ITV

Tag: DTH

  • DEN’s Manchanda: Consumers will drive phase III & IV digitisation

    DEN’s Manchanda: Consumers will drive phase III & IV digitisation

    MUMBAI: The government mandate to digitise roughly 130 million Indian cable TV homes has been progressing in stops and starts over the past year. But with phase I and phase II  almost complete and billing starting or expected to start soon, industry is now gearing up for the third and final fourth phases. And India’s cable cowboy and leading MSO Den Networks’ CMD Sameer Manchanda believes that the process is going to be smoother and easier in the smaller towns and hinterland India. 

     

    “It is the consumer who wants digitisation in phase III and phase IV,” said DEN Networks CMD Sameer Manchanda in an interview to CNBC TV 18 today. “Seeing the success of phase I and phase II, it’s the consumer in these smaller towns and rural India who are pushing for the digitisation.” 

     

    The ministry of information and broadcasting has declared 31 December 2014 as the sunset date for analogue cable TV. And along with that TRAI has been prodding and pushing the rickety cable TV architecture to upgrade quickly.

     

    Manchanda told the business channel that the government mandate combined with the consumer push, will result in digitisation being completed nationally in the next 15 months, giving leeway for a three month delay.

     

    “We are one of the largest players, with a fairly high share of cable TV homes,” said Manchanda during the course of the interview.

     

    90 million of the 130 million TV homes nationally are delivered TV services via cable, he pointed out adding that  “while 20 million homes have already been digitised in phase I and II, around 70-75 million are left to undergo the process in phase III and IV,” he added. 

     

    DEN Networks has seeded around 5 million set top boxes – a 25 per cent share of this 20 million digitised universe – and will need to digitise another eight million analogue homes in phase III and phase IV areas.  “Of course we will be expanding and have raised money for the same. So we will be doing much more in the remaining phases,” he said. 

     

    Though Manchanda acknowledged the competition is coming in from the direct-to-home (DTH) players, he still believes that consumers prefer cable TV over DTH in digitised environment. “In the 42 towns which have so far been digitised, we have seen that 70-72 per cent is cable while 28-30 per cent is DTH, if you leave Chennai out. We do understand there is competition.  But what we have seen in phase I and II – and I believe the same will play out  in phase III and IV –  is that  in a digital universe viewers  are preferring cable TV,” he revealed.

     

    Cable, according to Manchanda, in the last one year, has added roughly 85 -90 per cent of the homes that got digitised in the 42 towns.

     

    Addressing the question on the coming in of 4G in India, Manchanda said, “As far as 4G goes, I see cable TV and 4G complementing each other. Digitisation has provided us the bedrock for further change like elsewhere in the world and deliver internet and broadband. So far, India has witnessed speeds like 512 kbps, but here we are talking of speeds of 100 mbps and beyond. And we will be leapfrogging technology like offering ethernet on wire or cable and Docsis 3.0. .We will be launching broadband in March-April. I see a complete revolution coming in with broadband and cable TV companies offering triple play services.”

     

    With television here to stay and going to HD and 3D and video getting denser, Manchanda believes the need for fixed bandwidth from consumers at home will rise. “Indian cable TV companies are in an advantageous position as they are the only ones having a wire going into homes – apart from MTNL and BSNL. Hence they will be moving in the way cable companies in the US, Korea have,” Manchanda told the channel. 

     

    Citing Comcast, the largest media and cable company which also offers telecom services as an example, Manchanda said that India is going to be moving in the same direction in the next three to five years. “It would change the way education, video and everything else on the internet is done,” he said.

  • “Subscribers stick to us because of our services and choice of packs”

    “Subscribers stick to us because of our services and choice of packs”

    When you first meet him, what strikes you most about him is his candour. Indeed, Tata Sky managing director & CEO Harit Nagpal has got a reputation of speaking his mind. He was not afraid to come out in the media and make an appeal to ISRO when it delayed delivering him his transponders on GSAT-10 which would have allowed him to ramp up the offerings the Tata group, News Corp and Temasek joint venture could deliver to its customers. When the appeal got no response, he did not let it dampen him. Instead he chose to upgrade Tata Sky’s set top boxes from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 at no cost to them.

     

    He was also quite open at the Indian Digital Operators Summit organised by Indiantelevision.com and Media Partners Asia when he invited his rivals and other players from the cable TV ecosystem to come in and study the best practices that Tata Sky has put in place. “The time has come for all of us to collaborate and grow the digital ecosystem,” he had said. “And my doors are open to anyone who wants to see how we do what we do.”

