ITV

Tag: MSO

  • DTH, internet register growth till end Dec ’12: Trai

    DTH, internet register growth till end Dec ’12: Trai

    MUMBAI: DTH TV in India is doing very well thank you. Bouoyed by the mandated digitisation of India’s cable TV sector and increased marketing activity by the six direct to home television service providers, the number of subscribers to DTH has climbed to 54.52 million subscribers. That’s the finding of The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) in its latest quarterly report ending December 2012.

    These numbers were achieved half way through phase I digitisation.

    The report also says that the maximum TV channels being carried by any MSO nationally is 267, while traditional analogue cable TV operators were carrying 100 channels. It adds that India has close to 823 private satellite TV channels – in addition to the state owned broadcaster Doordarshan. 184 of these are pay TV channels. The data for the report was collated from 26 broadcast distributors.

    The report also says that Indians are taking to the internet more and more with the number of subscribers increasing to 25.33 million from 24.01 million in end September 2012 – registering a quarterly growth rate of 5.49 per cent. The Top 10 ISPs together hold 95.42 per cent of the total internet subscriber base. As far as broadband is concerned, the number of subscribers increased by 2.02 per cent to 14.98 million as against 14.68 million up to end September 2012. Almost 84.82 per cent of these subscribers are using DSL. However, the share of broadband subscription to total internet subscription decreased from 61.16 per cent (end September 2012) to 59.15 per cent (end December 2012).

  • Den Networks offloads 24 per cent equity; raises $160 million

    Den Networks offloads 24 per cent equity; raises $160 million

    MUMBAI: India‘s John Malone is on a roll. Earlier this week, the Sameer Manchanda headed cable TV MSO Den Networks announced that it was going for a preferential allotment to Goldman Sachs affiliates ($110 million) and a qualified institutional placement (QIP of $50 million) which would allow it to raise a total $160 million (Rs 865 odd crore). This is the largest transaction in the Indian cable TV sector.

    It informed the BSE today that the deals had gone through – the preferential allotment went through the day before and the QIP yesterday – and that the divestment amounts to 24 per cent of Den Network‘s equity. Goldman Sachs had J. Sagar Associates as an advisor while the Hong Kong office of Herbert Smith Freehills acted as the international legal counsel. Den Networks had Amarchand Mangaldas as its advisor.

    Indiantelevision.com caught up with a very cheerful and confident Den Networks COO M.G. Azhar late this evening. This is what he had to say: “We are delighted to have Goldman Sachs as our partner. It has a long history of constructively driving consolidation, digitisation in various markets across the world. Their association will help us in transitioning through various cycles as business transforms.”

    Azhar adds that the deal should encourage other private equity firms and investors to invest in Indian cable TV. “It needs lots of investment. Millions of homes have to be digitised over the next year or so. The investment in Den clearly reflects that the progress of digitisation has helped regain investors‘ confidence in cable TV,” he says. “Other Indian cable TV firms should also benefit.”

    Azhar points out that Den Networks will not be looking for any more funds as the current cash stash should meet its needs for at least two years. He says that the money will be used to “drive digitisation, further consolidation and expansion, broadband and also make investments in scaling up Den Networks to handle the changing business environment.”

    The company says it is going to start its broadband services in the not-too-distant future in one metro and one tier II city and take it up from there.

    He explains: “Digitisation has progressed well in phase I and phase II. Now we have to segment the market. Digitisation has freed us to offer PVR services, HD feeds, PPV, and other value added services. The average revenue per user undoubtedly will go up. There is a lot of potential; there is a lot of value that has to be unlocked.”

  • DAS stay extended in Madhya Pradesh to 15 May

    DAS stay extended in Madhya Pradesh to 15 May

    NEW DELHI: The Madhya Pradesh high court today extended till 15 May the stay on switch-off of analogue signals in the cities of Indore, Bhopal and Jabalpur covered in Phase II of digitisation.

    The extension came after the Jabalpur bench of the court noted that some of the respondents (mostly multi-system operators) had not filed their replies to the notice issued in the last hearing, and counsel Greesham Jain for one of the petitioners said he had received the replies in some cases just yesterday and wanted more time to file his counter-affidavit.

    The court is hearing five petitions – including a public interest litigation by a lawyer, a consumer body, one LCO including Rashmi Dubey, and one by an MSO run by Nilesh Rawal linked to Digicable – citing shortage of set top boxes, billing issues and some other problems linked to digital addressable system.

    As on 21 April, the status of seeding in Madhya Pradesh was 86.32 per cent in Bhopal, 103.04.per cent in Indore, and 45.84 per cent in Jabalpur.

    Meanwhile the stay in the Andhra Pradesh for the cities of Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam was extended to 4 June. Stay also continues to be in force in Chennai, which was part of Phase I.

