Category: DTH Operator

FY-2015: Subscriber growth, ARPU drives up Videocon d2H revenue by 32.5%

BENGALURU: Videocon d2h Limited reported 25.2 per cent growth in gross subscriber addition and 20.6 per cent growth in net subscriber addition in FY-2015 (year ended 31 March, 2015). Coupled with higher average revenue per user (ARPU) for FY-2015 at Rs 196, and Rs 202 in Q4-2015, the company reported 32.5 per cent growth in revenue from operations in FY-2015 at Rs 2337.7 crore as compared to the Rs 1764.4 crore in FY-2014. The company’s subscription revenue increased 38.3 per cent in the current year to Rs 2058.1 crore from Rs 1487.7 crore in the previous year.

Videocon d2h says that it was able to push through an inflation linked ARPU increase in February 2015. As a result, Q4-2015 ARPU was Rs 202, a 11.7 per cent increase over FY-2015.

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

“We are pleased to announce that we successfully listed American Depositary Shares on NASDAQ in April, becoming the most valued Indian company to be listed on the NASDAQ. We are happy to share our results for fiscal 2015. We maintained our market leadership in subscriber growth and reported key financial metrics ahead of the guidance provided during the listing process. We believe, with our strong balance sheet and continued momentum, we are well-positioned for the future,” said Videocon d2h executive chairman Saurabh Dhoot.

Videocon d2h CEO Anil Khera added, “The Pay TV segment in India is positioned for extraordinary growth over the next few years with millions of new TV homes being created on account of the strong economic outlook in India as well as the Government of India’s initiative to roll out its digitalization mandate across the country. We believe that 90-100 million homes will be making the switch to digital platforms, which will be available to the DTH and digital cable operators. We are well positioned to benefit from this and we believe we will take the largest share of this opportunity, as we have in the past. With strong economic growth outlook for India, overall media sector is expected to grow in the years to come. We believe this will help grow ARPU, TV penetration and increase HD uptake leading to stronger revenue growth for Pay TV in general and Videocon d2h in particular.”

Loss down, EBIDTA up in FY-2015

Videocon d2h reported lower net loss in FY-2015 at Rs 272.7 crore as compared to the Rs 319.5 crore in the previous year. Adjusted EBIDTA increased 55.3 per cent in the current year to Rs 609.1 crore (margin 26.1 per cent) from Rs 319.5 crore (margin 34.1 per cent), the company said in its earnings release on NASDAQ.

Subscriber numbers, content cost

Gross subscribers increased 26.4 lakh in FY-2015 to 130.9 lakh from 104.5 lakh in FY-2014. Net subscribers increased by 17.4 lakh to 101.8 lakh in the current year as compared to 84.4 lakh in the previous year. Subscriber churn per month increased fractionally in FY-2015 to 0.8 per cent as compared to 0.76 percent in the previous year. The company says that almost 30 per cent of incremental net subscribers opted for the HD service. Videocon d2h says that its HD subscribers base now represents almost 10 per cent of the total net subscriber base, up from five per cent in FY-2014. The company expects HD penetration to increase in the coming fiscal year, with an attendant impact on ARPU.

Videocon d2h reported higher content cost at 36.2 per cent of revenue in FY-2015 as compared to the 34.1 per cent of revenue in the previous year.

Videocon d2h has a market share of roughly 20 per cent of the DTH net subscriber as on March 2015, up from nine per cent four years ago.

June 4, 2015
Digital penetration of pay-TV subs in APAC to reach 90% by 2023: MPA

MUMBAI: The Asia-Pacific pay-TV industry will grow at a 6.6 per cent average annual rate from 2014 to 2019, according to a new report, Asia Pacific Pay-TV & Broadband Markets, released by Media Partners Asia (MPA).

MPA projects industry sales to climb from $52 billion in 2014 to $72 billion by 2019 and to $84 billion by 2023. Despite robust growth, the region’s pay-TV industry is under pressure however, as the pace of both subscriber and revenue growth decelerates.

In Southeast Asia, a significant slowdown in Indonesia and Thailand will apply the brakes to regional momentum, partially offset by significant expansion in the Philippines and decent gains in Malaysia.

Revenue growth will be at its most robust and scalable in large territories such as India, Korea and China as well as smaller markets such as Hong Kong and the Philippines. Australia will offer much improved subscriber momentum, although revenue expansion will lag.

