Tag: DTH

DTH cos depend on foreign satellites due to Ku Band capacity shortage in Indian satellites

NEW DELHI: Indian direct-to-home operators depend on foreign satellites due to shortage of Ku band transponders on Indian satellites.

The Parliament was informed on 11 March that a total of 77.89 (36 MHz equivalent) Ku band transponders are used by Indian DTH operators for DTH services.

Out of a total of 77.89 transponders, 19 transponders are in INSAT/GSAT satellites and 58.89 leased from foreign satellites.

The DTH service providers are using foreign satellites since sufficient capacity of Ku Band transponders is not available in INSAT/GSAT satellites, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Dr Jitendra Singh said.

The commercial, societal and defence service users have been using their allocated capacity as per their usage plan subject to receipt of regulatory approvals.

The allocation process is in progress for about 46 transponders (in C, Extended-C and Ku Bands), which are vacant at present.

Dr Singh had said recently that a total of six communication satelites – GSAT-15, GSAT-9, GSAT-6, GSAT-6A, GSAT-7A and GSAT-11 – are being developed indigenously as part of the XII Five Year Plan (2012-17).

A total of 95 Ku-band (a part of K band) transponders onboard indigenous communication satellites are being utilised for various communication applications, he had told Parliament last month.

March 11, 2015
DTH players react to Budget 2015

MUMBAI: Some time before the presentation of the budget, the Direct-To-Home (DTH) Operators’ Association of India had sent its wish list to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) asking for certain demands to be fulfilled for the sector. The Budget 2015 saw a strong no-no with an increase in service tax from the current 12.36 per cent to 14 per cent and the demands not being fulfilled. Additionally, the date for the roll out of Goods and Service Tax (GST) has been announced.

Expressing his displeasure on the same, Videocon d2h CEO Anil Khera tells Indiantelevision.com, “The DTH and cable sector were ignored in the budget. The hike in the service tax will further be passed on to the consumers through the packs. Nothing from the wish list was taken into account.”

It may be recalled that the wish list had asked the service tax for DTH services to be put in the negative list of service tax. It had also demanded for infrastructure status for the DTH sector.

When asked for his reaction to the budget, DTH Operators’ Association president and Dish TV CEO RC Venkateish opines that he is happy that the GST date has been announced, while it was already known that the increase in service tax would be increased in two stages. “While the announcement of the GST date i.e 1 April, 2016 will have benefits, for the short term one would pay that extra one per cent, which is not material. The GST implementation will give us a substantial reduction in overall taxes,” he says.

Echoing his thoughts on the Budget 2015, Tata Sky CEO Harit Nagpal says that he was hoping that at least one of the two taxes that the industry pays to the Centre and the State would be absorbed, which did not happen. “We are the only industry that pays service tax to the Centre and entertainment tax to the state,” says Nagpal.

According to him, this long standing demand to negate one of the taxes was not granted and instead what one saw was the service tax being hiked. Differing with Khera’s point of view, Nagpal informs that the increase will not be passed on to the subscribers through an increase in price packs as the amount is minimal which is one per cent.

March 2, 2015
Dish TV aims to boost ARPU with differential pricing strategy

MUMBAI: Taking the path that cable operators often do, Direct To Home (DTH) operator Dish TV has decided to offer differential pricing across different cities.

Dish TV chief operating officer Salil Kapoor tells Indiantelevision.com that with the DTH operator having over 40 High Definition (HD) channels and superior quality, the consumers would not mind the “marginal jump.”

According to Kapoor, Indian consumers can no longer be treated as “one size fits all,” especially in metro segments. Kapoor believes that the consumer today has the capacity to pay slightly more for a quality product. “This differential pricing is our strategy to give a boost to our Average Revenue Per User (ARPU),” Kapoor informs.

As part of the first phase, metro cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Pune will be targeted. Each pack in these four cities will now cost an additional Rs 10. The revised prices came into effect from 26 February, 2015.

Dish TV has already introduced differential pricing for its regional brand, Zing. While in Maharashtra, the pack price is pegged at Rs 189, in the state of Odisha it has been priced at Rs 175. Since the strategy worked successfully for its sub brand Zing, Kapoor is of the opinion that it would also work for Dish TV.

