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Tag: Sun Direct

  • Pay DTH operators lost 1.6 mn subscribers in quarter ended 31 March 2022: TRAI

    Pay DTH operators lost 1.6 mn subscribers in quarter ended 31 March 2022: TRAI

    Mumbai: The number of pay direct-to-home (DTH) subscribers decreased sharply from 68.52 million to 66.92 million in the quarter ended on 31 March 2022, as per latest Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) performance indicator report. It has lost a total of 1.6 million subscribers during the period.

    DTH operators have seen a consistent decline in their subscribers since reporting an all-time high of 70.99 million subscribers in December 2022.

    Also read: DTH segment expands its subscriber base by 1.01 mn in 2020 | Indian Television Dot Com

    The number of private satellite TV channels permitted by the ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) for uplinking or downlinking also decreased from 909 to 898 channels. Broadcasters reported 345 pay channels down from 350 pay channels in the quarter ended on 31 December 2021. The number of free-to-air (FTA) channels also declined from 543 to 540 during the same period.

    Tata Play continued to be the leading DTH operator with 33.23 per cent market share down from 33.48 per cent in the previous quarter. Bharat Telemedia’s share stood at 26.24 per cent down from 26.37 per cent.

    Also Read: Geo-targeted campaigns ramp up as brands go hyperlocal

    Dish TV India increased its market share from 22.04 per cent to 22.10 per cent. Sun Direct also increased its market share from 18.11 per cent to 18.43 per cent.

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    As per the ministry, there are 1764 registered multi-system operators (MSOs) in the country.

    There are 12 MSOs and 1 headend-in-the-sky (HITS) operator whose subscriber base is more than one million, according to the TRAI data.

    GTPL Hathway widened its lead as the largest MSO in the January-February-March 2022 quarter with 8,232,240 subscribers followed by SITI Networks at 7,281,041, Hathway Digital at 5,455,919 and Hathway Digital 4,458,103 subscribers.

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    There were 20 internet protocol TV operators in the country as of 31 March 2022.

     

  • DTH segment expands its subscriber base by 1.01 mn in 2020

    DTH segment expands its subscriber base by 1.01 mn in 2020

    KOLKATA: The direct-to-home (DTH) subscriber base in India has reached a base of around 70.99 million in 2020, according to the Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicator Report October-December 2020 published by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). This points to an addition of around one million subscribers in the year.

    While the total active DTH subscriber base stands at 70.99 million as of 31 December 2020, the segment had reported a base of 69.98 million for the last quarter of 2019.

    Tata Sky is leading the DTH segment with 33.03 per cent market share. It has marginally increased its market share of 32.58 per cent from July-September (2020) quarter. Airtel’s DTH arm has almost closed its gap with Dish TV with the former holding 25.17 per cent market share, and the latter gaining 25.45 per cent market share. Sun TV’s DTH arm has also improved its position with 16.35 per cent market share compared to 15.83 per cent in the previous quarter.

    As on 31 December 2020, there are 1,704 MSOs registered with the ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB), as against 1,613 multi-system operators (MSO) at the end of 2019. There were 1,697 MSOs including two provisional MSOs at the end of the previous quarter. Further, TRAI data indicates that there are 12 MSOs and one HITS operator who have subscriber bases greater than one million. Siti Networks, GTPL Hathway and Hathway are the top three players in this category.

    A total of 907 private satellite TV channels have been permitted by MIB for uplinking, downlinking, as on 31 December 2020. There are 326 pay TV channels including 233 SD channels and 93 HD channels and 581 free-to-air channels.

  • Active DTH subscribers reach 70.26 million, Tata Sky solidifies its lead

    Active DTH subscribers reach 70.26 million, Tata Sky solidifies its lead

    KOLKATA: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) today released ‘The Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicators’ data for the January- March’20 quarter. Sustaining its growth pace for three quarters in a row, Tata Sky has solidified its lead yet again in the DTH and Pay TV category clocking in a market share of 32.33 per cent and a growth of 2.1 per cent in the quarter ending March’20. 

    According to the report, the Indian DTH service has displayed phenomenal growth since its launch in 2003. The total number of active subscribers with pay DTH operators (Tata Sky, Airtel, Dish TV, Sun Direct) in India in the quarter ending March 20 is 70.26 million. This is in addition to the Tata subscribers of DTH Free Dish (free DTH services of Doordarshan).