Ex-China, which remains a utility oriented and highly regulated pay-TV market, Asia added10.8 million net new pay-TV customers in 2014, slower than the 11.2 million added in 2013 and significantly slower than the average 15-18 million net additions that occurred between 2008-11.

MPA projections indicate a spike in net additions will occur in 2016, due to India’s next phase of cable digitalization, with a steady deceleration likely to follow. Including China, MPA sees total pay-TV subscribers in Asia-Pacific growing from 500 million 2014 to 598 million by 2023.

Adjusted for multiple connections in a household, pay-TV penetration of TV households will grow from 54 per cent in 2014 to 61 per cent by 2023. In Asia ex-China, adjusted pay-TV penetration is expected to grow from 55 per cent to 60 per cent over the same period.

Digital penetration of pay-TV subs in Asia-Pacific will increase from 70 per cent in 2014 to 90 per cent by 2023 as all major pay-TV markets covered in the report go 100 per cent digital except for India (70 per cent),Pakistan (32 per cent), Sri Lanka (94 per cent), and Thailand (53 per cent).

HD penetration of total digital pay-TV subs will grow from 24 per cent to 44 per cent over the same period, with penetration between 50-90 per cent in Australia, China, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines and Singapore.

Over 2014-19, value-added services (VAS), driven by VOD, will be the fastest growing segment for Asia’s pay-TV industry, as revenues climb at a 13.2 per cent CAGR from 2014-19.Key market drivers of VOD include Australia, China, Japan and Korea, while Malaysia and Hong Kong lead amongst smaller markets.

MPA projects that authenticated TV Everywhere (TVE) services will not generate meaningful revenue but remain a churn reducer in most markets.

In standout pay-TV markets such as India and Korea, a combinationof high volume and a level of ARPU upside (partially off set by price competition), inaggregate, will drive subscription revenue growth. Higher yields will also boost growth in Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

According to MPA, pay-TV advertising will grow from $10 billion in 2014 to $14.3 billion by 2019, with growth driven by high base markets such as India and Korea along with China. Australia, Japan and Taiwan will remain material, although growth in each of these markets will soften.

The pay-TV ad opportunity in Southeast Asia will remain under-exploited, partially due to limited penetration in most markets, but also because of poor execution.

MPA executive director Vivek Couto said, “Pay-TV operators are striving to either reignite growth or sustain existing momentum with a new cycle of value creation. A number of operators are repackaging products with improved price points (i.e. Australia), tiering (i.e. Hong Kong) and slimmer, low-ARPU packs (i.e. Philippines). Most players have invested to enhance programme windows and offer more VOD. Others are climbing the curve of product innovation with all-HD platforms, with more local and Asian content, as well as live sports, a key mainstay for pay-TV.”

June 3, 2015
India’s active DTH subscriber base to reach 75 million by 2023: MPA

MUMBAI: Even as India continues to remain the most important market for DTH pay-TV in Asia Pacific, active direct to home (DTH) subscribers in the country are projected to touch 75 million by 2023 from 41 million in 2014.

The increase in contribution from high-ARPU (average revenue per user) HD subscribers, upselling of SD subscribers to high-value packs, and a higher uptake of VAS, will bolster industry economics in India, as per a report by Media Partners Asia (MPA).

Additionally, total Asia Pacific DTH pay-TV subscribers grew nine per cent in 2014 to more than 61 million in 2014 while industry revenue grew five per cent to top $9 billion, according to the MPA research.

While India, Malaysia and the Philippines continue to remain strong DTH markets, Indonesia, Korea and Japan are coming under increased pressure.

MPA projections indicate that total Asia Pacific DTH industry pay-TV revenue will grow at seven per cent CAGR to $12.5 billion by 2019 and thereafter grow to reach $15 billion by 2023, with significant upside coming from HD and VoD-driven value added services (VAS).

DTH’s share of total pay-TV subscribers in Asia Pacific will grow from 12 per cent to 22 per cent over the next 10 years. In recent years, DTH has experienced a significant phase of growth in Asia, driven by the expansion of DTH pay-TV in India, Southeast Asia and Korea. However, the growth of broadband, IPTV and OTT is placing a natural limit on future growth while macro concerns and aggressive competition are also challenging.

The Philippines has also emerged as a strong market for DTH growth in recent years, driven by Cignal and Gsat. Total DTH pay-TV subs reached 1.06 million in 2014 and will rise 3x over the next decade with future upside coming from significant HD growth and package upselling, which will help boost ARPUs.

