ITV

Tag: digitisation

  • Videocon d2h files for IPO to raise Rs 700 crore

    Videocon d2h files for IPO to raise Rs 700 crore

    MUMBAI: For the past couple of years, the stockmarkets have been going through rough weather dampening an entrepreneur’s desire to raise funds through the initial public offering (IPO) route. With a new government in place, and optimism returning, the queue has once again started being formed outside the Securities Exchange Board of India (Sebi) of those going in for IPOs. Shemaroo Entertainment earlier this month approached the public and now it is the turn of the  direct to home (DTH) service provider Videocon d2h which has finally made its filing with Sebi to raise Rs 700 crore.

     

    This is the second time the firm has proposed to go public. It had previously filed documents in December 2012 and had received a go ahead from SEBI but did not go ahead with the public float.

     

    Seven banks – including UBS, Axis Capital, ICICI Securities, SBI Capital Markets, Yes Bank, IDBI Capital will manage the share sale.

     

    As per the statement issued by the company, “The price band and the minimum bid lot will be decided by our company in consultation with the joint global coordinators and book running lead managers.”

     

    The company is also considering a preferential issue of up to 5,000,000 Equity Shares, aggregating up to Rs 50 crore with certain investors.

     

    “Our Company will complete the issuance and allotment of Equity Shares pursuant to the Pre-IPO Placement, if any, prior to the filing of the Red Herring Prospectus with the RoC. If the Pre-IPO Placement is completed, the Issue size will be reduced to the extent of such Pre-IPO Placement, subject to the issue size constituting at least 10 per cent of the post-Issue paid-up Equity Share capital of our Company,” the notice also stated.

     

    The company plans to spend a portion of the Net Proceeds of the issue towards acquisition of set-top boxes, outdoor units and accessories thereof from TEL, a Videocon Group entity.

     

    “We propose to utilise Rs 350.83 crore of the Net Proceeds towards acquisition of set-top boxes and outdoor units from TEL,” the statement added.

     

    The company is also looking to spend Rs 175 crore of the net proceeds to repay loans. “We may utilise a part of the Net Proceeds to repay/prepay certain term loan facilities availed from IDBI Bank Limited and ICICI Bank Limited, which are associates of the JGCBRLMs, IDBI Capital and I-Sec, respectively, and YES Bank, one of our JGCBRLMs.”  The amount left will be used for other general corporate purposes.

     

    The company commenced DTH operations in July 2009 and has grown its subscriber base from 0.44 million gross subscribers as of 31 March 2010, to 11.21 million gross subscribers, as of 30 June 2014, which represents approximately 16.2 per cent of the total DTH subscriber base in India.

     

    For the first quarter of 2015 the company has approximately 27 per cent incremental market share of the DTH subscriber base in India.

     

    The total income of the organisation for the three months ended 30 June 2014 was Rs 537.7 crore, during which time it generated net loss of Rs 78.15 crore. The firm has clocked a net loss of Rs 2,126 crore over the last five years.

  • IDOS 2014: Alternative platforms eye growth in phase III and IV of digitisation

    IDOS 2014: Alternative platforms eye growth in phase III and IV of digitisation

    MUMBAI: With digitisation being delayed for phase III and IV of digitisation, alternative platforms such as HITS and OTT will see their importance rising. Speaking on the growth of alternative video platforms were Doordarshan deputy director general CK Jain, IMCL MD and CEO Tony D’silva, JAINHITS MD Ankur Jain and Zenga TV MD and CTO Shabir Momin moderated by indiantelevision.com founder, CEO and editor in chief Anil Wanvari and Media Partners Asia executive director Vivek Couto.

     

    Couto started off by asking how the digitisation delay will impact DD’s DTH service Freedish to which CK Jain responded by saying that it won’t hurt Freedish or DD much because most of DD’s audience is in phase III and IV markets. “There are still many households that don’t yet have a TV set but I’m sure that the new households are likely to have DD Freedish as the connection or our upcoming DVB T2 service. So even if we lose out on some numbers, we will most likely make them up with the new ones,” he said.

