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Tag: Siti Networks

  • Hathway’s Panesar succeeds Wadhwa as AIDCF head

    Hathway’s Panesar succeeds Wadhwa as AIDCF head

    MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: Hathway Cable & Datacom’s Video Business CEO T S Panesar has taken over as the new president of the All-India Digital Cable Federation (AIDCF), the apex body of digital cable television players.

    Panesar was unanimously elected at AIDCF’s 11th governing council meeting held in New Delhi. He succeeds SITI Networks ED and CEO V D Wadhwa who completed his two-year term as the founder-president of the Federation.

    Panesar has over 20 years of experience in media and entertainment industry, both on the broadcasting and distribution side.
    The governing council also appointed SITI Networks COO Anil Malhotra as he vice-president and Fastway Transmissions Private Ltd CEO Peeush Mahajan as the treasurer of the Federation.

    AIDCF placed on record its appreciation for the immense contribution made by Wadhwa as the founder and first president of the Federation over two years ago. Under his aegis, the federation earned its stripes with MIB, TRAI, DoT, Ministry of Finance and all the other industry bodies i.e. IBF, DTH Federation, CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM etc in the media & entertainment Sector.

    The Federation has played key role in bringing all the major players of the industry controlling over 70 per cent of the business under one umbrella and have taken up the issues concerning the cable industry by liaising with the concerned government department/ministry as well as with the other industry bodies of the broadcasters and DTH operators besides playing key role in resolving the deadlock in implementation of phase III of digitization.

    On giving over the baton to Panesar, Wadhwa said, “A solid foundation has been laid for addressing all the concerns of the industry and I am confident that under the leadership of Panesar and active participation by all the members, the federation would further gain strength and shall be able to create an environment for the profitable growth of the cable industry.”

    Commenting on his appointment as the AIDCF president, Panesar said, “I am deeply honored and privileged to be appointed to lead the federation. It’s a big challenge and responsibility entrusted upon me and I look forward to working closely with all members to bring further changes in the environment. Having seen the evolution of the cable & broadcasting industry from the analogue to the digital regime, we are now at the cusp of a another major shift in light of the new regulation which is aimed at improving transparency, empowering customers to exercise choice and ensuring orderly growth of all stakeholders in the eco-system. We strongly believe that technology should be leveraged to address the changing needs of the industry. Together, we will strive towards strengthening our bond with all stakeholders to deliver a world class service to the consumers and improve customer satisfaction levels.”

    AIDCF secretary -general Saharsh Damani said, “With digitisation entering into last phase and focus on wired broadband gaining traction for all the members, I am sure that, under Panesar’s leadership, the digital cable industry will enter into the next orbit of momentum and growth.”

  • Bengal Broadband to offer cable TV & broadband services in W Bengal

    Bengal Broadband to offer cable TV & broadband services in W Bengal

    MUMBAI: Here’s another cable TV consortium looking to provide digital cable TV and broadband services to eastern state of Kolkata. Under the umbrella of Bengal Broadband & Cable TV Services, the MSO is focusing its operations on Kolkata, North and South 24 Parganas, Burdwan, Birbhum, Nadia and Murshidabad markets.

    Promoted by four cable operators as its directors Surendra Kumar Sancheti, Mrinal Chatterjee, Avit Sinha and Sagar Sengupta, the company launched its services in Kolkata last week. Said managing director Mrinal Chatterjee at the time of the launch: “DTH operators have been capturing the market bypassing us. Other MSOs have also making it hard for local cable operators to function. Our business has suffered after digitisation and therefore to secure our future we are launching our digital services.”

    Bengal Broadband will come head-to-head in competition with well-established national and regional MSOs such as Siti Networks, GTPL, Manthan and Hathway.

    Chatterjee however believes there is opportunity for more players as Phase IV digitization has been progressing very slowly and a huge number of set top boxes are needed to move it forward. And the deadline of 31 March 2017 does not perturb the new MSO at all. Said he: “Within March, we will capture a sizable market share.”

    The MSO will be targeting Phase I, II, III and IV areas of the state and will offer both analogue and digital services including HD channels. The plan is to also migrate to broadband delivery in the not too distant future.
    Bengal Broadband has been signing on both subscribers and other local cable TV operators as its partners.