  • DEN Networks to raise $160 million through share sale

    DEN Networks to raise $160 million through share sale

    Mumbai: That India’s cable TV digitization drive in phases is going to soak up a lot of investment – running into a few billion dollars – is well known. Some of the MSOs have been working to stay ahead of their capital requirement curve. Take national MSO DEN Networks founded and led by former TV executive Sameer Manchanda.

    It has a presence in roughly 11 million households in over 150 cities across 13 key states in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, Kerala, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The MSO has been at the forefront of digitising cable TV nationally since mid-last year and with the next phase of digitization into smaller towns going on and expected to intensify in the next year, it desperately requires cash.

    And it is reaching out to foreign institutional investment to meet that need. It announced on 6 May that it had got board approval to sell equity to raise about $160 million. This was communicated to the stock exchanges on 6 May.

    Part of that will be raised through a preferential equity allotment to Goldman Sachs’ Singapore registered affiliates Broad Street Investments and MBD Bridge Street 2013 Investments for a total amount of $110 million at a issue price of 217.50 per share (face value: Rs 10).

    The allotment is of course subject to shareholder and other regulatory approvals.

    In addition to this, it got the board’s go-ahead for a qualified institutional placement plan to qualified institutional buyers for raising another $50 million at a price of Rs 217.23 per share.

    DEN had got board approval in end March to divest 26 per cent of its paid up share capital.

    An April end extra ordinary general meeting saw it getting shareholder approval for increasing its FII limit. Earlier this year, it had doubled its borrowing powers from Rs 1000 crore.

    The company’s share rose 2.14 per cent at its closing price of Rs 226.75 on the BSE on 6 May.

  • DAS Stay extended to 4 June in Andhra Pradesh, court wants action taken report from Govt

    DAS Stay extended to 4 June in Andhra Pradesh, court wants action taken report from Govt

    New Delhi: The Andhra Pradesh High Court today extended to 4 June the stay on switch-off of analogue signals in Hyderabad and Vishakhapatnam, even as it expressed its annoyance against the Information and Broadcasting Ministry counsel not giving an action-taken report as directed by the court.

    Adjourning the hearing of six petitions to 4 June, the Court also permitted other parties including the Indian Broadcasting Foundation to be impleaded in the case.

    The division bench headed by the Chief Justice Justice N.V.Ramana posted the case for orders after the vacation.

    The Court also asked the authorities not to take any coercive steps against Multi System Operators (MSOs) for not implementing digital addressability system in Hyderabad and Rangareddy districts.

    The bench which was hearing arguments on a public interest petition passed a single order in five other similar cases including one by an MSO, Mr S V Krishna Mohan and another by the Greater Hyderabad Cable TV Operators Association, that came up for hearing before the bench.

    The petitioner Chalasani Narendra filed the PIL saying the Union of India was ‘scuttling the constitutional rights of the citizens by blocking out the TV Channels in the guise of implementation of Digital Addressability System (DAS) without making any efforts for easy availability of Set Top Boxes (STBs) in the market’.

    He also alleged that the government is also trying to favour the big corporate establishments in the cable and DTH industry in the guise of DAS implementation.

    Hathway had also got itself impleaded in the petition saying that there is no need to extend the time for the implementation of DAS in Hyderabad. Hathway submitted before the High Court that Digitalisation of cable services brings out a lot of undeclared connectivity from the cable operators benefiting the Broadcasters, the government and the MSOs.

    The Indian Broadcasting Foundation submitted that the Court should not grant any more time against the compulsory usage of STBs in Hyderabad.

    According to figures published by the Ministry on 21 April, Hyderabad has 8,81,512 TV households of which 17,37,052 STBs have been installed, including DTH, with the total digitization going up to 193.83 per cent. Vishakhapatnam has 5,42,692 TV households, and only 1,58,291 STBs including DTH have been installed thus taking the percentage to 29.76.

    Stay also continues till 8 May in Jabalpur, Indore, and Bhopal apart from Chennai with petitions pending in Madhya Pradesh and Madras High Courts, even as the Indian Broadcasting Foundation has moved the Supreme Court to ensure these petitions are not entertained.

  • Allahabad HC reaffirms I&B ministry role in case of STB non-availability

    Allahabad HC reaffirms I&B ministry role in case of STB non-availability

    NEW DELHI: The Allahabad high court has clarified that that the information and broadcasting ministry has been mandated under the Cable TV Networks Rules 1994 to make interim arrangements if any subscriber complains he has not been able to get a set top box from his cable operator.

    A division bench of justice Uma Nath Singh and justice Satish Chandra while dealing with a case recently, quoted from an earlier judgment in this regard to say that the rules drawn up by the ministry were clear on this issue.