     

    Ankur Jain was then asked to explain a bit about his HITS model to which he highlighted that JAINHITS has 253 services out of which 140 are free to air (FTA) for which no subscription is charged. However, the road wasn’t easy for them. He said that most broadcasters refused to give content on the pretext of geo fencing and piracy. “It took six months of TDSAT and High Court. But we still have one of the highest content rates in the industry as most of them are on RIO which we subsidise for our partners,” he said.

     

    JAINHITS has signed up with nearly 300 partners in 240 districts that have an analogue base of 2.7 million customers. As far as digitisation delay is concerned, Ankur Jain said, “The Minister had started making noise around the delay a while before it was announced and indiantelevision.com wrote the first story on it and it spread like wildfire. But we haven’t seen any real change in business volumes, demand for STBs, headends etc.”

     

    According to him, this model acts like an aggregator for the smaller operator and for bigger ones, an opportunity to reach smaller markets where they don’t have fibre or reach. When questioned about the challenges a HITS operator has to face, Ankur Jain said that it was the pressure to keep STB cost low. But eventually, it was seen that the STB that was sold to the LCO at Rs 2300 was being sold by the LCO to the customer either at Rs 2300 or Rs 2500. “The cable guy was cribbing that we would make him bankrupt. But they have the money and ability to talk to consumers and in most cases, they market the price up and sell it,” he pointed out.

     

    Mindset is also an issue while dealing with content companies because some of them want average revenue per user (ARPU) to go up while some want to selectively distribute and keep ARPU low and charge good rates.

     

    On the other hand, D’silva feels that the Hinduja ideology for launching HITS is different. “One of the major issues of phase I and II was that we aren’t getting fair share. The reason why we are looking at HITS is to bring order in disorder and we are spending considerable money to upgrade and take this network itself up,” he said. Content, however, remains an issue but according to him the way forward is to take content and make universal bundles.

     

    D’silva claims that for cable operators nearly 60 to 65 per cent of revenue comes from phase I and II, which is about 30 million with another 100 million lying in phase III and IV. With this, bundling dynamics will have to change. The Hinduja HITS model is looking at launching prepaid from the first day along with services such as VAS, TV Everywhere etc.  “It is not about delaying or advancing digitisation. It is whether we make the same mistakes or learn from it,” he said.

     

    He also said that he isn’t convinced about digitisation being mandated solely to increase ARPU as according to him ARPU is a function of the derivatives that are put in.

     

    Addressing Momin, Couto asked him to highlight a bit about the digital model. Momin started off by saying that digital has always been taken either as a threat or as inconsequential.  “We are building for a leapfrog future. I have to worry about 19 formats (devices). Our advantage is lack of hierarchy leading to more growth,” he said.

     

    The dynamics of digital is different where success is measured by minutes watched. Momin says that for digital platform, the important thing is to establish reach through good content. “I run two companies, Zenga TV and One Digital, both of them PAT positive. Sitting in India, we have a global platform with about 40 per cent revenue coming from international which has only 10 per cent viewership because their CPM rates are higher,” he said.

     

    Couto asked whether advertising revenue from India was sufficient and if it was coming out of TV and whether this will lead to a subscription based model for OTT anytime soon. Momin feels that the last few years have seen content makers rip people off by giving low quality product, thereby losing trust. “Very few people will say that I don’t want to look at an ad, I want to pay for quality content,” he said while stating that brand integration was an important means of revenue.

     

    Momin said that brands that were spending about Rs 50 lakh last year are now spending Rs 3 crore to Rs 3.5 crore but the important thing is brands mandating agencies to look at digital more. As far as ad rates are concerned, they aren’t the best in the world because of lack of good ad formats.