  • Bengal Broadband to offer cable TV & broadband services in W Bengal

    Bengal Broadband to offer cable TV & broadband services in W Bengal

    MUMBAI: Here’s another cable TV consortium looking to provide digital cable TV and broadband services to eastern state of Kolkata. Under the umbrella of Bengal Broadband & Cable TV Services, the MSO is focusing its operations on Kolkata, North and South 24 Parganas, Burdwan, Birbhum, Nadia and Murshidabad markets.

    Promoted by four cable operators as its directors Surendra Kumar Sancheti, Mrinal Chatterjee, Avit Sinha and Sagar Sengupta, the company launched its services in Kolkata last week. Said managing director Mrinal Chatterjee at the time of the launch: “DTH operators have been capturing the market bypassing us. Other MSOs have also making it hard for local cable operators to function. Our business has suffered after digitisation and therefore to secure our future we are launching our digital services.”

    Bengal Broadband will come head-to-head in competition with well-established national and regional MSOs such as Siti Networks, GTPL, Manthan and Hathway.

    Chatterjee however believes there is opportunity for more players as Phase IV digitization has been progressing very slowly and a huge number of set top boxes are needed to move it forward. And the deadline of 31 March 2017 does not perturb the new MSO at all. Said he: “Within March, we will capture a sizable market share.”

    The MSO will be targeting Phase I, II, III and IV areas of the state and will offer both analogue and digital services including HD channels. The plan is to also migrate to broadband delivery in the not too distant future.
    Bengal Broadband has been signing on both subscribers and other local cable TV operators as its partners.

  • Siti Q2-17 numbers up on higher restated subscription revenues

    Siti Q2-17 numbers up on higher restated subscription revenues

    BENGALURU: The Subhash Chandra led Siti Networks Limited (Siti) formerly known as Siti Cable Network Limited, reported 23.6 percent and 2.9 percent year-over-year (y-o-y) growth in operating revenue and EBIDTA including other income for the quarter ended 30 September 2106 (Q2-17, current quarter). The growth in revenue was led by a 33.3 percent y-o-y growth in restated subscription revenue on net billing basis of Rs 135.3 crore (46.8 percent of Total Income from Operations or TIO) as compared to Rs 101.5 crore (43.4 percent of TIO) reported for the corresponding year ago quarter.

    However, reported subscription revenue as per published financials in the current quarter increased by just 0.9 percent y-o-y to Rs 139.7 crore (48.3 percent of TIO) from Rs 138.5 crore (59.2 percent of TIO) in the corresponding year ago quarter.

    Siti reported TIO of Rs 288.98 crore in Q2-17 or a 23.6 percent y-o-y improvement from the Rs 233.87 crore in Q2-16. EBIDTA including other income for the current quarter was Rs 49.71 crore (17.2 percent margin), for Q2-16 it was Rs 48.30 crore (20.7 percent margin).

    Loss in the current quarter was higher at Rs 46.89 crore as compared to a loss of Rs 31.43 crore in Q2-16, but lower than the loss of Rs 53.62 crore in the immediate trailing quarter (Q1-17).

    Activation, Carriage and Broadband numbers

    Activation fees in the current quarter more than doubled (200.5 percent) y-o-y to Rs 38.3 crore (13.3 percent of TIO) from Rs 19.1 crore (8.2 percent of TIO) in the corresponding year ago quarter. Carriage revenue increased 25.5 percent y-o-y to Rs 75.7 crore (26.2 percent of TIO) in Q2-17 as compared to Rs 60.3 crore (25.8 percent of TIO) in Q2-16.

    Broadband revenue increased 167.7 percent y-o-y to Rs 24.9 crore (8.6 percent of TIO) in the current quarter from Rs 9.3 crore (4 percent of TIO) in Q2-16.

    The company’s cable TV customer base was stable at 1.22 crore in the current quarter as compared to the immediate trailing quarter. The company had 1.07 crore cable customers in Q2-16. The company says that is now present in 400 plus locations in India serving a total digital subscriber base of 87 lakh customers. For the last quarter the company had reported a digital subscriber base of 84 lakh and 59 lakh for Q2-16.

    Siti has added about 28,000 broadband subscribers in Q2-17 taking its subscriber base to 195,000 from 167,000 subscribers in Q1-17. It had a broadband subscriber base of 91,450 in Q2-16.

