ITV

Tag: digitisation

  • IBF petition to prevent any delay of digitisation expected to be heard on Thursday

    IBF petition to prevent any delay of digitisation expected to be heard on Thursday

    New Delhi: The Supreme Court is expected to hear on 25 April a petition by the Indian Broadcasting Foundation seeking to ensure that digitisation is implemented as scheduled and without hindrance.

    The case had been listed for today, but could not be heard because of pending business. The Court is closed tomorrow because of Mahavir Jayanti.

    When the special leave petition had been mentioned before the Court on 16 April, it had declined the prayer for a stay on any of the proceedings in the various High Courts, as it was informed that the Karnataka High Court judgment on the subject was due. The bench presided over by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir therefore felt it would await the judgment of the High Court before taking up the matter.

    The Karnataka and Gujarat High Courts have since dismissed as having no merit to the petitions seeking extension of the switch-off dates for Phase II of digitisation in Bengaluru, Mysore, Ahmadabad, Rajkot, Surat and Vadodara.

    Petitions challenging digitisation are currently pending in the Madras, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh High Courts. These will affect the cities of Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam Bhopal, Indore, and Jabalpur.

  • Digitisation penetration reaches 90 per cent, says Varma

    Digitisation penetration reaches 90 per cent, says Varma

    NEW DELHI: Three weeks after the switch-off of analogue signals in a majority of the 38 cities covered under Phase II, the level of digitisation has touched ninety per cent, according to information& broadcasting ministry secretary Uday Kumar Varma.

    The I&B ministry secretary told Indiantelevision.com that a total of fifteen cities have crossed 100 per cent digitisation, while one more city has crossed 98 per cent digitisation mark. Another three cities have crossed a level of 90 per cent, he added.

    He also asserted that there is no shortage of set top boxes (STBs) in the Phase II cities.

    The government, he said, was still in the process of collating all the figures from the nodal officers and would bring a detailed report after its review.

    He also clarified that while announcing the switch-off of analogue on 31 March, the government had said that it would watch the situation for around two weeks and was now reviewing the reports coming in on the achievement so far.

    The ministry had announced earlier this month that analogue signals has been completely switched-off in the five states of Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Haryana, and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

    Meanwhile stays continued to be in force in the cities of Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Hyderabad, and Visakhapatnam. The Karnataka and Gujarat high courts had last week quashed petitions seeking extension of DAS thereby paving way for the analogue signals to be switched-off.

    Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is expected to hear tomorrow a special leave petition by the Indian Broadcasting Foundation seeking to quash all pending cases in various high courts and also ensure there is no postponement of the date of digitization.

  • Digitisation to propel pay-TV revenue to $17 billion by 2017 , MPA report

    Digitisation to propel pay-TV revenue to $17 billion by 2017 , MPA report

    MUMBAI: Propelled by the government’s digitisation drive, pay TV revenues in India are projected to reach $17 billion by 2020 as opposed to the $7.8 billion in 2012, according to a new report by Singapore-based pay-TV research firm Media Partners Asia (MPA).

    According to India Pay-TV & Broadband Markets, pay TV revenues are expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.4 per cent from 2012-17 and 10.2 per cent between 2012 and 2020.

    MPA forecasts indicate that total digital pay-TV homes will grow from 47 million in 2012 to 110 million by 2017 and 130 million by 2020.

    The digital penetration of total pay-TV homes in the country is expected to double to almost 70 per cent by 2020 from 35 per cent in 2012. The digital pay-TV penetration of TV homes in India will grow from 28 per cent in 2012 to 54 per cent by 2017, and reach 60 per cent by 2020.

    On the other hand, the total pay-TV homes are expected to grow from 128 million 2012 to 167 million by 2017, and 183 million by 2020. Pay-TV penetration of TV homes will grow from 80 per cent to 85 per cent between 2012 and 2020, adjusted for multiple connections in a household.

    This implies that the pay-TV industry will remain in a prolonged investment mode, with significant capital intensity. With two more phase of digitisation to go, both DTH and cable operators already have high levels of debt. The majority of additional funding will have to come through equity, via IPOs and M&A, the MPA report states.