While the packages have currently been introduced for the metros, no decision on other cities has been taken as yet.

February 27, 2015
TRAI suggests interoperability methods for DTH consumers; issues draft tariff order

NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued a draft Tariff Order (TO) for consultation with stakeholders prescribing a framework for commercial interoperability of Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) offered by the Direct-to-Home (DTH) operators to their subscribers.

In the DTH sector, as on date, CPEs deployed by one operator may not be compatible with the network of another operator and a subscriber cannot migrate to another operator or platform without re-investing in another CPE.

TRAI has placed the Draft on its website along with a Consultation Paper and wants views of stakeholders by 13 March, 2015.

DTH services in India have been growing at a rapid pace since they were introduced in 2003. As on December 2014, the number of registered pay DTH subscribers has reached a figure of 73 million. The number of private DTH operators has also grown from one operator in 2003 to six operators today. These operators have launched their services at different points of time, deploying different transmission and compression standards and encryption solutions.

In DTH services, a subscriber needs Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) to be connected with the television set for reception of programmes as the signal received at his premises is in digital form and encrypted. CPE consists of an outdoor unit comprising a dish antenna, Low Noise Block Converter with Feed-horn (LNBF), cable and connectors. The indoor unit primarily comprises a Set-Top-Box (STB) along with a remote control. Since variegated technologies co-exist, the CPEs deployed by one operator may not be compatible with the network of another operator, hampering migration of the subscriber from one operator to another; in case the subscriber wishes to migrate, he cannot do so without re-investing in another CPE.

The Authority says the interests of subscribers in this regard can be largely protected through the provision for commercial interoperability of CPEs. Commercial interoperability provides for a viable exit option to the subscribers in case they want to switch operator /platform.

The draft is aimed at striking a balance between the interests of the consumers and that of the service providers, as well as to curb piling up of e-waste on account of CPEs.

The draft provides for declaration of the price of all types of CPEs, installation and activation charges and applicable taxes on CPEs by the DTH operators; mandatory offering of standard scheme for all type of CPEs on a standalone basis by DTH operators, specifying separately the price of CPE, taxes, other charges etc; flexibility to DTH operators to offer other schemes; and flexibility to DTH operators to offer brand new as well as refurbished CPEs.

This paper also refers to provision of buy-back/refund option in all the offered schemes, including bundled schemes for CPEs; mechanism for buy-back/refund in the standard and other schemes for CPEs; provision of lock-in period for the purpose of refund in the offered schemes for CPEs if the subscriber wants to switch from one operator to the other; applicability of buy-back/refund option for all types of offered CPEs; option for the DTH operators to redeploy the surrendered CPEs; mechanism for registration of request for surrender of connection; and time-limit to settle refund/buy-back claims of the subscribers.

Click here to read the full consultation paper

February 27, 2015
Videocon teams up with Cisco for 4K broadcast

MUMBAI: Direct-to-Home (DTH) company Videocon d2h tied hands with Cisco AnyRes Live UHD Encoders to launch its 4K-enabled Ultra High Definition viewing experience.

This is the global launch of Cisco’s 4K encoder and a redefinition of TV viewing. The 4K encoder brings best-in-class quality for real-time media delivery applications such as live sports and 24-hour programming. The announcement comes in the midst of the on-going ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.

4K resolution offers 8.3 million pixels to display a high definition picture even when viewed up close. This comprehensive platform can be scaled up to stream multiple formats to any device, including iPhone, iPad, feature phones, and smartphones, as well as delivering pristine Ultra HD video to televisions.

Technical highlights:

• Delivers highest quality encoding using an HEVC/H.265 codec developed by Cisco

• Wide range of frame rates from 24 fps all the way up to 60 fps

• Virtually flawless pictures achieved with 10 bit colour depth

• Reliable transmission with an UHD input front end offering robust synchronisation to the live signal feeds

• Capable of SD, HD, Full HD or Multi format ABR encoding using H.264 as well as H.265

• Various baseband graphics processing features, including logo insertion.

The launch of 4K encoders on the Videocon d2h platform marks the first ever deployment of Cisco AnyRes Live UHD Encoder in the world and will be followed shortly by two more customer deployments in Asia Pacific.