DTH will also play an important role in the growth of pay-TV in Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Vietnam but its growth remains capped in markets such as Indonesia and Thailand. However, in Indonesia there could be significantly more upside if leading operators convert the existing free satellite market to pay-TV (starting with a low cost offer) and programme more premium local pay channels.

In Malaysia, DTH will retain a dominant chunk of the pay-TV market, driven by Astro through HD and DVR services as well as VoD and the emergence of premium vernacular and Asian content, exclusive to the Astro DTH platform.

June 2, 2015
FY-2105: Dish TV in black; adds 1.5 million subscribers

BENGALURU: Last quarter (Q3-2015, quarter ended 31 December, 2015), India’s largest DTH operator, Dish TV Limited had reported a lower loss at just Rs 2.87 crore as compared to double-digit crore loss numbers in the previous or like-to-like quarters.

However that is now a thing of the past as the company has reported a standalone net profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 35.01 crore in Q4-2015 and a standalone PAT of Rs 1.01 crore in FY-2015 as compared to a standalone loss of Rs 154.21 crore in FY-2014.

This probably makes Dish TV the first among listed DTH companies in the country to report a profit after tax as opposed to the operating profits reported by a segment of the other goliaths for whom DTH services is just another small segment. Dish TV’s consolidated PAT for FY-2015 was Rs 3.14 crore as against a consolidated loss of Rs 157.61 crore in FY-2104.

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

The company also added 1.5 million net subscribers in FY-2015 and closed the year with a subscriber base of 12.9 million. With the addition of 4.04 lakh subscribers in Q4-2015, Dish TV maintained the tempo it had set in the previous quarter (Q3-2105) by adding a slightly higher number of subscribers at 4.16 lakhs.

Dish TV also reported higher average revenue per user (ARPU) of Rs 179 in Q4-2014 as against Rs 177 in Q3-2015 (1.13 per cent increase in ARPU). In Q4-2014, the company had added 2.26 lakh net subscribers and its annual ARPU was Rs 170 (Q4-2105 ARPU increased 5.3 per cent as compared to Q4-2014).

Dish TV chairman Subhash Chandra said, “The DTH sector is a direct beneficiary of a positive consumer sentiment. Dish TV achieved a strong, sector leading, subscriber growth of 1.5 million net subscribers during the year. Fiscal 2015 also saw Dish TV swing to net profit, a first for any DTH company in India. Through this milestone to the next and thereafter, Dish TV remains committed to outperform the industry growth rate and create shareholder value while continuing to entertain its subscribers with rich content and compelling value added services using updated modes of delivery.”

Dish TV managing director Jawahar Goel added, “During the quarter, we garnered net subscribers that were almost equal to the numbers during the festival quarter of October – December 2014. While Zing gained ground in Phase 3 and 4 markets, high definition (HD) driven sports offerings were the mainstay, in Rest of India, during the Cricket World Cup 2015.”

Let us look at the other numbers reported by Dish TV:

Dish TV’s standalone and consolidated net Total Income from Operations (TIO) in FY-2016 at Rs 2781.64 crore was 10.9 per cent more than the Rs 2508.97 crore in FY-2014. Standalone TIO in Q4-

2015 at Rs 754.72 crore grew 18.5 per cent as compared to the Rs 636.91 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter and was 10.3 per cent more than the Rs 684.26 crore in Q3-2015.

As mentioned above, net profit for Q4-2015 was Rs 35.01 crore as against a loss of Rs 149.05 crore in Q4-2014 and a loss of Rs 2.87 crore in the immediate trailing quarter.

The company’s EBIDTA in FY-2015 increased 17.5 per cent to Rs 733.1 crore as compared to the Rs 624 crore in FY-2014. EBIDTA in Q4-2015 at Rs 221.9 crore was a whopping 72.1 per cent more than the Rs 128.9 crore in Q4-2014 and 16.1 per cent more than the Rs 191.2 crore in the preceding quarter.

The company’s total expenditure (TE) in FY-2015 increased 8.7 per cent to Rs 2048.5 crore as compared to the Rs 1884.9 crore in the previous year. TE in the current quarter increased 4.9 per cent to Rs 532.8 crore as compared to the Rs 508 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter and was 1.9 per cent more than the Rs 522.7 crore in Q3-2015.

Programming, content/other costs (programming) in FY-2015 increased 2.9 per cent to Rs 800.75 crore from Rs 778.44 crore in FY-2014. Programming cost in Q4-2015 at Rs 207.63 crore was three per cent more than the Rs 201.57 crore in Q4-2014 and 4.4 per cent more than the Rs 1988.86 crore in Q3-2015.

