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Tag: DTH

  • DTH operators go big on hybrid boxes this festive season

    DTH operators go big on hybrid boxes this festive season

    KOLKATA: Leading direct-to-home (DTH) operators are endorsing their hybrid set-top boxes during the festive season. While it’s nothing new for them to piggyback on festivals to attract new subscribers, but this time rather than promoting discounted packages or value-added services, the operators are trying to bring in new perspectives about their products in users’ mind.

    Take Airtel India for instance. In its Ab Jo Dekho Bada Dekho campaign, the DTH service provider is running a TVC to promote its Xstream box. The video captures two young consumers discussing “entertainment ke bade duniya” (the larger world of entertainment). The core message of the video is that it is now easy to switch back and forth easily between linear TV and online premium content using Airtel’s new box. 

    The Sunil Mittal-led company launched its converged platform last year. With a robust wired broadband base, the company has been upbeat about its bundled offering.

    “Homes business segment witnessed revenue growth of 7.3 per cent YoY. We added over 129,000 customers during the quarter to reach a total base of 2.58 million. We re-calibrated our offering and launched Xstream bundles with content and unlimited internet to accelerate penetration. The company signed on many more LCO partnerships in non-wired cities, extending the model to 48 cities,” Airtel stated in its Q2 earnings release.

    The market leader in the DTH segment, Tata Sky, has also launched a TV campaign for Tata Sky Binge+. The latest ad highlights how the box meets different consumer needs across age groups. Moreover, it has also taken the influencer marketing route on its social media platforms featuring stars like Sayani Gupta and Rasika Dugal.

    However, the cost could be a barrier for these boxes in winning over the masses. In this regard, Tata Sky recently fine-tuned the pricing of its smart set top box Tata Sky Binge+, making it available at a competitive price of Rs 2,999 for new subscribers and Rs 2,499 for existing subscribers opting for an upgrade or a secondary multi-TV connection. On the other hand, Airtel Xstream Basic is available at Rs 2499.

    At the beginning of the Covid2019 crisis, the overall pay-TV ecosystem lost subscribers – be they cable operators or DTH players. Even in the first quarter of 2020, DTH subscribers grew marginally by 2.8 lakh. While on one hand, the leading players claimed that their new connection addition rate is back to pre-Covid period, the traditional players have to offer various propositions for consumer retention, especially given the massive OTT uptake during the last six months. Tata Sky, Airtel launching new campaigns for hybrid set top boxes could be a bid to retain their existing customer base in the face of the OTT challenge and also bolster their new subscriber count.

    “Hybrid boxes are the future for these players. Youth is moving to digital very fast. In terms of payment mechanism also, it is more expensive for a consumer to pay separately on TV, then for data and OTT platforms; effectively it turns out to be an expense of almost Rs 20,000 per year. The advantage of hybrid boxes is they give all at a very affordable price and conveniently. If you have a mechanism for bundling all those together, it’s a win-win for consumers, DTH players, and OTT platforms and beneficial for the entire ecosystem,” said Elara Capital VP – research analyst (Media) Karan Taurani.

    Although it is just the beginning for this segment, with several existing challenges, Taurani also added that there will be a high rate of conversion in future from pure play TV to these boxes. Moreover, the additional trigger will be smart TV growth, which is also going up significantly in recent times.

    Currently, the DTH industry has an active subscriber base of 72.44 million paying customers as of 31 March. Tata Sky, with a market share of 32.33 per cent, was leading the segment while Airtel Digital TV had 23.65 per cent of the pie.

    (Indiantelevision.com reached out to them for more clarity but they declined to respond.)

  • Bharti Airtel revenues jump 22 per cent in Q2

    Bharti Airtel revenues jump 22 per cent in Q2

    NEW DELHI: Telecom operator Bharti Airtel announced its highest ever consolidated quarterly revenue, reporting a 22 per cent jump driven by higher tariffs and a rise in data usage from a Covid2019-fuelled shift to remote working. 

    India revenues for the quarter ended 30 September was at Rs 18,747 crore year on year while mobile revenues grew by 26 per cent. As a result, average revenue per user for the quarter rose to Rs 162, from Rs 128 last year. 

