ITV

Category: DTH Operator

  • DD Free Dish e-auction: Prasar Bharati nets Rs 395 cr from sale of 40 Free Dish DTH slots

    DD Free Dish e-auction: Prasar Bharati nets Rs 395 cr from sale of 40 Free Dish DTH slots

    MUMBAI: The first e-auction of Doordarshan’s FTA DTH platform, FreeDish, after recommencement witnessed intense competition. Under the revised guidelines, total of 40 MPEG2 slots were successfully sold.

    Prasar Bharati  CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati said that that the estimated revenue from the sold slots is Rs. 395 crore and added that the new channels will be on air from 1 March 2019, subject to completion of formalities.

    After the e-auction Vempati asserted that the language diversity on DD FreeDish has also seen an expansion with Marathi channels taking up slots.He also added that nearly eight new channels have taken up space across various categories and genres in various languages.

    While revealing the new policy guidelines, Vempati had said a key consideration factored in was to increase the diversity of content available on FreeDish and to expand its reach across India, especially within the non-Hindi speaking states.

    As shared by Prasar Bharati, the highest bid price in Bucket A+ was Rs 15.05 crore, in Bucket A it was Rs 12.45 crore and in Bucket B was Rs 10.95 crore. In Bucket C, which saw the toughest competition, the highest bid was Rs 8.95 crore. Bucket D saw a high of Rs 6.1 crore.

        

    The new policy guideline has kept five buckets for e-auction of MPEG2 slots . Bucket A+ has been kept for Hindi GECs and teleshopping channels with a reserve price of Rs 15 crore, and Bucket A has been dedicated for Hindi movie channels with a reserve price of Rs 12 crore.

    Hindi music, sports, and Bhojpuri GEC and movie come under Bucket B, which has a reserve price of Rs 10 crore. All news and current affairs TV channels in various languages fall under the category of  Bucket C, which had a reserve price of Rs 7 crore. Bucket D with lowest reserve price of Rs 6 crore comprises all other remaining genres/language channels.

    Earlier on 15 February 2019, the Prasar Bharati Board on gave a green signal to e-auctioning of DTH slots on DD FreeDish. The e-auctioning was arbitrarily called off in October 2017. Earlier, FreeDish would conduct the e-auction every couple of months to award vacant channel slots to private broadcasters. The last e-auction was held In July 2017.

  • Dish TV partners with Zoya Akhtar’s ‘Gully Boy’ to promote freedom of choice

    Dish TV partners with Zoya Akhtar’s ‘Gully Boy’ to promote freedom of choice

    MUMBAI: Dish TV India Limited, the world’s largest single-country DTH Company has entered into an in-film marketing association with Tiger Baby & Excel Entertainment’s forthcoming movie ‘Gully Boy’, starring Dish TV brand ambassador Ranveer Singh. Through Gully Boy, Dish TV is reiterating its commitment of giving its subscribers complete freedom of choice.

    Ahead of the release, DishTV has created a co-branded promo TVC featuring Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt. In the TVC, both the actors are seen talking about DishTV’sMeraApna Pack that allows subscribers to pick and choose channels of their choice. To further engage its customers, DishTV has also launched a Special Recharge Contest on its website. The highest online recharger of the day will stand a chance to win couple tickets to the movie and one lucky couple will get a chance to meet the movie star cast. 

    Commenting on the partnership, Mr. Sukhpreet Singh, Corporate Head- Marketing, DishTV said, “We are excited to be associated with ‘Gully Boy’ which is inspired by a real life story of a street rapper who wishes to follow his own path. This is the same belief for us at DishTV as we have truly empowered our subscribers to choose their own entertainment. Furthermore, who better to embody freedom and energy than our very own brand ambassador Ranveer Singh who is the lead actor of the movie.” 

