ITV

Category: DTH

  • FY-2015: Inflection point for DTH companies in India?

    FY-2015: Inflection point for DTH companies in India?

    BENGALURU: Is FY-2015 the inflection point for direct to home (DTH) companies in India? The answer seems yes, if one were to go by the financials declared by three listed operators for the quarter and year ended 31 March, 2015 (Q4-2015 and FY-2015 respectively) – Airtel Digital TV, Dish TV and Videocon d2h. And the players are gung-ho about the future. Subscriber growth and higher ARPUs (Average Revenue Per User) are some of the factors that have brightened the picture for this segment of the carriage industry in fiscal 2015.

     

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

     

    This report covers only three of the seven DTH service providers in India since the other four – Reliance Digital TV, Sun Direct (about 97 lakh subscribers as on 31 March, 2015), Tata Sky and DD Free Dish are not listed on the bourses and their financial numbers are not available.

     

    The Numbers

     

    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.

     

    According to Dish TV, the DTH sector is a direct beneficiary of a positive consumer sentiment. The company achieved strong 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.

     

    The biggest among the three in terms of revenue as well subscribers, Dish TV at the close of FY-2015, reported 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. For Q3-2015, Dish TV’s loss was just Rs 2.87 crore as compared to double-digit crore loss numbers in the previous or like-to-like quarters. Dish TV also doubled its subscriber growth to 15 lakh in FY-2015 as compared to the previous year. As on 31 March, 2015, the company reported a net subscriber base of 1.29 crore, having added 4.04 lakh subscribers in the last quarter of 2015.

     

    Dish TV also reported higher ARPU of Rs 179 in Q4-2014 as against Rs 177 in Q3-2015 (1.13 per cent increase in ARPU) and was 5.3 per cent higher than the annual ARPU of Rs 170 reported in Q4-2014.

     

    “As digitization spreads far and wide, we continue to believe that there is sufficient headroom to further explore price differentials between key urban markets and their rural counterparts. All pack prices, for new as well as existing subscribers of Dish TV, have been moved by Rs 10 each in the 42 cities under phase I and II. We are confident that pack price hikes, higher HD uptake, as well as industry level developments such as initiation of packaging in cable will be key contributors to ARPU expansion going forward,” said Dish TV managing director Jawahar Goel.

     

    Post a successful absorption of higher pack prices in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Kolkata, Dish TV initiated another price change during the current month. In less than three months since it was first introduced, differential pricing – an industry first from Dish TV was rolled-out in the balance 38 cities covered under DAS phases I and II with effect from midnight on 12 May, 2015.

     

    Last year Dish TV launched a second brand, Zing, in the Indian DTH space. A resounding success, Zing cemented Dish TV’s supremacy in the DAS Phase 3 and 4 markets with custom-made content, hardware and service packages for the regional audience, says the company.

     

    Airtel Digital TV Services

     

    Airtel’s Digital TV Services (DTH segment) revenue grew 19.2 per cent in FY-2015 to Rs 2475.9 crore from Rs 2077.1 crore in FY-2014. The segment reported 11.8 per cent growth in number of subscribers with 100.73 lakh subscribers on 31 March, 2015 as compared to the 90.12 lakh subscribers at the close of the previous year. ARPU in FY-2015 at Rs 214 was five per cent more than the Rs 203 in FY-2014. The segment reported slightly higher monthly churn of one per cent as compared to 0.9 per cent in FY-2014.

     

    The DTH segment reported an operating profit of Rs 8.1 crore in Q4-2015 as compared to an operating loss of Rs 36 crore in the immediate trailing quarter. For FY-2015, Airtel DTH reported a lower operating loss of Rs 158.1 crore, for FY-2014, operating loss was three times more at Rs 481.2 crore.

     

    EBIDTA and EBIDTA margins in FY-2015 at Rs 675.2 crore (27.3 per cent of total revenue) were more than double (2.02 times) the Rs 334.7 crore (16.1 per cent of total revenue) in the previous year.

     

    Videocon d2h

     

    Coupled with higher ARPU for FY-2015 at Rs 196, and Rs 202 in Q4-2015, Videocon d2h 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, up 11.7 per cent from FY-2015.