     

    Coming to an end to the session, Couto asked the HITS players to highlight their value in the ecosystem. Ankur Jain said that JAINHITS is helping digital India plan, DOCSIS and two way cable be a reality while D’silva said that broadband would be a success when entertainment is added as an important quotient to ‘roti, kapda aur makaan’. 

  • Chrome Data: HSM sees the most gain in week 39

    Chrome Data: HSM sees the most gain in week 39

    MUMBAI: Religious channels in the Hindi speaking market (HSM) gained the most opportunity to see (OTS) collated by Chrome Data Analytics and Media for the week 39.

     

    The genre grew by 1.1 per cent wherein Aastha channel continued its reign with 97.3 per cent OTS.

     

    English News channels with 0.8 per cent hike came in second. In the genre, Times Now once again remained on top with 85.7 per cent OTS.

     

    Hindi News channels with 0.6 per cent and Music channels with 0.5 per cent gained in the HSM as well. ABP News with 95.6 per cent OTS and Mix with 88.8 per cent OTS topped their respective genres.

     

    English Movie channels in the eight metros saw a minor fall of 0.5 per cent. Pix with 72.6 per cent gained in the most in the category.

     

    Infotainment channels across India and English Entertainment in the eight metros saw negligible fall of 0.2 per cent and 0.1 per cent, respectively.

     

     National Geographic channel with 87.2 per cent OTS and Star World with 67.4 per cent OTS topped their respective categories.

     

  • JAINHITS chooses ARRIS to meet demands of video digitisation

    JAINHITS chooses ARRIS to meet demands of video digitisation

    NEW DELHI: JAINHITS, India’s first and only HITS-based Direct to Network (DTN) service, has selected set top boxes from ARRIS’s HMC portfolio to deliver digital video services across the nation. 

     

    According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), India is set to witness digitisation of approximately 100 million homes by the end of this year.

     

    Currently, JAINHITS offers more than 252 standard definition (SD) channels, following the launch of the nationwide ARRIS digital headend earlier this year, and plans to soon provide full high-definition (HD) services, which will be made available via the new ARRIS set-top boxes.

     

    “As we look to grow our services to meet the digital transition in India and introduce HD services later this year, we are pleased to extend our working relationship with ARRIS to add its set-top boxes to our offering,” said JAINHITS chairman JK Jain. “Our platform coupled with ARRIS set-top boxes will allow cable operators to provide 250 digital TV channels using just 12 frequencies as compared to the 106 they are using today. This will help them free valuable spectrum, and use this available spectrum to provide broadband services to increase ARPU and fulfill Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream of a digitally developed India.” 

     

    “ARRIS is driving the global transition to an all-digital content delivery platform – giving customers like JAINHITS a competitive advantage in delivering tomorrow’s services on today’s networks”, said ARRIS Asia Pacific senior vice president Tim Gropp. “JAINHITS benefits from our proven digital video portfolio and worldwide footprint, which enables us to deliver localised solutions and support.”

     

    JAINHITS is deploying HMC1010 SD set-top and the HMC2010 HD set-top from September 2014. Both are cost-effective digital terminal adapters (DTA) for operators looking to convert from an analog to a digital service. The compact and energy efficient design of all the HMC series set-top boxes, including the HMC1010 and HMC2010, minimizes energy consumption, reducing their impact on the environment.

     

  • IDOS 2014: Industry solutions to distribution dynamics gain momentum

    IDOS 2014: Industry solutions to distribution dynamics gain momentum

    GOA: The India Digital Operators Summit (IDOS) 2014, the largest TV distribution summit in India ended with significant progress and a level of stakeholder unity on the way forward for digitisation in India, embracing voluntary and mandatory DAS, ground level pricing, interconnect and revenue sharing between LCOs, LMOs and MSOs and broadcaster support for standard, uniform pricing based on addressable deployment. Key stakeholders also agreed that it’s critical to further improve hygiene in Phase I and II of DAS while various ecosystem entities, including DTH pay-TV operators, domestic STB manufacturers, alternative TV distribution  platforms (HITS, Free Dish) along with the cable fraternity agreed that ahead of the delayed DAS mandate, voluntary DAS has legs in Phase III and Phase IV.

