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  • Digital marketing really worked for us during the pandemic: Super Plastronics’s Avneet Singh Marwah

    Digital marketing really worked for us during the pandemic: Super Plastronics’s Avneet Singh Marwah

    When the second-generation entrepreneur, Avneet Singh Marwah took over the reins of the company, it was still known for manufacturing plastic injection moulds which it started in the 1970s and 80’s. He slowly steered it into what it is today – one of the country’s largest TV manufacturing firms and the exclusive India licensee of global brands such as Kodak, Thomson televisions. It has recently also tied up with the German consumer electronics brand Blaupunkt.

    He started his journey in the company as an assistant manager and made his way through, before taking over the reins of the company from his father, Amarjeet Singh Marwah, the founder chairman of the company. “I worked in almost all divisions – from moulding to assembly line to service, accounting, finance, and sales. I worked on the field itself and spent three to four months in each department,” Avneet said, “In those six-seven years I never had any office or anything.”

    From thereon, there was no looking back for Marwah who went on to change the game and turn the fortunes for Super Plastronics Pvt Ltd (SPPL). Under his leadership, SPPL has now become one of the leading smart TV and home appliance manufacturers, selling top-of-the-charts global brands in India’s booming e-commerce market, via Flipkart and Amazon. Under the brand’s aegis, the European consumer technology brand, Thomson is currently among the ‘Top Five selling online smart TV brands’ in India.  

    IndianTelevision’s Anupama Sajeet had an in-depth conversation with SPPL, CEO Avneet Singh Marwah on the brand’s journey from plastic moulding to being India’s largest contract manufacturing firm & the exclusive licensee of four renowned international television brands. He also spoke about spotting opportunities amid the pandemic gloom, and talked about what it means to be an online exclusive brand, and future plans.

    Edited excerpts:

    On the origins Super Plastronics and the journey so far

    It’s been 30-years since we forayed into black & white CRT, colour, LCD & now LED televisions. Before that, our work was limited to plastic moulding for television. Currently, we have a couple of LCD brands in our portfolio, about 550 service centres, 24 pan India offices, and 28 warehouses across India. There are three manufacturing plants located in Noida, Una, and Jammu. By the end of the year, we will be shifting to our new fully automated TV manufacturing plant in Hapur, Uttar Pradesh where the target set is 1.5 billion units a year. In fact, we have the second-largest manufacturing plant in India, after LG.

    We began with Kodak in 2016 and offered ‘global technology at competitive prices. In 2018, we launched the French consumer electronic brand Thomson. Now, we have four international brands on board, including the German consumer electronics brand Blaupunkt. SPPL has complete rights to these brands from manufacturing to sales to marketing. There are two parts to it – the first is providing the most affordable TV sets in India and the second category is premium TV sets.

    On what led to the brand’s expansion plans amid the pandemic gloom

    The pandemic actually presented a big opportunity to all the manufacturing units in India. Firstly, the government banned the import of LED televisions’ CBUs (complete build units) last year, which led to a huge spike in the market in terms of the television industry. Earlier, there were a lot of imports happening in televisions. With the decision to ban it, one had to manufacture and assemble them in India. Plus, globally everyone’s looking for an alternative to China. We see this as a great opportunity for us with the government taking a decision on manufacturing all appliances in India. So, apart from television, we are foraying into appliances.

    On the brand’s focus on e-commerce and its region-specific growth

    We are an online-exclusive brand to Flipkart and it’s one of the largest retailers of TV sets in India, with an approximate market share of 44 per cent currently. When we started out about three years back, we had a strong online presence in tier 1 and tier 2 cities, but now we see a huge surge of growth in tier 3 and 4 towns, as well. In fact, in the last one year the maximum growth has happened in tier 2 and 3 regions.

    To be region-specific, the online sales have grown in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Delhi NCR and Uttar Pradesh. In the West, Gujarat and Maharashtra, where the latter is among the best-selling states with maximum consumerism in India. In the East, West Bengal is seeing a spike; Assam and Odisha again have a bright future for online sales.

