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Tag: MSO

  • Digitisation: Hathway Cable’s capex need is Rs 4 bn in Q4

    Digitisation: Hathway Cable’s capex need is Rs 4 bn in Q4

    MUMBAI: Hathway Cable & Datacom‘s capital expenditure in the last quarter of this fiscal on account of Phase 2 digitisation will be in the region of Rs 4 billion, a top executive of the company said.

    The multi-system operator (MSO) is anticipating a deployment of 2.6 million set-top boxes (STBs) in the quarter beginning January.

    “The financing will be met by a mix of debt and vendor financing. We will be requiring a debt of Rs 3 billion,” Hathway Cable and Datacom managing director and chief executive officer Jagdish Kumar told Indiantelevision.com.

    With this fresh debt, Hathway Cable & Datacom‘s total debt would touch Rs 8 billion.
    The company has seeded 2.1 million boxes in the first phase of digitisation. “We are looking at touching 2.2 million in the Phase 1 DAS (Digital Addressable System) cities,” Kumar said.

    Kumar feels that there will be no major decline in carriage fees. “In the first phase, we have seen around 10 per cent fall in carriage fees. We do not anticipate any impact on carriage fees as more channels have come under the ambit with the bandwidth expanding due to digitisation,” Kumar said.

    But when will the MSO start offering packages to the subscribers and start billing them in the DAS markets? “We expect the billing to be effective from the first quarter of next fiscal,” said Kumar.

    Hathway is considering broadband upgrade from DOCSIS 2.4 to 3.4. The MSO is doing pilots but no final decision has been taken yet.

  • Madras High Court declines to restrain MSOs, LCOs from transmitting analogue signals

    Madras High Court declines to restrain MSOs, LCOs from transmitting analogue signals

    New Delhi: Even as a petition by Chennai Metro Cable Operators Association (CMCOA) seeking extension of implementation of the digital access system is pending hearing, the Madras High Court has refused to grant interim injunction restraining local cable operators from transmitting the cable TV signals in analogue mode.

    However, Justice Vinod K Sharma said: “It is admitted that the cable operators including Arasu cable are providing only analogue system and therefore violating law for which they can be prosecuted under section 11 and section 16 of the Cable Television Networks (Regulations) 1995.”

    But he said this did not mean he was accepting the petition by T Saikrishnan seeking to restrain LCOs and multi-system operators like Arasu from transmitting or operating analogue head end or importing cable TV signals from Non-DAS area or rolling out cable TV signals without DAS licence to the consumers within Chennai Metropolitan area.

    Justice Sharma said: “It cannot be said that the applicant has prima facie case to seek injunction nor the balance of convenience is in favour of him is not likely to suffer any irreparable loss.”

    In the suit, the plaintiff claimed that he is in cable business for last several years after getting valid licence from the postal department. He is operating in and around Virugambakkam in Chennai. Other local cable operators including Arasu cable in the cable business were transmitting signals in and around the area and other areas of city without obtaining necessary licence.

    Arasu Cable Television got itself impleaded as party and filed the counter. It submitted that the applicant had not come to the court with clean hands and filed the application at the instigation of some vested interest who did not want the government to operate the cable TV business.

    P H Arvindh Pandian, Additional Advocate General, contended that the Union government already issued MSO licence to Arasu cable in April 2008 which was valid up to 2013 and it had also applied for DAS licence with the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and the application was still pending. Arasu Cable was running cable TV network in public interest to provide transmission.

    The Judge viewed that under the Act, the aggrieved person could file an appeal for taking action against persons or authority. “The remedy for violation is provided under the Act under section 11 and 16 whereas civil suit is barred in view of law laid down by the Supreme Court”, added Mr. Justice Sharma.

    Meanwhile, the petition by (CMCOA) through its General Secretary M R Srinivasan for extension of DAS pending before Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar is expected to come up for hearing in the last week of this month.