    “A successful start for the roll-out of digital addressable systems (DAS) has revived interest in pay-TV among strategic and financial investors,” says MPA executive director Vivek Couto.

    “The real benefits will become clearer in 2H 2013 and beyond, as multi-system operators (MSOs) drive addressability and work with last mile local cable operators (LCOs) to ramp up tiering, billing and collections. Regulators are committed to curbing delays in the next phases of DAS, while the DTH industry is keen to revive growth by capitalising on digital transition.”

    Cable impact: Over the medium term, the majority of cable investments will be directed towards digital infrastructure, helping to build operator scale and improved addressability. In the long run, investments will be more focused towards acquiring primary subscriber points and the expansion of high-ARPU products such as broadband and HDTV.

    According to MPA, the total proportion of cable households with DAS climb from 15 per cent in 2012 to 50 per cent by 2020.

    DTH growth: In the DTH space, concerns focus on the growth of active subs (i.e. paying customers, net of churn and subscriber suspension), which has moderated in recent times. MPA says that the growth in active subs will rebound however, as more markets undergo analog switch-off. MPA forecasts indicate that active DTH subs will grow from 32 million in 2012 to 64 million by 2017, and 77 million by 2020.

    Broadcasters: Subscription fees for pay-TV channels crossed US$1 billion in 2012, driven by the growing strength of aggregators. This growth has yet to factor in digitalisation, which will result in a bigger share of subscription revenue for broadcasters. Operating margins will remain under pressure in the short-to-medium term, due to heavy investments in content for existing channels and gestation losses on new channel launches.

    MPA expects total pay-TV channel revenues, including advertising and subscription to grow from $3.6 billion in 2012 to $6.6 billion by 2017 and to $8.6 billion by 2020. The pay-TV ad market is expected to grow at a 10 per cent CAGR over 2012-20, while broadcaster subscription revenues are expected to grow at 15 per cent over the same period.

  • Indian DTH industry to benefit from digitisation, says MPA

    Indian DTH industry to benefit from digitisation, says MPA

    MUMBAI: India‘s move to digitise its fragmented and unorganised cable TV sector is going to give a fillip to the seven odd Indian DTH operators, according to Singapore based pay TV research firm Media Partners Asia (MPA).

    This is totally contrary to the behavior observed on the ground in the first two phases of digitisation wherein cable TV has held its ground and consumers have not really rushed out to buy DTH boxes even though analogue signals have been switched off.

    The MPA report says that revenues for DTH operators are expected to treble to over $5 billion by 2020 as mandatory cable TV digitisation would help the DTH players expand their subscriber base.

    It adds that DTH industry revenues will reach $3.9 billion by 2017 and $5.3 billion by 2020 on the back of a growth in subscriber numbers. Estimates are that the India™s DTH players raked in $1.5 billion last year.

    MPA says that active DTH subscribers will grow from 32.4 million in 2012 to 63.8 million by 2017 and 76.6 million by 2020. The figure for 2011 was at 28.7 million. The increase in active subscribers in 2012 over 2011 was a mere 3.7 million which is alarming, it says.

    The report points out that the content deals between operators and content aggregators such as IndiaCast, MediaPro and TheOneAlliance are likely to be on a cost per subscriber basis rather than a fixed rate as was the practice earlier.

    As it is DTH operators have been making efforts to improve their per subscriber economics over the past year by increasing the number of packages and entry level pricing. They have also tried to reduce churn levels by reducing trade margins and the window of free viewing by new subscribers, revealed MPA.

    The report warns that marketing and staff expenses will remain high with DTH operators as the rollout of digitisation makes further inroads into the remaining parts of India.

    MPA has also given the pecking order of the leading DTH players. Dish TV continues to lead with a market share of 27 per cent in terms of gross additions, while Videocon d2h leads in terms of incremental additions in 2012.

    Tata Sky and Airtel Digital TV have 19 and 18 per cent market share, respectively. These four players together accounted for 88 per cent of total gross additions last year, says MPA.

