIBs who were allotted shares through the current QIP  include: Polus Global Fund (1,44,28570 shares); Orange Investments Ltd (34,28,570 shares); HDFC Trustee Co Ltd – HDFC Equity Fund (2,65,33,000 shares) ; HDFC Trustee Co Ltd – HDFC Core and Satellite Fund (15,16,000 shares); HDFC Trustee Co Ltd – HDFC India Tax Saver Fund (35,38,270 shares); Macquarie Asian Markets Emerging (15,00,000 shares); Reliance Capital Trustee Co (42,85,710 shares); Copthall Mauritius Investments (52,96,280 shares); and Morgan Stanley Asia Pacific (26,48,140 shares).

  • SitiCable East eyes 2 lakh broadband connections by FY16

    SitiCable East eyes 2 lakh broadband connections by FY16

    KOLKATA: SitiCable East, a cable TV multisystem operator (MSO), which launched ‘SitiBroadband’ two years ago, aims to reach two lakh homes in the eastern region including West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar and Assam by the end of current fiscal 2015-16. It should be noted that the MSO, at present, provides broadband services to more than 60,000 homes.

     

    Additionally the company will also be looking at creating awareness about its broadband services via a campaign. “We shall inform prospective customers through various activities. We will organize BTL activities and let people know through our distribution network and we shall put up hoardings sooner,” said Siticable Kolkata director Suresh Sethiya.

     

    “We have already invested in broadband. In a digital addressable era, broadband and VAS will become an important differentiated offering. We are upbeat about our penetration and growth in eastern region as our combo pack will be a value addition,” he added.

     

    Last year, when it was launched, the MSO had a cable customer base of around 12.5 lakh in West Bengal. SitiCable was eyeing 10 per cent of the cable connection for SitiBroadband by providing a combo pack and value addition to the customers in the first year.

     

    Sethiya expressed interest in developing it as a second major revenue source as it has more direct control over customers and the company can explain about the service as well.

     

    An Ethernet cable carries the broadband signals between modem, router, computer, and other wired Internet-capable devices. 

     

    Namit Dave a cable analyst said that broadband and value-added services, which suppressed revenue streams so far will get a major boost as the country advances towards the complete era of digitisation of cable TV. The MSOs are rolling out packages on a major scale.

     

    While another analyst said that broadband is a very good business now with less investment and promising higher revenue, SitiCable will thread a new path in a big way.

  • Ortel IPO closes; goes through by a whisker

    Ortel IPO closes; goes through by a whisker

    MUMBAI: It was meant to be a test of whether investors have confidence in the media – and more specifically in India’s relatively nascent cable TV sector. And the verdict is that while retail and HNI investors don’t, institutional investors definitely do.

     

    We are referring to the Ortel Communications IPO which closed today. The regional cable TV MSO which approached the market to raise funds for its growth plans, said in a statement, quoting a Kotak Mahindra Capital spokesperson: ““The Ortel IPO has been successfully closed today. Ortel has successfully raised its entire primary capital requirement as stated in the IPO Red Herring Prospectus, along with providing partial exit to New Silk Route (NSR). The QIB segment has been fully subscribed with participation from  Mutual Funds and Insurance companies.The net under subscription in the HNI and Retail segments will reduce the offer for sale component by NSR.”

     

    Simply translated the latter part of that statement means that NSR – its private equity investor – had decided to cut back on the amount of shares it was offering to the public.

     

    At the time the IPO commenced with the price band at Rs 181-200, 12 million shares were on offer for investors. Six million of these were coming from the NSR stable, while Ortel was issuing another six million freshly. With Kotak Mahindra Capital as the issue manager, Ortel managed to rope in  Axis Mutal Fund and ICICI Prudential came in as anchor investors. Both picked up 2.55 million shares (0.9 million to Axis and 16.55 million by ICCI) for Rs 46.2 crore at the lower range of the price band.

     

    That left about 9.45 million shares on offer to qualified instituitional bodies (QIBs) and retail/HNI investors. Bids were received for 7.12 million shares of these by day three of the issue. Thus the public offer was subscribed up to 0.75 time. Overall,  9.68 million shares, including the anchor component,  were lapped up totally or 81 per cent of the issue. The QIBs totally subscribed to what was available for them.

     

    NSR, which was making a secondary sale, decided to lop off the the  shares it was selling 3.67 million, meaning only 61 per cent of its offer was subscribed. It was aiming to raise Rs 108-120 crore through the offfer.