  • Jawahar Goel expects 20% reduction in Dish TV’s content cost under new tariff regime

    Jawahar Goel expects 20% reduction in Dish TV’s content cost under new tariff regime

    MUMBAI: With the new tariff order being implemented from 1 February, India’s largest DTH operator Dish TV expects the overall content cost of the company to come down by at least 20 per cent. The DTH brand also thinks that the regulatory framework will help DTH operators to add more subscribers as many MSOs are not prepared for the implementation.

    Talking to analysts after Q3 earnings, Dish TV chairman and managing director Jawahar Goel said the company could not discuss the new payout to broadcasters because of the tariff order but which will start happening from this quarter. The new model will reset things and the veteran thinks overall content cost will reduce.

    “Currently, our pay channel cost is 35-38 per cent. In case for D2H it is roughly around 40 per cent. If we are paying Rs 2300 crore, we are expecting content cost on net basis will be around Rs 1800 crore,” he added further.

    When the management was asked about not having much impact on subscriber addition despite early undertaking of its strategy for tariff order unlike its biggest competitor Tata Sky, Dish TV India group CEO Anil Dua said it is a short term trend. He also added that the company firmly believes tariff order is good for the long run. Dua also mentioned about Mera Apna Pack on Dish TV and Mera Wala Pack on D2H which gave consumers scope to choose a channel on a-la-carte basis way before the tariff order was implemented. According to Goel, Dish TV had familiarised this new concept to almost 8 million subscribers.

    Goel also said that as customers tighten their purses, small broadcasters who don’t have price-worthy content will be forced out of the market.

    “You must have seen there are around 15-20 Hindi movie channels. They are surviving on connectivity as well as the capacity to buy content compared to lower established players. I think they will go out from the market. So, I think movie buying rights will get reset,” he added.

    The company is optimistic about subscriber addition despite the ongoing uncertainty in the last quarter. According to Goel, the lack of preparedness of MSOs will lead to channel switch offs on those platforms paving the way for DTH platforms to add more subscribers.

    Moreover, he also thinks Jio’s full entry into cable TV business may take at least another three to six months as both MSOs in which the telco giant acquired majority stakes are also prepping up for tariff order implementation. He also added that Jio has not been able to have any considerable effect on the business till now.

    However, despite being highly optimistic about the new regime, Goel is not happy with the revenue share with broadcasters. “We are not happy with this 20 per cent margin that is being given by the broadcaster. So, we are negotiating with them, talking to them. These things will start happening after the broadcaster gets first or second weekly report of their channel viewership. Thereafter the new discussion will start happening,” he commented.

    Goel also spoke on recommencement of DD Free Dish e-auction by mentioning that the most popular channels of four major broadcasters, such as Zee Pal and Star Bharat, will be withdrawn from the platform. “That is why you must have seen that in a-la-carte they are priced channels, they are no more free,” he added.

  • Tata Sky shortstv to showcase oscar nominated short films all through february

    Tata Sky shortstv to showcase oscar nominated short films all through february

    MUMBAI: To celebrate Oscar season this month, Tata Sky ShortsTV has planned a power-packed schedule filled with carefully curated Academy acclaimed shorts.

    Starting February 10th, every evening at 9pm the channel will premiere a short film previously recognised by the Oscars. The shorts will come from varied genres (Live Action, Animation and Documentary) and will include titles such as The Voorman Problem, Bear Story and The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore among others. 

    Tata Sky ShortsTV will also air a special Oscar marathon on the day of the Oscar ceremony (February 24th) with back-to-back Oscar films and interviews with Oscar nominated filmmakers.

    Commenting on the initiative, Mr. Carter Pilcher, Chief Executive of Shorts International Ltd said, “The Oscars is one of the most awaited events by film audiences across the globe each year. ShortsTV has been bringing the Oscar Nominated Short Films to cinema and TV screens around the world for over a decade and we’re thrilled to be bringing them to Indian TV audiences for the first time”.

    Speaking on the occasion, Arun Unni, Chief Content Officer, Tata Sky said, “Tata Sky ShortsTV is India’s first ever curated platform for short stories and films. Delivering on the promise of offering the best content to subscribers, premiering the prestigious Oscar recognized short films brought to India by ShortsTV, was an irresistible choice.”