  • Industry airs views on Phase II digitisation “grace period”

    Industry airs views on Phase II digitisation “grace period”

    MUMBAI: What does the industry think about the government‘s decision to allow a grace period of 15 days for the rollout of phase II digitisation in some cities? Well, we at indiantelevision.com decided to find out by speaking to a cross section of industry to find out.

    Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) president and Multi Screen Media (MSM) CEO Manjit Singh, who is in Kolkata for the first match of the IPL, is clear that “as a broadcaster I would have preferred the government not giving any grace period. But since the ministry is more aware of the ground situation, I will go with its decision.”

    Hinduja Ventures Ltd whole time director Ashok Mansukhani believes that “if the government wanted to give a grace period of 15 days, it should have been after consultation with the MSOs who have been entrusted with the task of majorly implementing digitisation. Where it has been substantially implemented, there was no need to give a grace period. Where deployment is below 20 per cent, discussion could have been held on a longer timeline than 15 days.”

    Mansukhani adds that he would like the digitisation numbers of Phase II which are being released to be revisited for some localities. “There is some dispute about the numbers,” he says.

    He highlights that the objective of digitisation is to end under-declaration by cable TV operators. “If DAS Phase II deployment is uneven then government could have taken a two step process where pay TV channels could have been switched off first and the free to air channels later to allow for a smooth transition,” he says.

    Hathway Cable & Datacom MD & CEO Jagdish Kumar is of the opinion that from his network‘s perspective he would have preferred not to have a grace period at all. “From our perspective, we are well prepared with the ability to deploy set top boxes to almost 90 per cent of our and our joint venture networks,” he says.

    He points out that the lack of initiative on the part broadcasters to sign “digital agreements for phase II towns has been disappointing. We are working with broadcasters to get them moving. Basically, the industry is toying with a fixed fee or cost per subscriber deals.”

    DEN Networks COO M.G. Azhar is of the view that it was good the government has given the grace period keeping the consumers in mind. “Where set top boxes (STBs) have not been deployed effectively, the consumer should not face an analogue blackout,” he says.

    Tata Sky MD & CEO Harit Nagpal has the final word. Speaking to Indiantelevision.com yesterday, he had said that there was “no need for a grace period as the DTH operators are more than equipped to meet the STB demand wherever there is a shortage.”

  • Govt gives 15 days grace for phase II cable TV digitisation

    Govt gives 15 days grace for phase II cable TV digitisation

    NEW DELHI: Ever since the ministry of information and broadcasting ministry announced that it was enforcing 31 March 2013 for Phase II cable TV digitization and switch-ff of analogue signals in 38 cities in 14 states, there have been yelps from state government chief ministers and cable TV operators, and MSOs all over.

    Media reports were that a large number of viewers in these cities are grappling with blank TV screens as cable TV operators have not been able to speedily provide the set top boxes (STBs) needed to digitize. Some state governments went so far as to ask for a six-month extension to the digitization deadline. A couple of high courts – in Karnataka and Gujarat – had already agreed to a week long postponement in late March and on 1 April

    Late last night, according to a PTI report, the government heard the protesters’ pleas and said it would go slow on enforcing the black out of analogue signals. While categorically stating that the deadline was not being extended, information & broadcasting secretary Uday Kumar Varma, said that the industry was being given “a transition time of 10 to 15 days depending on the ground level situation so that there is no inconvenience to the people.”

    Reports are that almost 25 per cent of the 16 million households in these cities missed the deadline to switchover to digitized cable TV. The ministry has hence told MSOs and cable TV operators “to switch off the signals in a phased manner and depending on the situation in various cities.”

    Says the head of a leading MSO: “It’s good to hear that the government has given us this grace period. During the day there were ghastly reports that nodal officers and SDMs in various cities were threatening cable TV operators and MSOs with arrests if they did not switch off analogue TV signals. This should come as a relief to all of them. As it is we have not been able to sign digital agreements with a majority of broadcasters for these cities. Hopefully we will be able to do something soon.”

    Sources indicate that the ground situation in various cities is varied and that the I&B ministry officials would coordinate with the local nodal officers in order to decide the timing and extent of analogue TV switch offs in order to avoid blank TV screens.

