ITV

Tag: cable TV

  • TRAI bats for converged regulator & renaming of NTP’18

    TRAI bats for converged regulator & renaming of NTP’18

    NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has not only suggested that the National Telecom Policy 2018 should be renamed as the Information and Communication Technologies Technology Policy – 2018 but also the regulator’s own restructuring so it can function as a converged regulator for the ICT (information and communications technology) and broadcasting sector.

    TRAI has batted for an “integrated regulation of ICT and broadcasting sector led by economic and social policy goals of the country” suggesting delivery of broadcast services using converged wire line and wireless networks be allowed.

    The regulator, in its inputs to the National Telecom Policy 2018 formulation, has also suggested “review of [the] satellite communications (SATCOM) policy” for communication services “keeping in view the international developments” and social and economic needs of the country.

    It has advocated simplification of telecom licensing and regulatory frameworks and rationalisation of high taxes and levies by 2019 to attract a whopping USD100 billion in investments into the financially beleaguered telecom industry by calendar year 2022 and as much as USD 60 billion in the next two years itself.

    “Digital communication has presented India an opportunity to overcome the impediments posed by deficiencies in its brick and mortar based physical infrastructure and opened doors to new paradigms in all sectors of economy whereby the common man at the bottom of the pyramid is being served much more efficiently and at a fraction of the cost as compared to earlier days,” TRAI stated explaining the rationale behind its suggestion to rename the National telecom Policy 2018 (NTP2018) as the ‘Information and Communication Technology Policy 2018’.

    The lengthy submission to the government for consideration, which some broadcast industry observers felt was an attempt to gain more regulatory control over the sector even though a parliamentary panel had suggested a separate broadcast regulator, encompasses a wide range of inputs to NTP 2018.

    What’s TRAI’s vision while submitting the inputs to NTP 2018? To develop a competitive, sustainable and investor-friendly ICT market for rollout of state-of-the-art ubiquitous digital communication infrastructure to provide resilient, reliable, affordable, and consumer-friendly products and services to meet local as well as global needs that will transform India’s knowledge economy, support inclusive development, foster innovation and stimulate job creation.

    TRAI’s recommendations on the vision, mission and objectives for NTP 2018 include the following:

    — Leveraging the cable TV sector and power sector assets (for broadband and related services)

    — Upgrade of cable TV networks for delivery of converged broadcast and broadband services

    — Facilitating development of content delivery networks for improved quality of experience

    — Prescription of a simple and enabling regulatory framework for application service providers in order to promote innovation in application services

    — To fulfill the information and communication needs of individuals, including persons with disabilities, governments, enterprises, and industries with high quality of experience at affordable prices on a sustainable basis

    — To facilitate growth of state-of-the-art, secure and energy-efficient digital communication infrastructure for delivering ubiquitous, resilient, reliable and ultra-high speed connectivity with extremely low latency for objects, machines and devices

    — To stimulate the environment for innovation and entrepreneurial opportunities making India a global centre for research and development, patent-creation, and standardisation in ICT and services

    — To develop indigenous technologies, equipment, platforms and applications ecosystem for providing digital services to local and global markets

    — To establish India as a global hub for cloud computing, content hosting and delivery and data communication systems and services in a net-neutral environment

    — To protect consumers’ interests by increasing awareness and putting in place an effective grievance redressal mechanism, improving quality of experience, ensuring network, communication and data security, encouraging adoption of environment and safety standards for ICT and modernising public safety and emergency communications  networks

    — To attract investments by enhancing ease of doing business through simplification of licensing and regulatory frameworks, rationalisation of taxes, levies and related compliances and facilitating availability of resources including spectrum

    — To enable access at affordable prices for wireless broadband services, including through satellite to 90 per cent population by 2022

    — To ensure availability of bandwidth on demand through wire line, including cable TV and optical fibre networks to 30 per cent households by 2020 and 50 per cent households by 2022

    —  To provide at least 1 gbps data connectivity to all gram panchayats (village administrations) to enable wireless broadband services to inhabitants by 2022

    —  To achieve 900 million broadband subscriptions supporting download speed of 2 mbps, out of that at-least 150 million broadband subscriptions supporting download speed of 20 mbps and 25 million at a download speed of 50 mbps by 2022

    —  To achieve ‘unique mobile subscriber density’ of 55 by 2020 and 65 by 2022 by enhancing mobile network coverage to 95 per cent of inhabitants by 2020 and 100 per cent by 2022