     

    That offer still stands, says Nagpal, who believes that Tata Sky has some processes which compare with the finest practices globally. Especially its single-minded focus on the customer and the experiences it provides them. Nagpal strongly believes in delighting the customer and his supplier-partners as well. “In this way, we will all grow together,” he says.

    Nagpal presides over the DTH Operators Association of India and has a CV which explains his dervish like focus on the consumer. A chemical engineering graduate with an MBA from FMS, Delhi, he has nearly 28 years of work experience with stints at Shoppers Stop, Pepsi, Marico and Lakme in various leadership positions in fields like Sales, Exports, Operations and Marketing. Before joining Tata Sky in August 2010 he was the group marketing director of Vodafone plc, working out of London.

     

    In a conversation with indiantelevision.com’s Seema Singh and Vishaka Chakrapani, Nagpal talks about the efforts which are needed to keep Tata Sky’s 11 million subscribers happy, the company’s decade-long journey and how it’s dealing with the national digitisation rollout.

     

    Excerpts:

     

    How was the year 2013 for Tata Sky and for the DTH industry? What will year 2014 bring for Tata Sky and the industry?

    2013 was what we had been waiting for years. It was strange that in a country like India where everything is regulated, there was one full unregulated industry that required government intervention. People developed cold feet when the process of digitisation began but after the first round took place both the industry and government were confident that it has to be and can be done.

     

    DTH gained hugely in the process. We don’t create a new customer; instead, we convert an analogue customer to DTH. Very rarely we have fresh customers coming to DTH. On a steady basis, this industry picks approximately three million customers every year. Also, every year DTH converts around four per cent of the 100 million cable TV viewers into DTH homes. In the cities that got digitised in 2013, DTH gained nearly 30-35 per cent of cable converts.

     

    So while we were converting around four per cent cable TV customers into DTH subscribers per year, with digitisation, we have moved it up to 35 per cent in a month. Now did we gain or lose, it’s for you to decide. The biggest advantage of DTH is that consumers can choose their pack and pay for it.

     

    At Tata Sky, we’ve had a very good year, in terms of total turnover, profits, growth rate, churn, average revenue per user (ARPU) etc. In every aspect, we are leading.

     

    The new year will have newer services and technology being introduced.

     

     

    What differentiates Tata Sky from other DTH players?

     

     

    There’s hardly any scope for differentiation here. With content being common and everyone having access to similar technology, there is no exclusivity. The only differentiation is through the service we offer. Stakeholders are judged on: a) how they manage customers without causing much trouble for them and (b) how they help customers recover as soon as possible, in case of any issue. 

    I have always believed that there is room for innovation. We started with standard definition (SD), high definition (HD), DVR, video on demand (VOD), ‘Catch up TV’ and now have moved to ‘Everywhere TV’. We believe in introducing one service every year. The service initially starts with being accepted by leading edge customers, which then percolates to others.

    How do you decide on the new services? Also, how do you ensure that it is accepted by the consumer?

    Customers tell us what they are seeking. We just have to go back to them and seek their pain points and then find solutions for that. We don’t start with technology and find customers. We try to seek their needs and then tailor services.

    The television sets in Indian homes are getting better, and so we have to ensure that we match the screens at home. Giving digital signals to cable TV homes was the first step, the second was HD. Even for this transformation, it was the customer that gave us the cue, since they were looking for better quality. 

    The recorder was introduced when we saw that people were expected to be in front of the TV when the show was being broadcast, it was becoming impossible for them to plan their day around the show. The answer to this was the recorder.

    When we saw it was causing inconvenience for customers to physically get a DVD from market and watch it, we launched VOD and followed it up with ‘Do it yourself’ films.

    Catch up TV came in response to customers wanting to watch something that had already been aired. Our latest addition was ‘Everywhere TV’. We found out that more and more people were spending time outside and were consuming videos on mobile screens. So we thought of connecting Tata Sky to the handsets. Through this, a decent broadband or 3G connection could help people consume content through ‘Everywhere TV.’

    How much a does a consumer pay for subscribing to ‘Everywhere TV’? How do you divide the revenue share? Do you think people would want to subscribe to ‘Everywhere TV’?

    If a consumer can buy a Rs 50,000 phone, he would not mind paying Rs 60 per month for ‘Everywhere TV’. The Rs 60 is divided equally among all stakeholders. So while one-third goes as taxes, the broadcasters take one third and we keep the rest. So, we would make around Rs 20 for the infrastructure we’ve invested.

    The need on which the product is based tells me it will do well. The first launch is restricted to iOS, but we will be launching soon on Android as well. We are happy with the numbers we got in the first three weeks of the launch of the service.

