ITV

Tag: broadband connections

  • DTH expands even as pay TV market saturates

    DTH expands even as pay TV market saturates

    Mumbai: Pay TV subscription revenue is expected to reach $7.6 billion by 2026 over $6.4 billion in 2021, stated Media Partners Asia in its latest report on India’s online video market, which also highlights the increasing market share of Direct-to-home (DTH) even as cable TV remains in structural decline.

    There are 127 million pay TV subscribers in India and DTH has been winning share from cable TV since 2019. While DTH grew its subscriber share from 42 per cent in 2019 to 47 per cent in 2021, the share of cable TV declined from 56 per cent to 52 per cent in the same period.

    According to the report, there will be one billion video screens in India by the end of 2024. There will be 47 million FTA households and 121 million pay TV homes. As many as 13 million homes will have hybrid set-top-boxes, 744 million users will have 4G connections and 155 million users will have 5G connections. In the long run pay TV homes will decline while FTA homes will continue to grow, the report indicated.

    By 2026, two-third of Indians will have access to high-speed mobile broadband reaching 899 million subscribers, out of which 34 million homes will be serviced by fibre, and three million homes will have wireline (digital subscriber line) connections. The report estimates that ~90 per cent of fixed broadband homes will be serviced through fibre.

    In terms of revenues, the video market scale will grow to reach $18 billion in 2026 over $11.6 billion in 2021. Pay TV subscription revenues may reach 7.6 billion, pay TV advertising revenues at $6.1 billion, OTT advertising-video-on-demand (AVOD) to reach $2.8 billion and OTT subscription-video-on-demand to reach $1.8 billion.

    D2C SVOD subscribers to reach 193 million by 2026

    Despite content supply bottlenecks, India’s OTT SVOD subscriptions continue to grow at a robust rate. This year OTT subscribers are expected to grow by 1.6 times over the previous year to reach 88.7 million. Most of these subscribers are expected to come through Disney+ Hotstar in Q4. As per the MPA’s estimate, Disney+ Hotstar subscribers is likely to reach 46 million, Prime Video to reach 21.8 million and Netflix to reach 5.5 million at the end of the year. These platforms will continue to account for 83 per cent of total direct-to-consumer subscribers in India.

    The OTT industry is also expected to invest $1 billion in content in 2021, according to the report. Their share of acquired and local content is 30 per cent and is expected to grow to 40-45 per cent in the near future. New D2C SVOD entrants are going to enter the market by 2022 including services from HBO and Comcast.

    The content strategy of the leading OTT players is diverse and has led to subscriber growth. For Disney+ Hotstar, the combination of sports and local originals has been increasing subscriber growth. It hiked its base plan by 25 per cent “which is justified given the value of its upcoming slate of premium sport and local original content”, said the company.

    Disney+ Hotstar, which is currently at the lower end of ARPUs (<$2), will see its pricing power improve after 2022, according to the report. Prime Video has benefitted from its regional content push and Netflix has invested heavily in original content with 41 original releases in 2021.  

    In 2022, the Indian Premier League (IPL) media rights will be up for grabs once again with TV and digital rights being sold separately. The report estimates that top bidders will include Disney, Amazon, Facebook, Jio and Sony.

  • Google joining other tech companies in race to launch pay television

    Google joining other tech companies in race to launch pay television

    NEW DELHI: Google is joining several other technology companies in the race to launch an online version of pay television and has recently approached media companies about licensing their content for an internet TV service that would stream traditional TV programming.

    A report in The Wall Street Journal quoted by CASBAA says if the Web giant goes ahead with the idea, it would join several other companies planning to offer services that deliver cable TV-style packages of channels over broadband connections.

    Intel Corp and Sony Corp are both working on similar offerings, while Apple has pitched various TV licensing ideas to media companies in the past couple of years.

    Google has made overtures to some programmers in recent months about the initiative, sources said.

    In at least one case, Google has provided a demonstration of the product, according to a person who saw the demonstration. Google did not immediately have a comment.

    If launched, the internet-TV services could have major implications for the traditional TV ecosystem, creating new competition for pay-TV operators that are already struggling to retain video subscribers.