License Fees in FY-2015 increased 10.5 per cent to Rs 288.83 crore from Rs 261.38 crore in the previous year. Dish TV paid 16.7 per cent higher license fees in Q4-2015 at Rs 78.17 crore as compared to the Rs 66.98 crore in Q4-2014 and 5.1 per cent more than the Rs 74.35 crore in Q3-2015.

Advertisement expense in Q4-2015 at Rs 11.5 crore was 10.6 per cent more than the Rs 10.4 crore in Q4-2014, but declined 7.3 per cent from Rs 12.4 crore in Q3-2015.

Consolidated Employee Benefit Expense (EBE) in FY-2015 increased 14.1 per cent to Rs 101.75 crore as compared to Rs 89.16 crore in FY-2014. EBE in Q4-2015 at Rs 25.71 crore was 17.6 per cent more the Rs 21.02 crore in Q4-2014 and was 4.3 per cent lower than the Rs 25.83 crore in Q3-2015.

Summing up Dish TV’s performance, Goel said, “Fiscal 2015 was a satisfying year. Our single-minded devotion to being the leader in the DTH industry along with uncompromised financial discipline enabled us to reach the net profitability milestone much ahead of our peers. With cost line items under control, the resultant EBITDA for the quarter increased by a strong 72.1 per cent y-o-y. EBITDA margin improved to 29.4 per cent. PAT of Rs 35.01 crore resulted in Free Cash Flow (FCF) of Rs 70.2 crore for the quarter. Churn for the quarter was maintained at 0.7 per cent per month.”

Click here to read the financial statement

May 26, 2015
Anil Khera replaces RC Venkateish as DTH Operators Association president

MUMBAI: Videocon d2h CEO Anil Khera has replaced Dish TV CEO RC Venkateish as the president of DTH Operators Association.

Khera said, “We will be working together to resolve the issues pertaining to DTH industry. We will take up the issues of DTH operators with the relevant government authorities. I hope that we will be able to resolve all issues of DTH operators amicably with all the stakeholders. I thank all the members for showing faith in me.”

Khera was chosen unanimously by the members of the association as Venkateish’s replacement to represent the six direct to home (DTH) operators namely Tata Sky, Dish TV, Videocon d2h, Sun Direct, Reliance Digital TV and Airtel Digital TV.

In June 2014, Venkateish was unanimously elected as the president for a term of one year, where the association had also decided to hold regular meetings every quarter to address issues concerning the DTH industry.

Prior to Venkateish , Tata Sky CEO Harit Nagpal served as president of the DTH Operators Association for three years. After the conclusion of Nagpal’s tenure last year, the association had decided to elect the president for a one year term.

May 18, 2015
Vserv to offer solutions to telcos & DTH operators

MUMBAI: Smart data platform for mobile marketing in India and Southeast Asia – Vserv has forayed into the burgeoning commerce space.

In an industry-first move, Vserv will now provide an end-to-end solution for telcos and DTH operators, right from the discovery of customers to the transaction of services. This step will empower consumer-facing companies to utilize the combined power of Vserv Smart Data platform and commerce solution.

With this added capability, Vserv will enable telcos to promote segmented offers across data and voice. By driving these transactions, Vserv enhances average revenue per user (ARPU) for telcos. For DTH operators, this translates into selling segmented channel packs leading to a major jump in subscriptions and higher revenue.

Vserv co-founder and CEO Dippak Khurana said, “We saw the opportunity to redefine the relevance, simplicity and convenience of these services for the customer. Vserv’s massive reach of 120 million unique users in India combined with this commerce solution creates a disruptive development in the mobile Internet ecosystem. While our Smart Data platform is a revolutionary offering for mobile marketing, with our commerce solution, we now complete a user’s journey from intent to purchase. This unique proposition provides a powerful opportunity for consumer-facing companies, which are seeking to tap into the growing mobile Internet user base. We have always challenged the status quo and this offering is a gigantic leap towards bringing about a radical shift in the ecosystem.”

The Vserv commerce solution delivering relevance, simplicity and convenience works on a four- pronged approach of: discovery (identifying the right user with Vserv Smart Data), promotion (engaging the user with segmented offers), payment (enabling seamless transaction for the user) and activation (quick and easy activation of the service).