     

    Videocon d2h closed fiscal 2015 with 101.8 lakh subscribers as compared to 84.4 lakh in the previous year. It claims market leadership in subscriber growth in FY-2015 with 26.4 lakh gross subscribers and 17.4 lakh net subscriber additions. Subscriber churn per month increased fractionally in FY-2015 to 0.8 per cent as compared to 0.76 per cent in the previous year.

     

    The company 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.

     

    Videocon d2h CEO Anil Khera said, “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 9 to 10 crore 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.”

     

    End points

     

    The last quarter of fiscal 2015 (Q4-2015) has shown better than average results in the case of all the three DTH players examined in this report. PAT in Q4-2015 eliminated the loss Dish TV incurred in the first three quarters of FY-2015. In the case of Airtel DTH segment, EBITDA for Q4-2015 increased to Rs 207.8 crore as compared to Rs 96.7 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. The reported EBITDA margin improved significantly to 32.7 per cent in Q4-2015, as compared to a margin of 17.9 per cent in the corresponding quarter last year.

     

    As mentioned above, Airtel DTH turned EBIT positive to Rs 8.0 crore in the current quarter, as compared to EBIT loss of Rs 110.7 crore in the corresponding quarter of last year. Comparable numbers for Videocon d2h have not been made available since the company debuted on NASDAQ on 1 April, 2015 and has disclosed only a limited amount of information about its annual numbers.

     

    The Indian carriage universe has 16.8 crore households. DTH operators have continued to focus on improving realisations by increasing penetration of HD channels, premium channels and value added services (VAS) according to the FICCI-KPMG Indian Media and Entertainment Industry Report 2015. However, they may have to rework their channel packages to be more relevant and affordable for phases III and IV subscribers. A case in point mentioned above is Dish TV’s sub-brand Zing, which caters to specific linguistic needs of subscribers and offers regional specific packs as a part of all available packs.

     

    Also, all major DTH operators have launched apps for mobiles and tablets through which subscribers can watch live TV for an additional fee and DTH operators have the advantage of monetising these viewers because of their existing payment relationships with their subscribers. 

     

    The FICCI-KPMG 2015 report also says that battle for subscribers in phases III and IV of DAS in India is expected to be more keenly fought between MSOs’ and DTH players. While DTH players managed to get only 20 to 30 per cent of the subscribers converting from analogue to digital in phases I and II, they are in a much better position in phases III and IV due to inherent technology advantage of DTH in sparsely populated areas and also due to their balance sheets being healthier than the MSOs’.

     

    The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting extended the deadlines for phases III and IV to 31 December, 2015 and 31 December, 2016, respectively, and there could be another delay by 12 months according to experts, which means that phase IV rollout could complete only at the end of 2017 or even 2018. The benefits of digitisation in these phases in terms of improved addressability and ARPU is expected to take much longer. At the end of 2019, the FICCI-KPMG report expects digital cable subscriber and DTH subscriber ratio to be 55:45 with 9.4 crore digital cable subscribers and 7.6 crore DTH subscribers.

     

    HITS (Headends in the Sky), if it takes off even in a small way, could affect the fortunes of both the DTH and the cable TV industry. Let’s wait and watch how the Hinduja Group, which has a license to launch HITS and is a major player in the cable TV business, plays this out. Jain TV, the other licensee for HITS, has made a miniscule dent. IPTV is still at less than an infancy stage in the country.

     

    If DTH companies can sustain, innovate in technology and offerings and grow from here, FY-2015, and maybe Q4-2015 could really be the turning point when at least one segment of the carriage business in India has started making money. Only time will tell…

  • Videocon d2h ups HD fare; looks to offer 50 channels

    Videocon d2h ups HD fare; looks to offer 50 channels

    MUMBAI: Direct to home (DTH) player Videocon d2h has strengthened its bouquet of HD channels and services. With the addition of TLC HD channel, the platform now offers 35 HD channels and services. Moreover, with strong demand for high definition content, Videocon d2h is looking at upping its HD offering to 50 channels and services soon.

     

    The 35 HD channels and services available on Videocon d2h include India’s first and only 4K Ultra HD DTH channel. With flat panel TVs being widely accepted and its consumption increasing, the time is ideal for increasing the number of HD channels.