    Let us look at the other numbers reported by Siti

    Finance costs in the current quarter reduced to Rs 28 crore (9.7 percent of TIO) from Rs 34.76 crore (14.9 percent of TIO) in the corresponding year ago quarter. Total Expenditure increased 29.3 percent y-o-y to Rs 298.81 crore (103.4 percent of TIO) from Rs 231.04 crore (98.8 percent of TIO) in the corresponding year ago quarter. Employee Benefit Expense increased 21.2 percent y-o-y to Rs 20.7 crore (7.2 percent of TIO) in the current quarter from Rs 17.08 crore (7.3 percent of TIO) in Q2-16.  Carriage sharing, pay channel and related costs in Q2-17 increased 15.6 percent y-o-y to Rs 143.41 crore from (49.6 percent of TIO) Rs 124.01 crore (53 percent of TIO) in Q2-16.

    Company speak

    Siti executive director & CEO, V D Wadhwa said, “We continue to grow our digital subscriber base steadily with incremental improvements in monetisation seen in certain phases. This could have been significantly better but for the delay in digitization because of pending court cases, which continues to impact monetization in the phase 3 areas. Although the majority of the stay orders have been vacated by the Honourable Delhi High Court, the closure of the balance pending cases will lead to complete switch off of analogue signals, improve monetization and significantly spur the growth of the industry.

    The expected implementation of the new Draft Tariff Order will be a game changer and is more beneficial for the distribution platforms post execution. However, the success of the same will lie in its effective implementation.”

    Note: The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee – Rs (also conventionally represented by INR). The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:

    (a) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10,000,000 = 10 million = 1 crore.

    (b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 arab = 1 billion.

     

  • Siti Q2-17 numbers up on higher restated subscription revenues

    Siti Q2-17 numbers up on higher restated subscription revenues

    BENGALURU: The Subhash Chandra led Siti Networks Limited (Siti) formerly known as Siti Cable Network Limited, reported 23.6 percent and 2.9 percent year-over-year (y-o-y) growth in operating revenue and EBIDTA including other income for the quarter ended 30 September 2106 (Q2-17, current quarter). The growth in revenue was led by a 33.3 percent y-o-y growth in restated subscription revenue on net billing basis of Rs 135.3 crore (46.8 percent of Total Income from Operations or TIO) as compared to Rs 101.5 crore (43.4 percent of TIO) reported for the corresponding year ago quarter.

    However, reported subscription revenue as per published financials in the current quarter increased by just 0.9 percent y-o-y to Rs 139.7 crore (48.3 percent of TIO) from Rs 138.5 crore (59.2 percent of TIO) in the corresponding year ago quarter.

    Siti reported TIO of Rs 288.98 crore in Q2-17 or a 23.6 percent y-o-y improvement from the Rs 233.87 crore in Q2-16. EBIDTA including other income for the current quarter was Rs 49.71 crore (17.2 percent margin), for Q2-16 it was Rs 48.30 crore (20.7 percent margin).

    Loss in the current quarter was higher at Rs 46.89 crore as compared to a loss of Rs 31.43 crore in Q2-16, but lower than the loss of Rs 53.62 crore in the immediate trailing quarter (Q1-17).

    Activation, Carriage and Broadband numbers

    Activation fees in the current quarter more than doubled (200.5 percent) y-o-y to Rs 38.3 crore (13.3 percent of TIO) from Rs 19.1 crore (8.2 percent of TIO) in the corresponding year ago quarter. Carriage revenue increased 25.5 percent y-o-y to Rs 75.7 crore (26.2 percent of TIO) in Q2-17 as compared to Rs 60.3 crore (25.8 percent of TIO) in Q2-16.

    Broadband revenue increased 167.7 percent y-o-y to Rs 24.9 crore (8.6 percent of TIO) in the current quarter from Rs 9.3 crore (4 percent of TIO) in Q2-16.

    The company’s cable TV customer base was stable at 1.22 crore in the current quarter as compared to the immediate trailing quarter. The company had 1.07 crore cable customers in Q2-16. The company says that is now present in 400 plus locations in India serving a total digital subscriber base of 87 lakh customers. For the last quarter the company had reported a digital subscriber base of 84 lakh and 59 lakh for Q2-16.

    Siti has added about 28,000 broadband subscribers in Q2-17 taking its subscriber base to 195,000 from 167,000 subscribers in Q1-17. It had a broadband subscriber base of 91,450 in Q2-16.

