ITV

Tag: HITS model

  • Canal+ backs HITS model for CAS rollout

    NEW DELHI: HITS (headend in the sky), pushed by Zee Telefilms, seems to have become a hit with conditional access technology providers with the France-based Canal+ Technologies (C+T) today reiterating it’s the most financially viable model for conditional access in India.
    “The HITS concept is the best model suited for a price-sensitive market like India for (introducing) conditional access system. Investments on headends amongst others would come down substantially,” C+T Asia Pacific general manager sales Nicolas Andrieu told indiantelevision today in an interview at the ongoing Exhibitions India-organised Convergence India 2003 here.
    C+T, one of the biggest operators of pay television in Europe and some other parts of the globe, have been working with Zee Telefilms for the last few years on the company’s direct-to-operator project.
    However, when asked whether Siti Cable, the cable arm of Zee Tele, would formalise an agreement with C+T for CAS, Andrieu preferred to give a noncommittal answer. “We, as other players in this business, are talking to everybody,” he added.
    According to Andrieu, the company is also talking to vendors and others related with CAS for forging partnerships in India as the market offers huge potential. “The India market initially may be small for CAS products, but in the coming years, it would turn out to be a huge market,” he said.
    Why are companies like C+T so bullish on India ? It is not difficult to fathom the reason.
    With two companies (Space TV and ASC Enterprises Ltd.) poised to get the Indian government nod for a direct-to-home TV service in India and the government also pushing for the rollout of CAS, Fusion Consulting, a Singapore and Hong Kong-based business intelligence consultancy, feels that India’s pay TV subscriber households are likely to increase 1.5 times by 2007, up from 40 million in 2002.
    Growing at CAGR of 8 per cent, India would have 61 million pay TV subscribing households, second to China’s 113 million.
    C+T is also looking at offering Indian customers, mostly formed of cable operators and multi-system operators (MSOs), a “package deal” that would include technology from it and the matching hardware from another group entity already operating in India.
    “As we are part of the Thomson group, we may also look at offering package deals to people here whereby the technology would be Canal Plus’ and, if possible, the hardware (the set-top boxes) for CAS may be from Thomson. There is certainly a possibility of this happening,” says Andrieu.
    Electronics goods manufacturer, Thomson India, has been operating out of Bangalore and has been in the forefront of CAS lobbying for lower duties on import duties on set-top boxes for CAS.
    Andrieu said that the company is “very proactive” in India and has also worked out very “various price models” for the Indian market that would deliver an integrated subscriber management system and hardware.”In a price sensitive market like India we have to develop a viable model that would be attractive to cable operators and others,” he added.
    Ruling out C+T setting up a separate subsidiary in India in the near future, he explained, “The market is not yet sufficiently big enough to justify investments on a subsidiary here.”
    Though C+T’s technology for CAS makes it a strong candidate to offer services to multiple clients in India, Andrieu said, “These are commercial decisions and the question on exclusivity can be considered when the negotiations reach that stage of finality.”
    C+T of France, represented in India by Recreate Solutions, had already announced that it would stage a live demo, the first of the its kind in India, of its CAS, Mediaguard, during the 11th Convergence India 2003 in New Delhi.
    C+T will also showcase Mediahighway, its middleware, which enables the set-top box software to interpret and execute interactive applications. Mediaguard provides digital broadcasters with business-critical reliability, ease of use and secure conditional access. The system also offers maximum flexibility for the introduction of multiple programme offerings to segmented audiences, coupled with transaction management, such as pay-per-view and e-commerce.
    C+T is a leading international provider of interactive TV software solutions offering a range of flexible open standard solutions to broadcasters and digital operators around the world. C+T also claims that it has achieved leadership through innovation as it has the ability to integrate both head-end and set-top boxes.

  • Siticable aims to unveil HITS model in April

    Siticable aims to unveil HITS model in April

    MUMBAI: Zee Group cable arm Siticable is planning to unveil its HITS (headend in the sky) model in April.

    Zee also plans to leverage some kind of a complete forward and backward integration by effectively using its Agrani satellite at the right time – scheduled for an early 2004 launch.

    Siticable officials say HITS will provide a win-win proposition for the local cable operators (LCOs) and last mile operators (LMOs). Siticable’s format involves giving due weightage to the LMOs and LCOs by empowering them to collect the pay TV monies from the consumers post CAS.

    The model also proposes a 50:50 sharing of the basic tier revenues between the HITS (headend in the sky) operator and the LMOs. Siti’s HITS plan envisages pay tier revenues being shared between the various constituents with satellite channels retaining 40 per cent of the total. Siticable only envisages that the broadcasters, MSOs and LMOs/LCOs have a 33.33 per cent share in the HITS operation. 

    LCOs and LMOs opting for Siti’s HITS plan will need to invest in four transmodulators of Rs 80,000 each for 40 channels. Siticable has also assured the LMOs and LCOs that it would provide digital STBs (DVB-C) at Rs 6,000-8,000 for the basic non-interactive versions.

    According to a senior Siti executive: “Cable operators are likely to accept it (HITS) faster as it will save them the cost of headend upgradation to accommodate the growing number of channels and they will also save the cost of installing CA for their individual headends.”

    Siti’s proposed system will be scalable in terms of its ability to migrate from analog to digital HITS once the 15 per cent penetration is achieved per headend, he says. The service will be available on Asiasat-3. Zee’s bouquet of 17 channels will be made available to Siticable partners.

    According to a blueprint of the headend in the sky proposal, prepared by Siti Cable, if necessary permissions come through then at a later stage the 
    subscriber, through the set top box, can have a new service or go in for a change in his service mix by calling up a toll free number connecting to the subscriber management system (SMS) and log in his request.

    The subscriber management center gives a message to the `turnaround’ center and executes the request through a data controller. The billing is generated by SMS and sent 
    to subscriber through designated means.

    It is also envisaged that once Subhash Chandra’s Agrani satellite becomes operative, it will be used extensively for this purpose. The fact that its own satellite is available means Zee and Siticable won’t have to make the huge investment which others might have to undertake. The cost saving works out to Rs 2 million per channel. Therefore if for a 40 channel package that’s a saving of Rs 160 million, says the official.