DTH

DTH wins over digital CAS – Starcom study

Published

20 years ago

June 24, 2006

Will I get fewer eyeballs for my advertising? Do I need to increase my budget to reach the same number of people through Television? Is my media plan going to become inefficient?These are just a few of the questions that a lot of Marketing Managers are asking their media agencies in the face of frequent announcements and subsequent postponements of the much awaited CAS rollout in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata.

While there has been a lot of debate on how CAS will affect the Cable industry or the Advertiser, no one thought of talking to the consumer

To understand the impact that CAS will have on the TV viewing habits of consumers, Starcom Worldwide commissioned a consumer research in these 3 metros, Chennai having already implemented CAS in 2003. This is the second wave of this research with the first one having been done in the 4 metros in 2003 when CAS was announced for the first time. This research was done among decision makers from SEC A,B & C households and has thrown up quite a few insights that can help marketers in understanding consumer perceptions and responses to CAS. Starcom also followed up with an analysis of ORG retail offtake data to understand what volumes of various categories are likely to get affected by CAS. We present here some of the key findings of the CAS research and a synopsis of the sales analysis.

A majority of the Consumers not willing to opt for CAS immediately
In spite of the strength and popularity of Cable TV, only 30% consumers are willing to opt for CAS within 3 months of launch with Mumbai leading the pack at 53%.
DTH more popular than CAS
DTH awareness is 70% compared to only 51% for CAS
We attribute this to the advertising done by Dish TV over the last few months since launch and is likely to go up further with the entry of other players in this segment.
Most want to buy the Set Top Box outright rather than rent it
Banks, who may have thought about financing Cable Operators for Set Top might have to shelve their plans since a vast majority (70%) of consumers prefer to buy the STB outright.
Compared to 2003 consumers willing to pay a higher amount for the STB
Good news for cable operators is that the amount people are willing to spend for the STB is 30% higher than the amount they were willing to pay in 2003.
Consumers willing to pay to watch channels of their choice and the perception is that Cable cost will come down post the implementation of CAS
60% of consumers believe that they will be able to watch only channels of their choice and are willing to pay for those rather than being charged for 100 channels out of which they watch only 20. They also believe that CAS will actually bring down their monthly subscription from an average of Rs 202 to RS 162 with the drop being highest in Mumbai while Kolkata is not impacted at all.

Most people want to take a wait and watch approach and they will wait till there is enough indication that CAS is here to stay and they see enough of their peers converting in the first few weeks. Once the initial seeding takes place CAS penetration might start growing exponentially.

Finally what is the implication of the CAS rollout on sales. The following chart demonstrates the methodology followed to arrive at the percentage of sales that are likely to get impacted.

The affected volumes likely to be: Soaps targeted at the lower SECs : 1.1%
Metro focused Ketchup : 6% Private Insurance Companies : 10%

While most FMCG marketers can breathe easy, the ones who sell premium products/brands and are dependant on South Mumbai, South Delhi and the Municipal areas of Kolkata should have contingency plans in place But even for most of such marketers, the impact will not be more than 10% to 15%.

Related Topics:analogue CAS Digital DTH Starcom Media

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DTH

Tata Play deepens Odia push with ad-free ‘Odia Manoranjan’ platform

Published

1 week ago

January 29, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Tata Play is doubling down on regional loyalty. India’s leading DTH player has launched Tata Play Odia Manoranjan, a new value-added service that corrals Odia entertainment into a single, ad-free destination, available on television and the Tata Play mobile app.

Powered by Sidharth TV, one of Odisha’s most popular Odia-language GECs, the platform serves up a hefty catalogue: over 180 movies, 100+ Jatras, around 20 television shows and a library of more than 12,000 songs spanning devotional, folk, film and non-film genres. From vintage favourites to contemporary titles, the mix is pitched squarely at Odia-speaking households, with particular pull in tier-3 and tier-4 markets.

Subscribers get 24×7, full-screen SD viewing without ad breaks on channel number 1755, with live TV and VOD access across screens. The price point is deliberately sharp: Rs 2 a day.

Pallavi Puri, chief commercial and content officer at Tata Play, framed the move as a bet on language and culture. “India’s strongest viewing loyalties are rooted in language and lived culture. Tata Play Odia Manoranjan brings together the many expressions of Odia entertainment—from films and Jatras to devotional programming and music—into one clearly defined destination. With this launch, Tata Play further elevates its regional content offering by giving Odia audiences a single, definitive home for their stories and traditions.”

For Sidharth TV Network, the partnership is about reach without compromise. Sitaram Agrawalla, owner and chairman, said: “For decades, Odia families have trusted our entertainment platforms for stories that feel like home, and for moments that bring us together. Tata Play Odia Manoranjan builds on this trust by placing a diverse range of Odia films, theatre, devotional music and shows into a single, accessible space. This collaboration isn’t just about wider distribution—it’s about honouring the preferences of Odia viewers with a seamless, ad-free viewing experience that reflects their language, culture and the way they choose to engage with content.”

The new service slots into Tata Play’s expanding portfolio of entertainment and infotainment platform services across genres including entertainment, kids, learning, regional and devotion, catering to all age groups.

In short: one language, one screen, zero ads—and a clear signal that regional is where the real viewing power lies.

