ITV

Category: DTH

  • Dish TV seeks more time to convene AGM, defers 27 Sep meeting

    Dish TV seeks more time to convene AGM, defers 27 Sep meeting

    New Delhi: Dish TV has sought additional time to convene the next Annual General Meeting (AGM), which was initially scheduled to be held on 27 September. The company has cited some regulatory approvals, that it needs to obtain before going ahead with the meeting.

    The DTH company has informed the BSE, that its Board of Directors has approved the application for postponing the AGM scheduled on 27 September. The new date of the meeting has not been disclosed yet, however, as per rules, the meeting could happen any time before 30 December.

    Earlier this month, one of its prime shareholders YES Bank, which holds 25.63 per cent stake in Dish TV India Ltd had sent a special notice to the company, seeking the removal of the current directors and managing director. The proposal was to be tabled at the upcoming annual 33rd general meeting.

    In its communique to the stock exchange on Sunday, the company has stated that the proposed changes in the Board are subject to applicable regulatory permissions and also other approvals which the Company requires to obtain. While it has already sent the applications to the Lenders for seeking their consent for the said change in the Board of Directors of the Company under applicable covenants, the approval is still awaited.

    “Accordingly, in order to ensure compliance of all applicable laws and guidelines in respect of the Notices sent by YBL and also to ensure that the Company does not default on any of the regulatory and lender covenants, the Board of Directors of the Company have approved making requisite applications as per provisions of the Companies Act for seeking extension of time under applicable regulatory provisions for convening the AGM of the Company, so that the Company has sufficient time to evaluate, analyse and to ensure compliance of all applicable regulatory, and other approvals as required by the law and avoid any non-compliance to contractual obligations,” it wrote.

    In its special notice to Dish TV, Yes Bank had sought the removal of Rashmi Aggarwal, Shankar Aggarwal, Bhagwan Das Narang, and Ashok Mathai Kurien as directors, along with Jawahar Lal Goel as managing director of the company under Section 169 of the Companies Act, 2013. This would also remove Goel from the post of chairperson of the Company.

    The Bank had alleged that the current Dish TV Board was “not acting in line with good corporate governance standards and is not a fair representation of the incumbent significant shareholders of the Company” which hold about 45 per cent shareholding in the Company.

    In its notice, Yes Bank had also proposed to reconstitute the board with – Yes Bank senior group president and general counsel Sanjay Nambiar, Yes Bank, country head, stressed asset management, Akash Suri, former KPMG executive Viiav Bhatt, litigation counsel Haripriya Padmanabhan,  Wipro’s IT business former Co-CEO Girish Paranjape, independent management consultant Narayan Vasudeo Prabhutendulkar and Arvind Nachaya.

    Dish TV had responded to the notice, stating that the proposed new directors could be appointed only after obtaining approvals from the ministry of information and broadcasting. and other requisite approvals for appointment of new directors, within the statutory timelines.

  • DTH expands even as pay TV market saturates

    DTH expands even as pay TV market saturates

    Mumbai: Pay TV subscription revenue is expected to reach $7.6 billion by 2026 over $6.4 billion in 2021, stated Media Partners Asia in its latest report on India’s online video market, which also highlights the increasing market share of Direct-to-home (DTH) even as cable TV remains in structural decline.

    There are 127 million pay TV subscribers in India and DTH has been winning share from cable TV since 2019. While DTH grew its subscriber share from 42 per cent in 2019 to 47 per cent in 2021, the share of cable TV declined from 56 per cent to 52 per cent in the same period.

    According to the report, there will be one billion video screens in India by the end of 2024. There will be 47 million FTA households and 121 million pay TV homes. As many as 13 million homes will have hybrid set-top-boxes, 744 million users will have 4G connections and 155 million users will have 5G connections. In the long run pay TV homes will decline while FTA homes will continue to grow, the report indicated.

    By 2026, two-third of Indians will have access to high-speed mobile broadband reaching 899 million subscribers, out of which 34 million homes will be serviced by fibre, and three million homes will have wireline (digital subscriber line) connections. The report estimates that ~90 per cent of fixed broadband homes will be serviced through fibre.

    In terms of revenues, the video market scale will grow to reach $18 billion in 2026 over $11.6 billion in 2021. Pay TV subscription revenues may reach 7.6 billion, pay TV advertising revenues at $6.1 billion, OTT advertising-video-on-demand (AVOD) to reach $2.8 billion and OTT subscription-video-on-demand to reach $1.8 billion.