     — To deploy 2 million public WLAN, including Wi-Fi hotspots in the country by 2020 and 5 million by 2022

    — To leapfrog India into the top-50 nations in the ICT Development Index (IDI), released by ITU every year, by 2022

    — To enable access for connecting to 1 billion IoT/ M2M sensors/ devices by 2020 and 5 billion by 2022

    — To attract an investment equivalent to USD 60 billion in the communication sector by 2020 and USD 100 billion by 2022

    — To become net positive in international trade of communication systems and services by 2022

    — To put in place an online platform for all government to business (G2B) activities, including spectrum and licence-related information, applications, clearances, compliances and payments by 2019

    — To simplify licencing and regulatory frameworks and rationalise taxes, levies and related compliances by 2019

    — To put in place a flexible, robust data protection regime powered by a strong encryption policy by 2019

    — To establish a policy framework for facilitating setting up of data centers by 2019

    ALSO READ:

    Zee, Star, NBA oppose converged regulator for broadcast and telecoms

    TRAI seeks to regulate online streaming platforms

    Parliamentary panel pushes for TRAI’s empowerment

    MIB reverts to earlier norms of seeking nod from ISRO on uplink/downlink of TV channels

  • Subscription revenue drives up Den’s PAT

    Subscription revenue drives up Den’s PAT

    MUMBAI: Multi-system operator (MSO) Den Networks’ financial results for Q3 2018 show consolidated revenue of Rs 330 crore as against Rs 293 crores in the corresponding quarter a year ago, up by 12 per cent. In Q2 2018, consolidated revenue stood at Rs 328 crore.

    Consolidated Q3 EBITDA (earnings before interests, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) stood at Rs 81 crore, 54 per cent higher than the Rs 53 crore reported a year ago but lower than the Rs 82 crore reported in the previous quarter. This EBITDA does not include the Rs 14 crore pertaining to entities that are not getting consolidated as per INDAS or else the overall consolidated EBITDA is Rs 95 crore.

    The MSO has been able to get higher subscriptions from phase III and IV markets with revenue growth from cable subscription 21 per cent higher than Q3 2017 and 6 per cent higher than Q2 2018. This was aided by 10 per cent higher average revenue per user (ARPU) collection from phase III areas on a quarter-on-quarter basis.

    Cable revenue stood at Rs 312 crore versus Rs 272 crore in the year ago quarter, up by 15 per cent. Cable EBITDA was Rs 82 crore, up from Rs 53 crore from Q3 2017, led by subscription growth and rationalisation of costs.

    Subscription revenue drove up consolidated PAT to Rs 2 crore from negative Rs 37 crore in Q3 FY2017 and Rs 1 crore in Q2 2018.

    The company stated that its broadband business was on track and that it managed to add 10,000 new subscribers during the quarter. Wired internet services will be rolled out to 10 new towns as part of its expansion. Cost optimisation initiatives have helped the broadband segment to break even which was negative Rs 1 crore in the previous quarter.

    Den Networks CEO SN Sharma said, “Den has been able to improve operational performance consistently every quarter with constant focus on increasing the subscription collections on the ground with a much controlled cost base. It is a time of pride and joy as we announce that as per the Trust Research Advisory research, Den has outshone all its competing brands and has emerged as the ‘Most attractive brand of 2017’ in the cable TV segment.”

    Also Read:

    Higher subscription & activation lead Den’s turnaround in Q2  

    DEN Networks tops as most attractive Cable TV brand: TRA Research

    Den Networks buys 51% in VBS Digital

  • Kolkata cable operators want cable TV GST at 5%

    Kolkata cable operators want cable TV GST at 5%

    MUMBAI: The plea of cable TV operators in Kolkata to reduce the goods and services tax (GST) from the current 18 per cent to 5 per cent has been heard.

    The West Bengal government’s state municipal affairs minister Firhad Hakim was quoted by the Cable TV Equipments Traders & Manufacturers Association (CTMA) as saying, “Cable television services are essential services and should not have 18 per cent GST, which is in effect at present.” He went on to say that he will, on behalf of the cable TV operators, present the issue to the finance minister Amit Mitra, who is a member of the GST council.

    Siticable, Manthan and GTPL-KCBPL are the main players in the West Bengal market. GST is divided into various slabs right now – 5 per cent, 12 per cent, 18 per cent and 28 per cent.