    Consolidated net loss for the quarter came in at Rs 763 crore, compared with a loss of Rs 23,045 crore a year earlier.

    The company has continued to garner a strong share of the 4G net adds in the market. 4G data customers increased by 48.1 per cent to 152.7 million compared to the previous year while traffic increased to 77.3 PB/day vs 48.9 PB/day in the corresponding quarter last year. Consolidated mobile data traffic was at 7,403 PBs in the quarter with a healthy YoY growth of 58.8 per cent. 

    As for engagement parameters, average data usage per data subscriber stood at 16.0 GBs/month; while voice usage was at 1,005 mins per user per month.

    Homes business segment witnessed a revenue growth of 7.3 per cent YoY. The company added over 129,000 customers during the quarter to reach a total base of 2.58 million. It re-calibrated its offering and launched Xstream bundled with content and unlimited internet to accelerate penetration. The company signed on many more LCO partnerships in non-wired cities, extending the model to 48 cities. The company also focused on fast-track network expansion by rolling out fibre home passes and upgrading existing copper network during the quarter.  

    Airtel Business clocked a growth rate of 7.5 per cent YoY, driven by data demand across global business and enterprise and government business. To further leverage growth from “Work from Home”, Airtel BlueJeans, Airtel Secure, Airtel Cloud and Airtel IQ were launched to meet the specific needs of B2B customers.

    Airtel MD & CEO India & South Asia Gopal Vittal said, “Despite being a seasonally weak quarter, we delivered a strong performance with revenue growing at 22 per cent YoY. In the mobile segment, we added over 14 million 4G customers and grew revenues by 26 per cent. Our data consumption grew by 58 per cent YoY which reflects strong  engagement of customers on our network. Other lines of business also continued with steady  growth momentum, with Airtel Business growing 7.5 per cent YoY.”

    Digital TV witnessed a growth of 1.9 per cent YoY on an underlying basis, on the back of strong customer additions of 549,000 during the quarter. Airtel continued to expand its channel portfolio and is also working with educational institutions to broadcast classes to students to ensure education is not disrupted.

    In the digital services segment, Airtel now has 160 million digitally engaged users. On Wynk, it’s now #1 in terms of MAUs (59.3 million in Q2’21) with an addition of 9 million during the quarter; Thanks platform has 81.6 million MAUs in Q2, with an addition of 8 million and Airtel Xstream is at 33.7 million MAUs, addition of 8 million users during the  quarter. 

     Consolidated EBITDA witnessed an increase of 32.6 per cent YoY to Rs 11,848 crore in Q2’21. This led to an improvement in EBITDA margin from 42.3 per cent in Q2’20 to 46.0per cent in Q2’21. Incremental EBITDA margins across businesses remained healthy, with mobile services EBITDA improving from 36.3 per cent in Q2’20 to 42.6 per cent in Q2’21. 

  • Tata Sky Binge+ partners with India Film Project

    Tata Sky Binge+ partners with India Film Project

    KOLKATA: Tata Sky’s OTT + TV aggregator service Binge+ and India Film Project, Asia’s largest content fest, have entered into a strategic partnership with an objective to engage meaningfully and curate a series of content-driven virtual sessions celebrating the contribution of content creators in the digital space. 

    India Film Project, since its inception in 2011, has put in efforts to build a community of content creators across the varying forms of art. Tata Sky, India’s leading content distribution and pay TV platform entered actively into the OTT platform aggregation space through its pioneering service, Tata Sky Binge last year and with Tata Sky Binge+ this year, it has brought both OTT and live TV together under one service. 

    This partnership is a continuation of the effort towards making content platform agnostic and democratising its reach. Through this collaboration, Tata Sky Binge+ and India Film Project aims to spark meaningful conversations around the digital ecosystem and felicitate the journey of creators who have helped in the growth of Indian content.    

    Commenting on the association, Tata Sky chief communications officer Anurag Kumar said, “Tata Sky as a brand has always believed that content is king regardless of the platform it is been showcased on and understands the increasing demand of digital content. Tata Sky Binge+ service is our step towards making the best of content across mediums available for our customers on a single platform. We are glad to be associated with India Film Project who have been at the forefront of discovering new content creators, valuing and showcasing their creation for the world to see. Through this partnership, we are furthering our individual brand promise to drive synergies towards appreciating the contribution of content creators in digital space.”     