    D2C SVOD subscribers to reach 193 million by 2026

    Despite content supply bottlenecks, India’s OTT SVOD subscriptions continue to grow at a robust rate. This year OTT subscribers are expected to grow by 1.6 times over the previous year to reach 88.7 million. Most of these subscribers are expected to come through Disney+ Hotstar in Q4. As per the MPA’s estimate, Disney+ Hotstar subscribers is likely to reach 46 million, Prime Video to reach 21.8 million and Netflix to reach 5.5 million at the end of the year. These platforms will continue to account for 83 per cent of total direct-to-consumer subscribers in India.

    The OTT industry is also expected to invest $1 billion in content in 2021, according to the report. Their share of acquired and local content is 30 per cent and is expected to grow to 40-45 per cent in the near future. New D2C SVOD entrants are going to enter the market by 2022 including services from HBO and Comcast.

    The content strategy of the leading OTT players is diverse and has led to subscriber growth. For Disney+ Hotstar, the combination of sports and local originals has been increasing subscriber growth. It hiked its base plan by 25 per cent “which is justified given the value of its upcoming slate of premium sport and local original content”, said the company.

    Disney+ Hotstar, which is currently at the lower end of ARPUs (<$2), will see its pricing power improve after 2022, according to the report. Prime Video has benefitted from its regional content push and Netflix has invested heavily in original content with 41 original releases in 2021.  

    In 2022, the Indian Premier League (IPL) media rights will be up for grabs once again with TV and digital rights being sold separately. The report estimates that top bidders will include Disney, Amazon, Facebook, Jio and Sony.

  • DTH operators write to TRAI over broadcasters offering pay channels on DD Free Dish

    DTH operators write to TRAI over broadcasters offering pay channels on DD Free Dish

    Mumbai: Direct-to-home (DTH) service providers including Tata Sky and Airtel Digital TV have written to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) asking the telecom regulator to address the issue of broadcasters making their pay channels available on Prasar Bharati’s FTA platform DD Free Dish.

    According to the DTH players, this goes against the current tariff regime which mandates the designation of channels as either pay or FTA and prohibits their bundling together. Tata Sky and DTH players want that such designation remains constant across distribution platforms, a matter they had requested the TRAI to look into earlier as well, but to no avail.

    It is being alleged that despite the above mandates and guidelines, broadcasters such as Zee, Sony, Star, Viacom18 and others continue to exploit loopholes to make their second-tier channels like Zee Anmol, Sony Pal, Star Utsav and Colors Rishtey available for free on DD Free Dish in order to increase their reach beyond the pay universe and get more advertising dollars. However, the same channels are present on private distribution platforms as pay channels, in accordance with their MRP filing with TRAI.

    DTH operators say that the practice is highly discriminatory as not only are the private DPOs paying the broadcasters to distribute these channels, but also charging subscribers for the same. On the other hand, DD Free Dish receives a license fee for making them freely available to viewers.  

    Reviving their demand, the DTH players have requested the TRAI to level the playing field for the public service broadcaster and themselves in this regard.

    Tata Sky CEO Harit Nagpal says that he is not against these channels being free nor is he asking the broadcasters to pull them off DD Free Dish, but asking for a level-playing field and parity. “We are just demanding that if these channels are available as free on DD Free Dish, it should also be the case on my platform. There are about 20 FTA channels on DD Free Dish that are being offered to my viewers at a price anywhere between ten paise – three rupees, which is highly discriminatory,” he says.

    Responding to the TRAI’s contention of DD Free Dish not being covered under NTO, he says that the regulator misses the point here. “This is not about DD Free Dish, but the channels,” states Nagpal.

    A senior official from a leading cable operator remarks, “I am not sure but the broadcasters may be taking advantage of a legal loophole where TRAI cannot regulate DD Free Dish which comes under Prasar Bharati. A channel that is allotted a slot on DD Free Dish may immediately gain 50 GRPs while FTA channels not on the free DTH players are struggling at seven GRPs. That’s the advantage of DD Free Dish.  Broadcasters slowly want to move pay-TV subscribers away from the value chain. In urban markets, they are going direct-to-customer by distributing their channels on their OTT platforms and in rural markets, they are opting for DD Free Dish. This practice boosts both advertising and subscription revenues for broadcasters.”