     

    Videocon d2h executive director Saurabh Dhoot said, “We at Videocon d2h believe in giving our viewers the finest quality content to transform their television viewing experience. The rich quality video of HD channels makes viewing a delight and it is our honest endeavour to provide maximum content in HD. TV viewing experience in India is set for an upgrade and Videocon d2h is ready for the same with its innovative technology and quality services.”

     

    Videocon d2h CEO Anil Khera added, “Videocon d2h believes in offering its customers the most premium content. With 35 HD channels & services, we are working towards delivering more than expected. Our subscribers can enjoy a wide range of high-definition channels of various genres like sports, movies, entertainment, infotainment, and music. This promise of giving the best channels and services across genres has built trust for Videocon d2h.”

  • Sun Direct’s home channel is media planners’ new destination

    Sun Direct’s home channel is media planners’ new destination

    MUMBAI: South Indian direct-to-home (DTH) player Sun Direct is all set to take advertising on its DTH home channels to a new level. Keeping in mind the increasing number of advertisers opting for slots on DTH home channels over regular TV channels, Sun Direct has taken a stride towards creating awareness about the available platform.

    In the current digital era, many advertisers opt for advertising in the home channels of the DTH player, which gives innumerable benefits to the brands as it is reaches the target audience. As a major DTH player in South India, Sun Direct has expanded its home channel platform for advertisers to showcase their brands.

    All e–shopping advertisers associated so far gave a positive feedback for Sun Direct viewers for their advertisements resulting in better sales; excluding other brands that have advertised in the platform. The home channel has a mandatory 10-second duration of ads during the booting of the set–top–box so that the viewers get to watch the ad completely. Sun Direct has been innovating to provide services of great quality to both its subscribers and advertisers.

  • Reliance Digital TV joins hands with Visiware to power iGames service

    Reliance Digital TV joins hands with Visiware to power iGames service

    NEW DELHI: Reliance Digital TV has partnered with Visiware to power iGames service on its DTH platform.

     

    Reliance Digital TV’s customers will have access to a richer and improved gaming experience with twice the number of games for the same price. Accessible through the Interactive button on the remote control, the iGames service does not require any additional equipment.

     

    The portal offers a selection of 16 games split up in four genres primarily for people between 8 – 25 years old to enjoy. Each category proposes four different games selected out of a 300-game catalogue. The portal is updated with two games getting refreshed every month.

     

    The games include Adventure with arcade and action titles with hundreds of levels to conquer, Board & Cards with classics such as Solitaire and Freecell; Brain Teasers with mind boggling thinking references; and Sports with games like Football and Basketball amongst others.

     

    Reliance Digital TV’s customers can subscribe through phone or SMS to one of the two available offers. They can either select the monthly option at Rs 34 a month or the quarterly option at Rs101 for three months with the fourth month free.

     

    iGames’s revamp and enhancement bring new additional features. The portal is updated every month with two new games replacing old ones without any fee necessary for both the monthly and the quarterly subscribers.

     

    Reliance Digital TV business head Ashutosh M Srivastava said, “We are glad to partner with Visiware and confident of introducing a completely new breed of TV gaming on iGames platform. The advantage with Reliance Digital TV gaming service is that it is easily accessible, affordable and can be enjoyed by every member of the family with no age bar. This opens up a large market, not only in the larger cities, but also in the Tier II-Tier III cities and small towns.”

     

    “With this new launch, in partnership with a major DTH network such as Reliance Digital TV, we take another defining step into the Indian market. We are really delighted that our games will bring real interactivity to the Indian television market and for Visiware and Reliance Digital TV this is the perfect team in order to propose a really good and innovative interactive TV offer. The size of the distribution is critical in this market and we are very proud to be partners of all the top operators across Europe, America and Asia,” added Visiware CEO Colas Overkott.

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

    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.

  • Digital penetration of pay-TV subs in APAC to reach 90% by 2023: MPA

    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.”

  • Tata Sky taps IBM to launch new mobile solutions

    Tata Sky taps IBM to launch new mobile solutions

    MUMBAI: Tata Sky has partnered with IBM to launch new mobile solutions that will enable it to reach new markets, and improve customer service and responsiveness for its 14 million subscribers across the country.