    (For the consumers, this judgment implies that they are free to approach the ministry in the event of the multi-system operator or the local cable operator not fulfilling the mandate of supplying the STB. The ministry has already set up a toll free number and complaints from consumers or LCOs relating to STBs or other aspects relating to digitisation are already being passed on to the concerned MSO, I and B minister Manish Tewari told the Parliament yesterday.)

    The court dismissed as without merit a petition by the Uttar Pradesh Cable Operators Welfare Association through its president Anil Upadhyay.

    In its petition, the association had sought extension of time as it said that there was shortage of digital set top boxes even as it fully supported digital access systems. It was stated that in UP, the STBs are not available in sufficient quantity, as it is an imported item mainly from China. There is no workshop in the state for repair of the set top boxes.

    In his arguments, additional solicitor general of India K C Kaushik said that digitisation was almost complete in UP as 100 per cent work has already been done in the Districts – Ghaziabad, Meerut, Varanasi and Allahabad – and 82 to 86 per cent work had already been done in the cities of Kanpur, Lucknow and Agra up to 14 April.

    Interestingly, the court in its judgment said ‘the set top box is not compulsory but is an option for the consumer, who wants to avail the better signals or selected channels. Further for providing better (digital) signals, there are many service providers, other than the petitioners, like DTH.‘

    While dismissing the case for extension of time, the court referred to another judgment of the Court in a related case by the Lucknow Metro Cable Operators Association wherein that court had said ‘Rule 13 (5) of the Rules contains a provision that in the event of failure of the concerned operator to supply and install a Set Top Box, the respondent (information and broadcasting ministry) may, in order to protect the interest of subscribers, take interim measure to ensure supply of signals. Under Rule 14, the ministry has been empowered to resolve dispute of various kinds including arrangements for handling complaints and redressal of grievances of the subscribers. The authority may also look into the efficacy of such arrangements and issue necessary directions to the concerned parties for compliance.‘

    That order had also pointed out that it was clear that all consumers were not aware of digitisation. ‘It is natural that everybody may not be aware whether there has been proper public awareness campaign about DAS scheme or not, and whether supply and installation of set top box has been carried out as required by Rule 13 of the Rules‘, that order had said.

  • Delhi High Court directs MSM to reconnect signals of Kanpur MSO

    Delhi High Court directs MSM to reconnect signals of Kanpur MSO

    New Delhi: The Delhi high court today directed Multi Screen Media to reconnect the signals of a multi-system operator in Kanpur after it was argued that Broadcast Engineering Consultants (India) Ltd (Becil) was the only authority to certify the genuineness of a digitized set up for cable television. Justice Rajiv Shakdher directed that Becil should give its report by 17 May when the case will be heard.

    Vishal Mishra of Vishal Cable Network of Kanpur had filed the case after MSM cut off the signals without any notice on the ground that the MSO had not digitized his operations.

    Vikram Singh, counsel for the MSO argued in Court that Becil was the only authority to take a decision on such issues. In any case, he said that notice should have been issued to the MSO.

  • AP HC adjourns hearing in DAS extension case till 29 April

    AP HC adjourns hearing in DAS extension case till 29 April

    NEW DELHI: The Andhra Pradesh high court today adjourned the hearing of petitions seeking extension of digitisation deadline in Hyderabad and Vishakhapatnam to 29 April. The interim order restraining MSOs from disconnecting analog signals continues in both the cities.

    The court also asked the authorities not to take any coercive steps against Multi System Operators (MSOs) for not implementing digital addressability system (DAS) in Greater Hyderabad city limits.

    The division bench headed by interim Chief Justice N.V. Ramana was hearing public interest litigation and five petitions including one filed by an MSO ICE TV through its CEO S V Krishna Mohan and another by the Greater Hyderabad Cable TV Operators Association.

    The petitioner Chalasani Narendra filed the PIL saying the Union of India was ‘scuttling the constitutional rights of the citizens by blocking out the TV Channels in the guise of implementation of Digital Addressability System (DAS) without making any efforts for easy availability of Set Top Boxes (STBs) in the market‘.

    He also alleged that the government is also trying to favour the big corporate establishments in the cable and DTH industry in the guise of DAS implementation.

    Hathway Cable and Datacom also got itself impleaded in the petition saying that there is no need to extend the time for the implementation of DAS in Hyderabad.

    The court was informed that the nodal officer who is Joint Collector in Hyderabad had written a note to the Information and Broadcasting ministry that only 30 to 40 per cent STBs had been seeded in the state and had sought an extension of three months.

    The note said: ‘As per the information submitted by the MSOs and cable operators approximately 3.4 million consumers are existing, out of which only 30 per cent to 40 per cent STBs are supplied leaving majority of them still waiting for supply of STBs.‘

    According to figures published by the Ministry on 3 April, Hyderabad has 881,512 TV households of which 546,892 STBs had to be installed. Vishakhapatnam has 542,692 TV households, and 466,466 STBs had still to be installed.