    The advantage of being online-exclusive currently is that we are seeing a 100% YoY (year-on-year) growth for Thomson. Pandemic has led people to move from offline to online even for buying appliances and electronics.

    On SPPL’s marketing strategy to reach out to consumers

    We are primarily marketing through the digital platform- that has really worked for us. At first, we targeted the online customers where the intent of buying is high based on their searches, so the conversion to sales is high. Now, we have started focusing on the customers, who were buying offline to encourage them to buy online and we have seen a lot of first-time e-buyers in the last eight months. We get lots of traction from influencer marketing, social media, google ad words- we have a 360-degree ecosystem in digital marketing.

    Apart from that, our strategic partner is Flipkart and whenever there’s any ATL/ BTLs or TV campaigns during festive season periods they include the SPPL brand name as well – only on those particular days do we target TV. That includes print campaigns too, but the print is in the decline stage right now and we don’t get too many eye-balls via it; this was more so true during the pandemic when sales of newspapers took a hit.  

    On the impact on brand growth and revenue during the pandemic

    We have been an online exclusive brand for Flipkart since 2018. We have seen a 100 per cent year-on-year growth phase. Last year after the first lockdown there was a huge pent-up demand and the whole world was hooked to their screens due to WFH, online classes, and people shifting to OTT platforms due to lack of fresh content on the TV – all of which led to record sales for us. But after the hard-hitting second wave, because of low disposable income, people had reservations about spending on high-value items and electronics. But, there is a huge inflationary demand for televisions in the country that will continue. As soon as the consumer sentiment improves, we will again find a growth pattern.

    On the plans to be an online exclusive brand for high-value items like TV and washing machines, post pandemic

    We have seen once the customer starts buying online it becomes very difficult for him to come out of it, because of various factors- there are offers that run exclusively online. Both Amazon and Flipkart are creating an ecosystem around it. Plus, there’s a limitation of shelf space when one goes to buy offline, thus one will not find the complete product catalogue in one place, unlike online where you’ll find the complete package in terms of variety. Hence, I don’t believe it will be affected once the lockdowns and restrictions cease.

    We are covering almost every town and city pan India, and now all set to foray into the rural markets too. With regards to product diversification, right now we have introduced air-coolers, before that it was washing machines. We are working on a couple of more product categories that need to be finalised before they can be announced.

    On what sets the brand apart from other local players?

    There are very few brands in India which have a network of more than 550 service centres. In the next few years, we plan to take that number to 800, which will be one of the highest for any television brand in India. Thus, we have a well-established network, which we have developed over the last three years, which is a challenging task for any new brand or an existing Chinese smartphone brand. We cater to 2,300 cities and towns that contribute to over 85 per cent of sales.

    Additionally, we have about 28 warehouses across India, with a door-to-door service which is a huge factor when it comes to spare parts replacement. The delivery period is also drastically cut down when there’s local warehousing with spares, and this gives a huge advantage to customers. Plus, we are one of the few brands which have the capability of doing replacement of TVs from the customer doorstep- even in tier 3, tier 4 towns which most other brands struggle to do.

  • Companies pin hopes on monsoon season to lift the ‘Covid-gloom’

    Companies pin hopes on monsoon season to lift the ‘Covid-gloom’

    MUMBAI: Monsoons are critical for the revival of consumer demand in our agri-dependent country, both in rural and urban regions. In a market already marred by the pandemic, how’s the sentiment this monsoon season? To gauge the marketing mood in this season of renewed hope, IndianTelevision.com spoke to a few marketers and industry stakeholders on the opportunities and challenges during the season in the backdrop of the pandemic, the marketing strategy adopted by brands to reach out to customers, and more.

    The outbreak of the pandemic and the subsequent turn of events has not only crippled daily life but also hit industries and the economy hard. After the long, harsh summer, companies are now exuding hope of business gaining momentum from the second quarter of 2021-22 with the onset of monsoon. The steady decline in Covid cases and the relaxation in lockdown restrictions in some states has led to some cautious optimism in the consumer market.