    Calling the unfair practice a “double whammy” for DPOs, he reveals that TV broadcasters are ready to pay Rs 8-16 crore in advance to be allotted a slot on DD Free Dish. “They are paying an enormous carriage fee and not charging a subscription fee for their pay channels on DD Free Dish whereas on cable and DTH operators they are paying much lower carriage fees and are charging a subscription fee. It’s a complete double negative.”

    It is important to note here that as per the new tariff order, 1.0 carriage fees on DTH and cable operators are capped at four lakh per month. According to TRAI performance indicator report Jan-March, DTH subscribers declined by 1.4 million at the end of March. 

    The unnatural growth in the number of pay channels on DD Free Dish has unbalanced the equation for cable and DTH operators. “Reports say that 40-50 per cent of the urban markets are already on OTT platforms. The rural market is still growing where broadcasters are trying to cut out ‘middle men’ like cable and DTH operators. This will slowly lead to the decline of the industry in five to ten years,” he reckons.

    Like Nagpal, he also demands that either the broadcasters should pull their pay channels from DD Free Dish or they should make those channels FTA for all DPOs. If there is parity on all platforms, no one will complain. 

  • Tata Sky’s new ad promotes aggressively priced Thalaiva pack

    Tata Sky’s new ad promotes aggressively priced Thalaiva pack

    Mumbai: Content distribution platform and pay-TV platform Tata Sky has launched a new campaign for potential customers in Tamil Nadu.

    The narrative of the campaign “Vera Level” communicates the elevated entertainment options that are offered by a Tata Sky connection – highlighting the regional family packs available along with a one-touch remote for the price-sensitive segment. This includes the Thalaiva pack that “combines the best of Tamil channels, drama, film, kids, news and sports channels curated for the benefit of the entire family,” said the company in a statement.

    Conceptualised by Ogilvy India, the communication plan for the campaign is spread across print, TV, OOH and designed to resonate with metro and non-metro audiences.

    “Regional audience has a very strong connect with their TV sets and what they watch in it. Keeping this in mind, Tata Sky has always been at the forefront to make the TV viewing experience worthwhile and engaging,” said Tata Sky, chief communications officer, Anurag Kumar. “Our new campaign for Tamil Nadu beautifully highlights the distinct benefits of a Tata Sky connection and connects with the audiences through their most loved regional catchphrases – ‘Vera Level’ which means taking anything to a superior entertaining level, just like a Tata Sky connection does with its varied offerings and personalised bouquets.”

  • Yes Bank seeks removal of current directors of Dish TV

    Yes Bank seeks removal of current directors of Dish TV

    New Delhi: YES Bank, which holds 25.63 per cent stake in Dish TV India Ltd has sought the removal of the current directors and managing director of the direct-to-home service provider. The bank has recently issued a special notice asking the company to put its proposal to vote at Dish TV’s upcoming annual 33rd general meeting to be held on 27 September.

    “The present board of directors of the Company (“Board”) has approved a rights issue process, pending objections raised with the Board by the Bank time and again, solely to dilute the shareholding of the Bank and to prejudice the interests of inter alia the Bank which is the single largest shareholder of the Company as of date,” it said in its notice.

    Yes Bank has sought the removal of Rashmi Aggarwal, Shankar Aggarwal, Bhagwan Das Narang, and Ashok Mathai Kurien as directors, along with Jawahar Lal Goel as managing director of the company under Section 169 of the Companies Act, 2013. “Moreover, consequent to such removal, Goel shall cease to be the chairperson of the Company with effect from the date of this meeting,” the notice read.

    According to the bank, the Board “is not acting in line with good corporate governance standards and is not a fair representation of the incumbent significant shareholders of the Company” which hold about 45 per cent shareholding in the Company.

    “The Board is purportedly acting at the behest of certain minority shareholders holding merely six per cent of the shares in the Company. This is reflected from the fact that even though the Bank, vide various letters issued to the Board, asked the Board to desist from approving/conducting the proposed capital raising exercise by way of rights issue, the Board, without consulting the significant shareholders of the Company, went ahead to make a press announcement dated 28 May, 2021 regarding its intention to proceed with a Rs 1000 Cr. rights issue,” read the notice.

    According to the bank, the Board has “completely side-lined the multiple requests of the Bank to reconstitute the Board, inter alia, by appointment of the nominee directors.”