     

    With the IBM MobileFirst Platform, Tata Sky can securely integrate customer and enterprise data and launch new apps to spur growth, especially in rural markets. For example, the new mSales app helps dealers and distributors quickly respond to customer inquiries, track existing accounts and onboard new subscribers. Access to mobile capabilities that enable more efficient customer service is especially important in rural areas where there is often limited access to laptops or reliable Internet connectivity.

     

    According to a market study by Hong Kong-based research firm Media Partners Asia, the DTH active subscriber base in India will increase from 37 million in 2013 to 60 million by 2018 and 75 million by 2023. By launching innovative mobile solutions for its 300,000 dealers, Tata Sky aims to add more subscribers and gain market share.

     

    With more than 50,000 downloads since its launch, the mSales app creates new cost efficiencies by decreasing help desk calls to manage existing customer needs, and streamlines processes for establishing new accounts. With simplified access to customer analytics, dealers and distributors can better engage customers with more targeted, personalized products and services.

     

    “With IBM’s deep mobile and industry expertise we have gained a trusted partner for mobile solutions. The Tata Sky mSales app is one of the few examples of how mobile handsets can help us overcome business challenges thereby opening new markets and creating more valuable customer interactions,” said Tata Sky chief information officer Ravishanker.

     

    Advancing clients’ digital transformation strategies, the IBM MobileFirst portfolio of solutions can be integrated as a part of a hybrid cloud solution that combines public and private cloud elements with the flexibility to choose and change environments, data and services as needed.

     

    “Service Providers around the world are facing heightened competition as they compete for customer wallet share and loyalty. Creating personalized customer interactions is critical for extending those relationships and identifying new business opportunities. With the IBM MobileFirst Platform, Tata Sky can take advantage of new growth opportunities in untapped markets and easily scale the number of users and apps being delivered to market to offer differentiated services and get ahead of the competition,” said IBM India and South Asia regional general manager Vanitha Narayanan.

     

    The IBM MobileFirst Platform is available from Bluemix, IBM’s cloud development platform, or via on-premises deployment. IBM total cloud revenue – covering public, private and hybrid engagements – was $7.7 billion over the previous 12 months at the end of March 2015; it grew more than 60 per cent in the first quarter 2015.

  • India’s active DTH subscriber base to reach 75 million by 2023: MPA

    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.

  • Tata Sky upgrades to Ericsson’s platform to enhance video services

    Tata Sky upgrades to Ericsson’s platform to enhance video services

    MUMBAI: Direct to home (DTH) operator Tata Sky has upgraded upgraded and expanded its entire DTH platform to the Ericsson’s video compression platform AVP 4000 System Encoder.

     

    The upgrade enables Tata Sky to substantially increase the bouquet of channels offered to subscribers while maintaining the highest quality of viewing experience.

     

    Tata Sky CEO Harit Nagpal said, “For Tata Sky, it is of utmost importance to consistently deliver a high quality viewing experience to our subscribers. The Ericsson AVP 4000 System Encoder allows us to enhance picture quality, offer increased volumes of channels and content and launch new services, such as OTT, on the same platform.”

     

    Ericsson head of region India Chris Houghton added, “Ericsson is committed to helping its customers overcome the challenges of satellite spectrum scarcity and meet increasing quality expectations of Indian consumers. The AVP 4000 System Encoder is designed to overcome today’s bandwidth and delivery constraints by providing the necessary flexibility, velocity and agility to deploy new services within an extremely competitive landscape.”

     

    Four out of the seven DTH operators in India are based on Ericsson’s video compression technology. In March this year, Ericsson supported Tata Sky to launch the first commercial 4K video service in the subcontinent. Customers subscribing to the 4K service could watch video up to four times the resolution of the standard high definition (HD) video currently available.

     

    According to Ericsson, the total mobile video traffic over the next six years (2015-2020) will be more than 17 times that of the last six (2009-2014). With availability of more content for an ever – increasing number of video-enabled devices, it is critical to maximize video delivery over available bandwidth and multiple networks. 

  • FY-2105: Dish TV in black; adds 1.5 million subscribers

    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