    “Our efforts are to revamp the market sentiment, which has been affected due to the deadly second wave, and in doing so we stand strong. Catering to over 18,000 pin codes and having 550 service centres across India, we have worked on a robust supply chain and logistics to ensure that there are no seasonal factors that impact our operations and the overall consumer experience of the brand,” says Super Plastronics Pvt Ltd (SPPL) – the Indian licensee for French Electronics’ brand Thomson – CEO Avneet Singh Marwah.

    Last June the company announced it would invest Rs 1,000 crore in the next five years to expand its manufacturing capacity and strengthen its presence in the consumer electronics and appliances segment. The firm is also making a foray into the home appliances segment with washing machines and cooling product categories under brand Thomson, as part of its expansion plans. As part of its strategy, the company said it would continue to focus on affordability with aggressive pricing and harness the potentials of e-commerce channels.

    “At Thomson, our commitment is to provide ‘Friendly Technology’ to the discreet online shopper, who wants ‘global technology at competitive prices. Our e-shoppers can benefit and avail various bank offers and discounts this monsoon season too, as we put out offers every season on Flipkart,” says Marwah, adding that it would always remain a D2C brand, with a consumer-centric approach.”

    FMCG has traditionally been among the sectors that tend to benefit from a good monsoon. With IMD’s forecast of a normal monsoon, there are indications of salvaging the sector from the pandemic’s impact.

    Consumer confidence for urban Indians has also shown mild recovery in June 2021 with a slight uptick of 1.4 percentage points, over the previous month, according to the monthly Refinitiv-Ipsos Primary Consumer Sentiment Index (PCSI). It had shown a steep drop in May due to the aggressive second wave impact.

    Backed by positive consumer sentiment, Oil processing company Modi Naturals Ltd CMO Shardul Bist says, ”Typically, during the monsoon, consumption for most food and cooking brands goes up. These are the crucial months for edible oil brands like us to build volumes and reach out to consumers. We had already planned our marketing calendar, which had to be revised due to the pandemic for the second consecutive year. We have planned it in three phases – Critical, Recovery, and Stabilizing to match the mood of the consumers as we move through the year.”

    According to Bist, consumers’ preferences generally move towards fried food during the rains, and thus the usage of oil increases. “We have to plan our media strategy keeping the pandemic into consideration. We are bullish on our marketing spends and have planned a strong 360-degree marketing campaign during Q2 which includes TV, Print, and Digital with our brands, Oleev and Pipo. Along with the media, we are planning to diversify into healthy food categories and are planning to launch new products in Q2,” he says.

    Unsurprisingly, the demand for Health and immunity boosters has also shot up. “In the last few months, the demand for multivitamin and mineral supplements has seen an upward growth”, says Mankind Pharma’s Joy Chatterjee. “We changed our strategy at the right time and ‘Health OK’ was shifted into the OTC category. This has generated demand, need, and revenue for us. We are growing in double digits, and we give a lot of stress upon building brand equity as well. With strong brand equity, one can enjoy all benefits of the value chain. Going further, we expect the percentage to increase.”

    Chatterjee says that the Pharma brand’s marketing strategy remains the same, which is basically to make people aware of the product and its benefits. “We are taking on a 360-degree approach to reach our target audience, we can’t just rely on one medium- because our product is such that it caters to different age groups. So, we decided to be available across marketing channels- whether it is TV, print media and even focusing on regional newspapers. However, TV is still our number one choice because of its reach and impact.”