    The broadcast of previously nominated Oscar shorts on Tata Sky ShortsTV comes ahead of the theatrical release of the 2019 Oscar Nominated Shorts Films in Indian cinemas, details of which will be announced soon. The 2019 release will be the first time the Oscar Nominated Short Films will be screened in Indian cinemas and will give Indian short film fans the opportunity to see the latest Oscar nominated shorts on the big screen.

  • Placement of channels on DD Free Dish on 1 March

    Placement of channels on DD Free Dish on 1 March

    MUMBAI: A few days ago, Prasar Bharati had invited applications from private channels for participating in its 38th online e-auction for filling up of 54 vacant of MPEG-2 slots on its DD Free Dish DTH service. It has furnished details on the upcoming process which will see channel placements take place on 1 March.

    Interested private channels were requested to submit their applications along with requisite documents and demand drafts on or before 6 February 2019 by also mentioning the genre and language of the channel. Scrutiny of the application will be done from 6-8 February 2019. The e-auction will be held from 11 February 2019 onwards followed by the issuing of allotment letters by 20 February. All payments must be made by 28 February. International Public Broadcasters licensed by the MIB can also participate in e-auction for MPEG-2.

    Categorisation of TV channels in different buckets in accordance with genres/language of channel and their respective reserve price for allotment of slots on DD Free Dish through e-auction is as below:

    The starting price for e-auction for the next slot, if available in the same bucket shall be increased by minimum incremental amount of Rs 5 lakh from the starting price of e-auction of immediate previous slot of the same bucket.

  • Dish TV’s Jawahar Goel says cable bills won’t increase in new TRAI tariff regime

    Dish TV’s Jawahar Goel says cable bills won’t increase in new TRAI tariff regime

    MUMBAI: Managing director of Dish TV Jawahar Goel, on Wednesday, allayed fears of consumers, saying there was no question of cable and DTH prices increasing due to the TRAI tariff order. According to him, there has been a reduction in the bills of consumers who have moved to the new regime.

    “There have been rumours that cable bills will go up by 5-6 times. There is absolutely no truth to this. Bills of those subscribers (Dish TV or other DPOs) that have migrated to the new regime have in fact reduced. If you drop channels that you don’t watch, then your bill will further reduce. There is no question of bills increasing,” he stated.

    Goel drew a parallel with the telecom business to suggest that a radical change of this nature is bound to benefit the consumers.

    “Earlier in the telecom business, call rate was Rs 16 per minute. Today it isn’t even 10 paisa per minute. In the new tariff regime, you will only pay for channels you opt for,” he said.

    The Dish TV promoter also hit out at those spreading rumours with regards to the new tariff order.

    “Consumers should not fall for rumours and speculation. Those who feel threatened due to the new regulation are the ones fuelling these rumours and trying to mislead the consumers,” Goel highlighted.

    On Tuesday, Dish TV reported profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 152.69 crore for the quarter ended 31 December 2018 (Q3 2019, quarter under review) as compared to  loss of Rs 168.29 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter and a profit of Rs 19.73 crore in the immediate trailing quarter Q2 2109.  These PAT numbers were boosted by certain income tax adjustments of prior years.

    Dish TV and Videocon d2h were merged on March 22 2018 and hence Q1 2019 was the first full reporting quarter for the merged entity.

    Subscription revenue declined 2.1 percent q-o-q in Q3 2018 to Rs 141.26 crore as compared to Rs 1,453.6 crore in Q3 2018. Advertisement revenue for the quarter under review increased 26.2 percent y-o-y to Rs 30 crore from Rs 23.8 crore.

    “I am glad that all opposition to the tariff order has now finally been put to rest. We continue to strongly believe that the regulation should minimise discriminatory pricing by ensuring a level playing field between cable and DTH platforms and should be beneficial for the entire industry thus leading to higher earnings going forward,” Goel said.

