ITV

Tag: Airtel Digital TV

  • Cisco providing pay TV to 150 million viewers in India

    Cisco providing pay TV to 150 million viewers in India

    NEW DELHI: Cisco today claimed it was now enabling a rich and advanced TV experience for over 150 million viewers in India, using the industry estimated average of five people per household.

    Thus, it said it had established itself as the leading provider of enhanced TV viewing experiences to more than 30 million Indian homes, a milestone that reinforces the company’s leadership in the digital pay-TV solution market in India.

    Cisco service and solution platforms are in the prime position to address the changing needs of pay-TV operators now and into the future, with more than 10,000 R&D experts in Bangalore. It claimed that the company currently enjoys a leading market share in conditional access and middleware. (Source: MPA Media Route, 26 February 2013).

    Cisco claimed it is a trusted pay-TV technology partner for more than 100 operators worldwide, with leading direct to home (DTH) and cable operator customers in India including ADN, Airtel Digital TV, Asianet, Atria, CCN, Darsh Digital, DEN Networks, Fastway, GTPL, Hathway, JAK Communications and Tata Sky, to name a few.

    Cisco is fully committed to supporting the cable TV industry to meet the government mandate to roll out digital addressable systems in a phased manner by 31 December 2014.

    India is the leading DTH satellite market in Asia Pacific with the most subscriber homes and is second only to the US DTH satellite market, which it is expected to overtake in the next few years.

    Cisco is committed to delivering a host of world-leading, affordable and innovative solutions and services to help its satellite and cable customers to differentiate their services in their markets in India, which has an estimated 135 million pay-TV homes.

    Cisco India and SAARC senior VP sales Jeff White: “The Indian pay-TV industry is one of the fastest growing and most dynamic in the world. India now accounts for nearly a third of Cisco‘s subscriber homes in the Asia Pacific region. We are excited about our leadership in the industry, deep commitment to our customers and sharp focus on innovation in India.”

    Cisco service provider video technology group senior VP & GM Jesper Andersen said: “Achieving the milestone of over 30 million digital homes in India is a testament to our commitment to India over the last 18 years and our partnerships with some of the most successful cable TV and DTH satellite platforms in the country. The Indian pay-TV industry is one of the fastest-growing and most dynamic in the world. We confidently expect tens of millions more households to benefit from Cisco’s enhanced TV-viewing experiences, as the demand for advanced services and applications surges.”

  • Airtel Digital TV DTH adds Freemium PPV movie service in its kitty

    Airtel Digital TV DTH adds Freemium PPV movie service in its kitty

    MUMBAI: Though the concept of pay per view (PPV) isn‘t new to direct to home (DTH) operators in India, Airtel has tweaked that idea further. The service, known as Freemium PPV is essentially the ad-supported version of the PPV, while giving the customers the option of viewing the content without paying for it, or to pay for it and remove the advertisements.

    The free movie viewing will be available on 3/4 screen space, while L-shaped advertisements will be placed on the remaining 1/4th part. Anyone who wants to view the movie in full screen can do so, by paying the particular fee applicable for that particular movie. Airtel has timed the launch of this service to coincide with the celebrations for 100 years of cinema, and is the first DTH operator in India to launch such a service.

    The Freemium PPV service is available on channel no 155 on the Airtel Digital TV DTH platform, on standard, high definition and high definition recorder set top boxes.

    This is the first of its kind service, which gives customers the flexibility of either viewing the movie for free, or paying for it and getting an ad-free experience. If a consumer does watch it for free, the broadcaster still gets revenue for the advertisement, and the brand that is advertising gets its placement.

    At the moment, other operators like Tata Sky offer PPV movie channels, where you pay for a movie, or the viewing is blocked. Videocon d2h, on its part, runs three movie channels at a flat monthly subscription price, including d2h Cinema that shows relatively recent Bollywood releases.

  • RBNL’s Big Magic inks distribution deal with Airtel Digital TV

    RBNL’s Big Magic inks distribution deal with Airtel Digital TV

    MUMBAI: It‘s worked its magic. Big Magic, the general entertainment channel (GEC) for the core Hindi heartland of Uttar Pradesh (UP), Madhya Pradesh (MP), Bihar and Jharkhand – from the stable of Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd (RBNL) has signed a distribution deal with Airtel Digital TV, the DTH service arm of the leading telecom operator Bharti Airtel.

    Airtel Digital has 375 channels and services including 17 HD channels and six interactive services. With this strategic agreement, Big Magic will now have access to the 8.1 million customer base that Airtel boasts of (as on March 2013).

    RBNL‘s carriage deal with Airtel for Big Magic, makes it the second Indian DTH operator to carry the channel, apart from Reliance Digtial TV.  Viewers can now tune into Big Magic on their Airtel Digital TV on channel no 631 from today. The channel airs a mix of  locally relevant entertainment, including drama, crime, socio-mytho, game shows and talent shows.