  • Hathway Cable in process of finalising fresh terms with LCOs in digital markets

    Hathway Cable in process of finalising fresh terms with LCOs in digital markets

    MUMBAI: Hathway Cable & Datacom, India‘s leading multi-system operator (MSO), has said that on account of digitisation it is in the process of finalising fresh terms with local cable operators (LCOs) in Mumbai and Delhi, the only cities in first phase where it has a direct presence. In Kolkata, Hathway has a presence through JV partner GTPL KCBPL.

    Pending such finalisations, the management has on estimated basis recognised activation fees and subscription income in these two cities, which is based on on-going discussion with LCOs, market trend and considering the collection made till date.

    The management has reasonable certainty of collecting the amount recognised as income, Hathway said.

    Meanwhile, the company has seen its fiscal third quarter net loss widen to Rs 74.2 million from Rs 17.8 million in the preceding quarter on account of foreign exchange loss and decrease in other income.

    Hathway suffered a foreign exchange loss of Rs 14.89 million compared to a gain of Rs 44.78 million during the fiscal second quarter. The company‘s other income decreased to Rs 13.55 million from Rs 30.63 million.

    Net income from operations during the quarter, which saw the roll-out of first phase of digitisation, rose to Rs 1.53 billion from preceding quarter‘s Rs 1.3 billion.

    Led by increase in pay channel cost and purchase of stock in trade, the expenses for the quarter also jumped to Rs 1.47 billion from Rs 1.37 in the earlier quarter.

    The pay channel cost increased to Rs 429.6 million from Rs 390.4 million while the purchase of stock in trade grew to Rs 43.06 million from Rs 16.48 million.

    The exceptional item includes the amount company spent on Digital Addressable System (DAS) which is Rs 26.79 million for the quarter as opposed to Rs 7.61 million in the previous quarter.

    As of 31 December 2012, Hathway has utilised the entire amount of Rs 3.25 billion from the IPO proceeds that it had proposed to spend on development of digital capital expenditure, services and set-top boxes as well as development of broadband infrastructure.

    The company has spent Rs 124.86 million on customer acquisition out of the proposed Rs 150 million.

  • Siti consolidated Q3 loss widens 47% Q-on-Q to Rs 185.7 million

    Siti consolidated Q3 loss widens 47% Q-on-Q to Rs 185.7 million

    MUMBAI: Zee Group-promoted multi-system operator (MSO) Siti Cable continues to be in the red with the fiscal third quarter consolidated net loss widening 47 per cent to Rs 185.7 million from Rs 126.5 million a quarter earlier on rise in expenses due to digitisation.

    Siti Cable’s consolidated operating profit for the quarter, however, increased 7 per cent to Rs 202.5 million from Rs. 189.3 million a quarter earlier.

    The consolidated operating revenues for the third quarter rose 33 per cent to Rs 1.24 billion from Rs 935.3 million a quarter earlier.

    Operating revenue is primarily generated from subscriber related income, income from bandwidth charges, income from advertisements and set-top-box (STB) activation.

    Total consolidated operating expenses for the quarter stood at Rs 1.04 billion, a 23 per cent increase from Rs 850.6 million a quarter earlier.

    The company’s main operating expenses include cost of goods and services, employee costs and selling & distribution expenses.

    Major cost item was cost of goods & services recorded as Rs 768 million during the third quarter, representing 62 per cent of the total revenue. It increased 24 per cent from Rs 621.5 million a quarter earlier, when it was 60 per cent of the total revenue then.

    Siti Cable COO Anil Malhotra commented, “Siti gained further momentum in the third quarter of fiscal 2013. We were able to maintain our margins through operational efficiency improvements despite increased operating expenses.”

    Malhotra said that the company had seeded 1.5 million set top boxes (STBs) during Phase-1 of digitisation in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata and had added approximately 700,000 STBs during the third quarter.

    The STB seeding done by the company is under the paid scheme and the payments were realised on upfront basis, Malhotra said.