    Read more coverage on India’s DTH sector:

    A Tata Sky spokesperson commented on the report, “The TRAI report shows that Tata Sky has been consistently gaining market share and subscribers at a pace that is faster than any other platform. We believe this can be attributed to our customer centric outlook. The overall increase in DTH subscribers is also a great sign for the M&E sector.”

    Among other players, Tata sky’s close competitor Dish TV-D2H’s combine market share fell from 31.23 per cent in the quarter ending September 2019 to 29.49 per cent in March 2020. Airtel Digital TV and Sun Direct has seen slight growth in the same period.

  • Sun Direct offers 155 channels for Rs 130 network capacity fee

    Sun Direct offers 155 channels for Rs 130 network capacity fee

    MUMBAI: DTH operator Sun Direct is now allowing subscribers to select up to 155 channels for a monthly network capacity fee of Rs 130/- plus applicable taxes.

    Sun Direct is the first DTH to officially declare NCF allowing more than 100 channels along with the removal of the additional slab. The operator has been offering almost the entire FTA channels bouquet available on its platform on complementary basis with the Rs 130 NCF base pack from the start of the new tariff order.

    While most operators have declared Rs 130 as NCF for 100 channels, most of them have been offering hundreds of FTA channels on a complimentary basis with discounted NCF on bundle packs.

    The DTH operator had on 24 January declared its network capacity fee days ahead of the switch over to the new tariff order. The network capacity fee payable monthly back then was set at Rs 130/- plus applicable taxes for 100 SD channels. Additional slab NCF was set at Rs 20/- plus applicable taxes for the next 25 SD channels.

  • Sun Direct re-introduces regional packs under TRAI tariff order

    Sun Direct re-introduces regional packs under TRAI tariff order

    MUMBAI: Amid the new TRAI tariff regime, with consumers getting the power to choose their channels, many DTH providers are emphasising on long-term plans to viewers in a bid to attract them. Likewise, Sun Direct has joined the bandwagon by reintroducing its Jodi plans for subscribers.

    It has listed eight new Jodi plans for regional language channel viewers, by allowing the viewers to add channels to their already existing subscription much similar to other DTH providers’ add-on packs. Sun Direct is offering Tamil Jodi pack for Rs 50, which includes 13 channels to subscribers like Jaya TV, Discovery Tamil, Sony Yay and more.

    The second plan in this list is the Telugu Jodi pack, priced at Rs 70 which has 14 channels. More packs under the Sun Direct Jodi packs list include the Kannada Jodi pack for Rs 60, Malayalam Jodi pack for Rs 45, Odia Jodi pack for Rs 40.

    The pack for Rs 99 consists mostly of Hindi GEC channels and English Jodi pack that bundles 14 channels including few movie channels and sports channels and is available for Rs 120.

  • 10.4 lakh DTH subscribers added in Oct-Dec 18 quarter in India

    10.4 lakh DTH subscribers added in Oct-Dec 18 quarter in India

    BENGALURU: In calendar year 2018 (1 January 2018 to 31 December 2018), India’s private direct to home (DTH) service providers added 29.3 lakh net subscribers of which 10.4 lakh additions were made in the last quarter of the calendar year (Oct-Dec 2018, Q3 2019, period under review).

    According to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) quarterly Indicator Reports, DTH has attained net pay active subscriber base of around  704.9 lakh (70.49 million, 7.049 crore)  with five pay DTH service providers as on 31 December, 2018. This is in addition to the subscribers of the free DTH services of Doordarshan. Quarterly growth in the DTH sector in terms of the net active subscriber base and market share of DTH operators in terms of the percentage of net active subscribers during the quarter is depicted in the following charts.

    Two major DTH players – Airtel Direct TV (Airtel DTH) and the merged Dish TV Videocon d2h entity (Dish TV) have about 55 percent of the market share of private DTH subscribers in the country. During CY 2018, these two players added 17.06 lakh (1.706 million, 0.1706 crore) subscribers, or 58.2 percent of the net subscribers that were added by all the five private DTH players in the country. Airtel DTH added 10.63 lakh (1.063 million, 0.1063 crore) net subscribers, while Dish TV added 6.43 lakh (0.643 million, 0.0643 crore) during the period under review.