    Says  RBNL CEO Tarun Katyal: �As a broadcaster, we’d like to reach maximum audience and we are glad to be associated with Airtel.�

    Adds a media observer: “The deal is significant as Airtel has a sizable subscriber base in the markets that Big Magic is targeting. The expectation obviously is that the extra audience will lead to extra advertising revenues.”

  • Airtel DTH and ESPN Star Sports smoke peace pipee

    MUMBAI: It was a spat, which was in the works for almost six months. But now it has been resolved – amicably, at least if one goes by a press release issued by ESPN Star Sports (ESS).
     
    Though details are not available on what the terms are ESS has signed a multi-year agreement with Airtel Digital TV to enable distribution of its channels Star Cricket, Star Sports, Star Sports 2, ESPN, Star Cricket HD and ESPN HD on the latter‘s DTH platform.

    In late 2012, Airtel had yanked ESPN and Star Cricket HD channels from its platform citing prohibitive pricing of the two channels. Then on 22 March, the sports network deactivated the channels on its DTH and IPTV platforms due to Bharti Telemedia and Bharti Airtel‘s “non-signing of agreements and breach of statutory obligations.”

  • Govt revenues from DTH licensing fees zoom

    Govt revenues from DTH licensing fees zoom

    New Delhi: The six private direct-to-home operators paid Rs 3.078 billion as licence fee to the government for the year 2011-12, compared to Rs 1.778 billion in 2010-11 and Rs 1.262 billion in 2009-10.

    The revenue in 2008-09 was Rs 893 million from four operators, since both Airtel Digital TV (Bharti Telemedia Ltd.) as well as Videocon d2h (Bharat Business Channel Ltd.) had not commenced services.

    The other DTH players are Dish TV, Tata Sky, Sun Direct TV, and Reliance Big TV.

    Under DTH licensing norms, the platforms pay a non-refundable entry fee of Rs 100 million and an annual fee equivalent to 10 per cent of gross revenue every financial year. Thus, the platforms have paid Rs 600 million as one-time entry fee.

    Interestingly, Tata Sky paid a licence fee of Rs 793 million in 2011-12 as against Airtel Digital’s Rs 618.7 million and Dish TV’s Rs 300 million. Sun Direct paid Rs 360 million, Reliance Big TV paid Rs 95 million, and Videocon d2h paid Rs 50 million.

    DTH services are governed by the DTH Guidelines and terms and conditions issued by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry on 15 March 2001 and amended from time to time.

    The seven DTH players in the country including Doordarshan’s free-to-air DD Direct Plus cover around 35 million TV homes.

  • DTH players revise subscription packages upwards

    DTH players revise subscription packages upwards

    MUMBAI: Bogged down by multiple taxation and regular hikes in taxes like service and entertainment, Indian direct-to-home (DTH) service providers have decided to pass on the burden to their customers.

    DTH operators like Dish TV, Tata Sky, Airtel digital TV and Videocon d2h are raising base pack prices. In the case of Dish TV and Videocon d2h, the uptick is to the tune of 10 per cent for all their packages.

    They say an increase is inevitable as they have been absorbing taxes for far too long and the industry viability itself is coming into question because the players have been bleeding.

    Airtel digital TV has hiked its base pack price from Rs 158 to 175 per month effective 9 April. Videocon d2h’s price hike comes into effect from 10 April. Dish TV was the first to hike prices of monthly subscription packages by 10 per cent effective 4 April.

    Tata Sky has increased prices for individual plans unlike the uniform hike by Dish TV and Videocon d2h. Some like Reliance Digital TV are still adopting a wait and watch policy.

    However, the DTH operators have also provided price protection to their customers by giving them an option to save money by recharging for a longer duration.

    Under the regulation, existing customers are protected from a price hike which can only be implemented after six months from the day it comes into effect.

    Dish TV COO Salil Kapoor says that DTH operators were absorbing the burden of service tax till now and have decided to pass it on to the customers to reduce that burden.

    “We have hiked prices by 10 per cent across the board. We are just passing the burden of service tax on to the customers,” says Kapoor.

    Tata Sky MD and CEO Harit Nagpal is of the opinion that the price hike is not just about service and entertainment tax.

    “The input costs have gone up, the cost of content has also gone up plus there is inflation. The DTH operators have been dropping prices till now so this (price hike) is just one little step in the right direction by DTH operators,” explains Nagpal.

    Videocon d2h CEO Anil Khera elucidates: “Service tax has been increased and entertainment tax in many states has also been increased so we are gradually passing the burden on to the customers.”

    A Reliance Digital TV spokesperson said that the company is evaluating hiking prices, “Yes, we are at present evaluating different options. At this stage, it is difficult to say how much would it be and when,” the spokesperson states.

    The spokesperson adds, “Also, as an industry we are heavily burdened with statutory levies (to the extent of around 35 per cent) – the recent decision to increase the Customs Duty on STBs by 5 per cent has only added to this burden.”