     

    IDOS 2014 had a full attendance of the who’s who of the industry with more than 300 professionals from the digital TV landscape making their way to the beautiful picturesque resort of Hotel Leela in south Goa.

     

    The summit which kickstarted with the biggest opening night party organised by HBO on 25 September, saw some eye opener facts presented by Media Partners Asia executive director Vivek Couto on the current status of Indian cable TV industry. He said, “Out of the 262 million households in the country only 162 million houses have a TV. Of this, 27 million is taken up by the free to air service providers such as Freedish via satellite and 7 million by terrestrial DD, while the rest comes under cable and satellite.”

     

    He also informed the gathering that over Rs 32000 crore has been invested in digitisation since 2005 with a bulk of the investment coming from the DTH operators followed by the MSOs and LCOs since 2011. Out of this, over Rs 11000 crore in the last 24 to 30 months has been invested by MSOs and LCOs.

     

    He pointed out that while the cost of all the pay channels on a wholesale basis is Rs 922 to digital platforms, the highest pack price is Rs 550 which is an anomaly and needs correction. “Wholesale channel rates should be reflective of retail  prices,” he highlighted. “The sector needs to move towards retail pricing to foster trust between broadcasters, cable TV operators, and LCOs. Retail pricing will make rates transparent. Competition amongst six DTH, two HITS, five national MSOs and several regional ones and the local cable ops will keep retail rates in check.”

     

    Another important point that came out during the session was that carriage fees which were declining before the digitisation mandate have now reversed their path following completion of phase of phase I and phase II .  “The carriage fee has gone up by 14 per cent on Q1 of FY15 over the previous corresponding quarter,” he informed.

     

    Indian Television Dot Com founder CEO Anil Wanvari suggested the way forward for the cable TV fraternity. He said, “The first thing is to look at digitisation and pay TV with a changed mindset that it will be beneficial to all. The government could look at setting up a digitisation transition fund that will help educate, train, provide seed capital to go digital – this is specially relevant in phase III and phase IV areas. The fund could be discontinued once the transition is completed successfully, say in the next four to five years. A mechanism needs to be put in place to reward people who follow the rules and ensure strict penalties for those who don’t.”

     

    Apart from this, Wanvari also suggested that Subscriber Management System (SMS) should be set up with correct KYC  details and bills be issued to consumers. The government or regulator could also look at laying down standards and tech specifications for set top boxes (STBs) which were in keeping in making the customer technology-future-proofed for at least three to four years and to ensure quality control. That’s if the mandate of made in India set top boxes is to become a reality. “The first wave of digitisation has seen low end zapper boxes being shipped in from China – of maybe not the best quality – and being dumped on to the Indian customer to meet the so-called deadlines in phase I and phase II,” he said. “Which is not fair on the lay customer who may have to go in for a new one in the not to distant future.”

     

    “On the pricing front, industry could be allowed to price their content based on market demand,” Wanvari added. “The prepaid model as followed by DTH with recharges being made available from your kiranawala (neighbourhood store) or paanwala will allow for more transparent collection from the ground for MSOs and the cable sector. The base pack price could rise; and content costs on cable could be brought on a parity with DTH.  On the other hand, different packages could be made available to the consumer.”

     

    One key take away from the three day summit was the fact that right from the broadcaster, to the MSOs, DTH operators and also a few local cable operators, no one is happy with the delayed digitisation. The captains of the industry expressed similar opinion  to what the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India chairman Rahul Khullar has been airing on several occasions, that ‘delayed digitisation sends out a wrong message to the world and helps no one.’