    “We are now in exciting phase of our journey as we strengthen our existing operations and expand our digital subscriber base in phase-2 cities as well. We believe that experiences gathered from Phase 1 will form the basis for phase-2 switch-over to digital, helping to speed up the exercise eventually,” he said.

  • Kolkata could go completely digital by 1 February

    Kolkata could go completely digital by 1 February

    MUMBAI: Kolkata could go completely digital by 1 February with the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) ministry, the broadcasters and most of the multi-system operators (MSOs) pressing for a blackout of analogue delivery of television channels.

    The MSOs met the West Bengal state government minister to get the support for an effective implementation.

    Though technically Kolkata has gone digital along with the four other metros since 1 November, analogue signals have continued amid seeding of digital set-top boxes (STBs) as the Mamata Banerjee government has refused to support a total blackout.

    "The state government of West Bengal has given an unofficial nod to MSOs in Kolkata to switch-off analogue cable completely beginning 1 February," the CEO of a MSO who attended the meeting said on condition of anonymity.
    There is one big MSO in Kolkata who is still waiting for digital set-top boxes (STBs) to arrive and is continuing with analogue transmission. Some cable operators are also saying that STB shortage is still there in some pockets of the city.

    In the backdrop of this, the support of the state government is crucial. "The state government is fine with the analogue switch-off as long as there is no law and order problem," a senior executive representing a MSO said on condition that his identity not be revealed.

    In any case, most of the MSOs have switched off most of the channels except the Bengali entertainment and news channels. The city was expected to go digital from 28 December after initial hiccups. However, an unrelenting state government had warned MSOs against complete switch off.

    The MSOs had begun the process of switching off analogue signals from 16 December with English entertainment channels.

    The Bengali channels were the last to be swtiched off from 27 December but the Information & broadcasting ministry‘s efforts to implement complete digitisation came to a nought due to state government‘s tough posturing.

    "Kolkata should be able to go totally digital by 1 February. We have also been told by the I&B ministry verbally that they will take action if we do not switch off analogue signals," said Manthan director Gurmeet Singh.

  • Mathrubhumi to invest Rs 500 mn in news and music channel

    Mathrubhumi to invest Rs 500 mn in news and music channel

    MUMBAI: Mathrubhumi TV, the television arm of Kerala’s Mathrubhumi Group, is planning to invest Rs 500 million in a Malayalam news channel and a multi-lingual music channel.

     

    Mathrubhumi News will launch on 23 January while Kappa TV, the music channel, will go on air from 1 February.

     

    The launch of these two channels will mark print major Mathrubhumi’s entry into Kerala’s competitive TV news broadcasting space dominated by News Corp-owned Asianet Communications, its print media competitor Manorama News, news agency IANS’ Reporter TV and India Vision News.
        

    Both the channels are free-to-air and have already secured carriage deals with most of the cable operators in the state including Asianet Cable Television, Kerala’s biggest multi-system operator (MSO). The company is also planning to launch the news channel in Gulf and in metro cities like Mumbai and Delhi.

     

    Mathrubhumi TV chief executive officer Mohan Nair, who has earlier worked with Asianet Communications as COO and Sri Lankan media conglomerate Maharaja Broadcasting Corporation as CEO, believes that the television foray is a natural extension for the Mathrubhumi Group as it has interests in print through leading Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi and in radio courtesy Club FM.

     

    “We had diversified into radio some years back and so we saw a rightful extension in television,” Nair says.

     

    Mathrubhumi TV, which is also into content production, is a subsidiary of Mathrubhumi Printing & Publishing Co. Ltd. (MPPCL).

     

    For 2010-11, MPPCL reported a net profit of Rs 300.4 million on net sales of Rs 3.89 billion. For the nine months ended 31 December, 2012, the company reported a net profit of Rs 238.6 million on net revenues of Rs 3.28 billion.