  • TRAI issues show-cause notice to Airtel over DTH service blackouts

    TRAI issues show-cause notice to Airtel over DTH service blackouts

    MUMBAI: Telecom and DTH operator major Airtel has been served a show-cause notice by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) over issues of blackout faced by some Airtel Digital TV subscribers during transition to the new tariff regime, a report by news agency IANS said.

    The regulator, which sent the notice earlier this week, has given Airtel three days to respond.

    Airtel's DTH service had 15 million customers at the end of the third quarter, up 7.6 per cent over the corresponding quarter in 2017.

    Commenting on the regulator’s notice, an Airtel spokesperson said: "We have over 15 million customers who are being migrated to the new tariff regime. Due to massive surge in last-minute requests, particularly on 31 January and 1 February, few customers may have experienced some delays in provisioning of channels."

    "Customer experience is of paramount importance to us. We remain fully committed to ensuring compliance with all TRAI guidelines and will file our response to the notice," he added.

    The new tariff order for cable and DTH TV services came into effect on 1 February post a month-long extension that was granted by TRAI to all stakeholders.

    The regulator has held constant meetings with DPOs and broadcasters to ensure a smooth transition to the new system.

    "The authority has noticed that due to heavy rush, the website of some DPOs have crashed intermittently and a little inconvenience was caused to come subscribers due to sporadic local issues. However, by and large the migration of subscribers to the new regulatory framework has been smooth," TRAI said in a press note on Wednesday.

    This isn’t the first time the regulator has shown that it means business. Last month, the TRAI sent a show-cause notice to Tata Sky.

    According to a report by news agency PTI, TRAI's show-cause notice said, "Tata Sky has failed to provide options to its 17.7 million subscribers in compliance with the new framework to exercise their choices for TV channels. Tata Sky has put its subscribers in a situation of great difficulty despite no fault of theirs by not complying with the provisions of the new regulations and the tariff order.”

    While both DTH operators have now complied by the TRAI’s tariff order, they, along with Sun Direct and Discovery Communication India, continue to battle against the new norms in the Delhi High Court.

  • Dish TV repeats profits in Q3 2018 post merger

    Dish TV repeats profits in Q3 2018 post merger

    BENGALURU: Indian direct to home (DTH) behemoth Dish TV India Ltd (Dish TV) reported profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 152.69 crore for the quarter ended 31 December 2018 (Q3 2019, quarter under review) as compared to loss of Rs 168.29 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter and a profit of Rs 19.73 crore in the immediate trailing quarter Q2 2109. These PAT numbers were boosted by certain income tax adjustments of prior years. Dish TV and Videocon d2h were merged on March 22 2018 and hence Q1 2019 was the first full reporting quarter for the merged entity.

    Dish TV’s operating profit or EBITDA in Q3 2019 was Rs 517.59 crore, 4.3 percent lower than Rs 540.62 crore in Q2 2019. The company reported a 4.8 percent q-o-q decline in operating revenue for the quarter under review at Rs 1,517.45 crore as compared to Rs 1,594.3 crore in Q2 2019.

    Dish TV’s subscriber additions picked up speed during the first quarter of fiscal 2019. The net number of 3,01,000 additions took Dish TV’s subscriber base to 2.33 crore in Q1 2019. The company picked up another net 2,00,000 subscribers in Q2 2019 to ramp up its subs base to 2.35 crore. For Q3 2019, the company reported net subscriber additions of 1,42,000 and the company closed the quarter under review with a subscriber base of 2.36 crore.

    Revenue breakup

    Subscription revenue declined 2.1 percent q-o-q in Q3 2018 to Rs 141.26 crore as compared to Rs 1,453.6 crore in Q3 2018. Advertisement revenue for the quarter under review increased 26.2 percent y-o-y to Rs 30 crore from Rs 23.8 crore. Bandwidth charges (revenue) reduced 24.4 percent y-o-y to Rs 32.4 crore in Q3 2019 from Rs 42.8 crore. Other income declined 59.4 percent y-o-y in Q3 2019 to Rs 4.25 crore from Rs 10.47 crore.