     

    Many also felt that the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) needs to go up from the current Rs 150 to Rs 250-Rs 300. “ARPUs can see an upward trend only if there is trust amongst the various stakeholders,” said IndiaCast CEO Anuj Gandhi.

     

    Star India president and general counsel Deepak Jacob during a session suggested putting together a commercial model which is uniform. While Siti Cable CEO VD Wadhwa opined to opt for voluntary digitisation, if the broadcasters and LCOs support the MSOs.

     

    “IDOS is a great platform for the industry to express their point of view, which for this year was delayed digitisation. I am very pleased with the discussions and the quality turnout at IDOS,” said Wadhwa.

     

    “As a first timer, I got to learn a lot through all the sessions that were conducted. Given a chance, I will keep coming back,” said Scripps Networks Asia Pacific managing director Derek Chang.

     

    “The session on STB was very informative and there is no other platform where all the stakeholders can meet and discuss the issues related to the cable TV industry,” said Times Television Network MD and CEO MK Anand.

     

    The highlight of IDOS 2014 was the closed door interaction with TRAI chairman Dr Khullar via videoconference with the various industry stakeholders.

  • IDOS 2014: MCOF’s vision for DAS phase III and IV

    IDOS 2014: MCOF’s vision for DAS phase III and IV

    GOA: Maharashtra Cable Operators Foundation president Arvind Prabhoo has expressed complete dissatisfaction at the extension of the digitisation dates in phase III and phase IV. While the Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar has said that the delay in digitisation is because he is looking at indigenisation of set top boxes (STBs), Prabhoo feels that even before the Indian STB manufacturers come up with their quality boxes, the international vendors will start chipping in boxes, which will be over priced.

     

    According to Prabhoo, the postponement also sends a signal that there is a dichotomy between the regulator and the industry. The MCOF president was expressing his views during the just concluded IDOS 2014 in Goa.   

     

    “The worst impact of this delay will be on the last mile owners (LMOs), who will now face stiff competition from the direct to home (DTH) players because they will now have almost a year or year and a half to start marketing their product,” informs Prabhoo.

     

    The LMO, for Prabhoo is an entrepreneur “and we have been saying this since last year.”

     

    Many LMOs have started realigning themselves at district level as well as state level. “The last mile owner has realised that alignment and realignment will happen and it is good for him. We know that a lot of LMOs, who have a good standing in the community will get funds for fellow LMOs,” opines Prabhoo.

     

    He also highlights that a lot of technology solutions will be provided by LMOs, which will be much cheaper than what is currently available. “And if we adopt technology, I think it will become a great time for LMOs and independent headend operators.”

     

    Prabhoo through IDOS 2014 has also requested the Telecom Regulator Authority of India (TRAI) chairman Rahul Khullar to open up the ISP licences for cable television owners. “It is after this that the broadband and digital India dream can materialise,” he says.  

     

    He opines that while the extension has been given, the challenge can be seen as an opportunity. He is aware of the challenges, considering the different demographics for phase III and IV markets. “There are almost 5000 headend owners; we might have to cut this down to maybe 50 headends. That’s going to lead to unemployment. Also revenue differentiation will be there,” he highlights.

     

    Prabhoo disagrees with the perception that the ARPU is less. “There is going to be a viability concern because of transportation cost. We have requested the TRAI chairman to also allow us to use the national optical fibre system and subsidise rates. If that happens and cost of transportation goes down then these headends could be a viable proposition,” he says.

     

    According to him, players who were earlier in the B2B space and have applied for a DAS licence, when they begin to expand in phase III and IV areas, they won’t have any legacy issues. MCOF claims to have helped the LMO and independent headend owner by tying up with telecom skills department to re-skill employees because digital era is different than their analogue culture. “We are revenue driven and not valuation drive. So, those who want to see actual revenues coming in, should partner with us,” says Prabhoo.

