ITV

Tag: a la carte

  • MSOs to put Star India channels on a la carte

    MSOs to put Star India channels on a la carte

    MUMBAI: The multi system operators (MSOs) are gearing up for the big change. In order to meet the deadline given by the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), the leading MSOs under the umbrella of All India Digital Cable Federation (AIDCF) met in New Delhi today.

     

    “The main agenda of the meeting was to discuss how we will implement the order passed by the Tribunal,” says AIDCF president and Siti Cable CEO VD Wadhwa speaking to indiantelevision.com.

     

    During the meeting, the MSOs discussed the modus operandi for implementation of RIO by 10 November and also the challenges.

     

    “There are three major challenges: at the consumer level, at the local cable operator level and thirdly at the technology level,” adds Wadhwa.

     

    Every MSO, according to Wadhwa has different subscriber numbers. “All the packages have to be upgraded or downgraded. We will have to see if the system can support the changes for millions of subscribers,” he says.

     

    AIDCF has decided to put all the Star India channels on a la carte. “We cannot carry all the Star channels, since it is coming up to be very expensive. So we have decided to put all the Star channels on a la carte and will let the consumer decide which channels they want,” he informs.

     

    Wadhwa says that even after the incentives that Star is offering, the cost for the MSO has doubled. “Even if we take the maximum discounts, the channel prices are going up by 100 per cent,” he says.

     

    Not only this, AIDCF is forming a sub-committee which will be meeting Star India officials early next week. “The committee will meet the officials to explain to them the challenges we are facing. This system is viable for none,” he adds.

     

    All the MSOs will be signing the RIO deals with Star before 10 November and in the meanwhile start working on creating new packages. “We will decide the pricing of the channel based on the consumer demand for the channel,” he concludes.

     

    The MSOs will inform the consumers of the changes at individual level.

     

    The meeting was attended by Siti Cable, Hathway Cable & Datacom, Den Networks, Manthan, GTPL amongst others. 

  • Star India on watch as Hathway implements RIO TDSAT order

    Star India on watch as Hathway implements RIO TDSAT order

    MUMBAI: The seven month long battle between multisystem operator (MSO) Hathway Cable and Datacom on one hand and Star India and Taj Television on the other, finally ended last week, with the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) directing Hathway to execute an interconnect agreement based on Star’s Reference Interconnect Offer (RIO). 

     

    The TDSAT had directed the two to sign the interconnect agreement in its current form and approach the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in case of any objections with parts of the RIO. “We have signed the RIO in its current form and have sent it to Star,” informs Hathway Cable and Datacom MD and CEO Jagdish Kumar.

     

    But, having said this, Star still seems to have some concerns. “As of today, the Star channels have been dropped on Hathway in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Ahmedabad. So while channels like Star Movies, Star World have been switched off from the Mumbai headend, in Ahmedabad, except Star Plus and Star Movies, all the other channels from the network have been dropped,” says a industry source close to the development.

     

    According to the same source, Hathway, fundamentally has been offering less channels at a higher price to consumers, as compared to the other MSOs or DTH operators in the same market.

     

    “Currently, the MSO has shown a consistent behaviour and pattern of taking on the broadcasters. It has been dropping channels and moving them to a la carte and has been depriving a significant number of consumers of good content,” he further adds.

     

    The network is looking forward to the way the changes will be communicated by the MSO to the customers. “The consumers will have to call the MSO and find out how they can subscribe to the channels as it is no longer available in the packs. And so communication is crucial,” the source informs. 

     

    According to Hathway’s Kumar, with the court ordering the MSO to follow procedures from 1 October, it is doing everything they can to inform their subscribers.  “We are using various means of communication. So while the first thing we are doing is communicating to our local cable operators, we have also put tickers on our channels, informing consumers that Star channels will be available on a la carte, henceforth. This apart, all the MSOs together are coming up with a press release in order to inform the consumers about the change,” says Kumar.

     

    Kumar says, that Hathway will continue to inform its LCOs and subscribers, even after the initial phase.

     

    Hathway will be providing non-sports channels of Star at Rs 10 each, and sports channels for Rs 20 to its consumers.