    Let us look at the other numbers reported by Siti

    Finance costs in the current quarter reduced to Rs 28 crore (9.7 percent of TIO) from Rs 34.76 crore (14.9 percent of TIO) in the corresponding year ago quarter. Total Expenditure increased 29.3 percent y-o-y to Rs 298.81 crore (103.4 percent of TIO) from Rs 231.04 crore (98.8 percent of TIO) in the corresponding year ago quarter. Employee Benefit Expense increased 21.2 percent y-o-y to Rs 20.7 crore (7.2 percent of TIO) in the current quarter from Rs 17.08 crore (7.3 percent of TIO) in Q2-16.  Carriage sharing, pay channel and related costs in Q2-17 increased 15.6 percent y-o-y to Rs 143.41 crore from (49.6 percent of TIO) Rs 124.01 crore (53 percent of TIO) in Q2-16.

    Company speak

    Siti executive director & CEO, V D Wadhwa said, “We continue to grow our digital subscriber base steadily with incremental improvements in monetisation seen in certain phases. This could have been significantly better but for the delay in digitization because of pending court cases, which continues to impact monetization in the phase 3 areas. Although the majority of the stay orders have been vacated by the Honourable Delhi High Court, the closure of the balance pending cases will lead to complete switch off of analogue signals, improve monetization and significantly spur the growth of the industry.

    The expected implementation of the new Draft Tariff Order will be a game changer and is more beneficial for the distribution platforms post execution. However, the success of the same will lie in its effective implementation.”

    Note: The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee – Rs (also conventionally represented by INR). The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:

    (a) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10,000,000 = 10 million = 1 crore.

    (b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 arab = 1 billion.

     

  • Siti Networks CEO V.D. Wadhwa hails dismissal of DAS III cases by Delhi HC

    Siti Networks CEO V.D. Wadhwa hails dismissal of DAS III cases by Delhi HC

    MUMBAI: Siti Networks executive director & CEO V.D. Wadhwa has welcomed the Delhi High Court judgement which, on 3 November, overruled the orders passed by various other high courts whereby the stay granted for extension of digitisation for nine cases spanning four states in DAS Phase III will no longer be applicable.

    The DAS Phase III implementation deadline of 31 December 2015 had been impacted due to stay orders taken in various high courts. On the basis of the ministry of information & broadcasting’s recommendation, in April, the Supreme Court had transferred all cases related to extension of DAS Phase III deadline to the Delhi High Court, thus making it a designated court for all related matters.

    Welcoming the judgement, Wadhwa said that the dismissal of the nine cases by the Delhi High Court will pave the path for cable TV digitisation in phase III areas and allow for its timely implementation in phase IV localities as well.

    In his 3 November order, Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva of the Delhi High Court’s single bench has directed all nine petitioners to run a scroll on their networks about digitization and switch off analog signals in three weeks. Justice Sachdeva also said that these cases were infructuous as the time sought for extension had already been given and the extension has well passed those dates. The nine cases for which the order was given are from four states, namely, Karnataka (Riddhi Vision, Victory Digital, Sri Chowdeshwary Cable Network, Yogesh Cable Networks, Amma TV), Kerala (Athulay Infomedia), Andhra Pradesh & Telangana (Panchajanya Media), and Uttar Pradesh (Sai Cable TV Network, Sunil Kr Singh).

    Wadhwa added: “Digitisation is very important for not just the consumers, who will get better service and more choice in terms of channel packages, but also for local cable operators, MSOs and broadcasters. It will allow for parity in sharing of revenues as per TRAI guidelines. This will also aid in increasing the internet penetration in the country and thus realizing the digital India dream. I would urge all concerned to immediately comply with the honorable court’s orders to seed digital set-top boxes and switching off of analog signals in three weeks’ time.”

    All India Digital Cable Federation (AIDCF), the industry body representing Multi System Operators (MSO), has asked all its members to work with broadcasters to switch off analogue signals and implement digitisation in DAS Phase III markets immediately in line with the court order.

    AIDCF has urged all LCOs, MSOs, broadcasters and government bodies to help complete digitisation at the earliest. In a separate mail sent to Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), the apex body for television broadcasters, AIDCF has asked them to shut down analogue and broadcast digital signals only.