     

    Learning from the mistakes of phase I and II, this time it will emphasise on data services. One of the major issues was about customer ownership and MCOF says that this will keep the ownership with the LMO with a fee based OSS and BSS services such as headend operation, billing etc. “We are looking at reducing a tier in the broadcaster, MSO, LMO, customer tier thus enabling lower MRP and much higher revenue share to the LMOs,” he concludes.

  • IDOS 2014: News broadcasters still struggling to make money

    IDOS 2014: News broadcasters still struggling to make money

    GOA: The news television industry has been witnessing losses for several years now. To throw some light on what are the hurdles and what needs to be kept in mind while forming regulations, NDTV vice chairperson KVL Narayan Rao, Times Television Network MD and CEO MK Anand and BBC World News India COO Naveen Jhunjhunwala took the stage at IDOS 2014 for the session ‘News Television- a specialised beast’ that was moderated by Castle Media founder Vynsley Fernandes.

     

    The session took off with a keynote from industry veteran Rao, who spoke of the issues facing the most competitive news industry. “News has always been a high cost, low return industry and since 20 years, there has been an unholy dependence on advertising revenue in an environment that doesn’t seem to be changing,” he said while adding that one needs to consider the importance of news in such a landscape. “Not a single news operator in this country is making money,” he stressed.

     

    The recent extension to digitisation has also not gone down well with Rao, who just this week stepped down as the president of the News Broadcasters Association. “Digitisation was to finish by this year but has been extended till 2015 and 2016. To say the least, I am very disappointed with this decision,” he said.

     

    As far as regulations are concerned, he says that content should always be kept separate from carriage. “The business environment that we are operating in is one where we pay a large amount of money as carriage fees. For most news broadcasters, one third of operating cost goes as carriage fees while 90 per cent of revenue is generated from advertising and in some cases 100 per cent. All news broadcasters today pay a large amount as carriage fees and it is a terrible burden that we find impossible to bear,” said he. All the stakeholders must see the way the news channels operate and not look at regulations in isolation.

     

    News channels during primetime end up showing only panel discussions because of the lack of resources. The western countries have subscription revenue of up to 60 to 70 per cent. All these issues were meant to change after digitisation with subscription revenues kicking in and carriage fees eventually coming down. However, Rao hopes that the new government helmed by Narendra Modi would do all it can in its new ‘Digital India’ plan.

     

    He spoke of the statement by the Editors’ Guild regarding denial of access to journalists by government and increasing number of significant government authorities taking to social media to give information. He says that this serious issue needs to be addressed since news is not about press releases but rather about ‘ferreting information out’.

     

    Adding to the issues faced by the industry was Anand. He said that the last six months have seen a loss of collective bargaining due to the deaggregation paper by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). “The paper has hit news broadcasters and unless one diversifies into entertainment, it is difficult to survive,” he said. In order to make money, the idea is generally to go heavy on branding and marketing and create an aura around the channel. The lopsided ad sales revenue also adds to the woes.

     

    Jhunjhunwala said that the BBC has been broadcasting news for decades and the technological advancements have allowed it to make it smoother and more cost effective.

     

    The ad cap has also hit them hard by restricting advertising air time to 12 minutes per hour. Here, the panel agreed that there are times when channels go live for hours without showing any ads and there is no provision to make up for the lost time. Fernandes questioned that in such a scenario, could there be alternative sources of revenue that can be put into use.  Rao said that now, to monetise news one needs to generate revenue through different streams such as sponsorships and associations. “But how can you not have subscriber revenue?” he questioned.

     

    Fernandes then questioned if there should be a limit on the number of channels that exist to which Rao said that the government should not curtail the number of channels because it is a free market. However, he feels the politicians and political parties should not be allowed to be in news.

     

    Anand said that the regulator could think about regulating carriage fees with some focus on news channels. He also pointed out that a decade ago, ad spots on news channels were sacrosanct but today it is being sold at one third the rate.

