ITV

Tag: Ashok Mansukhani

  • HTMT board approves demerger, media biz to be in one entity

    HTMT board approves demerger, media biz to be in one entity

    MUMBAI: Hinduja TMT Ltd. is demerging its IT/BPO business into a new company, while simultaneously merging its media and content subsidiary InNetwork Entertainment Ltd (INEL) into the residual entity. Both the companies will be listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange.

    HTMT’s current shareholders will be allotted shares of both the companies in proportion to the capital employed in the respective businesses. “The appointed date of the demerger would be 1 April,” the company said in a release.

    In simple terms, all the existing assets of HTMT barring the IT/BPO business will be in the residual entity. This includes IndusInd Media and Communications Ltd (IMCL) which operates cable TV under the Incablenet brand, a cable Hindi movie channel, and the broadband business. What this means is that a media holding company will emerge after the merger of INEL and it will also have under its umbrella IMCL.

    Indiantelevision.com had earlier reported that the media business was to be brought under a holding company. The HTMT board, which met today, has granted approval to the demerger.

    The telecom holding in Hutch will also reside in the residual entity. HTMT plans to exit from the telecom business by selling its entire stake. It controls an effective stake of 5.11 per cent in Hutch, a leading GSM service provider, through a subsidiary Indusind Telecom Network Ltd. “The company has received offers for purchase thereof which are under consideration. The board has set up a committee of directors to appraise the offers, negotiate and finalise the deal,” HTMT said in a release.

    The money raised from the sale will, thus, be in the media company. “The board will decide where to make the investments. The name of the residual entity will also be decided later,” IMCL executive director, corporate services, Ashok Mansukhani said. The valuation of INEL will also be carried out, he added.

    Commenting on the demerger, HTMT chairman Ashok P Hinduja said “the related restructuring will unlock immense shareholder value. While the current market cap is about Rs 22.2 billion, the sum of parts valuation is significantly higher, which could get unlocked. It will also go a long way in speeding up inorganic growth opportunities in both the technology and media/telecom companies, apart from aiding the induction of strategic and/or financial partners. Operational efficiencies in both the resultant companies would also increase”.

    HTMT’s technology business employs over 7000 persons (with over 3000 overseas employees) and ranks among the few BPO companies with a global delivery model with presence in five countries and significant revenues generated overseas. It has domain expertise in healthcare and insurance, financial services, manufacturing, telecom, pharmaceuticals, consumer electronics, household products, energy and utilities.

    According to a company statement, the media business is well poised to take advantage of the emerging business opportunities in content and distribution that have recently opened up and is in negotiation with several leading players for collaborations and contracts in these spaces. “It would also continue to be the holding company of IMCL, a leading multi-system operator (MSO) with extensive intra-city fiber networks, with 6000 km of trunk and access HEC networks, 80 per cent of which is 2-way enabled. IMCL has a presence in 14 cities (9 of which are big cities) with over 40 per cent market share in most of these markets,” the release added.

    HTMT believes the demerger will unlock individual values. “The demerger and related restructuring would enable the full potential of all the diverse businesses to be realized and take the companies to the next level,” said Hinduja.

    Added Mansukhani: “The cable business has the potential to be a money-spinner in future.”.

  • No final solution on CAS rollout; call for channel MRP

    No final solution on CAS rollout; call for channel MRP

    NEW DELHI: CAS or conditional access system is near and still so far.

    While multi system operators (MSOs) and a section of independent cable operators today demanded that broadcasters come out with subscription rates for individual channels, instead of for a bouquet of channels, for smooth implementation of CAS in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, pay broadcasters said they would consider the option.

    At a time when a demand was also made that the government try put a maximum retail price (MRP) on pay channels, the information and broadcasting ministry said that it would wait for detailed feedback before making such a move.

    A day-long interaction to sort out various issues involved with implementation of CAS (as mandated by a Delhi court) saw stakeholders, including MSOs, cable operators, broadcasters, sector regulator Trai and consumer organisations present their stand to the government.