    The brand recently released a TVC featuring Health Ok tablets brand ambassadors Anil Kapoor and Ranveer Singh. “Other than this, we are highly active on social media platforms too and collaborating with popular influencers from different speaking markets. We are also increasing our budget on digital to capture the attention of the audience in the digital space,” he added.

    dentsumcgarrybowen India EVP & head- planning & strategy, Vishal Nicholas says that apart from health, a few other categories that do get activated during the monsoons are Tyres, Auto Insurance, and Food-delivery apps. Talking about how marketers can leverage it he says, “This category (tyres & auto insurance) sees a lot of traction during monsoons as roads get slippery. This time around though, many vehicles would have been lying unused, and hence, with the unlock process beginning across the country, the tyres would be more susceptible to under-performing in the monsoons. Tyre brands and even auto insurance brands can sensitise consumers to these potential concerns and even direct them to the nearest place of redressal.”

    On how brands can indulge the spike in food cravings during this season he says, “Food-delivery brands can use the first-party data creatively here as well as their own real estate. They can use location data and intersect it with weather data to highlight geographies and customers where it is raining. Once identified, push notifications on their own platform can nudge the consumer to order his cravings.”

    DViO Digital founder & CEO Sowmya Iyer agrees that the pandemic has certainly changed the overall marketing landscape and that monsoon campaigns are no exception. “Nevertheless, the brands don’t want to let go of that sense of normalcy and marketers are putting in efforts to appreciate the beauty that lies in the weather while being mindful of the safety concerns and sensitive towards the current situation,” she says, adding that the pleasant, nostalgic and romanticised setup of the season is often leveraged by brands for promoting product features. Sharing about the success of a recent digital promotional campaign that the agency curated for Universal Music’s VYRLOriginals, Iyer says it is a testament that immersive and creative campaigns have excellent engagement on digital and social.

    A looming threat of a possible third wave, however, means that we are not out of the woods yet, and treading with caution will need to be the key.

  • Thomson tv forays into 4k Premium Bezel less Certified Android Smart TV segment

    Thomson tv forays into 4k Premium Bezel less Certified Android Smart TV segment

    New Delhi: European consumer electronics giant THOMSON has launched its range of premium Tv’s in India – OATH Pro in 43 inches, 55 inches and 65 inches, with prices starting from INR 24,999/-. The series will be available from July, 5, 2020 exclusively on Flipkart.

    THOMSON has also recently announced its entry into the home appliances segment in the Indian market with Washing Machines and going forward the brand’s idea is to increase the portfolio by adding a new product category every year.

    Staying true to its philosophy ‘Friendly Technology’, this new TV model(s) is the brand’s elitist offer for its discreet consumer, who are on a look-out to upgrade their screen experience to a ‘premium’ one at an even smarter price! The chic rose gold, bezel less, minimalistic screen, offers itself as a perfect centerpiece for any living room.

    This tv comes with world’s best tv features like MEMC (motion estimation, motion compensation), Dolby digital plus, Dolby vision, HDR10, Bluetooth 5.0, with shortcut key of Netflix, prime video, YouTube and Play store. With this elegant, stylish and premium Android series Thomson has further broadened its product portfolio, thereby offering something for everyone. Designed in Paris and ‘Made in India’; OATH Pro Tvs use the Official Android 9.0 as its operating software and boasts of a display resolution of 3840X2160 plus inbuilt speakers along with HDR technology.

    It also comes with inbuilt Wi-Fi, and is wireless ready, which allows easy & hassle-free connectivity with multiple options giving a seamless viewing experience to its consumer. The multiple screen casting options in OATH Pro makes work from home and online classes convenient and befits the current situation.  The inbuilt HDR 10 technology makes OATH Pro a perfect partner for an immersive gaming experience. 

    Delighted to bring the best of global technology and its premium offering at most competitive prices, Avneet Singh Marwah, CEO SPPL, Exclusive Brand Licensee of Thomson TVs in India exclaims, “We are proud that all our premium android tvs are made in India. In a short span of 2 years we are delighted to have captured 5% of the smart tv market space, with our entry into the premium TV segment now. For almost a decade 4 brands had 80% market share, the foremost reason was premium technology products. This tv has world best features with the Android ecosystem and at a super affordable price. There will be a definite shift in market share of the premium segment, in next 3 years we plan to achieve 15% in this segment. Thomson tv has taken a strategic decision to  launch more premium technology TVs in future.”