    Data available with the I&B ministry has revealed that towns which are facing a problem include: Vishakapatnam with 12.8 per cent digitization (out of 500,000 TV homes); Srinagar with 20 per cent, Coimbatore with 28.89 per cent, Jababalpur with 34.87 per cent and Kalyan Dombivili (38.59 per cent). Seven of the 38 cities had achieved 100 per cent plus digitization: Ludhiana, Hyderabad, Faridabad, Allahabad, Amritsar, Chandigarh and Jodhpur — reported 100 per cent digitisation while three others — Thane, Meerut and Jaipur — had 90 per cent plus.

    Varma’s announcement came a little after indiantelevision.com reported that cable TV operators had got a reprieve in the Andhra Pradesh high court too. Justice M V Ramanna had directed DAS to be stayed for two weeks and the case is expected to be heard on 15 April. The order came on a petition by the Greater Hyderabad Cable TV Operators Association which took the position that there was no clarity regarding the availability of STBs.

  • English GECs bet big on digitisation

    English GECs bet big on digitisation

    The early exit of BBC Entertainment and focus on target segmentation marked the English general entertainment channel (GEC) genre as digitisation propelled change in 2012.

    Audience stickiness continued to be a challenge for the English channels, forcing them to ramp up marketing to ensure that perception fell in line with their product offerings.

    In a digital environment, channels will have to increase their local feel and touch. AXN, which has completed 15 years in India, is getting more aggressive in the marketplace. The India operations is in the process of shifting from Singapore and there will be more local shows.

    “Operationally, we will have the scheduling and programming move to India. We will thus be able to sensitise to the Indian tastes and needs. We will also be able to move to the market quicker and respond to advertiser queries faster,” says AXN‘s newly appointed India head Sunil Punjabi.

    The positioning of the channel also changed from the ‘heart of action and adventure‘ to ‘It‘s Thrilling‘. A survey was conducted in January 2012 and it was found that AXN viewers wanted content that went beyond action. There was craving for a deeper, richer and engaging experience.

    Explains Punjabi, “Our aim is to broaden the genre. Our focus now rests on content that is high on energy and engagement. That is why we moved away from our action position to thrills. We have added layers to our strategy.”

    A part of this strategy is to provide light content early and then move on to the later part of prime time with shows that have substance. The aim: to evenly split between dramas and reality. Says Punjabi, “Unlike our competitors, we don‘t have sitcoms. Serious dramas are not their main focus. And non-fiction and reality shows comprise just 20 per cent of their content lineup.”

    Star World has been striving to bring shows relevant to the English content viewing audience. A case in point is the airing of the Australian TV series ‘Packed To The Rafters‘. And to make the show more relatable to the audience, Star World made Karan Johar the face of the campaign.

    “From our Hindi and regional GECs, one of the biggest learning is that viewers seek life lessons from the daily soaps they watch. The issues faced by the Star World audience, the English speaking, urban Indian youth, is quite myriad and they don‘t get to see shows which reflect their life on TV. Our audience will be able to resonate with the issues faced by the characters in Packed to the Rafters and emulate the way they resolve the conflicts,” says Star India senior VP, English programming Rasika Tyagi.

    In March 2012, Star World created a block called ‘Crime At Ten‘ that imbibed the American style of showcasing programmes in a checkered format. The property showcased the latest seasons of crime shows, including ‘Dexter‘, ‘Castle‘ and ‘Criminal Minds‘ that aired on weekdays at 10 pm.

    Big CBS, the JV between RBNL and US media conglomerate CBS, is pushing CBS flagship shows as well as adding layers through localisation.

    According to Big CBS business head Anand Chakravarthy, DAS (digital addressable systems) is one of the biggest things to have happened for the genre. “With the first phase of digitisation having started, the genre penetration has grown substantially in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata – the three biggest markets for English GEC. Carriage fee reduction has also happened,” he says.

    But not everybody shares this sense of optimism. BBC Worldwide Channels was not willing to wait for digitisation to take matured shape. Two channels – BBC Entertainment and CBeebies – were shut late in the year. BBC Worldwide Channels, Asia senior VP, GM Mark Whitehead bemoaned the fact that India was the only country where they had to pay carriage fees. “The nature of the Indian market for pay-TV channels make the economics of running channels very challenging at this time. We have reluctantly concluded that we need to close our channels.”