The total revenue of telco and DTH services in India stood at around $31 billion in 2014, and is currently growing at a rate of 10 per cent per annum. Within this, the share of digital commerce is close to 10 per cent and is expected to grow by 300 per cent in the next four years. This growth will be fuelled by the rapidly expanding Internet user base, which is expected to reach 500 million users by 2018, 80 per cent of which will be contributed by mobile users. With the largest mobile Internet user base in India and its unique proposition of enabling commerce for consumer-facing companies, Vserv is strategically positioned to capture a sizeable market share.

May 12, 2015
“Disorganisation of analogue cable in Phase III & IV will help DTH”: Harit Nagpal

MUMBAI: While India has witnessed Phase I and Phase II of digitisation, the remaining two phases (i.e Phase III and IV) will go a long way in aiding more transparency. Direct to Home (DTH) platforms too are an enthused lot, hoping it will help them gain additional subscribers.

Speaking about the expected development Tata Sky CEO Harit Nagpal said, “As digitisation rolls out, we are hopeful that a large number of consumers will move to DTH because analogue cable is little less organised in Phase III and IV of digitisation.”

Nagpal said that the first two phases impacted approximately 15 per cent of the TV population. According to him, when it came to the process of conversion from analogue cable to digital, about 40 per cent of the analogue subscribers picked up DTH. Nagpal was speaking at the Asia Pacific Operators Summit (APOS) held in Balli recently.

Speaking about net additions, he said that the pace had not slowed down. “Even when we were acquiring close to 10 million subscribers as gross, we were getting three to four net additions. Today, the industry picks six to seven million gross, it still makes three to four million net.” Nagpal further added that this would be facilitated by digitisation in places where the first two phases were complete.

Nagpal believes that the top four DTH players will become cash positive very soon. “It’s on the horizon now. We have already been covering our operational costs. The investment that is really going into the business is going to fund the growth,” he said.

According to Nagpal, an investor wouldn’t mind finding the growth because on a 10-12 per cent churn, the life of a customer is seven to eight years. As such if the pay back is three years, then an operator has about six to seven years cash life with the customer.

“Thus an investor is happy to invest and add the gross adds faster and does not mind paying for the investment,” he added.

While on the one hand, Videocon d2h CEO Anil Khera expressed his displeasure over premium content being distributed for free by Over The Top (OTT) platforms, Nagpal explained his point of view. “I treat myself, i.e. a content access provider, as a grocer. We buy soaps and cereals in bulk and sell them in small packets. If three generations in a single family want to consume bread, rice and pasta we have it stocked. Secondly, if these three generations ordered the food respectively via in shop, over the phone or placed an order online, I have to cater to that and make it convenient for customers.”

He further said that he would not go about cursing people as to why content is being given out for free. “I have to make it convenient for the customer to find everything at one place,” he stressed.

On the added service of video on demand (VOD), Nagpal said that four years ago when Tata Sky launched VOD, it had seen an investment of close to $10 million. Currently the operator was just breaking even on operating costs. “But we know it’s a long term play. It’s not necessarily a play of premium content. In fact, on our first VOD we made available Hindi movies and not English. The reason being English movies’ rights holders were sceptical and insisted on minimum guarantees.”

On the issue of broadband bandwidth, Nagpal stated that going by the current world wide web phenomenon it was obvious that video cannot be carried by over the air as the last mile has to be connected by at least some form of wire. He hoped a new entity would cater to this business very soon.

“Currently there are a lot of entrepreneurs who provide broadband very well in some areas. They have just been constrained by expansion. We are hoping that in a year’s time the landscape will change. Some funding will come in and then they will expand,” he concluded.

May 4, 2015
Airtel DTH biz Q4-2015 revenue up 17%, segment reports Rs 8 crore operating profit

BENGALURU: Bharati Airtel’s Digital TV services – Airtel DTH – reported 17.2 per cent increase in y-o-y revenue to Rs 634.7 crore in Q4-2015 from Rs 541.5 crore and 1.8 per cent growth as compared to the Rs 623.4 crore in the immediate trailing quarter.

The segment reported an operating profit of Rs 8.1 crore for the current quarter as compared to an operating loss of Rs 110.7 crore in Q4-2014 and an operating loss of Rs 36 crore in Q3-2015.

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

Airtel DTH revenue in FY-2015 grew 19.2 per cent to Rs 2475.9 crore as compared to the Rs 2077.1 crore in FY-2014. Operating loss was lower at Rs 158.1 crore in the current year as compared to the Rs 427.1 crore in FTY-2014.