  • With Rs 1000 cr investment, Thomson forays into home appliance segment

    With Rs 1000 cr investment, Thomson forays into home appliance segment

    MUMBAI: Super Plastronics Private Ltd, the brand licensee for French electronics Thomson in India, is all set to expand into the home appliance segment by launching its washing machine, starting 23 June. The company is also looking to strengthen its overall presence across India’s consumer electronics sector and has also invested in a new plant in Uttar Pradesh.

    Like its television portfolio, Thomson’s washing machines will be entirely made in India. Starting with its semi-automatic range under Thomson brand, which will be exclusively available on e-commerce platform Flipkart. SPPL CEO Avneet Singh Marwah told Indiantelevision.com, “We will be investing over Rs 1000 crore in the next five years to strengthen home appliance segment. And we will have a make-in-India product strategy, our focus is now local manufacturing. If a brand wants to survive in India, it has to produce or should have its own manufacturing facilities otherwise it will be difficult for them to survive as it’s a cut throat competition. The spending powers have really gone down. The only thing that matters the most is affordability and best of spends. Therefore, we thought of our own manufacturing plant. We have already acquired the land. We aim to complete the construction of the plant in the next two years.”

    SSPL has witnessed a 300 per cent growth in the last one month, thanks to the ease in lockdown. “As restrictions are lifting and pockets of spending return, business does seem to be getting back on track in next few months. Due to the outbreak of the pandemic, consumers are spending more time at home and want to become self-reliant. Absence of domestic help and ‘work from home’ in the lockdown has created demand for appliances, there has been a spike in the use of washing machines too. We have a pipeline of new launches, for the coming months and every year we will continue to broaden our portfolio across the home appliance category. As consumers seek convenience, we hope to see strong demand from first-time buyers and nuclear families for washing machines,” he added.

    On the marketing front, Marwah shared that the company plans to spend heavily on digital. “We’re planning to spend heavily on digital to spread the word. Digital has always helped us and we’ve always preferred digital over any other medium.  We’ll be targeting our own potential buyers, we’ll be investing huge on Flipkart and other digital platforms as well.”

    The company will also unveil its campaign called ‘Life ka undo button.’

  • Police arrests journos, lets ‘gundas’ off the hook

    Police arrests journos, lets ‘gundas’ off the hook

    MUMBAI: At a time when rival television channels will stop at nothing to pip each other at the ratings’ post, here comes a heart-warming instance of foes coming together for a just cause.

     

    On 2 December, around 11.45pm, high drama unfolded outside the Maduravoyal police station in Chennai when over 200 media persons – including journalists and technicians from Captain TV (Tamil news channel) and its competitor channels, Sun TV and Pudhiya Thalamuria – gathered outside Maduravoyal police station to protest the attack on crew members of Captain TV by a group of people the same evening.

     

    The ‘Raasta Roko’ took a turn for the worse when instead of registering a complaint against the attackers, the police officials ended up arresting the protesters, who were released yesterday morning.

     

    Captain TV distribution manager Arun Kumar recalled the incident saying: “It all started when my crew was going to cover an event in the Anna Nagar West area and stopped at the nearby petrol pump to fill diesel around 7 in the morning. Thomson, a van driver, who came in later, picked up an argument with Suresh, driver of the bus transporting my crew, claiming that the latter had jumped queue and subsequently thrashed him.”

     

    “Later in the evening, Thomson saw my crew members and he came in with a bunch of 20-30 people and beat them very hard.” There were eight crew members including two drivers, two cameramen, two camera-stunts and two reporters including a lady reporter named N Lavanya; according to Kumar.

     

    Minutes after the thrashing, the crew members, along with some Captain TV employees, went to the Maduravoyal police station to file a case against these local gundas. However, the police station had a different agenda. “Police inspector Anand Babu refused to take the complaint. The reason being, the van driver who had beaten up the crew is the relative of a local politician from the ruling party. The entire police team is in their favour and not us. It’s simple: these local gundas bribe them and in return, the policemen protect them,” rues Kumar.