     

    Jhunjhunwala said that the government could look at raising the FDI limit on news to bring in more investment. There were talks of raising it to 49 per cent but no one has addressed the issue.

     

    Rao finally concluded by saying that though the digitisation deadline has been extended it will hopefully iron out things.

  • Siti Cable commercially rolls out its DOCSIS 3 broadband service in Delhi NCR

    Siti Cable commercially rolls out its DOCSIS 3 broadband service in Delhi NCR

    GOA: Delayed digitisation is the hottest topic of discussion in the cable TV corridors.

     

    With digitisation comes the hope of increased Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) and also the realisation that it is broadband that will help the multi system operators (MSOs) to increase their ARPUs.

     

    Siti Cable is doing just that. The MSO, which for the last two months had been piloting and testing its DOCSIS 3 technology in the Delhi, NCR region, has now officially launched it in the region. Confirms Siti Cable CEO and executive director VD Wadhwa, “Yes, we have commercially launched the service in these areas.” 

     

    The MSO though has started with Delhi-NCR; it will soon take the service to every city where it has a subscriber base of more than 50,000.

     

    It is estimated that the MSO is investing anywhere close to Rs 35 lakh to Rs 40 lakh in markets with 50,000 subscribers. According to Wadhwa, as a thumb rule, of every 100 cable TV households, close to 10-15 per cent convert to broadband households. “We are taking the figure at 15 per cent,” he says.

     

    “Upgradation of homes passed cost close to Rs 500 per subscriber. So if, of the 100 households, 15 per cent opt for broadband, then we are looking at an investment of close to Rs 5000 per subscriber,” he informs.

     

    The speed for DOCSIS 2 will go up to 40 mbps, while for DOCSIS 3 will go up to 100 mbps. As for the pricing, Wadhwa says, “Our pricing will be highly competitive. We are just in the phase of finalising the tariff plan. We will have different packs for different subscribers.” 

  • IDOS 2014: ‘Digitisation delay is good if industry fixes issues’

    IDOS 2014: ‘Digitisation delay is good if industry fixes issues’

    GOA: The cable TV industry, which had earlier expressed disappointment over the government’s decision to postpone cable TV digitisation in phase III and IV, now believes that delay in digitisation is good if the industry, after getting a breathing space, fixes various issues, which it witnessed in the phase I and II.

     

    The extension would not strain the financial health of the industry as the need of the hour is to see digitisation on track after the timeline shift and create value and increase the Average Revenue Per User (ARPUs).

     

    Some experts feel that the additional inventory carrying costs and investments in infrastructure that the industry is incurring now, would impact their topline and thus have a brunt on the bottomline.

     

    Also, with the stable government now at the centre led by NDA, media companies can raise capital and the industry is quite bullish about the valuation benchmark.

     

    The government had previously set a target of digitising the cable TV services in the entire country by December 2014. Information and Broadcasting Ministry recently issued a notification as per which the deadline for the areas which came in phase III was extended from 30 September  2014 to 31 December 2015 and phase IV for December 2016.

     

    “Delay is never good. But, if one implements the learning from the first two phases, it may have a positive impact. Phase I and II haven’t so far reaped any fruits with zero value creation. The players are still fixing billing and other issues,” says HSBC Analyst Telecom associate director Rajiv Sharma, during a panel discussion on ‘Ecosystem Economics of the Future’ in Goa at IDOS 2014.

     

    According to Exponentia Capital principal Neeraj Bhatia, the delay is a welcome development. “It was required considering the ground reality. The earlier deadline was impractical,” he adds.

     

    “The earlier phases involved capital expenditure as more revenues were flowing through the system. MSOs were collecting less and paying more, as a result of which they saw no net benefit. So we started to question the business model and whether digitisation had anything for MSOs,” opines Bhatia.

     

    “We are not ready for phase III and IV,” he informs.