    Everyone is consuming videos today. And with the video consumption going up, prices are coming down. Even mobile phone operators want people to consume videos on phone. Everywhere TV is one way of increasing consumption and as networks start getting filled it is possible for mobile operators to drop prices. Our job is to create the product and make it affordable.

    How are the multiple services helping the company?

    The services are helping us increase the ARPUs without any price rise. When you are penetrating deeper into a market, your next customer is bound to give you less. The only way you can increase it is by making him consume more of what he wants to and make him pay for it.

    By offering more services and choice of packs, we have been able to ensure that our subscribers stick to us. The fact that we have growing ARPUs, we must be doing something right, by launching multiple services. 

    Have you been able to fulfill the need for more capacity with MPEG4 boxes? By when will the seeding of the MPEG4 boxes be complete?

    MPEG4 boxes have ensured that there is no real content shortage now. We started seeding MPEG 4 boxes this year and with that we have been able to fill the gaps. We had to leave Kerala and Tamil Nadu, because of capacity constraint. With the MPEG4 boxes, we have been able to go back to Kerala with 19 channels.

    It will take close to two years for us to complete the whole replacement process. We have 12 transponders and with these MPEG4 boxes, we are fine in the short to medium term.

    Recently the aggregator IndiaCast had a face-off with Dish TV over ‘on-request channels’. How does Tata Sky manage the relationships with the stakeholders involved?

    We have great relations with our content providers. We have long and protracted negotiations with them. However, that rarely leads to a breakdown of relations and we reach a reasonable and reasoned out number to renew our contracts. If we make more money we would like to share it with the partners.

    2014 may see disappearance of aggregators? Do you think it will affect the DTH players?

    No, it will not. I have been hearing news on these lines, but it doesn’t affect us much. If it comes into force, instead of negotiating with one player, we will have to negotiate with several players. But that is easy. These negotiations do not happen every day, these are contracts signed for three to four years.

     

    Apprehension is that if all this will result in cost hike. But I don’t see any cost issue. In fact, with aggregation we are forced to buy certain channels, which our customers don’t want. If TRAI decides to remove the role of aggregators then I may not take all the channels. I can save that bandwidth for products that my customer wants. Currently, what is happening is more and more bandwidth is getting clogged because of the channels that broadcasters wants to push and not what customers want to watch.

    In the long run, it is all about what the customer wants.

     

    Are the DTH players pinching customers from each other?

    At this stage there are no such plans. With 70 per cent still being analogue cable TV homes, we have enough scope from the analogue cable TV homes. We can tap that.

    Do you think India is still far away from US standards? Can we think of a time when DTH will totally replace cable TV? 

    I think we are already there. Any technology launched in the US is also available here. There are some services that are slightly better there but that’s dependent on quality of broadband. The day that gets better, the service experience will get better. There are infrastructural constraints that keep us from providing certain services that are present in the US. But, one has to start somewhere.

    Cable is getting digitised and so it’ll be there in the industry. I don’t think India will be an only DTH country. The industry improves only when more operators try to do new things. Life starts with fragmentation and moves to consolidation. I don’t think there’ll be consolidation in this business. Yes, the number of subscribers moving from cable to DTH is larger than reverse. But that doesn’t mean the cable will disappear.

    How has the response of interior towns been to DTH penetration?

    More than 60 per cent of our new customers are not from the top 20 cities. Once a service reaches them, they respond more positively than a person in the city. Most places we are going today are places with the presence of cable. There is certainly a kind of saturation we are reaching in top cities. Not like we are not getting numbers but there are certain limitations.

     

    More customers are available in the interiors. A good amount of growth is coming from basic services in interiors and high end in top cities. A customer, who came to us seven years ago, picked up our innovations each year. We are hopeful that someone in the interiors will also get onto our recording facility in a few years.

    To what extent has packaging been explored in India? How do you package channels for your consumers? Is it easy for consumers to add or remove channels from their pack?

    There was a time we were creating packs that customer didn’t even understand. In India, people don’t watch metals (bronze, silver, gold packs), they watch genres. Hindi news and Hindi soaps is something that everyone watches. What we do is that we put these in the base pack and then top it with a bit of music and other genres. We, then give two language channels because in most homes two languages are spoken apart from Hindi and English. Customers have a choice of adding other genres like English movies, kids, music, knowledge, etc on top of the base pack.

    We have services by which if a person who is not getting a channel he needs, can just SMS it to us and instantly the channel will be switched on. It’s instantaneous. Customers take a pack and then add on a la carte. So they take a base pack and then add channels to it. That’s where our revenues are growing. Our ARPUs are growing because we are making it easy for our consumers to buy more content.