    Existing online-video players like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon.com offer on-demand TV, but the latest efforts are aimed at offering conventional channels, allowing consumers to flip through channels just as they would on cable, as well as on-demand programming.

    There is no guarantee Google, or any of the technology companies, will be able to strike licensing deals.

    Media companies are nervous about undermining their lucrative arrangements with existing distributors by licensing to new online pay services.

    The media companies are more focused on expanding online and on-demand availability of their programming through current distributors, say media executives.

    While they are open to licensing their content, they generally give the best prices to the biggest distributors.

    To get decent rates for so-called over-the-top TV services, Google and other companies will almost certainly have to accept the standard programming bundles that cable and satellite operators pay for – packages that include highly popular and less popular channels.

    This is the second time Google has gone down this path. About two years ago Google had conversations with media companies about a similar service but the discussions did not get very far, it is learnt.

    Still, the environment has changed since then: not only are several other technology companies actively working on similar services but pay-TV providers are also asking entertainment companies for nation-wide streaming rights.

    While none of those other discussions has yet resulted in any new services that could soon change. Intel, which plans to launch its service by year-end, has had discussions with several media companies to acquire broadband-service rights for more than a year.

    It is unclear whether the company has yet struck any major programming deals. But it may at least have a name. Documents disclosed last week indicate that the company may call the service OnCue.

    The status of Sony’s plans is not clear either although one media executive said Sony could launch its service before Intel.

    As previously reported, Sony plans to beam its service over broadband connections to Sony-made devices, which include PlayStation gaming consoles, TV sets and Blu-ray players. A Sony spokesman declined to comment.

    Apple has met with resistance from media companies throughout negotiations to license content, said people familiar with the situation.

    All tech companies looking to launch a video service face a fundamental strategic challenge: If they can’t beat cable or satellite TV on pricing and offer the same lineup of channels, it is not clear why consumers would switch.

    One answer, backers say, is that the technology companies can develop far better interfaces to watch television than the clunky programming guides pay-TV operators offer now.
    Indeed, many media executives said they are impressed at the slickness of slick Intel’s set-top box and guide.

    Google has taken several other steps to expand in television and online video in recent years, including financing original programming for its online video site YouTube, launching regular cable service on its Google Fiber network in Kansas City, and developing a Google TV software to be installed on cable TV set-top boxes.

  • Nortel and Qualcomm claim industry’s fastest HSDPA data call

    Nortel and Qualcomm claim industry’s fastest HSDPA data call

    MUMBAI: Nortel and Qualcomm have successfully achieved the industry’s first 7.2 Mbps HSDPA mobile data calls. The tests achieved data downloads at speeds up to four times faster than most current fixed broadband connections, companies claimed in an official release.

    According to the official communiqué, the companies completed the initial series of pre-commercial category 8 HSDPA data calls using test terminals based on Qualcomm’s Mobile Station Modem (MSM), MSM6280 solution and HSDPA network equipment from Nortel.

    The calls covered frequencies in all commercially available UMTS spectrum currently used by mobile operators throughout the world. The 2100MHz spectrum is the basis for most European 3G networks and the 850MHz spectrum is now in use for new UMTS networks in North America, the Caribbean and Latin America. As spectrum at 900MHz is expanded for UMTS services, Nortel believes this can also become an important part of European HSDPA roll out.

    “Nortel continues to be an industry leader in driving HSDPA technologies to faster, more cost-effective capabilities that will help power mobile communications to beyond 3G services such as high quality live TV and HD video on demand,” said Jean-Luc Jezouin, vice-president, GSM/UMTS product line management, Nortel. “Together with Qualcomm, Nortel is an industry pioneer in advancing the potential of HSDPA to help wireless operators maximize their existing UMTS infrastructures by offering new and faster services for subscribers.”

    HSDPA is designed to boost network capacity for data transmissions up to four times and enables twice as many wireless users per cell site compared to current UMTS networks. By making more efficient use of existing network capabilities, HSDPA helps reduce operating costs while delivering a high quality end-user experience.

    Nortel and Qualcomm will be demonstrating high-resolution video streaming enabled by HSDPA data calls at 7.2Mbps during CTIA Wireless 2006 in Las Vegas, 5 April to 7 April.