    For those who cared to wait, wider distribution of channels is beginning to happen. A case in point is FX and Fox Crime, both uniquely positioned in this space.

    Comedy Central, which has completed a year, is hoping segmentation would start paying in a digital form of distribution. Viacom18 Media senior VP, GM English entertainment Ferzad Palia says that he is encouraged by feedback received on Twitter and Facebook. “Even with digitisation, you need to get more English language speaking homes into the overall sample. We find that comedy works both with mature and new audiences. But there is room for improvement in terms of things like scheduling.”

    Converting Snacking into loyalty: To get viewers to stick on, some English GECs are trying out a better balance of content. Also, a stripped strategy is being followed which makes it easier for fans of a certain show to follow what is going on.

    Punjabi says that the genre would continue to have this challenge of converting snacking to loyalty. AXN‘s strategy is to have branded slots which will help viewers to recall the type of programming on a particular time band. “Hence we are building loyalty on slots. AXN has the highest spread of programming genres and we believe we have a lot more to offer to our viewers.”

    Another way to building loyalty is airing seasons back to back. Before a new season kicks off, older seasons are aired. This helps market these shows and more sampling takes place. “But this strategy is not followed for reality content as that does not make sense,” avers Punjabi.

    Zee Network business head niche channels Anurag Bedi also feels that longer seasons of shows are key to building loyalty. “Longer seasons in prime time are what our current focus is on. Currently we have brought on ‘Numbers‘ on Zee Cafe which will air on the channel till its sixth season. Then we have ‘Gossip Girl‘ season four, five and six. Bringing newer seasons of the popular shows and understanding the viewership needs builds loyalty,” he says.

    Zee Cafe implemented the stripped strategy with the understanding that Indian viewers have a set way of consuming television, which is Monday to Friday. “The Indian viewers prefer daily shows and clubbing number of seasons together helps retain the viewer over a long period of time. Stripped format coverts snacking into loyal viewership,” says Bedi.

    Big CBS took the simulcast route to build stickiness. ‘X-Factor‘, ‘America‘s Got Talent‘ and ‘American Idol‘, for instance, were simulcast across the three channels. “Now we will no longer simulcast. We are building our primetime band,” says Chakravarthy.

    To increase reach and boost sampling, many channels in the genre air movies. Sporting properties are also seen as an opportunity by Big CBS Prime which shows martial arts and wrestling. Chakravarthy explains that movies are shown on the weekend. “Movies become a great destination for sampling the channels as they pull in a larger audience. They also offer good sponsorship opportunities. The aim of having sporting properties is to broad base the channel. Sports bring in both younger and older audiences.”

    The ad pie: English general entertainment channels raked in about Rs 1.3 billion in 2012.

    Multi Screen Media president networks sales, licensing and telephony Rohit Gupta believes that shifting AXN‘s operations to India will help the broadcaster to work more closely with clients. “AXN has seen a 20 per cent revenue growth. We will be able to focus on shows that work well in India and offer more tailored solutions to clients,” he says.

    Palia claims that 150 brands advertised on Comedy Central. “Many TVCs are funny. So people on our channel are more receptive towards them as they are in a similar frame of mind,” he said.

    The Future: The genre can expect more channel launches amid digitisation as better distribution revenues are realised.

    Chakravarthy expresses satisfaction that digitisation is forcing broadcasters to focus more on content. “Everybody is trying to bring in really good quality shows. The genre and the audience will gain,” he says.

  • NDTV turns profitable in Q3 on back of digital gains and cost tightening

    NDTV turns profitable in Q3 on back of digital gains and cost tightening

    MUMBAI: News broadcaster New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) has turned profitable in the fiscal-third quarter due to gains from digitisation and internal cost controls.

    The company posted a small profit in the three-month period ended 31 December against a loss a year earlier, as cost reduction outstripped fall in income.

    NDTV earned a profit of Rs 23 million in the third quarter ended against a net loss of Rs 23.9 million a year ago.
        