    As per the latest TRAI quarterly Indicator Reports, the highest number of DTH subscribers in 2018 by private players were added in the Apr-Jun quarter with 18.4 lakh (1.84 million, 0.184 crore) subscriber additions. In the first quarter of CY 2018, the private DTH players lost 30,000 subscribers. Please refer to the figure below for the private DTH subscriber trends during CY-2018.

    Dish TV is by far the largest DTH player in the country and probably the second largest globally. As on 31 December 2018, Dish TV claimed a net active subscriber base of 236 lakh (23.6 million, 2.36 crore) while Airtel DTH claimed a net active subscriber base of 150 lakh (15 million, 1.5 crore).

    The government’s DD Free Dish DTH service claims to reach out to nearly 300 lakh (30 million) as per reports and the FICCI-EY 2019 report, it has the capability to breach the 50 million mark if broadcasters keep supplying it with pay-TV content. It must however be noted that an exact number for registered or active subscribers is not available since this is a free DTH service.

  • Arguments in DTH operators’ petition against TRAI tariff order to resume on 4 April

    Arguments in DTH operators’ petition against TRAI tariff order to resume on 4 April

    MUMBAI: The Delhi High Court on Thursday adjourned the petition of Tata Sky Discovery India Communication, Airtel Digital TV and Sun Direct challenging Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and its new tariff regime to 4 April. According to sources close to the development, the next date of hearing was granted after the matter was partly argued by Discovery counsel Gopal Jain. The next hearing will commenced with arguements from the broadcaster's counsel.

    It must be noted that the extended deadline for consumer migration under the new regime will expire on 31 March.

    While the TRAI has repeatedly said most consumers have moved to the new regulatory framework, with a reduction in cable bills, several reports have claimed otherwise.

    Earlier, the regulatory body in February extended the deadline to pick new channels under new regime till 31 March as well as gave a directive of Best Fit Plans. The subscribers that don’t opt for new channels would be moved to ‘Best Fit Plans’, which would be developed as per usage pattern, language and channel popularity, the sector regulator said in its statement.

    Chief Justice of Delhi High Court Rajendra Menon on 13 February questioned TRAI for altering the implementation process of its new tariff regime without informing the court. The chairperson of the sector regulator had also been directed to file an affidavit within a week explaining these changes.

    On 4 February, after senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, representing Tata Sky, concluded his arguments including legal submissions, Jain laid the foundation for his arguments.

    While the regulatory body has continuously declined that cable bills would go up under the new regime, several reports, as well as surveys, have indicated the hike in the monthly bill. Due to the change in pricing, many experts predicted that consumers would shift to OTT platforms eventually. To decrease the churn rate, some of the DTH players have removed network capacity fee for long duration packs.

    TRAI chairman RS Sharma claimed on Wednesday that almost all TV customers have been migrated to the new tariff regime. “Most of them have subscribed to the new regime or some of them have been put to a ‘best fit’ package. As the deadline of 31st March approaches, everybody will come onto the new platform,” he said as quoted by news agency IANS.

    In 2017, Bharti Telemedia, Tata Sky and Discovery Communication India had filed petitions against TRAI, challenging its tariff order and the interconnect regulations.

    Unlike the position adopted by Star India wherein it questioned the regulatory powers of TRAI, the matter in the Delhi HC questions the regulator’s power to wipe out deals that operators enter into to fix commissions and rates for customers.

  • Sun Direct introduces long duration regional packs

    Sun Direct introduces long duration regional packs

    MUMBAI: The popular DTH operator in South India, Sun Direct, has introduced long duration regional packs. According to reports, the newly introduced DPO packs come with a validity of up to six months covering languages Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Bengali and Odia.

    A three month long duration pack is also available with the six month variant. Subscribers can also avail a discount of about 7 to 10 per cent if they want to opt for these packs. Earlier, another leading DTH player Tata Sky launched Annual Flexi Pack with a recharge credit of one month.

    Before the new TRAI tariff regime came into effect, every DTH operator had long duration packs which had good demand among consumers. With the changes in pricing, the DTH players are now rolling out new packs to prevent churn rate.