     

     The MSO believes it can still make a good profit margin at these rates, even though this looks challenging, considering the range of RIO pricing for the Star package is from 52 paisa for Channel V to Rs 17.39 for Star Sports2 and Rs 2.36 for Star World.

     

    “But we didn’t want to confuse our customers with so many price points, and so came up with this plan. So while we expect to make a good margin for Channel V, the margin for Star Plus which is for Rs 9 will be small. But overall, we hope to make a good margin,” ends Kumar. 

  • Now Dish TV opts to dish out channel reach data

    Now Dish TV opts to dish out channel reach data

    MUMBAI: It is taking transparency and openness to a totally different level. First it prised open the bundled channels that IndiaCast was offering and it started selling them to subscribers a la carte. Now, India’s oldest DTH operator, Dish TV,with a subscriber base of nearly 12 million says that it is planning to open up crucial subscriber information to media agencies and advertisers. 

     

    The DTH provider says it is looking at providing reach data of various channels on its platform every month to advertisers and media buyers from February 2014 onwards to enhance their understanding of how viewers are watching it. The data which is scheduled to be released in February will be for the month of January. 

     

    “We have been approached by media planners and advertisers often to share our data to enable them to get a better handle on the performance of various channels and since this data is universe data and not based on a small sample, it could prove to be a very valuable addition to the existing published data for eg from TAM and or other rating agencies,” says Dish TV CEO RC Venkateish.

     

    The data given out will be as percentages. “We would provide the reach of each channel as a percentage of the total platform reach. So if a particular channel is in all packs it would reach 100 per cent of the platform, however if it is only in the top tier pack or is an a la carte then the reach would obviously be a fraction of the platform reach,” adds Venkateish. This means that if channel X is available in two packs whose subscriber base put together is 3 million that means its reach will be 25 per cent.

     

    Media planners have welcomed Dish TV’s openness with open arms. Madison Media COO Karthik Lakshminarayanan says: “It is a welcome move for advertisers. The data will be more robust and it will also help us in planning and taking better decisions. We will be aware of the strong markets of Dish TV and if our client wants then they can advertise on its landing pages.” He also added that it could also help Dish TV to rake in more revenue.

     

    On the other hand ZenithOptimedia CEO Satyajit Sen has a slightly different point of view. Although he does agree that the move is a good one, he feels it won’t help Dish TV get more revenue neither will it help in targeting better for advertisers. “Several times, channels oscillate due to uneven distribution and this transparency will help us understand the fluctuations better,” he says.

     

    In November last year, the daddy of the DTH community had introduced a special scheme called ‘on request channels’ through which people could subscribe to channels only if they wanted to, and remove unnecessary ones. This had started a round of fisticuffs between it and IndiaCast, which was renewing its channel deal with the platform. Both IndiaCast and Dish TV knocked on the doors of the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT).The latter was ordered by the tribunal not to charge carriage fees and even call the scheme a la carte, while the former was told to discontinue the ads that were being carried on TV and in print, which were potentially inciting subscribers to go to other platforms.  From 1 January, 22 IndiaCast channels are available on a la carte on Dish TV and another 11 will follow from 1 April.

      

    RC (as he is known by colleagues) today believes that the move to take the channels a la carte has worked out exactly as he had foreseen it would. 

     

    Says he quite ecstatically: “Our recent initiative to empower consumers to avail channels according to their demand profile has been eye opening. The results so far have been fully consistent with our expectations and reinforce our beliefs that through the mechanism of forced bundling by aggregators a whole lot of channels with barely any pull are forced down the throats of platforms as well as consumers. Where true consumer choice is exercised you will find that the data is very revealing! In a way, despite valiant noises, the emperor isn’t wearing too many clothes!!!”

     

    So what do broadcasters have to say about Dish TV’s openness?  ZMCL CEO Alok Agrawal says that the move will benefit niche channels the most since TAM data provided about them isn’t always sufficient. However, Asianet business head Anup Chandrashekaran feels that one has to be cautious about any data dished out. “Dish TV also has ownership issues and so it is important to know how unbiased the data is. However, it is still a fraction of a majority and decisions can’t be taken on this data. It can be a good feedback though,” he says.

     

    Dish TV is a subsidiary company of the Essel group that runs the Zee Network, hence Chandrashekaran’s concern.