    Company speak

    Dish TV CMD Jawahar Goel said, “I am glad that all opposition to the tariff order has now finally been put to rest. We continue to strongly believe that the Regulation should minimise discriminatory pricing by ensuring a level playing field between cable and DTH platforms and should be beneficial for the entire industry thus leading to higher earnings going forward.”

    Goel, said further, “The Interim Budget 2019 gave an approximate Rs 230 billion spending stimulus to the consumption class comprising of small business owners, salaried employees and the middle class by way of tax exemptions. In addition, increased disposable income in the hands of farmers by way of PM Kissan Samman Nidhi scheme introduced in the budget should be a great boon for consumer sector companies like Dish TV. Further, the 150 thousand homes built under the PM Affordable Housing Scheme and every new house proposed to be built thereunder should be a potential pay-TV customer in the near future.”

    Talking about the current technological buzz, Dish TV group CEO Anil Dua said, “The Interconnection Regulations and Tariff Order, as notified by TRAI, will lay down new norms for the television industry ushering in an era of growth, transparency and non-discrimination."

    Let us look at the other numbers reported by Dish TV

    The merged Dish TV’s consolidated total expenditure reduced 8 percent y-o-y in Q3 2019 to Rs 1,483.13 crore from Rs 1,612.36 crore. Operating Expense in Q3 2019 reduced 4.2 percent y-o-y to Rs 812.05 crore from Rs 847.74 crore. Employee benefit expense during the quarter under review reduced 10.3 percent y-o-y to Rs 60.37 crore from Rs 67.3 crore in Q3 2018. Other expenses in Q3 2019 reduced 37.2 percent y-o-y to Rs 124.99 crore from Rs 198.92 crore .

  • Airtel Digital TV numbers up in Q3 2018

    Airtel Digital TV numbers up in Q3 2018

    BENGALURU: Bharti Airtel Ltd (Airtel) Digital TV services segment reported 7.1 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) increase, 3.2 per cent y-o-y increase and 4.5 per cent y-o-y increase in operating revenues, EBITDA and EBIT respectively for the quarter ended 31 December 2018 (Q3 2019, quarter, period, under review) as compared to the corresponding year ago quarter. The company’s subscriber base increased 7.6 per cent y-o-y to reach 1.5 crore subscribers as on 31 December 2019.

    In the meantime, hit by Mukesh Dhirbhai Amabani’s relentless Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd juggernaut, Airtel’s own numbers have been falling mainly due to the fall in numbers of its mobile services in India. 

    Airtel Digital TV services revenue for the period was Rs 1,033 crore as compared to Rs 964.3 crore for the corresponding year ago period. EBITDA for Q3 2019 was Rs 382.6 crore (37 per cent of operating revenue) as compared to Rs 370.8 crore (38.5 per cent of operating margin in Q3 2018. EBIT was Rs 156.8 crore for the quarter under review as compared to Rs 150 crore for the year ago quarter. Please refer to the figure below for the segment’s financial trends

    Airtel has reported increase in its Digital TV subscribers. As mentioned above Airtel Digital TV services subscriber base at the end of Q3 2019 stood at 1.5 crore, up 7.6 per cent y-o-y from 1.3937 crore in Q3 2018, and up 1.5 per cent quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) from 1.4779 crore in Q2 2019. Subscriber churn per month in the quarter was same as the previous quarter at 1.3 per cent. In the year ago quarter Q3 2018, subscriber churn was 1.2 per cent. Please refer to the figure below for Airtel Digital TV subscriber trends.

    Average revenue per user for the quarter under review was down by Rs 2 in Q3 2019 at Rs 231 as compared to Rs 233 in Q3 2018 and down by Re 1 as compared to the Rs 232 for the immediate trailing quarter. Please refer to the figure below for Airtel Digital TV ARPU trends.

    Bharti Airtel numbers

    Airtel’s consolidated revenues for Q3 2019 at Rs 20,519 crore grew 1.9 per cent y-o-y (reported increase of 1.0 per cent) on an underlying basis- adjusted for international termination rate reduction.