The company reported 2.7 per cent q-o-q growth in Airtel DTH customer base for Q4-2015 to 100.73 lakh from 98.1 lakh in Q3-2015. For the year, the segment reported 11.8 per cent growth in customer base from 90.12 lakh in FY-2014.

Airtel MD and CEO, India & South Asia Gopal Vittal said, “The year has ended on a healthy note, with revenue growth accelerating to 12.1 per cent in FY 2014-15, from 9.9 per cent and 9.5 per cent respectively in the previous two years. Once again, the 20,000 – strong Airtel family has stood together to deliver these results. Airtel is spearheading the country’s digital agenda with substantial investments in the Internet space. The cumulative investment of Rs 68,000 crore in spectrum is a reflection of our commitment to the cause of a Digital India, and our belief in the potential of the exciting opportunity.”

Overall, Airtel’s consolidated revenues for Q4-2015 at Rs 23,016 crore grew by 3.6 per cent over the corresponding quarter last year. Improved operational efficiency has resulted in consolidated net income growing by 30.5 per cent y-o-y to Rs 1,255 crore says the company.

Annual consolidated revenues at Rs 92,039 crore grew by 7.3 per cent over the previous year, led by robust top line growth in India. Airtel informs that net income for the year grew by 86.9 per cent to Rs 5,183 crore despite higher forex losses of Rs 2,153 crore (FY-2014 forex loss – Rs 1,242 crore).

April 29, 2015
Apollo’s 3% stake sale in Dish TV earns it a profit of Rs 135 crore

MUMBAI: US based alternative assets manager Apollo Global Management part sold its three per cent stake in direct to home (DTH) operator Dish TV for Rs 262.5 crore, through an open market transaction on 10 April.

The stake comprising 32 million shares of an average price close to Rs 82, as compared to their original purchasing price of approximately Rs 39, was picked up by an investment unit of Citigroup and a mutual fund under Birla Sun Life.

With the sale purchase, Apollo will see a profit of Rs 135 crore. The Private Equity (PE) firm is now left with eight per cent stake in the company through its outstanding global outstanding depository receipts (GDR). This stake is valued at Rs 721 crore.

It was in 2009 when the PE firm invested $100 million to gain an 11 per cent stake in the company, which was the firm’s first investment in the country. Dish TV is part of the Subhash Chandra owned Zee Network with approximately 12.5 million net subscribers. With a strong range of 470 television and audio channels, it has 43 High Definition (HD) channels under its kitty. For the quarter ending 31 December, 2014 the company’s net loss stood at Rs 2.9 crore.

Meanwhile the ESSEL group through its continuation of an earlier intimation dated 26 August last year, informed the BSE that the Board of Directors of the Company at their meeting held on August had considered and approved to transfer the Company’s non-core business (including set top boxes, dish antenna, and related services) to its Wholly Owned Subsidiary – ‘Xingmedia Distribution Private Limited’ (presently known as ‘Dish Infra Services Private Limited), subject to necessary approvals and as per the applicable provision of the Companies Act, 2013.

April 11, 2015
MEASAT 3b active; Sun Direct awaits regulatory clearances

MUMBAI: The MEASAT-3b satellite, which is co-located at 91.5 degree, has now finally gained the status of being active. However, Sun Group’s direct to home (DTH) arm Sun Direct is still in the process of getting regulatory clearances. The DTH operator will soon be able to avail the benefits that the satellite will offer.

Speaking to Indiantelevision.com Sun Direct CEO Mahesh Kumar says, “We are still in the process of getting all the regulatory clearances.”

In may be recalled that in May last year, Sun Direct was looking at adding nine more transponders from its current four, to increase its High Definition (HD) and Standard Definition (SD) channel capacity. However, the delay in the launch of MEASAT-3b satellite that was to enable Sun Direct help add the additional transponders played spoilt sport. The satellite which was set for launch on 6 June 2014 (7 June Kuala Lumpur time), was postponed after the manufacturer of the MEASAT-3b co-passenger requested time for repairs to their satellite.

In September 2014, Ariane 5 ECA successfully launched two communications satellites Optus 10 and MEASAT 3b. MEASAT 3b, which is equipped with 48 high-power Ku-band transponders would enable DTH services not just in India but also Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia. It would be serving more than 18 million households, according to Measat.

Kumar had previously stated that with the extra capacity, the operator’s current HD offering would go up to 30 and expected the number of SD channels to go up to 350.

April 11, 2015