  • MSOs to meet in Kolkata on gross billing

    MSOs to meet in Kolkata on gross billing

    KOLKATA: Kolkata based multi-system operators (MSOs) mean business and how? Well! The fact that they have not been able to start gross billing in the city on the time as directed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI, they have decided to meet on 3 January and discuss the smooth rollout of gross billing in the KMA area.

    “Since the local cable operators affiliated with us are not ready to distribute the bills thinking that this might make them delivery boys, we have called up the meeting to discuss on the matter and come up with ways to ensure that gross billing begins in Kolkata,” said a MSO.

    Some last mile operators (LMOs) have decided to not allow gross billing in Kolkata DAS I area, said another MSO. “The billing system will bring transparency and organise the business but some operators are opposing it,” he said.

    “We were prepared for a long time with the bills slated to be put up on the system. Since some MSO’s were not ready we had to wait,” said Siticable Kolkata director Suresh Sethia.

    Sources on the condition of anonymity questioned that while a few MSOs like DEN Networks and Digicable among others have not yet started the package, how can they start the billing process?

    While another source questioned how MSOs who have achieved around 70-80 per cent CAF submit compliance report for gross billing?

    When the Cable Operators Digitalisation Committee of the Association of Cable Operators convener Swapan Chowdhury, was contacted, he said: “The government is putting pressure on the MSOs to start gross billing so that it can collect tax easily. No one is concerned about the operators.”

    “We will not allow gross billing to start till all the issues like licensing conditions, unworkable revenue share model and agreement with the MSOs are resolved,” concluded a LCO.

  • Financial books of some Kolkata MSOs should be audited: Analysts

    Financial books of some Kolkata MSOs should be audited: Analysts

    KOLKATA: At a time when some multi-system operators (MSOs) in Kolkata are stuck in a legal battle with the government authorities over non-payment of taxes, city-based analysts feel that the financial books of some MSOs should be duly audited.

    “Some MSOs should be audited by the authorities as non-payment of taxes is causing loss to the state as well as central exchequer,” says a cable TV analyst Mrinal Chatterjee.

    Last year, in August 2013, Kolkata-based MSO Kolkata Cable & Broadband Pariseva Ltd (KCBPL) managing director Bijoy Kumar Agarwal was arrested for evading service tax payment to the tune of Rs 5.52 crore. Agarwal was arrested during a raid conducted by the service tax officials probing the alleged financial irregularities of the MSO.

    Says a local cable operator (LCO), “All these years, it was the LCOs who were held responsible for all the deeds and misdeeds. Now digitisation has helped in unfolding the truth that even the MSOs are resorting to unfair means to do their business. The government authorities must look into the matter seriously.”

    Trouble for operators in Kolkata seems to be intensifying. Before it was the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and now they are being closely monitored by the tax inspectors, police authorities and even the judiciary.

  • IndiaCast withdraws contempt application against Dish TV in TDSAT

    IndiaCast withdraws contempt application against Dish TV in TDSAT

    NEW DELHI: The deal between IndiaCast and Dish TV over the DTH operator’s ‘on request channels’ scheme has come into effect with the latter providing IndiaCast channels on an a la carte basis from 1 January 2014.

    However, even before the previous agreement could end, the aggregator once again had approached the Telecom Disputes Settement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), last year, claiming that Dish TV was in violation of the 19 December TDSAT order that had brought about a ceasefire between the two.

    The petitioner (IndiaCast) had filed an application about its apprehension regarding compliance of the TDSAT order by Dish TV and that its channels will be visible in its packs even after the deal terminates. However, during the hearing that came up on New Year’s eve, the aggregator’s counsel withdew the application after the TDSAT observed that there was no non-compliance on the part of Dish TV in following its previous order.

    The bench also stated that the application was premature as the agreement will only come into effect from 1 January when the deal ends for 22 IndiaCast channels which will now only be provided on an a la carte basis above the packages. It also mentioned that Dish TV had modified its scroll to say the same. The application was dismissed as withdrawn by the petitioner.

    The order passed on 19 December noted that no legal objection can be taken to the arrangement proposed to be made by Dish TV to take out IndiaCast channels out of its packs and provide them only on a la carte basis to subscribers who want to view the channels. One deal comes into effect from 1 January for 22 channels and the second comes into effect from 1 April 2014 for 16 channels after the fixed deal agreement expires. IndiaCast counsel Ramji Srinivasan had given an undertaking that the ads published by its client against the respondent shall stop forthwith.

  • The year of the great tossing

    The year of the great tossing

    The year Indian news television channels got a sneak peek at what Pi Patel must have experienced while battling the raging storm in mid-seas in Ang Lee’s Life award winning Life Of Pi. Like Pi, news channels were tossed around, heaved up and down, had spear sharp rain and high waves buffeting them, got scalded by the hot sun, went through bouts of starvation and dying thirst – and they lived – at least most of them did – to tell the tale. It was a tough, tough year for them no doubt.