    India revenues for Q3 2019 at Rs 14,768 crore have declined by 2.3 per cent y-o-y (declined 3.5 per cent on reported) on an underlying basis. Mobile revenues have witnessed a y-o-y de-growth of 4.0 per cent on an underlying basis primarily on account of the sustained pricing pressure in India Mobile segment.

    In a statement, Airtel MD and CEO of India and South Asia Gopal Vittal, MD said, “Our simplified product portfolio and premium content partnerships have played out well during the quarter, translating into one of our highest ever 4G customers additions of 11 million plus. Our mobile data volume continues to expand, with a y-o-y growth of 190 per cent. We have deployed 24K broadband sites during the quarter and remain committed to invest in capacities ahead of the demand curve and provide a superior customer experience. Effective this quarter, we have modified our customer base measurement to represent only transacting and revenue generating customers. “

    In a statement, Airtel’s MD and CEO for Africa’s Raghunath Mandavasaid,
    “Airtel Africa’s Gross Revenue grew by 11.2 per cent on a y-o-y basis. Data traffic grew by 61 per cent, voice minutes increased by 25 per cent and Airtel Money throughput grew by 29 per cent on a y-o-y basis. Consequently, EBITDA margin has expanded by 1.7 per cent y-o-y and stood at 37.2 per cent for the quarter. We continue to further invest in strong LTE network to enhance customer experience and build a competitive advantage.”
     

  • Dish TV India Limited Partners with HANDAN & ALi Corporation to launch hybrid solution to realize next-generation tv experience

    Dish TV India Limited Partners with HANDAN & ALi Corporation to launch hybrid solution to realize next-generation tv experience

    MUMBAI: ALi Corporation, a leading Set-Top Box (STB) chipset provider, Dish TV India Limited, India’s largest Direct-to-Home (DTH) operator, and HANDAN, the leading supplier of multimedia and home entertainment devices in Korea, proudly announced that they have further extended their partnership by launching the latest hybrid solution, “Dish Box” to enrich TV experience for subscribers in India. The new set-top box developed by the partnership will be highly connected to enable OTT (over-the-top) viewing entertainment.

    Dish TV India Limited, being the leader in DTH service and TV distribution in India, is expanding its OTT offerings by introducing Dish Connected Box to allow subscribers to enjoy both DVB TV broadcasting and OTT contents.

    ALi Corp.’s secure value SoC (system on chip) was chosen due to its wide compliance with mainstream CAS (conditional access system) security features, ideal for DVB-S2 Pay TV applications. In this joint collaboration, the secure SoC was adopted as the core of the Dish Connected Box to integrate OTT Apps, developed by Handan. The integration  of  hardware,  software  and  middleware  will  enable  subscribers  to  view  both  OTT  apps  and DVB-broadcasted contents.

    “Set-top boxes must be able to consume multimedia contents, like TV, videos, and even radio programs broadcasted through Internet protocol. This is the trend that TV set-top boxes must be connected”, said Daniel Huang, CEO of ALi Corp. “We foresee the future that set-top boxes shall consume streamed contents over various streaming protocols. Thus, we are pleased that Dish TV India Limited partners with us to develop the hybrid solutions integrating WiFi connectivity and Google Widevine DRM. In fact, our SoC packs multiple features which can shorten the development time and accelerate the time-to-market process”.

    “As always, ALi Corp. has been a highly trusted and dedicated partner for us”, said V.K. Gupta, COO of Dish TV India Limited. “We are confident that our Connected Box will change the way multimedia contents are consumed. In fact, we will work with ALi to further enrich the Connected Box through further hardware-software integration, for it to go cloud”.

    “Handan is glad to take part in the joint partnership to develop the latest hybrid Connected Box. This time, we are pleased to implement OTT Apps so that subscribers will be able to view both DVB and OTT contents,” said Y. Lee, CEO of HANDAN. “We will continue our dedication to work with ALi Corp. and Dish TV India Limited to expand market penetration in India”.