DTH

Binge strikes play as Tata Play adds Times Play to its OTT universe

Published

2 months ago

December 2, 2025

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: If streaming had galaxies, Tata Play Binge just opened a wormhole. In its latest move to become India’s most sprawling entertainment universe, the platform has now folded Times Play, Times Network’s digital-first OTT service, into its all-in-one subscription bouquet bringing Hollywood hits, snackable shorts, live news, lifestyle, entertainment, Pickleball and 11 live TV channels under a single roof.

The new addition means subscribers no longer need to hop between apps in Olympic-level finger gymnastics, Binge now pulls Times Network’s entire digital catalogue into one screen, one login, one bill. And in the era of attention overload, that’s practically a public service.

Times Play brings with it a distinctive blend of premium Hollywood cinema, web series, short-format videos, and Times Network’s formidable news muscle. Viewers can flip seamlessly between Romedy Now, Movies Now, MNX, MN+, Zoom, Times Now, Times Now Navbharat, ET Now, ET Now Swadesh, and even Pickleball Now, mirroring the growing Indian appetite for niche sporting entertainment.

On the long-form front, hits like Reunion, India’s Story, True Story of Angeline Jolie, Orphan First Kill, The November Man, Barely Lethal, Southpaw, The Hurt Locker, Transporter Refueled, and The Holiday sit alongside Times Network factual and current-affairs staples including Frankly Speaking, Sawaal Public Ka, and News Ki Paathshaala.

Describing the partnership, Tata Play chief commercial and content officer Pallavi Puri, said the aim remained unchanged to make content discovery effortless and reduce the modern curse of app overload. She noted that integrating Times Play enriches Binge’s already deep catalogue with a broader mix of premium films, originals and news programming “without juggling multiple apps or subscriptions”.

Times Network echoed the sentiment, calling the collaboration a natural extension of its mission to deliver credible entertainment and journalism at scale. It emphasised Tata Play’s reach, reliability and reputation as a key driver in bringing Times Play’s digital catalogue to diverse Indian households.

With the addition of Times Play, Tata Play Binge now boasts 30 plus OTT platforms on a single interface, a list that includes Prime Video, JioHotstar, Zee5, Apple TV+, Lionsgate, SunNXT, Discovery+, BBC Player, Aha, Fancode, ShemarooMe, Hungama, ManoramaMax, Nammaflix, Tarang Plus, Travel XP, Animax, Fuse+, ShortsTV, Curiosity Stream, and DistroTV, among others.

Notably, Netflix remains available as part of combo packs for DTH subscribers, while Amazon Prime Video can be unlocked as an add-on for Binge users with a Tata Play DTH connection. And for large-screen loyalists, all 30 plus apps can be streamed via LG, Samsung and Android Smart TVs, the Tata Play Binge+ set-top box, Amazon FireTV Stick – Tata Play edition, or through TataPlayBinge.com.

The expansion comes on the heels of recent integrations, including WAVES by Prasar Bharati and BBC Player, reinforcing Tata Play Binge’s ambition to remain India’s most diverse, most unified, and most fuss-free entertainment destination.

With Times Play now in the mix, Binge isn’t just aggregating content, it’s quietly aggregating the future of how India watches.

DTH

Harit Nagpal’s second literary act: why binary thinking is killing your career

Published

2 months ago

December 1, 2025

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Harit Nagpal isn’t interested in either/or. The chief executive of Tata Play—India’s largest content distribution platform—has spent four decades navigating cosmetics, cooking oils, colas, clothing, communication and content, and he’s learnt something valuable: the best decisions rarely come from choosing between the options you’re given. They come from inventing the one you weren’t.

His new book, Pivot: Between Two Options, Pick the Third, published by Westland Business, launched on Amazon on 24 November 2025 at Rs 499 (currently discounted 23 per cent to Rs 383). It’s a 164-page distillation of that philosophy, wrapped around the story of Neel, an ordinary middle-class boy whose life becomes a case study in counterintuitive decision-making.

The premise is deceptively simple. When you’re stuck between two choices—whether it’s picking an academic stream, staying in a comfortable job or leaping into uncertainty, handling workplace stress or navigating personal crises—conventional wisdom says weigh the pros and cons and choose. Nagpal says that’s precisely when you should stop, step back, and ask: “So?” That tiny, disruptive question, he argues, can crack open possibilities that binary thinking obscures.

This is Nagpal’s second book. His debut writing effort, Adapt: To thrive, not just survive, established him as a corporate leader willing to put management philosophy into readable prose. And it got him the credentials of a best selling author. Both books are now available as a bundle on Amazon for Rs 739, which positions them as a one-two punch for anyone trying to navigate career and life without succumbing to false choices.

The book doesn’t promise easy answers. What it offers instead is something rarer: the questions for deeper reflection and the space to think through responses that aren’t pre-packaged. In an age of algorithmic recommendations and decision-making outsourced to apps, that might be the most counterintuitive choice of all.

Nagpal’s four-decade career suggests he’s practised what he’s preaching. Moving from consumer goods to media and technology requires exactly the kind of lateral thinking his book champions. Whether Pivot helps readers replicate that trajectory remains to be seen. But in a world increasingly hostile to nuance, a 164-page argument for third options feels quietly radical.