    Bengal Broadband to offer cable TV & broadband services in W Bengal

    A bumpy ride for gross billing in Kolkata

    Kolkata MSO GTPL-KCBPL applies for broadband license

  • Den Networks buys 51% in VBS Digital

    Den Networks buys 51% in VBS Digital

    MUMBAI: Multi-system operator Den Networks Ltd (Den) has acquired 51 per cent stake in cable televison distributor VBS Digital Distribution Network Pvt Ltd (VBS Digital) for Rs 2.64 crore in cash. According to Den’s release to the Bombay Stock Exchange, the deal will strengthen the company’s cable TV network in Uttar Pradesh.

    Den provides cable TV distribution and broadband services in 13 states, including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra. Incorporated in 2015, VBS Digital posted revenue of Rs 5.82 crore in the financial year ended March 31, 2017.

    Promoters and Goldman Sachs together hold about 61.28 per cent stake in Den. In June 2017, Den had sold its entire stake in TV merchandise channel Macro Commerce Pvt Ltd to focus on the core business.

    Also read:

    Higher subscription & activation lead Den’s turnaround in Q2

    DEN Networks tops as most attractive Cable TV brand: TRA Research

    Nakul Chopra is new BARC chairman

  • Parliamentary panel pushes for TRAI’s empowerment

    Parliamentary panel pushes for TRAI’s empowerment

    MUMBAI: Parliament’s Standing Committee on Information Technology and Communications (SCIT) wants more regulations for the broadcast industry. Finding the current powers given to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) inadequate, it has recommended that either the scope of its authority be increased or the broadcast industry be given its own regulator.

    In the committee’s report on ‘Status of Cable TV Digitisation and Interoperability of Set-top Boxes’, it noted that since 2004, when the TRAI was entrusted with the responsibility to oversee the broadcast sector, the industry has seen enormous growth in the number of satellite TV channels, DTH services, digitisation of cable TV networks, and TV ratings agencies. With its limited ability, TRAI has efficiently handled issues to bring about transparency and non-discrimination, improve the quality of service and allow the sector to grow.

    It noted that TRAI recommendations were the basis for the government to form several policy decisions. “The committee is, however, constrained to note that TRAI at present has got very limited powers due to which enforcement of its regulations, directions and tariff orders becomes difficult,” the panel mentioned.

    Several services providers have freely violated TRAI orders and cases against them were filed in pertinent courts. The committee doesn’t find this an effective way to get the broadcast industry to fall in line with rules. The TRAI’s recommendations of modifications to its Act are under consideration by the government.

    The committee has suggested the government to evaluate the need for a separate regulator for the broadcast industry and, until such a time, the TRAI be empowered for effective enforcement of its regulations.

    It appreciated the efforts taken by TRAI to regulate pricing of set top boxes, but strongly recommends for unbundling of hardware and associated services and making provision for itemised billing for hardware as well as associated services such as installation, activation and maintenance and providing more option to the customer to procure similar compatible hardware from the open market.

    The TRAI’s effort on addressing carriage fee details was also lauded by the committee. It stated that “despite extreme reluctance on the part of broadcasters to share the details of the carriage fee”, it has now addressed the issue in its new regulatory framework capping it at 20 paise per subscriber per channel and which is expected to further decrease till zero when 20 per cent of subscribers will be available on the platform who choose the channel. Though this decision is being scrutinised at the High Courts of Delhi and Chennai, the committee hoped the TRAI’s efforts will go a long way in addressing the issue to the satisfaction of all stakeholders.

    Also read:

    TRAI on carriage fee, other issues in draft interconnect guidelines

    TRAI tariff order’s impact on the industry

  • Guest Column: The comeback of full-service agencies in India

    Guest Column: The comeback of full-service agencies in India

    By 2020, we will be close to a billion digitised screens. With the advent of cheaper data and smartphones and by virtue of tech giants such as Google, Facebook and Amazon entering the grassroots of India, digitisation has become inevitable. And it’s going to be mobile plus digitised television (OTT) that’s going to drive most of the scale.

    If digital is where maximum content is going to be consumed, surpassing Dish/Cable TV in most geographies, then brands will slowly and steadily move towards exploring digital in a much-evolved fashion and at a large scale. This means media and creative agencies will have to rethink their game plan, which has not changed much in the past two to three decades. Many questions arise, such as will mainline agencies reverse integrate their creative and media thinking to digital? Will digital agencies be able to manage the scale and responsibilities of managing multi-million-dollar campaigns? Will there be a need of creative and media standardisation? How many agencies will a client want to deal with to achieve the end objective? Who will win the rat race? And the list goes on, as we start thinking about how agency life will be when digitisation takes over completely.