    In its notice, Yes Bank has also proposed to reconstitute the board with – Yes Bank senior group president and general counsel Sanjay Nambiar, Yes Bank, country head, stressed asset management, Akash Suri, former KPMG executive Viiav Bhatt, litigation counsel Haripriya Padmanabhan,  Wipro’s IT business former Co-CEO Girish Paranjape, independent management consultant Narayan Vasudeo Prabhutendulkar and Arvind Nachaya.

    Dish TV has responded to the notice, stating that the proposed new directors could be appointed only after obtaining approvals from the ministry of information and broadcasting. and other requisite approvals for appointment of new directors, within the statutory timelines.

  • DTH operators report sharp drop in subscribers in Jan-March: TRAI

    DTH operators report sharp drop in subscribers in Jan-March: TRAI

    Mumbai: The total number of active DTH subscribers declined to 69.57 million at the end of March 2021 from 70.99 million at the end of December 2020, as per the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). This is in addition to the subscribers of DD Free Dish (DTH service of Doordarshan).

    The share of leading DTH players stood at Tata Sky (33.3 per cent), Dish TV India (24.09 per cent), Bharti Telemedia (25.54 per cent), and Sun Direct TV (17.07 per cent).

    A total of 901 satellite TV channels have been permitted by the ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) out of which 327 are pay-TV channels. There are 235 SD channels and 92 HD channels. All the other channels permitted by MIB may be considered free-to-air channels.

    There are 1726 MSOs registered with MIB out of which only 12 MSOs and one HITS operator have a subscriber base greater than one million. Siti Networks had 8.2 million subscribers followed by GTPL Hathway at 7.7 million, Hathway Digital at 5.6 million, Den Networks at 4.5 million, Thamizhaga Cable TV Communication at 3.5 million, Kerala Communicators Cable at 3.05 million, Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable at 2.9 million, Fastway Transmissions 2.2 million, NXT Digital (HITS) at 2.05 million, KAL Cable at 2.02 million, VK Digital at 1.7 million, Asianet Digital Network at 1.2 million and NXT Digital (Cable TV) at 1.1 million.

    There are 366 private FM radio channels in 105 cities with 30 private FM radio broadcasters. Odisha Television Ltd, has ceased the operation of its single FM radio station in the city of Rourkela, Odisha. The advertising revenue reported by FM radio broadcasters is Rs 321.52 crore as against Rs 323.01 crore in the previous quarter.

    There are 324 operational community radio stations up from 315 in the previous quarter.

  • Tata Sky unveils its first batch of Make-in-India set-top boxes

    Tata Sky unveils its first batch of Make-in-India set-top boxes

    New Delhi: DTH operator Tata Sky on Thursday unveiled its first batch of Made in India- set-top boxes which have been manufactured in partnership with Technicolor Connected Home and Flextronics.

    Talking about this landmark milestone, Tata Sky’s MD & CEO, Harit Nagpal said, “The India-made set-top boxes will help generate employment while reducing lead time. The boxes have been tested and re-tested beyond the factory floor for quality assurance, and we hope this endeavor will help us to serve the Indian consumers even better.”

    According to the DTH operator, the project builds further on the long-standing partnership between Tata Sky and Technicolor Connected Home, which provides set-top boxes and broadband access solutions for network service providers (NSPs) around the world. The mass production of the set-top boxes developed for Tata Sky by Technicolor Connected Home started in Chennai, in partnership with Flextronics in June 2021.

    Technicolor Connected Home, president, Luis Martinez-Amago said the announcement marks the accomplishment of objectives outlined in August of 2020, in which Tata Sky and Technicolor Connected Home committed to shifting the production and distribution of STBs – including Android TV-based Binge+ set-top box – within India.

    “This is another step in Technicolor Connected Home’s continuing investment in the growth of the important Indian market. The disruptions brought about by COVID-19 have illustrated the importance of having manufacturing and distribution operations that are as close to the subscriber base as possible. We remain committed to minimise risks and total cost of ownership of STB deployments,” he added.

  • Prasar Bharati concludes 55th e-auction; allots two MPEG-4 slots

    Prasar Bharati concludes 55th e-auction; allots two MPEG-4 slots

    Mumbai: Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati has allotted two vacant MPEG-4 slots for its DD Free Dish DTH platform at the end of the 55th e-auction, held on 23 August.

