ITV

Tag: HD services

  • Ortel Communications to launch HD services

    Ortel Communications to launch HD services

    MUMBAI: Cable TV subscribers in Odisha will soon get to watch Hindi soaps in high definition (HD) provided they have an Ortel cable connection. The last mile owner (LMO) with 520,000 subscribers, Ortel Communications, has received its first batch of HD set top boxes (STBs) that will be deployed to digital TV households soon.

     

    1000 STBs from Skyworth are currently docked out of the 25000 boxes ordered. Priced at Rs 2000 to Rs 2500 per STB, the service will be launched within one month. “We are preparing a pack of 15 HD channels comprising popular channels of all major broadcasters for launch date. This will include channels like Star Plus, Star Sports, Sony, NGC, Movies Now, Colors etc,” says Ortel Communications CEO BP Rath.

     

    The headend capacity currently only allows the LMO to have 15 HD channels; however it plans to add more channels soon. “We intend to increase our capacity to around 250 SD and 50 HD channels in the next one year or so,” informs Rath. The LMO currently offers 200 SD channels. The pricing will be competitive with the DTH platforms. Though the final pricing for the HD channel pack hasn’t been finalised as yet, it is expected to be below Rs 100 per month with an initial three month free trial period.

     

    While Rath doesn’t expect good revenues from the service this year, he is optimistic of it being considerable next year. “We expect revenues from HD to kick in from Q3 of this fiscal, though not significantly. However, we expect to do Rs 2 crore to Rs 3 crore revenue next year,” adds Rath.

     

    It is pertinent to note that Odia channels don’t have HD services but Rath is optimistic that in the future there would be Odia HD channels as well. “Viewing of English and Hindi content in our markets is very sizeable and that will drive the HD services. In any case, the channel list will be similar to DTH operators and we will not be in any disadvantageous position,” claims Rath.

     

    Ortel currently has about 75,000 digital subscribers which it is looking at increasing to about 250,000 by the year end.

  • Hinduja Ventures investments PAT up for Q1-2014

    Hinduja Ventures investments PAT up for Q1-2014

    BENGALURU: IndusInd Media & Communications Limited’s (IMCL) holding company Hinduja Ventures Limited (HVL) reported Rs 18.74 crore profit for Q1-2014, 10.41 per cent higher as compared to the Rs 16.97 crore for Q1-2013 and 16.43 per cent more as compared to the PAT for Q4-2013. Profit from HVL’s investments and treasury segment was eroded by losses from its media and communications segment, real estate segment and the others segment.

     

    Let us look at HVL’s results for Q1-2014

     

    HVL reported a net income from operations for Q1-2014 of Rs 26.62 crore for Q1-2014 which was 25.98 per cent higher than the Rs 21.13 crore for Q1-2013 and 32.72 per cent more than the Rs 20.05 crore for Q4-2013.

     

    HVL’s total expense for Q1-2014 at Rs 6.92 crore was almost triple (more by 189 per cent) the Rs 2.39 crore for Q1-2013 and 72.09 per cent higher than the Rs 40.22 crore for Q4-2013.

     

    Revenue from media and communications segment fell by 25 per cent from Rs 1.46 crore in Q1-2013 Rs 1.09 crore. Loss from this segment more than quadrupled (went up by 308.01 per cent) from Rs (-1.08) crore in Q1-2013 to Rs (-4.40) crore in Q1-2014. This segment had reported a profit of Rs 0.6952 crore in Q4-2013.

     

    Capital employed by this segment increased 1.1 per cent in Q1-2014 to Rs 97.44 crore from Rs 96.36 crore in Q1-2013 and was 1.8 per cent more than the Rs 95.75 crore for Q4-2013.

     

    Revenue from investment and treasury segment recorded an increase of 29.75 per cent to Rs 25.52 crore in Q-2014 as compared to the Rs 19.67 crore for Q1-2013 and was 27.3 per cent more than the Rs 20.05 crore for Q4-2013.

     

    HVL’s investment and treasury segment posted a profit of Rs 24.43 crore which was 32.92 per cent more than the Rs 18.38 crore for Q1-2013 and 36.36 per cent more than the Rs 17.92 crore for Q4-2013.

     

    As mentioned above HVL’s real estate and ‘Others’ segment posted small numbers to erode the profits from the investment and treasury segment as mentioned above.

     

    HVL estimates that it has 8.5 million subscribers across 36 major cities. The company offers over 350 channels in the digital mode. It claims to have a backbone of over 10,000 kms of hybrid fiber optic network through which it also offers broadband services with its national ISP license. IMCL has gone ahead with the first two phases of the digital revolution being ushered in by government mandated policy of digitising the cable networks. The Digital Addressable System (DAS) was introduced by the government on 1 November, 2012 in phases and offers a unique opportunity to IMCL to make all its subscribers addressable and monetise its subscription revenues manifold. HVL says that IMCL has planned new services for the digital cable foray, apart from the broadband services like HD services, hybrid STBs for cable and internet value added services for digital cable.

     

    HVL says that its real estate projects are taking off in Bangalore. Its subsidiary M/s IDL Specialty Chemicals has land in Hyderabad.