    In my view, consolidation to make a full-service agency that gives solutions across screens plus creative and media is going to be the future. To date, most agencies are not fully prepared to manage this new world of ‘non-line,’ that is not just online or only offline but both together, as the lines are starting to fade. Mainline and digital agencies are poles apart in creative as well as media thinking but both are eventually chasing one goal. And that’s where the need of a full-service agency is, which creates and advertises one campaign with one objective across multiple platforms and formats. Not to ignore the fact that advertising bodies will also play an equal role in the entire standardisation process. And, sooner or later, it’s a self-evolving cycle that we will all get into, like the one mentioned below-

    1)  Consumers will become more and more digitised; thus, brands will want to get them through digital mediums across mobiles, TVs, PCs, tablets, and even hoardings

    2)   One master creative created in various sizes and formats will start to be the new norm with a fair bit of shoulder content for digital

    3)   And then planning will get more standardised across various mediums and consolidate into one form

    4)   KPIs will become more standardised as well to judge campaign effectiveness against various brand objectives

    5)   Possibly, there will be one tool that agency networks will create and connect to plan and buy across in a truly ‘non-line’ fashion

    This model of a full-service agency exists in mature markets such as the US, Japan, Singapore and will soon be a reality in India as well. Such a model increases planning and operational efficiencies and also ensures standardisation, right from planning to execution to industry benchmarking.

    It’s about time large agency networks wake up to the reality of a full-service model or soon a challenger start-up that is nimble to take such decisions will start changing the name of the game!

    The author is VP operations & media – West & South, WATConsult. The views expressed are personal and Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them.

  • Ortel takes on competition with new broadband plans

    Ortel takes on competition with new broadband plans

    MUMBAI: Taking a big step towards recovery, battered cable television and broadband services company Ortel Communications Limited (Ortel) has unveiled its new unlimited data plans starting from Rs 99 per month.

    Ortel, with its operations focused in Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh, has been a trendsetter in offering customer-centric broadband plans in accordance to the ever-changing internet ecospace in India. With its new range of unlimited plans, the company has taken the big telecom players head-on.

    The Rs.99 plan has 500 MB data limit per day @ 2Mbps, although the customer can continue browsing even after reaching the daily limit, at post FUP speed. The New Unlimited FUP Broadband Plans also have options of 1 GB daily data limit at Rs.129 per month and a multi-month package at Rs.349 wherein subscribers can enjoy 1 GB data per day at 2 Mbps speed for 3 months. These plans would cover the needs of first time users, social networking users and the price sensitive segment.

    The ‘Below 100’ plan would also enable Ortel to increase the penetration of internet ready home passes which are already available in most of the markets where it operates. With the proliferation of smartphones and other smart internet devices, consumers can use the same devices to connect to Ortel Home Wi-Fi solutions at a cheaper price and better in house speeds. The plans directly compete with the Telecom Players who offer 3G and 4G on Mobile Devices. Customers also have the option of free installation if Multi Month Subscription is paid in advance. Broadband would become more of a utility than luxury and the plans would make right to broadband access closer to reality.

    Ortel had already withdrawn the plans below 1 Mbps in the month of April 2017. With the launch of new plans, it has now withdrawn all the plans below 2 Mbps. It has introduced Unlimited FUP plans in the speed range of 5 Mbps, 10 Mbps, 20 Mbps, 50 Mbps and 100 Mbps with monthly data limits ranging from 40 GB to 1 Terabyte at very affordable price points.  

    Commenting on the development Ortel Communications president and CEO Bibhu Prasad Rath said, “Looking at the huge data consumption that is taking place in the country today, we have decided to take full advantage of this opportunity and therefore launched Unlimited Data Plan at just Rs. 99 per month. We are already providing high data limits to our customers, but now with the aggressive pricing which is even better than most of the telecom players, we aim to provide an excellent value for money to our subscribers. The objective is to increase the overall average data consumption of customers from 18 GB to 100 GB per month at pocket friendly prices.”

    Ortel is the first MSO and ISP to offer wireless broadband service at public places for its wired broadband subscribers without any additional  WiFi  Hotspot  access  charges.  Ortel Communications is a pioneer in providing convergence communication services in the country. It has revolutionized the entertainment and broadband technology in India. It has always been the Company’s  vision  to  provide  Cable  TV  and  Data  Service  on  a  single  cable  platform  to households. The Company has invested in laying its own network with reverse path compatibility making it capable of providing Triple play services including broadband and VoIP services with enormous advantages and superiority in the network. Ortel provides connection to customers directly and has full control over its ‘last mile’ network.