     

    The TV News foray

     

    Launching a news channel was a no-brainer for the Malayalam media company as it complements Mathrubhumi’s print media business. The 90-year-old Mathrubhumi newspaper is the flagship brand of the company and competes with Malayala Manorama which incidentally also runs a news channel, Manorama News.

     

    Nair, who has also served as the chief of bureau of Economic Times in Mumbai, believes that the news channel’s USP will be its HD technology, talented team of journalists, and independent coverage.

     

    The last bit is important as Kerala has political party backed news channels namely Congress’ Jaihind TV and CPI (M)’s People TV.

     

    “There are only four to five pure news channels in Kerala. Our USP is that we will be an independent news channel,” avers Nair.

     

    News broadcasters in Kerala, like in the rest of the country, are heavily dependent on ad revenue, which is estimated to be in the region of Rs 1 billion.

     

    The news channel will have Unni Krishnan as the Chief of News with a team of 250 journalists assisting him. Mathrubhumi News will have a bureau in every district of Kerala which will give it an edge in covering locally relevant issues.

     

    Outside Kerala, the channel will also have bureaus in Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai.

     

    Although news channels have a skew towards male audience, Mathrubhumi News will have programming that targets women and youth. “The idea is to have a complete news channel which offers something to everyone,” asserts Nair.

     

    The channel is being promoted primarily through Mathrubhumi’s print and radio platform apart from outdoor ads.

     

    Kappa TV to follow 9XM model

     

    The Mathrubhumi Group is also betting big on its speciality channel Kappa TV that will air music and humour content. The company will follow the 9XM model which has a mix of music and animated content.

     

    Kappa TV will air Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi and English songs in order to cater to the diverse taste of the state’s youth population.

     

    However, Malayalam music will continue to be the driver content for the channel. The channel is targeted at 18-35 age group.

     

    The Malayalam music genre currently has only two serious players in Asianet Plus and Raj Musix Malayalam.

     

    “With Kappa TV, we intend to bring elements of radio on television,” says Nair.

  • DEN doubles borrowing cap to Rs 20 bn; Q3 consolidated up 10% QoQ

    DEN doubles borrowing cap to Rs 20 bn; Q3 consolidated up 10% QoQ

    MUMBAI: With digitisation firm on the government‘s agenda, DEN Networks Ltd, a leading multi-system operator (MSO), has got the board approval to double its borrowing power from existing Rs 10 billion to Rs 20 billion.

    The company also said on Tuesday that its consolidated net profit for the third quarter ended 31 December rose 10 per cent to Rs 171.7 million from Rs 155.9 million in the previous quarter, in line with revenue growth.

    Incidentally, this quarter saw the rollout of the first phase of digitisation in the four metros. The government stuck to the deadline of 1 November, though digitisation got disrupted in Chennai due to a Madras High Court order.

    DEN’s consolidated Ebidta for the three-month period beginning 1 September jumped 22 per cent to Rs 603.9 million from Rs 308.4 million in the trailing quarter.

    The company’s consolidated net revenue grew 12 per cent to Rs 2.41 billion from Rs 2.16 billion in the previous quarter. Its expenditure during the quarter increased to Rs 1.81 billion from Rs 1.66 billion due to rise in operation expenses.

    DEN’s net profit from cable business was up 19 per cent to Rs 159.5 million from Rs 133.9 million in the previous quarter. Its operating profit rose 26 per cent to Rs 585.3 million from Rs 463 million.

    Its revenues from the cable business grew 13 per cent to Rs 2.29 billion from Rs 2.02 billion in the previous quarter.

    DEN’s net profit from distribution business was Rs 12.4 million on income of Rs 123.3 million and expenditure of Rs 104.7 million.

    On the first phase of digitisation, the MSO said it along with its affiliates seeded over 1.8 million set-top boxes (STBs) in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. About half of these STBs were deployed in the third quarter.