    NDTV’s total income from operations in the third quarter was Rs 967.7 million, down 4.9 per cent from Rs 1.07 billion a year earlier. Its total expenses for the third quarter fell 8.13 per cent to Rs 912 million from Rs 992.7 million a year earlier.

    The news broadcaster cut sharply expenses in marketing, distribution and promotions. The broadcaster spent Rs 160.4 million on marketing, distribution and promotions in the third quarter, down 41.91 per cent to Rs 276.1 million a year earlier.

    For the nine months ended 31 December, NDTV’s net loss widened significantly to Rs 356.7 million from Rs 32.8 million a year earlier, while total income for the period was Rs 2.58 billion, 7.8 per cent lower than Rs 2.79 billion a year earlier.

    On a consolidated basis, NDTV reported a profit of Rs 148.7 million in the third quarter against a loss of Rs 60.5 million a year earlier. Its total income for the third quarter was flat at Rs 1.3 billion compared with Rs 1.27 billion a year earlier.

    In a statement, NDTV said “Profit this quarter is a result of gains from digitisation and internal cost controls.”

    A buoyant NDTV CEO Vikram Chandra said, “Yes, it’s been a good quarter. It comes on the back of cost rationalisation and by streamlining the business. Also, the benefits of digitisation are starting to flow.”

  • Digitisation the potential game changer for kids TV

    Digitisation the potential game changer for kids TV

    The Mayans got it wrong and thankfully so!

    As we bid adieu to the Year of the Dragon, India has already added approx. 30 million children to its burgeoning population of 330 million kids. Thanks to the growing population, there has been an explosion in demand for kids’ specific products and services, not to mention their need for entertainment. Hence avenues of entertainment multiplied and kids TV not only witnessed growth but also saw new offerings.

    The children’s appetite to be entertained continued to be insatiable. Kids broadcasters rose to the occasion to fulfil this need with tailor made offerings. Animation continued to rule the roost as it is timeless and transports children to an alternate world of escapism and fantasy, which live actions shows are challenged with. The Indian animation industry came of age with locally produced content. The highlight has been the development of original and endearing characters and content like Motu Patlu, Keymon Ache etc which have made great inroads into the category.

    Comedy, Action and Value Based shows continued to be the category drivers. Bollywood went on to have a huge influence on children, which also got mirrored in the shows. Characters kept to rule the hearts of kids and were larger than the channels that carried them. Hence 3-4 shows based on these characters continued to garner the maximum GRPs.

    Kids continued to shape the buying patterns of their families. From vacation choices to car purchases to meal selections, they exerted tremendous power over the family pocketbook. While kids are almost in- house consultants, marketers and broadcasters have been very mindful while communicating with them.

    With 8% – 9% genre share, the kids genre is the 4th largest viewed in CS4+; larger than news and music (the word ‘Niche’ used traditionally to categorise the kids genre should be termed ‘Special Interest’). Within 4-14 years itself, it is the second largest genre with 23% share, second only to GECs. The 4-9-year-olds remained being the loyal viewers. 10-14 years remain the flirtatious/closet watchers. The category viewership continued to be driven by boys while the girls indulged in kitchen politics.

    Despite many players in the category, over 70% viewership was concentrated within the top 4 players. Despite all the fragmentation, the category has grown by 5% CAGR in the last 5 years.

    Challenges

    While the kids genre contributes 8% viewership share of the CS4+, it accounts for a mere 2% ad revenue share. Hence there is a huge potential for growth and this has to get corrected over a period of time through rate correction and non FCT partnerships. While pester power plays a role in brand purchases (candies, chocolates, biscuits, toys etc.), the control of the purse strings are still with the parents. Parents are not the primary audience for kids channels (while there is co-viewing but the level of viewer engagement is low) and hence advertisers are not paying premium dollars.

    Multiple Entrants – The fragmentation in the kids category is increasing by the day with over a dozen national players existing currently. This has led to the viewership and share of the revenue pie being divided between the players. The challenge the genre faces is on generating revenue beyond spots and that is something the category needs to seriously introspect. Over reliance on FCT to generate top line and over supply of inventory has led to spot rates being depressed.