    Wadhwa, in his capacity as the president of AIDCF, thanked Justice Sachdeva for this important order to pave the way for digitisation.

  • Siti Networks CEO V.D. Wadhwa hails dismissal of DAS III cases by Delhi HC

    Siti Networks CEO V.D. Wadhwa hails dismissal of DAS III cases by Delhi HC

    MUMBAI: Siti Networks executive director & CEO V.D. Wadhwa has welcomed the Delhi High Court judgement which, on 3 November, overruled the orders passed by various other high courts whereby the stay granted for extension of digitisation for nine cases spanning four states in DAS Phase III will no longer be applicable.

    The DAS Phase III implementation deadline of 31 December 2015 had been impacted due to stay orders taken in various high courts. On the basis of the ministry of information & broadcasting’s recommendation, in April, the Supreme Court had transferred all cases related to extension of DAS Phase III deadline to the Delhi High Court, thus making it a designated court for all related matters.

    Welcoming the judgement, Wadhwa said that the dismissal of the nine cases by the Delhi High Court will pave the path for cable TV digitisation in phase III areas and allow for its timely implementation in phase IV localities as well.

    In his 3 November order, Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva of the Delhi High Court’s single bench has directed all nine petitioners to run a scroll on their networks about digitization and switch off analog signals in three weeks. Justice Sachdeva also said that these cases were infructuous as the time sought for extension had already been given and the extension has well passed those dates. The nine cases for which the order was given are from four states, namely, Karnataka (Riddhi Vision, Victory Digital, Sri Chowdeshwary Cable Network, Yogesh Cable Networks, Amma TV), Kerala (Athulay Infomedia), Andhra Pradesh & Telangana (Panchajanya Media), and Uttar Pradesh (Sai Cable TV Network, Sunil Kr Singh).

    Wadhwa added: “Digitisation is very important for not just the consumers, who will get better service and more choice in terms of channel packages, but also for local cable operators, MSOs and broadcasters. It will allow for parity in sharing of revenues as per TRAI guidelines. This will also aid in increasing the internet penetration in the country and thus realizing the digital India dream. I would urge all concerned to immediately comply with the honorable court’s orders to seed digital set-top boxes and switching off of analog signals in three weeks’ time.”

    All India Digital Cable Federation (AIDCF), the industry body representing Multi System Operators (MSO), has asked all its members to work with broadcasters to switch off analogue signals and implement digitisation in DAS Phase III markets immediately in line with the court order.

    AIDCF has urged all LCOs, MSOs, broadcasters and government bodies to help complete digitisation at the earliest. In a separate mail sent to Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), the apex body for television broadcasters, AIDCF has asked them to shut down analogue and broadcast digital signals only.

    Wadhwa, in his capacity as the president of AIDCF, thanked Justice Sachdeva for this important order to pave the way for digitisation.

  • Siti & DishTV opt for Conax conditional access

    Siti & DishTV opt for Conax conditional access

    MUMBAI: The Essel group has been using Conax’s tech for sometime now for its Siti Network (earlier known as Siti Cable). Now the group has extended that partnership for another product for both Siti Network and DTH operator Dish TV India. This time it is for the cardless set top boxes that the two are slated to roll out.

    Based on the flagship Conax ContegoTM security hub, the Conax Cardless conditional access (CA) technology will be a key and essential security component integrated in the chipsets, which will enable use of multiple layers of content protection in the new Dish TV India and SITI Networks cardless STBs.

    Conax Cardless technology employs a unique combination of hardware security and software security providing a hardware root of trust for the best level of protection. The secure software is executed within a purpose-built hardware protected environment (Secure Execution Environment) within the chipset.

    The Conax Cardless technology provides seamless co-existence with legacy smart card population, all based on a single, unified back-end, meaning in any operation only one back-end is necessary
    “With the growing competitive landscape in the operator segment, and the need for access to costly premium content and at the same time keeping operational costs low, it is essential to employ flexible solutions that also offer a high level of security as we look to continue to grow our business”, says Dish TV India managing director Jawahar Goel. “Conax has been a long term partner and we believe their strong security solutions will continue to provide an important layer of security to our growing pay-TV business already servicing over 13 million subscribers.”

    “As we continue to advance our footprint in the Indian cable TV market and venture into digitization in phase 3 and phase 4 markets it is essential that new and cost-effective security solutions are available to us. SITI Networks is pleased to further its existing relationship with Conax and implement the Conax cardless technology going forward in our markets,” says Siti Networks CEO & executive director V.D. Wadhwa.