    According to a representative of a stakeholder present during the meeting, which lasted over eight hours, the discussions were “positive”, but marred by “contradictory opinions from the cable industry”.

    Even as a demand from a section of the cable industry that pay broadcasters come out with a la carte prices for smooth rollout of CAS was made, certain last mile cable operators from Mumbai sounded skeptical on addressability.

    Some of the broadcasters raised objections to the demand on a la carte pricing saying TV channels, if priced on individually, would be expensive compared to the bouquet cost.

    And, while most participants in the meeting, called by the government, felt that CAS is inevitability and should be rolled out, some consumer organizations felt that addressability could be introduced as long as it didn’t put additional burden on the consumers.

    Rather, the consumer organisations went to the extent of saying that introduction of CAS should not result in increase of price of cable services from the present, which range anywhere between Rs 100 to Rs 500, depending on the type of deals that have been struck with the local cable operators.

    According to some people who attended the meeting, at one point of time the government representative — I&B secretary SK Arora — chastised the cable industry for indulging in double-speak on introduction of CAS vis-à-vis carriage fee.

    However, the government has convened a meeting on Friday again to take stock of the feedback from the industry stakeholders when the sequence of the rollout of CAS is likely to be given a final shape. Provided the government doesn’t go in for an appeal against the Delhi High Court order that is.

    Those who attended the meeting included Trai’s broadcast in-charge Rakesh Kacker, Zee’s Jawahar Goel, Roop Sharma from Cable Operators Federation of India, independent cable ops from Delhi and Mumbai like Vikki Chowdhry and MSO Alliance’s Ashok Mansukhani, apart from representatives from the IBF, Star, Sony and consumer organisations.

    “We also informed the government that CAS was being implemented in the notified areas and we were giving attractive schemes to the consumers for possession of set-top boxes (STBs),” Press Trust of India quoted Roop Sharma as saying. Chowdhry went to the extent of saying that the pay broadcasters were “clearly on the back foot” in the meeting.

  • IPTV still at seeding stage

    IPTV still at seeding stage

    MUMBAI: Even as the framework of the digital landscape is being drawn by the various industry stakeholders, the most prepared seem to be cable TV and direct-to-home (DTH) service providers.

    Telecom operators who have plans to offer IPTV are grappling with last mile and technology issues at this stage.

    IPTV is at the seeding stage and will take 1-2 years for a serious rollout in India, according to Bharti Tele-ventures new technologies head Sriram TV.

    “Broadband has just begun. IPTV can be used as one often acquisition tools for increasing broadband penetration,” Sriram said while speaking at FICCI-Frames 2006 on TV NexGen.

    Though IPTV still lacks large subscriber base across the world, the technology for its mass deployment is in place. Telecom giants like Verizon, British Telecom and SBC are in various stages of deployment.

    “IPTV is the horse that we are backing,” said Microsoft TV group product manager Hemang Mehta.

    Elaborating on the advantages of IPTV, Mehta said the delivery platform had the ability to offer personalised content. Unlike cable TV and direct-to-home (DTH), consumers could select devices rather than be forced to buy set-top boxes (STBs) from the service operators. “The next generation of TV sets will be enabled for IP and broadband. Consumers need not buy the STBs,” he pointed out.

    On being queried by Indiantelevision.com on whether IPTV STBs were expensive, Mehta said they were available at below $100.

    As for big daddy Reliance Infocomm, the bet is on mobile TV around which the digital story will ultimately converge. This was the view expressed by Reliance Entertainment president Rajesh Sawhney.

    Speaking at the session, HTMT executive vice president Ashok Mansukhani said cable TV was well geared to meet the challenge from DTH and IPTV with its digital service. “Cable TV will offer the lowest cost digital platform. It also has the ability to offer over 300 channels,” he pointed out.

    Zee Group vice chairman Jawahar Goel said new delivery platforms were emerging which would provide choice to consumers.