ITV

Tag: ABS Seven Star

  • ABS Seven Star launches hybrid STBs; targets 2 lakh consumers in Mumbai by Dec 2015

    ABS Seven Star launches hybrid STBs; targets 2 lakh consumers in Mumbai by Dec 2015

    MUMBAI: Innovation is the key to a successful business and realizing this is Mumbai based multi system operator (MSO) ABS Seven Star. 

     

    As reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, ABS Seven Star, which so far had been operating MPEG 2 headend, has now launched its MPEG 4 headend with as many as 500 national and international channels. Additionally, the MSO has started rolling out MPEG 4 set top boxes (STBs) as well. 

     

    In keeping with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ initiative, these indigenous STBs manufactured by ABS Productions are hybrid boxes with both Ethernet and cable. The STBs have been loaded with facilities like YouTube, web TV, video on demand (VOD), internet browsing, TV Everywhere and cloud computing among others.

     

    “Our offering will convert your television set to a smart TV. The box will have 75 HD and 3D channels. We are also creating content, apart from the ones we have taken the rights for. The box will have 75 of our own channels, which includes education channel among others,” informs ABS Seven Star CMD Atul Saraf.

     

    Priced at Rs 3500, the hybrid box also comes with 5GB online space. “This allows consumers to use their TV set as a computer and save data as well,” he adds. The company has also come up with a HD only box loaded with VOD and internet, which is priced at Rs 2500. 

     

    While 10,000 hybrid boxes have so far been manufactured, ABS Productions has rolled out 30,000 HD boxes and is looking at manufacturing 30,000 boxes every month. 

     

    In order to give a fillip to VAS, ABS Seven Star will provide the services to consumers at a fixed fee of Rs 30 per month. “Consumers will then have to pay for the content they choose to watch,” he says. 

     

    ABS Seven Star has also tied up with content distribution network (CDN) to have a multi screen presence. 

       

    The MSO through these services is looking at an average revenue per user (ARPU) of Rs 1200. “Today, consumers are anyways paying separately for cable and internet. With our new offering, we will be giving them both the services with just one equipment,” informs Saraf. 

     

    ABS Seven Star is connecting through national long distance (NLD) players to have a presence in Rajasthan, UP, Haryana, Bihar and Orissa. “We are looking at acquiring 200,000 consumers in Mumbai by December 2015,” points out Saraf.

  • ABS Seven Star to launch MPEG 4 headend; targets phase III, IV cities

    ABS Seven Star to launch MPEG 4 headend; targets phase III, IV cities

    MUMBAI: ABS Seven Star is all set to make its next big move. The Mumbai based multi system operator (MSO), which so far had been operating MPEG 2 headend, will now launch its MPEG 4 headend with as many as 500 channels.

     

    While it is currently in the testing phase, the official launch is slated for 25 July.

     

    The new headend will be placed at Andheri West in Mumbai. “We have taken a new premise for setting up the MPEG 4 headend,” ABS Seven Star CMD Atul Saraf tells Indiantelevision.com.

     

    The MPEG 4 headend will have 75 high definition (HD) channels. “We will be swapping the MPEG 2 set top boxes (STBs) with the MPEG 4 HD boxes in the next four months,” added Saraf.

     

    Priced at Rs 2500, the STBs are hybrid with both cable and Ethernet. The boxes have been manufactured under ABS Productions Pvt Ltd, which has contracted Videocon Group’s Trend Electronics to manufacture them at its Aurangabad plant. “The box is on Broadcom chipset,” informed Saraf.

     

    The company has already tested 2000 boxes on its network. “We will continue our old MPEG 2 headend till all the boxes are swapped,” he said.

     

    With this launch, the MSO is now targeting phase III and IV cities of digitisation. “At the time of launch, we will be present in at least three-four states,” he informed.

     

    ABS Seven Star is aiming at reaching 10 million households in the next two years. “India is huge, and another 17 million STBs are needed to digitize the whole country. We will have our own pipe in that,” he informed.

     

    In order to expand, the MSO is also taking the acquisition route in phase I. “We will acquire lots of networks in phase I, talks for which are already on,” concluded Saraf. 

  • MCOF conclave stresses on importance of broadband for LMOs

    MCOF conclave stresses on importance of broadband for LMOs

    MUMBAI:  It has been touted as one of the leading get together of the last mile owners (LMOs) in Maharashtra. The Maharashtra Cable Operators Federation (MCOF) National Conclave on Broadband and Cable (NCBC) 2014 saw its president Arvind Prabhoo put his best foot forward in trying to get the LMOs to buy into his vision of a digitised cable TV India where they are also prospering. Apart from formally launching Synergy Cable Operators Private Limited (SCOPE), the first Cable Virtual Networks Operator (CVNO), Prabhoo and a handful of industry vets and consultants, stressed on the importance of broadband and how LMOs could increase their business five-fold, using this tool.

     

    Prabhoo pointed out that number of active broadband subscribers in India is expected double in the next two to three years according to a Telecom Regulatory Authority of India report.  In Mumbai alone, the figure is expected to go up from the current 1.2 million to 4.5 million in the next couple of years. “Broadband will grow, and we need to utilize this opportunity,” Prabhoo said.

     

    Drawing comparisons with the US where 50 per cent of broadband services are provided by cable operators, he said, “We need to implement the same in India. As things stand, only a fraction of the broadband subscriber base is delivered by cable operators.”

     

    Apart from the emphasis on broadband, day one of NCBC 2014 saw heated debate over the existing three models i.e. MSO:LMO, HITS and the newly-minted CVNO, which seeks to provide white label cable TV services to smaller operators in phase III and phase IV.

     

    Presided over by indiantelevision.com founder, CEO and editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari, the session had all parties putting forth their points of view. The panel comprised Kulbhushan Puri of BR Cable Network, Atul Saraf of ABS Seven Star, Vynsley Fernandes of Castle Media, and Prabhoo.

     

    During the discussion, Wanvari expressed the view that the full rewards of digitisation have yet to trickle down to the broadcaster, MSO or LMO – as they viewed each other with suspicion, though things have improved in recent times. “There is a need for greater communication and understanding among the stakeholders,” said Wanvari. “The LMOs and MSOs need to understand that broadcasters are investing in content and they need to recoup that investment.  Broadcasters need to understand MSOs are investing in setting up infrastructure and that LMOs want a sustainable future. The cable ecosystem also needs to understand that broadband can be extremely rewarding as compared to simple video signals where subscribers tend to be wary of price increases.”

     

    To this, Prabhoo invited all stakeholders to come together to discuss issues and take the industry forward while benefitting everyone. “Proper constructive pricing model can be worked out if broadcasters, MSOs and LMOs discuss issues on the same platform,” he said.

     

    Fernandes, who is involved in the upcoming HITS project of the Hinduja Group, said, “Packaging of content should be in the hands of the LMOs. Additionally, the LMOs need to invest in set top boxes which they will deliver to their subscribers so that ownership stays with them. And this is what the HITS project is set to do.”

     

    Prabhoo said that while there will be areas covered by the CVNO in phase III and IV of DAS called Headend on the Ground (HOGS), there would be some covered by HITS (Headend In The Sky). “There could also be areas where HITS and HOGS can work together to take digitisation forward,” proposed Prabhoo.

     

     Saraf said the future of DAS phase III and IV lay in MPEG4 and not MPEG2 STBs that were currently being seeded by operators. On the issue of low ARPUs in phase I and II, he said, “ARPUs can go up only by introducing value added services like Video on Demand (VOD), Movie on Demand and YouTube. We need hybrid STBs, which can provide both cable and internet services.”