February 19, 2015
Dish TV fortifies sports packaging for ICC Cricket World Cup

MUMBAI: Cricket fans are currently glued to their television sets as the ICC Cricket World Cup kicked off this past weekend. Service providers such as Airtel Digital TV, Videocon d2h, Tata Sky, Sun Direct and Dish TV too are celebrating the onset of the event.

While Tata Sky and Videocon d2h are pushing their 4K set top boxes, DTH operator Dish TV has decided to fortify its sports packaging to offer a maximum of 12 sports channels during the gala event.

When asked how the DTH platform planned ahead of the World Cup, Dish TV chief operating officer Salil Kapoor says, “We conducted a pan India consumer survey, which revealed that the millennial generation has tremendous interest in sports and that HD is the preferred choice for watching sports. The research also showed an interesting angle that usually in a family its only one person who is interested in sports, the rest are still focused on GEC, movies, music etc.”

Kapoor further says that keeping these insights in mind, the platform re-looked at its packaging. “First we decided to up the HD quotient and added maximum number of HD channels. We now have 39 HD channels. We even fortified our sports packaging, offering maximum sports channels (12) in India,” he informs.

When quizzed about his views on a few DTH platforms focussing on the launch of 4K, which has limited content, Kapoor opines that while 4K is definitively a superior technology, the content for this technology is minimal in India. According to him the sale of DTH HD boxes is directly proportional with the sale of LCD TVs, which constitutes around 65-70 per cent in India, whereas 4K TVs are far too expensive and marginal compared to LCDs.

“It will take some time for this technology to pick up in India and broadcasters to start producing content in 4K. Till then HD will dominate the content market. Understanding this, we introduced 39 HD channels, which are the highest in the country,” he says.

Talking about how the repackaging will help the platform, Kapoor says that they call it a “cricket plus approach,” which highlights something for everyone to enjoy in High Definition.

“The consumer has already taken notice of our enhanced services and the numbers have started ringing in. We will expand our new consumer base significantly. The marketing activities are planned to promote the HD edge that we have as a brand,” he concludes.

February 18, 2015
DD Freedish revenue from e-auctions to reach Rs 120 crore by March

NEW DELHI: Doordarshan’s free-to-air direct-to-home Freedish platform, which was telecasting 59 channels until recently has added two more channels to its kitty. What’s more, the platform is further looking at adding three more channels to its offerings soon, taking the total number of channels to 64.

In fact, another channel will come on board the platform before the end of the month, according to deputy director general C K Jain.

Clarifying the situation, Jain told Indiantlevision.com that 61 channels had been allotted and another three would be allotted shortly. The last two channels to be allotted were Sony Pal and Dillagi, which is still to go on air.

A total of 20 e-auctions have been held so far, the latest being earlier this week. DD expects to reach a target of Rs 120 crore through these auctions by the end of March this year.

Doordarshan had set a reserve price of Rs 3.7 crore per slot for the 20th online e-auction, though Indiantelevision.com learnt that the bid amount went up to Rs 4.2 crore in the 17th e-auction held on 12 November.

The attempt is to touch the target of 112 television channels in the next few months, Jain said. He said that the delay had been partly due to some technical problems, which were being sorted.

Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar had said recently that the future of Doordarshan was in Freedish and digitisation. He had added that this may mean that some channels would have to be attracted to Freedish by means other than e-auction.

DD sources also said that while Freedish may be encrypted to keep a tab on the number of subscribers, it would however remain free-to-air.

As all these channels are on MPEG2. Freedish, which uses Insat 4B, is migrating from its old platform to a new upgraded platform with MPEG4 in an attempt to increase its capacity. The migration would result in increase of TV channels from 59 to 64 and radio channels from 22 to 24.

Sircar had said in November that while most were coming through e-auctions, some popular channels may have to be ‘attracted’ to join Freedish since satellite television was the future.

To access the upgraded platform, the viewers need to edit the transponder parameter by changing only the symbol rate from 27500Ksps to 28500 Ksps in four transponders and retune/rescan their Set Top Box (STB) to receive the upgraded TV and radio channels.