    Commenting on the association, India Film Project festival director Ritam Bhatnagar said, “At IFP, we witness the celebration of some of the best content created across the world. Within IFP’s creator community, we noticed a need for creators to watch content that transcends not just geographical boundaries but also the limitations of switching between app subscriptions. The partnership will enable our community to explore a world not limited by subscriptions but sheer love for content.”

  • Tata Sky introduces a new age feature Smart Guide

    Tata Sky introduces a new age feature Smart Guide

    KOLKATA : Reinforcing its commitment towards building customer centric innovations, Tata Sky, India’s leading content distribution and Pay TV platform has introduced ‘Smart Guide’ –a new-age feature that enables each customer to discover and consume content on television in a smart way. The new feature has been activated on all HD and SD set top boxes paving the way for an enhanced and bespoke TV viewing experience.

    These recommendations can be easily accessed through the newly revamped guide that appears on the television screen with the press of the guide button on the Tata Sky remote. The channel guide screen offers thumbnail views of the most watched channels, genres and platform services by the subscribers, under the banners – ‘Your Top Channels’, ‘Trending Channels’, ‘Favourite Genre’ etc. based on a subscriber’s viewing history and the time spent viewing a particular channel or genre. The feature not only gives quick access to the most viewed channels but also recommends more channels based on the genres you like to watch. In case of multi-connection homes, recommendations will be different for the primary and secondary set-top box in line with individual preferences.

    Read more news on Tata Sky 

    Commenting on the upgrade,  Tata Sky chief commercial and content officer Pallavi Puri  said, “While digital platforms have developed the ability to personalise experiences, on broadcast television this hasn’t been offered so far in a significant way.  With the latest software upgrade, our HD and SD set-top boxes now offer smarter recommendations based on a subscriber’s content consumption patterns leading to an enhanced TV viewing experience.”

    As part of the update, the linear search feature has been further enhanced to enable subscribers to search for channels via channel name, offering a hassle-free way of switching to their favourite channel. Linear search can be directly activated from the banner, guide grid and full screen video by only pressing the ‘0’ button on the remote, thereby offering subscribers a faster and smarter option to discover their preferred content. 

    The software update has been successfully completed on more than 15 million set top boxes.

  • Tata Sky Binge+ becomes available at lower price

    Tata Sky Binge+ becomes available at lower price

    KOLKATA: Keeping customer interests at the forefront, Tata Sky has further fine-tuned the pricing of its android TV-powered smart set top box, Tata Sky Binge+. Converging the strengths of DTH and the world of OTT content together on the television screens, this new age device will now be available at a competitive price of Rs 2,999 for new subscribers and Rs 2,499 for existing subscribers opting for an upgrade or a secondary Multi TV connection.

    Tata Sky Binge+ set top box comes with six-months access at no extra cost to premium content from eight OTT apps as part of the Tata Sky Binge subscription including Disney+ Hotstar Premium, ZEE5, VOOT Select, VOOT Kids, SunNxt, Hungama Play, Eros Now and ShemarooMe. Additionally, three-months of Amazon Prime subscription is also provided at no extra cost.

    Speaking on this offer, Tata Sky chief commercial and content officer Pallavi Puri said, “Content consumption is witnessing trends where people want to consume linear TV as well as OTT content on one integrated platform. Tata Sky Binge+ is powered by Android TV, supports Google Assistant-based voice search, offers Google Play Store access, and offers six months subscription to some of the most-viewed premium OTT apps at no extra cost, making it an ideal destination for content viewing. We’ve seen a positive uptake in subscriptions in the past few months. With the festive season around the corner, we have decided to further delight the customer by offering the Tata Sky Binge+ Smart set top box connection and apps bundle at a really exciting price point.” 

    New pricing has gone live from 18 September across all channels of purchase for new and existing subscribers.