  • DTH players eliminate network capacity fees on FTA channels

    DTH players eliminate network capacity fees on FTA channels

    MUMBAI: Major DTH players like Tata Sky, Dish TV and Sun Direct have removed the Network Capacity Fee (NCF) on free-to-air (FTA) channels above the required 100 channels, according to a report by Telecom Talk.

    Under TRAI’s new broadcast regulatory regime, the cable TV bill of users now has two components, the network capacity fee (NCF), which is Rs 130 for hundred channels and the cost of any paid channels or paid bouquets.

    Dish TV subscribers will be able to pick as many as 189 FTA channels, without paying any additional NCF — over and above the base pack charges of Rs 130 per month (excluding taxes). However, it hasn’t changed anything for the paid SD and HD channels.

    The operator now allows its subscribers to pick a range of FTA channels, without paying any additional NCF and has categorised all the available FTA channels into different packs, namely BST North with 189 channels, BST Hindi with 99 channels, BST Marathi and Gujarati with 84 channels, BST Bangla Odia with 83 channels, and BST DD Pack with 25 channels.

    Sun Direct’s website says it is offering a total of 140 channels in the back pack of Rs 130 + 18 per cent GST. The base pack also includes the 25 Doordarshan channels, which are mandatory for all cable/DTH operators to provide.

    Tata Sky is providing a limited number of channels for free beyond the designated 100.

    As per the latest framework by the Telecom and Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), customers need to pay Rs 130 to get the first 100 FTA channels. An additional network fee of Rs 20 per month is also being charged for every block of 25 paid channels.

  • Tata Sky vs TRAI: No interim order as Delhi High Court adjourns case to 4 February

    Tata Sky vs TRAI: No interim order as Delhi High Court adjourns case to 4 February

    MUMBAI: The next chapter of direct-to-home operator Tata Sky’s ongoing legal tussle with the TRAI and its new tariff regime, in which Bharti Telemedia-owned Airtel Digital TV and Sun Direct are a part, will unfold on 4 February after the Delhi High Court adjourned the matter without passing an interim order.

    With arguments being inconclusive on Wednesday, the Tata Sky counsel will continue to argue when the next hearing commences.

    On Tuesday, Calcutta High Court stayed the cable switchover till 18 February. The court’s directive was a result of 80 cable operators from the city filing a petition against the TRAI mandate.

    The petitioners’ lawyer Debabrata Saha Roy argued that the revenue-sharing model under the new regime will significantly reduce the cable operators’ share to just nine per cent. With 80% will go into the broadcasters’ kitty, MSOs stand to get just 11 per cent, thus making it an unsustainable business proposition for operators.

    Earlier the regulator had offered an extension till 31 January to the distribution platform operators (DPOs) for implementation. 

    On Thursday, the Harit Nagpal-led company finally unveiled the new pricing of channels and packs after it was served a show-cause notice by the TRAI.

    TRAI's show-cause notice said, "Tata Sky has failed to provide options to its 17.7 million subscribers in compliance with the new framework to exercise their choices for TV channels. Tata Sky has put its subscribers in a situation of great difficulty despite no fault of theirs by not complying with the provisions of the new regulations and the tariff order.”

    Despite the delay in announcing channel prices, Tata Sky MD and CEO Nagpal is confident that his team can complete the tricky task of implementing the new norms within a relatively short span of time.

    “Tata Sky has always been compliant to regulatory requirements. We have gone live with our modes of communication across the Tata Sky website, Tata Sky mobile app and also equipped the dealers that subscribers can reach out to. We were confident that we would be able to complete the task in 1 week’s time. hence we used this time to create a seamless and smooth transition for all our subscribers. We have ensured that choosing channels and packs is as easy as 1, 2, 3 for any subscriber,” the veteran executive said.

    In a press release issued by the TRAI on Thursday, it had singled out one DTH operator for not providing options to its subscribers to exercise their choices. The press note also mentioned that the said DTH operator had assured in writing that it would comply with the new regulatory framework.

    In 2017, Bharti Telemedia, Tata Sky and Discovery Communication India had filed petitions against TRAI, challenging its tariff order and the interconnect regulations.

    Unlike the position adopted by Star India wherein it questioned the regulatory powers of TRAI, the matter in the Delhi HC questions the regulator’s power to wipe out deals that operators enter into to fix commissions and rates for customers.