    Rising inflation, a tough economic environment which saw advertising spends being slashed, rising costs for carriage on cable TV and DTH, further fragmentation and evaporation of viewership – all led to their top lines and even bottomlines being beaten black and blue. Net result: layoffs, restructuring, reorganisation, was the name of the game. To top it all, the regulators – the Information & Broadcast (I&B) ministry and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) – too got into the act. The I&B pushed ahead with its digitisation drive even as it cracked down on them for paid content, and the TRAI ordered a reduction in advertising time permitted on air on channels.

    The news television industry has always had problems of plenty. More than 100 TV channels battle for a piffling Rs 2000 crore in ad spends. And more jumped onto the bandwagon during 2013 -an estimate is that around 25 new news channels made their debut. As though there wasn’t enough competition for the small morsels of advertising available in the various states and languages all over the country. But what kept the whole industry gloomy was the heartbeat aka advertising revenue which stayed flat for the whole year; and for some it even dipped. The big players were the ones who got to taste a little blood while the others struggled to make money out of inventory.

    The alarm bells started ringing out earlier in the year when TAM Media the viewership ratings agency did a rejig with its panels and started reporting on LC1 towns and also a new set of data reflecting the digitisation that was spreading across phase 1 towns. As an outcome, some of the channels ended up showing near zero viewership. TAM said this was because real viewership patterns were cropping up with deeper penetration of people meters.

    NDTV India, one of the older news broadcast networks, tried in vain to prosecute TAM’s parent AC Nielsen in the US on charges of fraud, but the NY court shooed it away, saying it should fight the legal battle on Indian turf. Allegations of TAM being rigged started rising to a cacophony and unanimously several channels decided to unsubscribe from TAM including NDTV, Times, CNN and Zee. A fierce battle issued between channels, advertisers and TAM that also saw support grow for the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC).Angry advertisers threatened to pull out advertisements from channels that had unsubscribed from TAM- including the seven big networks. After weeks of an impasse, resolution finally came about with rolling ratings of four weeks and silver, gold and platinum packs for clients. The major change coming about was the conversion of TRPs to TVTs. Satisfied channels finally went back to TAM but are still clinging on to the new lifeline-BARC.

    It was in the second quarter of the year that a bunch of channels in Kolkata under the Saradha group went belly up with the financial and real estate group going bust. Questions were raised about the MIB’s laxity in issuing broadcasting licences. In a bid to tighten its procedures, it wrote to all channels, asking them to provide them with details about their operations and to see if they were still complying with the licence terms. Some 67 channels did not; and had their licences revoked. The MIB also became stricter about norms relating to directorial appointments on news channels’ boards.

    But the big big fight of the year was the one that blew up when the TRAI introduced a quality of service regulation that restricted advertising air time to just 12 minutes per hour. Broadcasters who were accustomed to showing 20 to 25 minutes of ads experienced a jolt when this came out. They all collectively revolted, specially the news channels claiming that their revenue would be affected in an industry that is already suffering much losses. The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) also met the I&B ministry to ask TRAI to go easy on this regulation.The industry seems to have pacified the ministry on the content front at least, with the NBA, the Broadcast Editors Association, and the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF)’s Broadcast Complaints Content Council (BCCC) in place. This despite, 2013 saw paid news being discussed very aggressively. Suggestions to set up a body to monitor broadcast – just like how the Press Council of India (PCI) does for the print media – were made. But the NBA opposed this strongly, saying that the self-regulatory mechanisms that are in place are enough to ensure that the news channels stay in line.

    The news channels yelped that they feared a shut down if the ad cap were to be implemented right away. They suggested that the ad cap, if necessary to be implemented, should be concurrent with the completion of digitisation in the country as then there would be more revenue flowing in. I&B minister Manish Tewari seemed to concur and even came out in their support on this approach.