Viewers/subscribers who do not rescan their STB will continue to get ten channels for a period of seven days only from the date of upgradation. Out of these ten channels, one channel is an informative channel, which will show detailed procedure for re-tuning the STBs.

February 14, 2015
Cisco partners with Videocon d2h for advanced video services

MUMBAI: Direct to home (DTH) operator Videocon d2h will deploy advanced video solutions from the Cisco Videoscape product portfolio to enable it to deliver an innovative, high quality television viewing experience to its customers.

Cisco will collaborate with Videocon d2h to create an infrastructure that supports advanced services like 4K, Over The Top (OTT), Video On Demand (VOD), multi-screen video and multi-room Digital Video Recorder (DVR), on a high definition platform.

Cisco is at the forefront of changing the way people experience TV entertainment through its Videoscape platform, which offers best-in-class content management and exceptional user interface capabilities. Cisco Videoscape enables consistent video experiences across multiple devices including TVs, tablets, PCs, mobile phones and gaming consoles. Cisco and Videocon d2h are uniquely positioned to offer an immersive video experience coupled with an array of value-added services and applications on multiple screens.

Videocon d2h director Saurabh Dhoot said, “We pride ourselves in being a frontrunner in bringing futuristic technologies to India, some of which are yet to be experienced in even the most advanced countries. Our collaboration with Cisco will present our customers with the latest and best technology in the DTH industry and will introduce them to a whole new range of next-gen applications. We believe that this partnership will redefine the overall viewing experience through our varied product portfolios and service offerings. We continuously endeavor to provide top quality services to our consumers.”

Videocon d2h chief executive officer Anil Khera added, “As part of our commitment to our consumers, we will be providing an advanced TV-viewing experience with many more interactive services and applications, in keeping with global trends. We are confident that our collaboration with Cisco will provide a greater range of services to our customers. Cisco’s expertise in delivering end-to-end solutions and world-class technology will support us in our vision of being an innovator in the DTH market with the most advanced products and services.”

Cisco Service Provider Video Software Solutions VP sales Asia Pacific Sue Taylor said, “Our mission is to continuously partner with operators who value innovation and strive to offer a wide range of differentiated and superior video experiences to their subscribers. Our expertise in the successful rollout of high-end features and services will enable Videocon d2h to deliver video in more exciting, more engaging and more impactful ways.”

February 12, 2015
Disney India launches official video game for ICC Cricket World Cup

MUMBAI: Disney India’s Interactive business has launched the official game of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 titled ‘ICC Pro Cricket 2015’ for PCs, with cut down versions for smartphones and DTH platforms, which will give users around the world a taste of the real world of Cricket. The highly immersive game was launched at Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) with renowned names from the world of cricket – Brett Lee and Harsha Bhogle.

Disney India managing director Siddharth Roy Kapur commented, “Globally, Disney is defined by innovation. We have always believed in leveraging technology to enhance the entertainment experience for consumers and we reflect this sentiment in all the products we develop in Disney India. The Interactive business of Disney India has produced an incredible game which sets the benchmark for cricket-based games globally. Cricket is amongst one of the most popular sports not just in India but across the world, and the ICC Cricket World Cup is the biggest possible celebration of the sport. We appreciate the support we have received from the ICC to be able to present this world-class game to Cricket fans on the occasion of the World Cup 2015!”

“We are set out to build cricket as a franchise in the world of gaming. Our latest offering — ICC Pro Cricket 2015, a real cricket simulation game with high quality gameplay and superior visual experience to our global audiences is just the beginning of our journey. This will be the best in cricket games, bringing our consumers as close to a real on-ground cricket experience as possible, thus elevating the overall gameplay. We hope cricket lovers enjoy playing this game as much as they enjoy the ICC Cricket World Cup,” said Disney India vice president Sameer Ganapathy.

Cricketer Brett Lee opined, “It’s a great honour to launch this video game in conjunction with the ICC and Disney India. The graphics are incredible and I love the fact that this game can be played on not just your PC, but on your phone as well. I’m sure lots of people will be hitting their own sixes and taking the prized wicket of David Warner with this game.”