    “Conax’ long term relationship and partnership with the Essel group reaches a new milestone today as we look to further strengthen both the Dish TV and SITI Networks platforms and help expand its customer base with a new high security, flexible and revolutionary solution,” says Conax president & CEO Morten Solbakken. “With this unique concept they are well positioned to capture additional new market share and protect the premium content demanded by savvy consumers. We are honored to work together with Essel Group in the next step of their journey.”

  • Siti & DishTV opt for Conax conditional access

    Siti & DishTV opt for Conax conditional access

    MUMBAI: The Essel group has been using Conax’s tech for sometime now for its Siti Network (earlier known as Siti Cable). Now the group has extended that partnership for another product for both Siti Network and DTH operator Dish TV India. This time it is for the cardless set top boxes that the two are slated to roll out.

    Based on the flagship Conax ContegoTM security hub, the Conax Cardless conditional access (CA) technology will be a key and essential security component integrated in the chipsets, which will enable use of multiple layers of content protection in the new Dish TV India and SITI Networks cardless STBs.

    Conax Cardless technology employs a unique combination of hardware security and software security providing a hardware root of trust for the best level of protection. The secure software is executed within a purpose-built hardware protected environment (Secure Execution Environment) within the chipset.

    The Conax Cardless technology provides seamless co-existence with legacy smart card population, all based on a single, unified back-end, meaning in any operation only one back-end is necessary
    “With the growing competitive landscape in the operator segment, and the need for access to costly premium content and at the same time keeping operational costs low, it is essential to employ flexible solutions that also offer a high level of security as we look to continue to grow our business”, says Dish TV India managing director Jawahar Goel. “Conax has been a long term partner and we believe their strong security solutions will continue to provide an important layer of security to our growing pay-TV business already servicing over 13 million subscribers.”

    “As we continue to advance our footprint in the Indian cable TV market and venture into digitization in phase 3 and phase 4 markets it is essential that new and cost-effective security solutions are available to us. SITI Networks is pleased to further its existing relationship with Conax and implement the Conax cardless technology going forward in our markets,” says Siti Networks CEO & executive director V.D. Wadhwa.

    “Conax’ long term relationship and partnership with the Essel group reaches a new milestone today as we look to further strengthen both the Dish TV and SITI Networks platforms and help expand its customer base with a new high security, flexible and revolutionary solution,” says Conax president & CEO Morten Solbakken. “With this unique concept they are well positioned to capture additional new market share and protect the premium content demanded by savvy consumers. We are honored to work together with Essel Group in the next step of their journey.”

  • Siti Networks says price revision benefits will accrue in second half

    Siti Networks says price revision benefits will accrue in second half

    MUMBAI: DAS paralysis in phase III markets is having an impact on Siti Networks (Siti Cable) performance. This was revealed by CEO V. D. Wadhwa to CNBC TV18 today.

    Speaking to the business news channel, he said that Siti Networks target was to roll out an additional five million boxes in the ongoing year. But this would not be likely met as “Phase-III digitisation is currently on hold and because the matter is subjudice in Delhi High Court, so it has been delayed. So, it all depends on that, but we are hoping that if the matter gets decided by the court in the next one or two months, we should still be able to deliver our original target, otherwise there will be some shortfall.”

    Vadhwa informed CNBC TV18 that the company has set its sights on 250,000 broadband subscribers (currently 130,000) by March 2017 and around 200,000 plus subscribers for its 57 HD channel bouquet. The company had hoped to hit 300,000 HD subscribers but has had to scale back its numbers as the HD market “is not moving the way we expected the it to grow. We are carrying the inventory; we are carrying the content but we have pulled back on our HD subscriber numbers.”

    He pointed out the benefits of the price revision that company has resorted to will be felt in the second half of the year. “Earlier we were operating with four packages. Now we have reduced the packages and now total three package is there. Basic package and then the royal and magnum package. So, the price increase at the consumer level is in the range of weighted average, roughly Rs 40 increase in the prices and we are targeting that at least half of this should flow back to us. At least Rs 15-20 is what we are targeting that should flow back to the company. So it has just happened in the month of July. In some market it has been revised in the month of July. Balance, it is getting revised in the month of August itself.”