    The interim order got smiles on some of their phases. The year 2013 was choppy to say the least for most of the news industry. High carriage fees, a slowdown in advertising growth, and extremely thin subscription revenues had forced even the older and long established news networks to look for solutions to keep their businesses viable. Almost all of them reorganized, consolidated their news operations which led to lopping off of bloated employee payrolls. The big buzzword during the year was the integrated newsroom – wherein a centralized bureau of journos and news crew helps service web, TV, and other online properties for a news network having several news channels.Finally the regulator decided to give the news channels some more time. A new advertising limit per hour was set. 20 minutes of ad time for news channels and 16 minutes for GECs till 30 September and after that everyone would have to together switch to 12 minutes and would have to submit compliance reports. But this formula did not go down well with the NBA even as the TRAI announced that it would rap violators on their knuckles. Some NBA members– along with some other niche channels – decided to take steps to protect themselves. They challenged TRAI’s mandate in the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) which heard arguments from all the affected parties for nearly 20 days. The NBA’s appeal to the tribunal got them an interim order preventing the regulator from taking any action against erring channels, allowing them to heave a collective sigh of relief. Even as the TDSAT was about to deliver its judgment, a coincidental verdict was given by the Supreme Court which stated that the tribunal had no power to hear or adjudicate on challenges to TRAI regulations. Swiftly, the TDSAT dismissed the case and the NBA immediately moved the Delhi Court to hear its plea. The Delhi High Court after listening to the initial appeal decided to get into its details later, giving the next hearing date as 13 March 2014. It however gave an interim order disallowing the TRAI from taking any coercive actions against channels not following the 12 minute ad cap.

    At the time of writing, Zee Media Corp was slated to take the same route following the announcement of the merger of DMCL – the company that produces the Times of India-challenger newspaper DNA – with it. It had prepared for the merger by donning a new moniker, dropping Zee News and naming itself as Zee Media Corp. The year saw it running a skeleton Telugu news channel, even as it launched Zee Rajasthan Plus.Network18, NDTV, UTV Bloomberg, BAG Network, among many others shed staff. Network 18 bid adieu to nearly 350 people, NDTV shut down its Mumbai bureau itself and Bloomberg handed over the much dreaded pink slip to 30 staffers. Roles of those retained were redefined and they were given additional responsibilities.

    Several other new offerings are lined up for 2014 including an English news channel, English business channel and two regional channels for Odisha and Bihar-Jharkhand . The company also repackaged itself and came up with a new positioning which seeks to attract India’s youth to watch its news channels.

    The year 2014 looks set to be an exciting one with national elections on the anvil. Even international channels have taken note of this with Al Jazeera, France 24 and BBC World News sprucing up their presence in the country. But there are challenges that the broadcast news sector will have to face: the ad cap situation needs resolution, carriage fees need further reduction, and the struggle to make money continues. But what’s keeping the sector hopeful is the scheduled completion of digitisation by end 2014. The hope is that the dark clouds will part to reveal a silver lining. And then clear skies.With controversy surrounding the Sahara group and its consistent clashes with the Securities Exchange Board of India, it decided to drop the Sahara name from all the channels, retaining the Samay as a brand. India TV too changed its complete look while it has also brought on board several news professionals including veteran Q W Naqvi. Bag Films hired former Star group president Ravina Raj Kohli on its advisory board while IBN7 CEO Dilip Venkatraman left the organisation after giving it a new look. The ABP group announced that it would launch new services but was stalled on account of the MIB’s tough stance on licensing norms and procedures. Even then a rumour that persisted through the year was the rumour that its former partner Star India would re-enter the news channel business.

    The year 2014 looks set to be an exciting one with national elections on the anvil. Even international channels have taken note of this with Al Jazeera, France 24 and BBC World News sprucing up their presence in the country. But there are challenges that the broadcast news sector will have to face: the ad cap situation needs resolution, carriage fees need further reduction, and the struggle to make money continues. But what’s keeping the sector hopeful is the scheduled completion of digitisation by end 2014. The hope is that the dark clouds will part to reveal a silver lining. And then clear skies.

  • Cable TV prediction: US to phase out STBs by 2015

    Cable TV prediction: US to phase out STBs by 2015

    MUMBAI: The year 2013 was a big year for the Indian cable TV industry. The country that was till now running on analogue signals opened up to digitization, even if it was in few regions. While we can celebrate this achievement as we enter into 2014 and also gear up for the phase III and phase IV of digitisation, there is some food for thought coming from the US cable industry for the Indian cable TV industry. 

    According to the CEO of TV Predictions, Inc Phillip Swann, the Americans will see phasing out of cable TV set top boxes (STBs) by 2015 and witness an upsurge in USB dongle or CableCard like products that can be connected to a TV and signals can be received from the operator’s facility. And all this to reduce the expenses incurred due to huge sums paid to the box manufacturers.

    The predictions suggest that consumers would anytime prefer the simplicity and convenience of cable dongle over the set top boxes. That apart, the cable TV operators will also appreciate the savings.

    When the Google Chromecast Net TV device was launched, it was surely a step ahead in the cable TV industry. The dongle is one of the best-selling electronic products at Amazon.com currently.
    Some of the dongles available in the market currently are Boxee’s Live TV dongle and TBS USB DVB-C TV Stick amongst others.