     

    The delay has given a breathing space to the MSOs to figure out the next step. “One needs to take a stand on various economic issues. This includes gross billing among others which impact people,” says Axis Bank group head strategic corporate group Salil Pitale.

     

    Citing reasons for the problems faced in other phases, Sharma informs that the cable industry is a fragmented one with just six big MSOs, around 6,000 other MSOs and 70,000 LCOs.

     

    According to the experts, value creation comes from customer ownership and thus investors will continue to invest.

     

    The rollout of the next two phases, after the delay will be smoother as it could bring some consensus amongst stakeholders. In phase III and IV, the stakeholders should ensure that revenue comes from day one and not after two years, opines Sharma.

     

    “While there was a tug of war between the MSOs and LCOs in the earlier two phases that need not be the case going forward. Both need to look forward and pool money,” says Bhatia.

     

    The extension has also thrown an opportunity for MSOs to opt for voluntary digitisation, feel the experts.

     

    There are a few financial investors who are getting excited about the growth story that digitisation proposes. “Delay is good as it also allows the MSOs and LCOs to resolve the billing issue,” explains Bhatia.

     

    There are mixed opinions on the extension of digitisation deadline. The big question now is: ‘Can the cable TV industry fix the issues in the next one year by executing the lessons learnt?’

  • IDOS 2014: A must, say industry stalwarts

    IDOS 2014: A must, say industry stalwarts

    MUMBAI: The broadcast, cable, DTH industry and the regulatory body is all set for the biggest confab of the year.  To be held in Goa, starting 25 September with a big bang opening night party organised by HBO Hits and Defined, all the heads of India’s pay TV market, distribution, broadcast, cable and DTH industry are gathering to brainstorm and suggest the way forward for the already delayed digitisation at the Indian Digital Operators Summit (IDOS) 2014. 

     

    The extension in the deadline as announced by the Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar has somewhat delayed the plans of many in the pay TV circuit. While the biggest concern currently is smooth rollout of the phase III and phase IV of digitisation, industry biggies will also ideate on how, with consumers moving to other screens apart of television, can be monetised.

     

    The tenth edition of IDOS, is themed around, ‘Digitisation: The Next Big Push.’ Organised by Indian Television Dot Com and Media Partners Asia, the conference unites stakeholders across the value chain to drive meaningful dialogue and facilitate practical solutions to drive the content and distribution markets forward.

     

    “The forum provides opportunity for interaction with all key people involved in the broadcasting sector, not only digital operators but others as well,” says Dish TV CEO RC Venkateish.

     

    According to Venkateish, the theme is very relevant given digitisation is an ongoing process. “That process is something we all hope will take the industry to the next level,” he adds.  The Dish CEO expects the conclave to be a platform for exchange of news, information and opportunity to share some of their view points with the regulator.

     

    For Maharashtra Cable Operators Foundation president Arvind Prabhoo, IDOS’ concept is most pertinent in today’s market scenario. “Once digitisation was announced, all the players in the ecosystem needed to come together and voice their opinion to benefit from it,” says Prabhoo adding that Indiantelevision.com was the first to identify this need and organise such a conference.

     

    “It is a really good one and is only going to get bigger,” he opines.

     

    On the theme for this year’s IDOS, Prabhoo says, “Everyone needs a push, after all the struggle that happened in phase I and phase II. There had to be some kind of out-of-the-box thinking. And this is what will come out in the next two days of the conference.”

     

    Prabhoo is looking forward to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India chairman Rahul Khullar, Hathway director Viren Raheja and Tata Sky MD and CEO Harit Nagpal amongst others to come up with the kind of impetus that can be given by large corporate houses.

     

    BBC Global News India COO Naveen Jhunjhunwala is another industry stalwart who is looking forward to some meaningful sessions and interactions at IDOS, this year. “The TV industry is progressing rapidly and the theme for this year’s conference is a positive step towards bringing together the stakeholders and tapping into opportunities that exist in digitisation,” he concludes.