    The successful bids went to the Hindi news and current affairs channels Vertent Samachar Plus 24X7 and FM News. The channels will be available on the free DTH platform starting from 1 September.

    The slots were allotted as per policy guidelines for allotment of DD Free Dish slots notified on 15 January 2019 and amended on 30 March 2019, 1 November 2019, and 22 February 2021. 

    Only satellite channels licensed by the ministry of information and broadcasting for downlinking in India would be allotted slots on DD Free Dish. The bidding for the MPEG-4 slots was open to all genre (language) channels starting at a reserve price of Rs 65.34 lakh.

    The allotment duration lasts from the period 1 September 2021 till 31 March 2022.

  • Prasar Bharati invites bids for vacant MPEG-4 slots in 55th e-auction

    Prasar Bharati invites bids for vacant MPEG-4 slots in 55th e-auction

    Mumbai: Prasar Bharati has invited applications for the allotment of vacant MPEG-4 slots of DD Free Dish DTH platform for the period from 1 September 2021 to 31 March 2022 through the 55th e-auction. The e-auction process will be tentatively held on the afternoon of 23 August.

    The bidding process shall be open to all genre (language) channels at a starting reserve price of Rs 65.35 lakh for the period from 1 September 2021 to 31 March 2022.

    The slots will be allotted in accordance with policy guidelines for allotment of DD Free Dish slots, notified on 15 January 2019 and amended vide amendment notified on 30 March 2019, 1 November 2019, and 22 February 2021.

    Only satellite channels licensed by the ministry of information and broadcasting for downlinking in India would be allotted slots on DD Free Dish. Only license holder companies or their authorised distributor partners can apply for allocation of DD Free Dish slots.

    International public broadcasters permitted/registered/licensed by the I&B ministry can also participate in the e-auction.

    In case the applicant company is other than licensee, the document/agreement signed between the license holder company and applicant company authorising the applicant bidder for distribution of the channel and bidding on behalf of the licensee must be admitted.

    Successful bidders shall be required to make payments in five monthly instalments as per the payment schedule prescribed under the policy guidelines, for allotment for DD Free Dish slots. Each instalment will be one fifth of the difference of bid amount and participation fee.

    Participating channels must pay a mandatory non-refundable processing fee of Rs 25,000 and participation fee of Rs 10 lakh. The payment is to be made only through demand draft.

    For unsuccessful bidders the participation fee will be refunded within three weeks after the declaration of the results of e-auction.

    Successful channels will be required to arrange their own IRD box in advance at DTH Earth Station, Todapur, New Delhi, to place their channel on DD Free Dish platform.

    The last date of submission of online application and original demand draft towards participation fee is 23 August by 11 a.m.

  • Prasar Bharati concludes 54th e-auction; adds five new MPEG-2 slots

    Prasar Bharati concludes 54th e-auction; adds five new MPEG-2 slots

    Mumbai: Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati has added five new MPEG-2 slots for its DD Free Dish DTH platform at the end of the 54th e-auction.

    Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) Ishara TV, teleshopping channel Naaptol, music channel Showbox, Marathi channel Sun Marathi, and Bengali channel Enterr10 Bangla have been successful in acquiring slots. The new channels will be on DD Free Dish platform from 16 August onwards.

    The allotment period for the channels is from 16 August, 2021 to 31 March, 2022 and successful bidders will have to make payment in six monthly instalments, said Prasar Bharti.

    The public service broadcaster had invited applications for the vacant slots on 31 July, which were only open to the satellite channels licensed by the ministry of information and broadcasting for downlinking in India. Only license holder companies or their authorised distributor partners could apply for allocation of DD Free Dish slots.

    Applications for the e-auction were received under five different buckets in accordance with genres/language of channel and their starting reserve price for the allotment period.

    The five buckets C, A+, A, B and D are classified as follows.

    Bucket C – news and current affairs (Hindi), news and current affairs (English) and news and current affairs (Punjabi) channels.

    Bucket A+ – All general entertainment (Hindi) channels.

    Bucket A – All movie (Hindi) channels.

    Bucket B – All music (Hindi), sports (Hindi), GEC (Bhojpuri), movies (Bhojpuri) and teleshopping (Hindi) channels.

    Bucket D – All other remaining genres (language) and teleshopping (regional) channels.