    The predictions make it pretty obvious that the Americans are moving at a faster pace in the sector. Another point to ponder over here is that while in India the cable TV operators are still struggling to seed the STBs, another country is in the process of its phase out and switch to a compact technology.

    It’s not that in India, technology hasn’t improved. The direct-to-home (DTH) operators by introducing new and better facilities like recording as per preference, authority to choose channels with their high-definition (HD) boxes has already become a threat to the Indian cable TV operators who have just started seeding the standard definition STB with no added feature.

    With the world shrinking, it would not take the consumers much time to get exposed to the advancement happening in the TV/Cable industry the world over. The Indian consumers would soon wish for a compatible technology like the dongle. The New Year seems to be an alarm for the cable operators to start preparing for the huge shift.

  • 2014: Industry hopes high

    2014: Industry hopes high

    MUMBAI: A year of risks and several speed breakers has come to an end and the horizons of the New Year are already showing a silver lining. Every member of the media and entertainment industry in the country is expecting magical spells to be cast in 2014. Let’s look at what to anticipate from the next 12 months.

     

    Starting with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) the eagerly awaited forecast is that phase I and II of Digital Addressable System (DAS) are completed without any obstructions or delays. And phases III and IV flow smooth like silk so that India can boast of a digitised environment by the next New Year (2015).

     

    Broadcasters are expected to follow content norms as well as invest more in creating better content. With general elections coming up, channels are set to heat up their mercury levels to prove who is the best in the genre. Prasar Bharati is getting Rs 3,500 crore funding from the MIB which should enable modernisation of the pubcaster with high quality production and better quality shows as well as yield more revenues and profit.

     

    The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has had a tough time this year dealing with the multi-system operators (MSOs), local cable operators (LCOs), direct-to-home (DTH) players, aggregators and broadcasters. With the year seeing too many conflicts between all the players of the industry, TRAI will surely want that all the stakeholders to find solutions. The regulator will also hope for smooth role out of DAS phase III and IV and gross billing to begin for phase I and II.   

     

    The regulator that recently came out with a consultation paper to curb monopoly of MSOs will be looking at curtailing excessive power clout and monopolies in every sector of television – cable TV, content aggregation and broadcasting.

     

    Moreover, TRAI will hope that all that it started in 2013 sees light in 2014. One such initiative is the acceptance of the ad cap regulation by all broadcasters. It would also hope that the quality of service for TV viewers is consistently kept in mind by broadcasters. Last, but not the least, it would also want that the new regulations for DTH licences are passed.

     

     Broadcasters are the happiest of the lot as they see better revenues flowing in the next year as digitisation pans out across India. Channels will be embroiled in acquiring or producing new innovative shows that will give them an edge over their competitors. Generating better TVTs either through new shows or hit movies that will help them dislodge the leader. Broadcasters are seeing much potential in the soon to be launched new rating system Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) which is expected to show their performances in true light.

     

    However, nothing is as eagerly awaited as the fate of the ad cap that is currently hanging mid air with the Delhi High Court. Even as some broadcasters are more than happy with the 12 minute advertising air time limit, most of them feel it is a hindrance to their functioning and will hamper their revenues if put to effect before digitisation is complete. At the same time they are also looking forward to strike better deals with their advertisers as well as better syndication for their programmes in the international market providing them a global exposure.

     

    As digitisation sets in, distribution should also be easier and transparent. Even as channels will engage with domestic DTH and cable TV platforms for better carriage and revenue share deals, they will look forward to reaching out to more audiences through international platforms.

     

    Bottomlines will be managed better as broadcasters will control their costs by trimming their staff, scaling up their programming, enhancing distribution and controlled marketing. With several TV channel licenses being stuck with the MIB, new channels are waiting to see the light of the day in 2014.

     

    The cable TV sector which has undergone immense change in 2013, will surely expect great returns in the coming year. One thing which they will be hoping for is internet on cable TV to spread thereby generating VAS revenues.  Their long wish list will also include reduction in import duties on STBs, preferably subsidies from the government for promoting digitisation, higher ARPUs from consumers, better synchronisation with other MSOs, fair entertainment and service tax – preferably service tax holidays, fair charges for usage of public utilities for distribution, higher carriage fees from broadcasters, lower content costs from broadcasters and aggregators and longer licensing norms from I&B. The year also witnessed a few announcements by the MSOs for acquiring content for their cable channels. These MSOs will hope that the venture is successful and helps them reap benefits with better revenue flow.

     

    On the DTH front, operators have high hopes that the tag of having the lowest ARPUs in the world will fade away as higher ARPUs will flow in. The dream is that content costs will be lowered which will help them generate better revenue as well as invest in getting innovative technologies for the future of TV and mobile.