     

  • ESS threatens to switch-off channels to Airtel digital TV

    ESS threatens to switch-off channels to Airtel digital TV

    MUMBAI: ESPN Software India has issued a public notice informing Airtel digital TV subscribers that ESPN, Star Sports and Star Cricket channels will be de-activated from the platform due to non-signing of agreement and breach of statutory obligations by ESPN Software India.

    The notice says that the three channels will also be de-activated from Airtel‘s IPTV platform. The channels will be de-activated in 21 days after the expiry of the notice, which was issued on 1 March.

    Last year, Airtel digital TV had de-activated ESPN and Star Cricket HD channels from its platform citing prohibitive prices of the two channels.

  • Airtel digital TV to drop ESPN and Star Cricket HD from 23 Dec

    Airtel digital TV to drop ESPN and Star Cricket HD from 23 Dec

    MUMBAI: Airtel digital TV has said that it will stop carrying ESPN HD and Star Cricket HD just ahead of the India-Pakistan series.

    The DTH operator cited high subscription fee as the reason for the removal of these two channels. It will stop carrying both the channels from 23 December.

    ESPN HD is priced at Rs 141.8 while Star Cricket HD is priced at Rs 119.9. The two channels are available at Rs 183.2 in a bouquet.
    "We will stop carrying ESPN HD and Star Cricket HD because the price is very high from a consumer point of view," Airtel digital TV CEO Shashi Arora said.

    Airtel will replace the two channels with Sony Six HD and Zee Studio HD.

    Other DTH operators like Dish TV and Sun Direct have not been carrying the two channels for quite some time. However, Tata Sky, Reliance Big TV and Videocon d2h are carrying them.

  • Vijaykant’s Captain News to launch 29 August

    Vijaykant’s Captain News to launch 29 August

    MUMBAI: Captain Media, the media venture of Tamil actor and politician Vijaykant, will start a 24-hour news channel named Captain News.

    The channel is set to go on air beginning 29 August.

    “We are happy to inform you that Captain Media Private Limited will launch its 24-hour news channel ‘Captain News’ from 29 August,” Captain Media managing director LK Sudheesh said.

    “The channel would air unbiased and quality news,” he added.

    Captain Media, which has entered third year of its operations, runs a bilingual family entertainment channel Captain TV which has programmes in Tamil and English.

    Captain is available on Sun DTH, Dish TV, and Airtel Digital TV, besides a host of other cable operators.

  • ESS eyes Rs 550 million from Olympics

    MUMBAI: ESPN Star Sports, the official broadcaster of 2012 London Olympics in India, is targeting advertising revenue of Rs 550 million from the 16-day event which will be held from 28 July to 12 August with the opening ceremony on 27 July.

    The sportscaster has roped in Tata DoCoMo as co-presenting sponsor while Airtel Digital TV has come on board as the associate sponsor, say sources.

    ESS is in advanced stage of negotiations with several other advertisers including the likes of Hero MotoCorp and Samsung, which is a global Olympic sponsor.

    ESS is looking at a total of eight sponsors for the event with two co-presenting and six associate sponsors. The sportscaster is betting big on advertisers from beverages, telecom, automobile, and insurance sectors.

    ESS is asking Rs 70-85 million for co-presenting sponsors and Rs 60-65 million from associate sponsors, according to a top executive at a media buying agency.

    “ESS is expected to make Rs 500-550 million from Olympics,” said a source.

    ESPN Software India senior director business development and event management group Rathindra Basu admits that selling sponsorships has been a challenging task as there is no previous viewership data to support sales pitch.

    “The challenge that we realised in the sales process was that we had no historical data in terms of viewership in the C&S space. Public broadcaster DD did show Olympics four years ago but there was no private broadcaster last time around,” Basu avers.

    What can work in ESS‘ favour is that there is no cricket featuring Indian team during Olympics. The interest level in London Olympics is also expected to be higher as many Indian athletes across disciplines have qualified for the event.

    “Brands who have traditionally been on sports are keen to associate with the event as Olympics typically attract viewership from youth segment particularly the male audience,” the executive from the media agency said.

    “ESS is offering a full three and a half months of window to sponsors starting with pre-event programming, promotions on ESS channels to the live broadcast of the event and highlights besides logo presence and other integrations. So the return on investment for Olympics works out well,” she further reveals.

    Agrees Basu, “With huge expectations from Indian contingent this year coupled with the most complete and comprehensive presentation of the Games on our bouquet, we expect London Olympics to be a huge draw in India.”

    According to Vivaki Exchange CEO Mona Jain, the viewership of Olympics has seen improvement and it has emerged as a viable marketing platform for advertisers who are looking at other sporting events that get viewership.

    A case in point is 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi which despite all the controversies surrounding it was sampled by 115 million viewers with average ratings of 0.5 TVR on DD1 and DD Sports on the back of encouraging performance by Indian athletes with Indian winning a record 101 medals.

    Besides ESS, the event will also be broadcast on DD and DD Sports as the pubcaster had secured the rights from Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, a non-profit, professional association of broadcasting organisations, after paying $3 million for acquiring the rights.