  • Active DTH subscribers reach 70.26 million, Tata Sky solidifies its lead

    Active DTH subscribers reach 70.26 million, Tata Sky solidifies its lead

    KOLKATA: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) today released ‘The Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicators’ data for the January- March’20 quarter. Sustaining its growth pace for three quarters in a row, Tata Sky has solidified its lead yet again in the DTH and Pay TV category clocking in a market share of 32.33 per cent and a growth of 2.1 per cent in the quarter ending March’20. 

    According to the report, the Indian DTH service has displayed phenomenal growth since its launch in 2003. The total number of active subscribers with pay DTH operators (Tata Sky, Airtel, Dish TV, Sun Direct) in India in the quarter ending March 20 is 70.26 million. This is in addition to the Tata subscribers of DTH Free Dish (free DTH services of Doordarshan).

    Read more coverage on India’s DTH sector:

    A Tata Sky spokesperson commented on the report, “The TRAI report shows that Tata Sky has been consistently gaining market share and subscribers at a pace that is faster than any other platform. We believe this can be attributed to our customer centric outlook. The overall increase in DTH subscribers is also a great sign for the M&E sector.”

    Among other players, Tata sky’s close competitor Dish TV-D2H’s combine market share fell from 31.23 per cent in the quarter ending September 2019 to 29.49 per cent in March 2020. Airtel Digital TV and Sun Direct has seen slight growth in the same period.

  • Dish TV to push 50% STB manufacturing in India

    Dish TV to push 50% STB manufacturing in India

    KOLKATA: Dish TV India Ltd announced the manufacturing of its set-top boxes in India. Demonstrating its commitment to the government’s ‘Make in India’ vision, Dish TV India has shifted the production of its set-top boxes to India, adopting a ‘vocal for local’ strategy. The first consignment of made in India set-top boxes is ready and being shipped to the market. The company offers DTH services across the country and operates Dish TV, D2H, and Zing brands in this segment, besides its rapidly growing OTT service brand Watcho.

    Being the pioneer and technology leader in the DTH segment, Dish TV India plans to shift almost 50 per cent of its production to India by the Q1 of 2021 while simultaneously benefitting its business and customers. The process will further intensify in the coming months, as the company is planning to also start the manufacturing of the major components of the set-top box and its accessories in India, further boosting its commitment to ‘vocal for local’. Dish TV India plans to make the STB cabinet in India soon, has already started procuring the power adaptor from Indian manufacturers, and is in the advanced stage of talks with remote control manufacturers to produce the remote controls also in India.

    Elaborating Dish TV India’s ‘Make in India’ plan, Dish TV India chairman and managing director Jawahar Goel said, “We are thrilled to join the government of India’s ‘Make in India’ initiative and localize the manufacturing of set-top boxes and other key accessories in India only. This announcement reiterates our pioneering position within the DTH industry as we aim to further expand our business operations and develop products that match the intrinsic needs of our customers.  With the vision of ‘Make in India we reiterate our commitment to producing quality products and are confident that we can achieve several industry firsts. We thank the Government of India for all their support and favorable policies.”

    By shifting the production to India, the company looks at scaling manufacturing in the country and ways to enable industry revival. This will further assist them to streamline the supply chain, operations, and management. 

    Sharing the optimism, Dish TV India executive director and group CEO Anil Dua added, “Making our own STBs and accessories in India could not have come at a better time. Customer needs are evolving rapidly. As we refresh our STB range with a new set of connected devices and hybrid options, working with local design, development and production are definitely going to be a competitive edge for our business.”

    Innovation is at the heart of the Dish TV operations; the company is credited with many firsts in the industry. Launched the first DTH service in the country, Live TV for moving vehicle- DishOnwheels, High- Definition services, Unlimited recording facility in STB, Live TV in luxury trains, Online TV for DTH viewers- DishOnline, Sub-brand for the regional markets- Zing, Home Video System- DishFlix to name a few. More recently, Dish TV India is also the first to launch a voice-enabled (Alexa powered) Smart and Magic range of technologically advanced products and the first DTH company to launch its own OTT platform, Watcho.

  • Tata Sky partners with Accedo to develop the user interface of Tata Sky Binge+

    Tata Sky partners with Accedo to develop the user interface of Tata Sky Binge+

    KOLKATA: Accedo has worked with Tata Sky, India’s leading content distribution platform to develop the user interface for its latest offering, Tata Sky Binge+ Smart Set-top Box. The Android TV enabled device provides content from Linear Television and a host of OTT apps onto a television screen.  