    DEN has presence in 23 of the 38 cities where digitisation will happen in phase 2, including all the seven cities of Uttar Pradeh, five towns in Maharashtra, 3 in Gujarat, two each in Rajasthan and Karnataka, and 1 each in Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Haryana. Den said it has already seeded over 600,000 STBs in these markets.

    The company said it was also gearing to build a high speed broadband internet service and offer bundled double play and triple play services to consumers in fully digitised markets over the next few quarters.

  • Trai seeks views on carriage & placement fees and carriage of minimum channels

    Trai seeks views on carriage & placement fees and carriage of minimum channels

    MUMBAI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has issued a consultation paper seeking comments from all stakeholders on placement and carriage fees and also over the requirements of minimum channel carrying capacity to be set up by MSOs.

    These three provisions in the Interconnection Regulations have been set aside by the Telecom Disputes Settlement & Appellate Tribunal (Tdsat) on petitions by MSOs.

    The consultation paper issued on Thursday also attempts to make amendments to the Tariff Order applicable for addressable systems – both MSOs and direct-to-home (DTH) services, through the consultation process. Trai has sought responses from stakeholders on its plan to link the prices of channel bouquets and individual (or a-la-carte) channels, to make it mandatory for provision of both free-to-air and pay channels on a-la-carte basis and to restrict offer of channels requiring special type of STBs only on a-la-carte basis or as part of separate bouquets that consists of only those category of channels that require a particular type of specialised STB.

    Trai has called for submission of views and reasons thereof by all the stakeholders by 11 January.

    Responses Sought on following issues related to amendments to the Interconnection Regulations:

    Whether the following proviso should be introduced in the clause 3(2): "provided that the provisions of this sub-regulation shall not apply in the case of a multi-system operator, which seeks signals of a particular TV channel from a broadcaster, while at the same time demanding carriage fee for carrying that channel on its distribution platform."

    Clause 3(2) has safeguards with regard to charging of carriage fee: (1) Carriage fee to be transparently declared in the RIO of the MSO, (2) The carriage fee is to be uniformly charged (3) The carriage fee not to be revised upwardly for a minimum period of 2 years, and (4) The details of the carriage fee are to be filed with the Authority and the Authority has a right to intervene in cases it deems fit.

    Trai said if any of the stakeholder is against this provisions, it should state the reasons thereof.

    (a) Whether there is a need to specify certain minimum channel carrying capacity for the MSOs in the interconnection regulations for DAS.

    (b) If yes, what should be the different categories (example cities/town/rural area) of areas and the minimum channel carrying capacity for each area.

    Whether there is a need for regulating the placement fee in all the Digital Addressable Systems. If so, how it should be regulated. The stakeholders have been asked to submit their comments with justifications.

    Responses sought on following Issues related to amendments to the Tariff Order applicable for Addressable Systems:

    Trai has suggested (a) a ceiling on the a-la-carte rates of pay channels forming part of bouquet(s) which shall not exceed three times the ascribed value of the pay channel in the bouquet and (b) that the a-la-carte rates of pay channels forming part of bouquet(s) shall not exceed two times the a-la carte rate of the channel offered by the broadcaster at wholesale rates for addressable systems.

    The stakeholders have been asked to offer their comments on the above conditions to prevent perverse a-la-carte pricing of the pay channels being offered as part of the bouquet(s). The stakeholders can also submit any other formulation that can achieve the same objective, along with its justification.

    To deletion of the word "Pay" to make it mandatory to offer both free-to-air and pay channels on a-la-carte basis. Trai calls it: "Freedom to choose the channel(s) on a-la-carte and/or bouquet(s)."

    Whether the channels that require special type of STB be offered only on a-la-carte basis or as part of separate bouquets that consists of only those channels that require a particular type of specialised STB.

  • Content monetisation opportunities for MSOs in digital era

    Content monetisation opportunities for MSOs in digital era

    MUMBAI: Multi-system operators (MSOs) can line up several content monetisation avenues in a digitised cable TV environment.

    The probability of commercial exploitation is more in the areas of niche, idle and local content.