Now with its latest offering – ICC Pro Cricket 2015, Indiagames has developed an “as close to real” simulation gaming experiences of its kind. It is a cricket fan’s delight – equipped with two gameplay cameras and over 25 in-game camera angles, the action never stops! The game is packed with a super immersive gameplay, stunning graphics and multiple play modes making the gameplay experience as close to the real game on-ground as possible, for PC, mobile and DTH users. In the game, users can earn, trade and collect players to create their own fantasy team and can put their best foot forward against the world’s best players. The gamers also have the opportunity to play with 14 official ICC World Cup 2015 teams from the tournament with real players like MS Dhoni, Michael Clarke, James Anderson and others.

ICC Pro Cricket 2015 will be available on PCs and mobile phones (on iOS and Android) across India and other select international markets closer to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. PC users can download the game from www.procricket2015.com for a flat cost of $ 9.99, while DTH players can access this game through Dish TV and Airtel. For smartphones, it is a freemium game which will allow users to download the game for free.

February 7, 2015
Sun TV posts sunnier y-o-y results for Q3-2014; board announces 135 per cent interim dividend

BENGALURU: Sun TV Network Limited (Sun TV) reported 9.9 per cent growth in revenue in Q3-2015 at Rs 575.03 crore as compared to the Rs 523.19 quarter in the corresponding quarter of last year and 13 per cent more than the Rs 509.02 crore in Q2-201 on the back of growth of advertising and DTH revenues. For 9M-2014, the company reported 7.5 per cent higher revenue at Rs 1695.05 crore as compared to the Rs 1576.6 crore in 9M-2014.

Note: 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10 million = 1 crore

The company’s PAT in the current quarter increase 15.25 per cent to Rs 214.13 crore from the Rs 185.79 crore in Q3-2014 and was a whopping 38.6 per cent more than the Rs 154.47 crore in Q2-2015. PAT in 9M-2015 at Rs 534.24 crore was 2.9 per cent more than the Rs 519.39 crore in Q3-2014.

Sun TV reported 7 per cent y-o-y growth in advertising revenue in Q3-2015 to RS 291.57 crore and was 12 per cent more than the Rs 260.26 crore in the immediate trailing quarter.

Sun TV reported 18 per cent higher DTH revenue at Rs 132.88 crore in the current quarter as compared to the year ago quarter and 2.2 per cent more than the Rs 130.07 crore in the immediate trailing quarter.

The board of directors of the company have declared the third interim dividend this year of 135 per cent (Rs 6.75) per share of face value of Rs 5.

Let us look at the other results reported by Sun TV for Q3-2015

The company’s total expense (TE) in Q3-2015 at Rs 249.78 crore was 3.1 per cent more than the Rs 242.38 crore in Q3-2014 and 16.2 per cent less than the Rs 298.22 crore in Q2-2015. TE in 9M-2015 at Rs 952.85 crore was 11.5 per cent more than the Rs 854.26 crore in 9M-2014. The 9M expense figure for both years includes the one time annual SunRisers Hyderabad IPL franchise fee of Rs 85.05 crore paid by the company in Q1-2015 and Q1-2014 respectively.

Sun TV’s depreciation and amortization charges (depreciation) in Q3-2015 was 18.2 per cent more at Rs 125.41 crore as compared to the Rs106.06 crore in Q3-2014 and was 32.2 per cent less than the Rs 185.01 crore in Q2-2015. Depreciation increased 31.8 per cent YTD in 9M-2015 to Rs 449.41 crore from Rs 341.01 crore.

Employee benefit expense (EBE) in Q3-2015 was up 12.7 per cent more at Rs 55.69 crore than the Rs 49.42 crore in Q3-2014 and was 11.1 per cent more than the Rs 50.13 crore in Q2-2015. EBE increased 6.8 per cent to Rs 151.59 crore in 9M-2015 from Rs 141.9 crore in the corresponding nine month period of last year.

The company has reported a 22.1 per cent drop in other expenditure to Rs 26.66 crore in Q3-2015 from Rs 34.22 crore in the year ago quarter and was 17.7 per cent higher than the Rs 22.65 crore in Q2-2015. Other expenditure in 9M-2015 fell 1.5 per cent to Rs 142.49 crore from Rs 144.67 crore in 9M-2014.

Click here to read the press release

Click here to read the unaudited financial result

February 6, 2015