    Also read:

    Multiple challenges weaken Ortel numbers in second quarter

    MSO Ortel strengthens digital payment services

    Ortel elevates Satyanaryan Jena as CFO as Manoj Kumar Patra resigns

  • A tale of two giant mergers and their India fallout

    A tale of two giant mergers and their India fallout

    MUMBAI: Two deals shook the world of media and entertainment last week: Disney-21st Century Fox and Dish TV-Videocon d2h. One was all about content and affects the world of media and entertainment globally including India. The second was all about content distribution and platform and impacts the world of television in India.

    Of course, the ripple effect of the first is oceanic for comparison with the other. So deep will be the impact of Bob Iger and Rupert Murdoch’s decision that the future will look back at the history of media as the pre and post-Disney-Fox and New Fox era.

    Nevertheless, it has created a behemoth in India: the new Disney, which now will house Star India, will have relationships with Tata Sky and the video streaming service Hotstar. The union of Disney and Fox is expected to bring in synergistic savings of close to $2 billion; some of that will be contributed by the Indian division, however marginal that might be.

    In India, the Dish TV-Videocon d2h merger has created the world’s second largest pay satellite TV distribution platform with 29 million subscribers, just behind AT&T’s Direct TV.

    Dish TV Videocon merged is also predicted to bring in large savings through rationalisation of the two companies’ manpower, backend resources and better combined purchasing negotiating power, distribution and infrastructure like offices etc. An estimate is that costs cumulatively will come down by about 10-20 per cent.

    The main leverage it will get is in content costs. Even though the Disney-Fox combine will be unmatchable internationally, in India, Dish TV Videocon could more than prove a match for it. With the expensive IPL under its belt, it will most probably have to kowtow to CEO Anil Dua and chairman Jawahar Goel’s diktats on how much they will pay out for carrying the Star India network’s signals, which includes its premium programming and sports.

    Also read:

    MIB clears path for Dish TV Videocon

    21st CF spins-off into new live news & sports co Fox

    With Star India, Disney emerges as India’s largest M&E firm

  • Government to once again make MHA clearance compulsory for MSOs?

    Government to once again make MHA clearance compulsory for MSOs?

    MUMBAI: Are there more regulatory controls coming on the cable TV industry? If reports emerging in the media (The Asian Age) are to be believed, then they probably are. According to the newspaper, every multisystem operator (MSO) which is licensed with the ministry of information & broadcasting (MIB), will now have to also seek the ministry of home affairs’ security (MHA’s) clearance. A notification to this effect is being planned and passed by the Narendra Modi government.

     Hitherto, broadcasters and satellite service providers had to go through this procedure. MSOs could just get a licence from the post office to operate in the country, following which they had to get a digital licence from the MIB. The security clearance from the MHA requirement was discontinued a couple of years ago to speed up the  pace of cable TV digitalisation.

     The newspaper says the government was forced to take such a step for MSOs as well because the MIB had received complaints that several cable TV operators are continuing to retransmit channels which showed content that was potentially harmful to the nation’s security and was deemed as objectionable.

     The government is seeking to make it compulsory for MSOs to get annually vetted by the central intelligence and government security agencies to prevent this from occurring.

     No confirmation, from the MIB or government sources, was available at the time of writing this report.

  • TRAI orders broadcasters to remove analogue RIOs from website

    TRAI orders broadcasters to remove analogue RIOs from website

    MUMBAI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has ordered cable TV service providers to stop displaying any reference interconnect offers(RIO) for analogue platforms.

    Broadcasters have been warned not to show any analogue RIO on its site and also refrain from making direct or indirect offers to allow their TV signals to be shown on analogue cable TV networks. MSOs have been told not to entertain any unencrypted signals on their cable TV networks.

    The TRAI has taken note of some broadcasters who have been avoiding this and continue to display analogue RIOs. “TRAI has written letters to such broadcasters individually whose analogue RIOs were found on websites,” it said.

    The necessity of the order is because 31 March 2018 is the last date for implementing Phase IV of the digital addressable cable TV systems (DAS) after which only digital encrypted signals can be carried in the country. Carrying unencrypted signals after this date will be a violation of Section 4A of the Cable Television Network (regulation) Act 1995.