    According to IndusInd Media and Communications Ltd (IMCL) SVP Subhashish Mazumdar, the taps can be opened immediately with MSOs sourcing archival content from broadcasters and movies that do not find their way to release on theatres. MSOs can also launch server-based channels.

    Cable operators will also gain more revenue from a digital economy by augmenting their channel carriage capacity. Citing HBO‘s decision to launch two ad free channels as a good model, Mazumdar said this is what is needed. "This is good for the pay TV market. You monetise the audience in a segmented manner."

    Mazumdar also spoke of broadband as being a further step to unlock revenue. "The operator will be in a position to charge more for advanced technology. Cable operators and MSOs can generate revenue in a step wise manner," he said.

    The other revenue streams are video-on-demand, gaming and e-learning VOIP is a revenue stream that MSOs needed to open up, though there is a limited possibility now as regulations do not allow for a national level voice communication, Mazumdar added.

    MSOs will have to focus on branding as the digitisation wave deepens. "There is low level branding now," admits Mazumdar.. "But top-of-the-mind branding will be needed at some stage," he added.

    HSBC Securities and Capital Markets associate director telecom and media Rajiv Sharma emphasised on the need of the MSOs to convince their local cable operators (LCOs) to push for broadband so that they can make money beyond just television. "MSOs will have to invest in network infrastructure. Broadband, no doubt, will require capex investments but the margins can be higher than the video services," he said.

    Consumer-facing two-way cable networks will have a better ability to raise funds, Sharma added. Strategic and private equity investors will also look at scalable models.

    Speaking at the Broadcast Digitisation Summit organised by Telecom Lead, Assocham national council chairperson on media and entertainment Sujata Dev stressed on the need to develop digital content. "Producing content in digital will grow. Rural india will also lead the digital push," she said.

    Dev noted that for money earners in the family and for the youth, the television set is just one device to consume content. Which is why broadcasters are trying to see how their content can travel across devices.

    "That is why producing content in digital is important. It is also important to note that the consumer expectations will rise and they will be demanding as they pay for the channels they subscribe to watch," Dev said.

  • MSOs, LCOs could soon face anti-monopoly regulations

    MSOs, LCOs could soon face anti-monopoly regulations

    MUMBAI: There could soon be caps on market shares of multi-system operators (MSOs) and local cable operators (LCOs) in a city, district, state and the country.

    The Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry is keen that competition emerges in some states where monopolies have got created in the absence of any market share regulations and such monopolies do not form in other states, through reasonable restrictions on MSOs and LCOs.

    The Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry on Thursday asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) for its views on imposing of restrictions to prevent monopolies and the measures to prevent monopolistic operations by MSOs and LCOs.

    The I&B Ministry said it has asked Trai to provide its recommendations based on the following: “In order to ensure fair competition, improved quality of service, and equity, should any restriction be imposed on MSOs/LCOs to prevent monopolies/accumulation of interest? If yes, what restrictions should be imposed and what should be the form, nature and scope of such restrictions?”

    The ministry has asked Trai to also suggest amendments required in the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) 1995 Act and Rules framed thereunder.
    The ministry said it has observed that cable TV distribution is virtually monopolised in some states as operation of the entire cable TV network is dominated by a single entity in those states. At present, there are no restrictions on the issue of accumulation of interest in terms of market share in a City, District, State or country by individual MSOs and LCOs in the cable sector.

    MSOs and LCOs are currently free to operate in any area or areas of their choice after obtaining registration from the ministry.

    The ministry feels such monopolies may not be in the interest of cable TV consumers and may have serious implications in terms of competition, pricing and healthy growth of cable TV sector in that market.

    MSOs and LCOs are required to be registered with local Post Offices to be able to operate in the permitted areas of registration. However, as per recent amendments in the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Amendment Rules 2012, it has become mandatory for MSOs to get registration from the I&B Ministry to operate in areas which are notified for analogue switch off and transition to digital cable TV delivery.