    Accedo leveraged its Google-certified Android TV Launcher solution alongside its Accedo One platform to develop and deliver a high-quality video experience for the growing base of Tata Sky subscribers who like to enjoy the best of both worlds conjoined together, toggling through just one remote. To further enhance the user experience, Accedo customized its standard Android TV Launcher application to include 3rd party integrations, bespoke UX/UI features, and DVB satellite channels. 

    Accedo product director & regional head South Asia Abhishek Sood commented, “We’ve seen the OTT Market become increasingly competitive in India, and the number of available video services is constantly growing. Managing multiple platforms can be cumbersome for consumers so we see a real value in offering viewers a single point of access to all third-party apps. Binge+ addresses this pain point and allows users to seamlessly access much of their OTT content in one place.” 

    Tata Sky chief commercial officer and content officer Pallavi Puri added, “With Tata Sky Binge+, the objective was to enable our subscribers to access all of their Live TV, On-demand, and OTT services in one place. Having worked extensively with Accedo in the past, we relied on its technical and practical knowledge to develop a great user experience for our dynamic Android TV-powered set-top box. Accedo’s professional services team worked diligently and delivered the bespoke features required for the platform.” 

    Delivering over 600+ live TV channels and services, an on-demand library, and 3rd party OTT applications via a single sign-on, Binge+, provides users with a premium viewing experience.

    Tata Sky Binge+ hosts many advanced features. It enables viewers to play any show, movie, music, game on their laptop, tablet, or mobile phone and watch-it-directly on their TV with its in-built Chromecast. It also includes Google Assistant that makes discovering content easy with voice search. It is compatible with all types of TVs including 4K, HD LED, LCD, or plasma technology as it supports HDMI output and can also be connected to older TV sets over audio and video cable.

  • DD Free Dish adds three new channels

    DD Free Dish adds three new channels

    KOLKATA: The state broadcaster run free-to-air DTH platform DD Free Dish has added three new channels. These include ANB News, Aryan TV National and News India 24×7.

    These channels won the bid during the 47th e-auctions that was held on 26 August. They are allotted slots for the period between 1 September 2020 to 31 March 2021.

    The broadcaster announced the addition of two new channels earlier in August.

    All of the three channels which have a presence on other DTH platforms as well fall under News category- ANB News is a Punjab based Hindi news channel,  Aryan TV National, a Bihar based Hindi news channel and News India 24×7 is a Rajasthan based Hindi news channel.

    Doordarshan started its DTH service as DD Direct+ in December 2004, which was renamed as DD Free Dish on 27 August 2013. At present, its capacity is two HD channels, 106 SDTV channels along with 48 Radio channels. DD Free Dish has a reach of more than 38 million households, which is about 15 per cent of the total TV Households in the country.

  • Tata Sky’s partner Technicolor to shift settop box manufacturing to India

    Tata Sky’s partner Technicolor to shift settop box manufacturing to India

    KOLKATA:  In a big move, Tata Sky, India’s direct-to-home (DTH) operator has decided to shift a significant portion of its settop box sourcing within the country. It has partnered with Technicolor to develop settop boxes for the Indian market that will be manufactured and distributed within India. 

    “As the world adjusts to the rapid changes emerging due to the recent effects of the Covid2019 pandemic, Tata Sky and Technicolor connected home is realigning production of a group of settop boxes (STBs) to India by early 2021,” said Tata Sky MD & CEO Harit Nagpal.

    The shift in production and supply chain operations, according to the two companies, will streamline the manufacturing and delivery of STBs to consumers in India and further strengthen the longstanding collaboration that has been in place between Technicolor and Tata Sky. 

    “Working with Tata Sky to move settop box production to India will better serve this important market. It is yet another example of Technicolor’s best-in-class supply chain, which remains flexible and adaptable. This is especially valuable in volatile situations, such as those created by Covid2019. Our supply chain capabilities have proven to be a strategic asset as we offer multiple options to our customers. We remain committed to minimizing risk and total cost of ownership for services providers around the world,” Technicolor Connected Home president Luis Martinez-Amago commented.