     

    Ortel, on its part, was was looking at raising  Rs 120 crore through the fresh issue.

     

    The Kotak Mahindra spokesperson told indiantelevision.com that the retail investors don’t really understand the potential of cable TV while institutional investors do. “Hence, the QIB portion has been totally subscribed. Ortel has managed to raise all the growth capital it needs for the next two to three years,” he said. “Hence, retail investors who missed this IPO will have to opt for secondary market purchases.”

     

    Estimares are that Ortel would end up raising around Rs 175 crore crore through the IPO. But the final tally totted up to Rs 175 crore-odd, according to Press Trust of India reports.

  • GTPL-KCBPL increases HD channels to 32; to go off free model

    GTPL-KCBPL increases HD channels to 32; to go off free model

    KOLKATA: Kolkata-based multi-system operator (MSO) GTPL-KCBPL, which was offering around 22 High Definition (HD) channels, has increased the offering to 32 channels now. The company, which is airing these HD channels for free now, is looking at charging its 15,000 customers either towards the end of March or in the beginning of the next fiscal (2015-16).

     

    GTPL- KCBPL managing director Bijoy Kumar Agarwal told Indiantelevision.com that the channels launched by the MSO are Star Sports 3HD, Star Ports 4HD, Animal Planet HD, Sony HD, Sony Six HD, Sony Pix HD, &Pictures HD and TLC World HD.

     

    High definition is a different standard of digital television broadcasting, which offers sharper, more detailed pictures and surround sound. Only viewers with an “HD Ready” television set, a special HD set top box receiver and reception of a high definition service will experience true HD programming. High definition programmes are also specially shot.

     

    In 2005, a group of 160 cable operators in a unique manner turned themselves into shareholders and made KCBPL a successful MSO in Kolkata Metropolitan Area (KMA). While in the year 2010, KCBPL entered into a joint venture with GTPL, which has enabled this new entity to gain strong foothold in the state of West Bengal.

     

    At present the company has more than five lakh set top boxes (STBs) seeded in West Bengal. “We are also betting on increasing the HD boxes from 15,000 currently installed by us,” Agarwal said.

     

    According to Agarwal, there is a lot of scope of increasing HD boxes in certain pockets of the city. “Digitisation of television industry has always been at the centre of our strategies,” he added.

     

    The company’s technology partners include Cisco, Skyworth, Nagravision, Newland and Magnaquest amongst others. “We are in touch with our partners on a regular basis so we can always update and offer latest technology to our customers,” he said.

     

    “After the rollout of digitisation in KMA, which is in first and second phase of digitisation drive, we believe, our partners and viewers stand to benefit from more opportunities, products and value. We are soon going to roll out broadband services in KMA to begin with, which will create more opportunities for our business partners and at the same time with state of the art technologies we will be bringing the best of the services,” he concluded.

  • US cable TV reduces subscriber losses in 2014

    US cable TV reduces subscriber losses in 2014

    MUMBAI: For fans of delivery of video services via cable TV, there’s some news to cheer about rom the US. Apparently, the top nine cable TV operators in the US shed 1.195 million net video subscribers in 2014. While that may seem like a high number, it is actually a drastic reduction over the loss of 1.695 million subscribers in 2013. 

    It seems as if cable TV has managed to hold its ground in 2014 as compared to 2013 as it still accounts for 49.3 million subscribers in 2014. In fact according to the Leichtman Research Group which put out these numbers, this has been the best year for cable TV since 2008.

    The net additions by other providers seem to be slowing down too. Telco TV service providers such as AT&T and Verizon added 1.05 million net video subscribers in 2014. As compared to that the gains in 2013 were 1.43 million in 2013.

     

    The Telcos account for 11.6 million video subscribers in 2014.  The satellite TV providers such as Direct TV and Dish added only 20,000 net video subscribers as compared to 170,000 net adds in 2013.

    Overall the pay TV sector saw more than 125,000 net video subscribers opting to cut the cord in 2014 as compared to 95,000 in 2013, the Leichtman Research Group said. Its study covered the top 13 pay TV operators which account for 95.2 million subscribers. 

    The fact that the existing video service providers have managed to stem their losses goes against the predictions of cable TV and pay TV service naysayers who have been stating that OTT services such as Netflix and Hulu will eat away at traditional modes of video delivery. The pay TV industry apparently will continue to be dominant provider of video to subscribers, says Leichtman.

    The study comes at a time when fears are running rife amongst Indian cable TV operators about how Reliance Jio’s launch will impact their business in the next few years.