    Marketing to Kids – Kids as an audience are a tough bunch to target. They barely consume print and outdoor. A large chunk of the marketing investment is on BTL activities such as School Contact Programmes, retail activation and direct consumer contact using multiple on-round vehicles which have an extremely high cost per contact. The wired kid of today is more tech savvy than his parents. The dependence on the digital and online medium is fast increasing.

    2013 – Trends & Roadmap

    Digitisation will be a game-changer in 2013. We are already witnessing the benefits of the 1st phase of the rollout. This has benefited not only the consumers (more channel offerings and of superior quality) but also broadcasters.

    Digitisation will give an impetus to ‘special interest’ channels and hence create space for broadcasters to create categories to address specific need gaps, like Sonic, the Action Adventure channel for boys or Nick Jr., the play-and-learn platform for pre-schoolers. Digitisation will go a long way in better ROIs and hence better business models for television.

    Lines across platforms & screens will blur further in 2013. Content consumption will become increasingly platform agnostic. Kids content creators will now make their content and characters available to kids across platforms, be it TV, Computers, Tablets or Phones.

    As Indian animation comes of age and more home grown characters (not just mythological ones) are developed, Indian animation will make a mark on the global map as it moves from being an outsourcing industry to an original content creator with Shows like Shaktiman, Chhota Bheem, etc. that can travel overseas.

    The “Touch.Play.Feel” mantra will take on a whole new dimension. Most kids broadcasters will be aiming to move beyond Television and form a Kids Ecosystem. Broadcasters may leverage their platform strength and influential characters to create interesting Entertainment offshoots beyond television. Consumer Products, Theme Parks, Retail Stores, etc. may be the next BIG opportunity for broadcasters.

    So let me leave you with the thought that this TG is a formidable one and will keep the marketers and broadcasters on their toes. Kids broadcasters will need to continuously re-invent themselves to stay relevant to this ever evolving and dynamic bunch of consumers.

    2013 will be an exciting year with lots to look forward to. Wish everyone a very successful and profitable year!

  • HITS can get active in 2nd phase of digitisation

    HITS can get active in 2nd phase of digitisation

    MUMBAI: The second phase of digitisation across 38 cities will offer an opportunity for Headend-In-The-Sky (HITS) operators as the presence of national multi-system operators (MSOs) is not adequate enough to cater to this entire television viewing population, said Digicable Network chief strategy officer Sisir Pillai.

    Tapping into this market will be a few HITS operators. "We will see a couple of big players launching HITS service," said Pillai.

    Hinduja Group, which has interests in cable TV distribution business through IndusInd Media and Communications Ltd, is planning to launch HITS platform for smaller cable TV operators to offer digital service. It has already applied to the Information and Broadcasting ministry for a licence.

    The HITS business will be under Grant Investrade, an investment arm of the Hindujas. Grant Investrade holds 6 per cent stake in IMCL.

    Jain TV Group-owned NSTPL (Noida Software Technology Park Limited) has also got plans to get aggressively active in HITS. It has christened its HITS platform as Jain HITS.

    Earlier, Siticable had started HITS service before the government had mandated digitisation of cable TV networks also the country but the project failed to make much ground and was finally shelved off.

    "HITS can be a cheaper and faster option to grab the market in the second phase. MSOs will need to invest Rs 160-200 million on a digital head-end in each city they want to reach out to as there is a requirement to build a capacity for carrying 500 channels," said Pillai.

    Since in the first phase the national MSOs were having a strong base, there was no need gap for a HITS service, Pillai added.

    Even in the third phase, Pillai expects HITS to have a strong potential to grow.

    Cable operators will be able to also offer broadband services through their fibre optic co-axial cable, despite receiving video signals from the HITS provider via satellite. "The bundling of broadband with video services will also be possible even if cable operators take to HITS for offering digital service. So the advantage over DTH will continue to prevail. Direct-to-home service providers can‘t offer broadband and satellite bandwidth is very costly," said Asianet Satellite Communications Ltd president and COO G Sankaranarayana.

    Building a HITS platform will, however, involve huge investments as it requires transponder space on satellite, encryption systems and digital set-top boxes. NSTPL is planning to invest Rs 15 billion over five years in its HITS project.