     

    Digitisation for DTH players means high net addition of subscribers and lower churn in 2014 as some subscribers will shift from cable TV to the DTH platform. Leading players want to offer better packages to their subscribers with more availability of channel which can only come with more capacity bandwidth that is in the hands of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

     

    At the production front, 2013 wasn’t really big on experiments; at least as far as TV shows are concerned. Only a few like the adaptation of the international format – 24, the reality show Connected Hum Tum and Comedy Nights with Kapil made some difference in programming. As we usher in to the New Year, we obviously expect more newness in the shows produced. But for that, the production houses need to get respite from the issues that keep bothering them.

     

    One of the major issues that cripple the production houses is the restrictions by broadcasters on the budget per episode. And then, it is for sure that the production houses in the New Year would wish for a better budget approval from the broadcasters. Another issue is the ever-rising demands of the crew unions, including the technicians and other crew members. The crew members have not just been fighting for a raise in their salary but have demanded many other privileges that have kept the production houses on their toes. Because of this, some production houses prefer working outstation than in Mumbai in order to cut down on costs.

     

    The year 2013 witnessed a really interesting case — there was a huge hoopla when an actor portraying the popular character, Gutthi (from Comedy Nights with Kapil on Colors) decided to pull out of the show over few differences with the production house and the channel. While the actor said the right to the character belonged to him, the production house thought otherwise. By the end of the year, nobody got a clear picture about who really owned the character. However, we hope the New Year doesn’t just bring clarity to this particular case but the industry also works in order bring a system in place about the entire intellectual property rights (IPR).

     

    The wish list for the New Year would never end. But some of the other desires that the production houses perish include better following of discipline by the actors on the set, better creative people with improved ideas that grabs the eyeballs, less interference from broadcasters in the production process and of course, many more new and intriguing shows that not only brings more viewers but good business that would improve the functioning of entire industry.

     

    The expectations are high but they aren’t too farfetched. With time, discussions and a little bit of a push we can see much of it becoming a reality.

  • DirecTV, Dish Network to hike price

    DirecTV, Dish Network to hike price

    MUMBAI: Dish Network and DirecTV subscribers will have to gear up to shell out more for using their services. Come 2014 and DirecTV’s base ‘entertainment’ package will cost $58 per month, a $3 hike from 2013, the ‘premier’ package will cost $130, up $5 from a year ago. Rising content cost and desire to keep the satellite TV provider’s operating profit flat are being cited as the reason for the price hike.

     

    Dish Network on the other hand will hike its fees by 5.5 per cent. This following its 16.3 per cent price hike in the beginning of 2013. While, the ‘welcome plan’, ‘America’s choice 120+ plan’ will cost the same, the other packs will get a $5 price hike and a $3 hike in the ‘smart pack’ which will cost $33 in 2014.

     

    DirecTV, which has close to 20.16 million US subscribers, according to reports, will increase its price at an average of 3.7 per cent starting February.

     

    Media reports have confirmed that both the companies will raise the prices of their various television packages and also increase the service fees as well.

     

    Can’t say if pay TV service providers are looking at any such New Year surprise for consumers in India, but it surely doesn’t seem to be a happy start to the New Year for DirecTV and Dish Network subscribers in the US.

  • Tata Skys 3D movies offering this New Years eve

    Tata Skys 3D movies offering this New Years eve

    MUMBAI: Tata Sky is all set to give its subscribers a special New Year’s  eve gift. The direct-to-home (DTH) platform has set precedence in the space by bringing 3D movies to its subscribers. The movie lineup includes Avengers and Planes.

     “As a Tata Sky promise, we bring the best in technology to our subscribers, now enabling high-picture quality 3D movies through our set-top boxes. With Indian audiences accustomed to quality entertainment and the off take of 3D movies in theatres on the rise, it is high time that audiences had the option to view their favorite 3D movies in the comfort of their homes,” said Tata Sky chief commercial officer Vikram Mehra.

    The 3D movies will be showcased as a special offering for Tata Sky subscribers during this festive season.

    Tata Sky has been the forefront runner in bringing cutting-edge technology to India in the pay-TV category since its launch in 2006. It has consistently innovated with offerings right from easy-to-use programming guide, to engrossing interactive services, to first ever HD PVR (personal video recorder), to remote recording feature through its mobile application. The offering will add value and entertainment quotient to its subscriber’s life.

    To avail the opportunity, subscribers can log onto www.mytatasky.com and click on ‘Order Showcase’, SMS SC <Space> <movie code> to 56633, or call the Tata Sky helpline. Subscribers can also press the “SHOWCASE” button on their remote and follow the instructions.