  • Digitisation to propel pay-TV revenue to $17 billion by 2017 , MPA report

    Digitisation to propel pay-TV revenue to $17 billion by 2017 , MPA report

    MUMBAI: Propelled by the government’s digitisation drive, pay TV revenues in India are projected to reach $17 billion by 2020 as opposed to the $7.8 billion in 2012, according to a new report by Singapore-based pay-TV research firm Media Partners Asia (MPA).

    According to India Pay-TV & Broadband Markets, pay TV revenues are expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.4 per cent from 2012-17 and 10.2 per cent between 2012 and 2020.

    MPA forecasts indicate that total digital pay-TV homes will grow from 47 million in 2012 to 110 million by 2017 and 130 million by 2020.

    The digital penetration of total pay-TV homes in the country is expected to double to almost 70 per cent by 2020 from 35 per cent in 2012. The digital pay-TV penetration of TV homes in India will grow from 28 per cent in 2012 to 54 per cent by 2017, and reach 60 per cent by 2020.

    On the other hand, the total pay-TV homes are expected to grow from 128 million 2012 to 167 million by 2017, and 183 million by 2020. Pay-TV penetration of TV homes will grow from 80 per cent to 85 per cent between 2012 and 2020, adjusted for multiple connections in a household.

    This implies that the pay-TV industry will remain in a prolonged investment mode, with significant capital intensity. With two more phase of digitisation to go, both DTH and cable operators already have high levels of debt. The majority of additional funding will have to come through equity, via IPOs and M&A, the MPA report states.

    “A successful start for the roll-out of digital addressable systems (DAS) has revived interest in pay-TV among strategic and financial investors,” says MPA executive director Vivek Couto.

    “The real benefits will become clearer in 2H 2013 and beyond, as multi-system operators (MSOs) drive addressability and work with last mile local cable operators (LCOs) to ramp up tiering, billing and collections. Regulators are committed to curbing delays in the next phases of DAS, while the DTH industry is keen to revive growth by capitalising on digital transition.”

    Cable impact: Over the medium term, the majority of cable investments will be directed towards digital infrastructure, helping to build operator scale and improved addressability. In the long run, investments will be more focused towards acquiring primary subscriber points and the expansion of high-ARPU products such as broadband and HDTV.

    According to MPA, the total proportion of cable households with DAS climb from 15 per cent in 2012 to 50 per cent by 2020.

    DTH growth: In the DTH space, concerns focus on the growth of active subs (i.e. paying customers, net of churn and subscriber suspension), which has moderated in recent times. MPA says that the growth in active subs will rebound however, as more markets undergo analog switch-off. MPA forecasts indicate that active DTH subs will grow from 32 million in 2012 to 64 million by 2017, and 77 million by 2020.

    Broadcasters: Subscription fees for pay-TV channels crossed US$1 billion in 2012, driven by the growing strength of aggregators. This growth has yet to factor in digitalisation, which will result in a bigger share of subscription revenue for broadcasters. Operating margins will remain under pressure in the short-to-medium term, due to heavy investments in content for existing channels and gestation losses on new channel launches.

    MPA expects total pay-TV channel revenues, including advertising and subscription to grow from $3.6 billion in 2012 to $6.6 billion by 2017 and to $8.6 billion by 2020. The pay-TV ad market is expected to grow at a 10 per cent CAGR over 2012-20, while broadcaster subscription revenues are expected to grow at 15 per cent over the same period.

  • 88 per cent digitisation achieved in Phase II, says Varma

    88 per cent digitisation achieved in Phase II, says Varma

    NEW DELHI: The level of digitisation has reached around 88 per cent in the 38 cities covered in fourteen states and one union territory for Phase II of Digital Addressable System (DAS), a top Information & Broadcasting ministry official tells Indiantelevision.com.

    This includes seeding of set top boxes (STBs) done by direct-to-home (DTH) operators.

    I&B ministry secretary Uday Kumar Varma reveals that fifteen to sixteen cities have achieved total digitisation.

    However, he cautions that the government was still in the process of collating all the figures and would bring a detailed report after its review. The Secretary said he is personally in constant touch with the Nodal Officers and MSOs to ensure that the cities in remaining states also speed up the process of digitisation.

    He clarified that while announcing the switch-off of analogue on 31 March, the Government said it would watch the situation for around two weeks and was now reviewing the reports coming being receiving on the achievement so far.

    The Ministry had announced last week that analogue signals had been completely switched-off in the five states of Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Haryana, and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

    Stay continues to be in force in the cities of Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Hyderabad, and Visakhapatnam. The metropolis of Chennai which was part of Phase I also has a stay order in force.

    The Karnataka and Gujarat High Courts had yesterday quashed petitions seeking extension of DAS thereby paving way for the analogue signals to be switched-off.