     

    As word spread about the police officials’ apathy, an infuriated media, including journalists from Captain TV’s rival channels, Sun TV and Pudhiya Thalamuria, as well as print journalists and members of the press club joined the protest. Other media houses such as Kalaignar TV, Public Television, Telegraph, Television Polymer, Times Now Television, New York Times, CNN, The Hindu, The Times of India and journalists from various magazines joined the protest.

     

    Notwithstanding all this fighting and protesting, the police officials arrested the entire group of protesters. “They arrested us – all 200 plus media people instead of arresting those local gundas. But today, the protest is going on in every district of Tamil Nadu,” says Kumar.

     

    The arrested persons were taken and kept throughout the night in K.V.T Mahal in Koyambedu and community hall in Aminjikarai in Chennai.
    At the time of writing this article, the policemen had still not filed any case against the attackers.

     

    “They are not filing the case against the attackers, rather they are filing cases against my people. But, we have told them to charge for attempt to murder and until then, we won’t sign any FIR. We are firm on this,” says a determined Kumar.

     

    Today, the news channel will be going to the commissioner to discuss the matter.

  • Thomson invests in Paprikaas Animation Studios

    Thomson invests in Paprikaas Animation Studios

    MUMBAI: Thomson, through its Technicolor Content Services business, has announced it is expanding its entertainment services capabilities with a strategic investment in Bangalore based Paprikaas Animation Studios, an animation and game content provider.

    This transaction further strengthens Thomson’s commitment globally and in India to expand its service offerings in the feature film, television animation and video game industries.

    The addition of Paprikaas’ creative, technical and computer animation work will give Technicolor added capabilities and resources to capture the growing industry demand for high end 3-D digital animation for feature films, television animation, commercial advertising and video games and provide Thomson with a leading position in the rapidly expanding Indian entertainment industry, informs an official release.

    “Technicolor Content Services has been looking to capture a larger share of the growing market trend toward outsourcing in theatrical, broadcast, commercial advertising, animation and video game segments,” said Technicolor Content Services president Ahmad Ouri. “Paprikaas has proven that their animation and game content creation work consistently meets our high standards, enabling us to further expand our capabilities and global reach, while also achieving cost efficiencies.”

    “This strategic investment is another step in Thomson’s initiative to expand its services to content owners and to broaden its scope of offerings for the film, broadcast and gaming communities. As one of India’s leading animation studios, Paprikaas earned a strong reputation for quality services, which is in alignment with Thomson’s high standards. This move also provides Thomson with a strategic platform from which to access the fast growing Indian media and entertainment market, thus, enabling us to accelerate our roadmap in India,” says Thomson – India vice president Thierry Pasquet.

  • OpenTV previews its vision for the future at IBC 2006

    OpenTV previews its vision for the future at IBC 2006

    MUMBAI: OpenTV, which provides enabling technologies for advanced digital television services, will showcase its latest technologies under the banner of “television is changing … open it up!” at the IBC show in Amsterdam.

    The event takes place from 8-12 September 2006.

    The theme, grounded by the premise that today’s television viewers are demanding greater choice, flexibility, and access, encompasses the entire range of OpenTV’s products on display. By ‘opening up’ the technologies that serve as a foundation for set-top boxes and digital television, OpenTV says that it is taking a leadership position by enabling the adoption of flexible business models and compelling viewer experiences in the television industry.

    OpenTV chairman and CEO James A. (Jim) Chiddix says, “Today, the central technologies for building and maintaining social networks around the world are the phone and the internet.

    “OpenTV believes that TV is next, and that the way to survive in this changing world is to embrace explore, and enable that change. When we say we are ‘opening up’ television, we are extending our tradition of pioneering middleware and related solutions to new content sources, new navigation models, new forms of television advertising, and new experiences in participation with television.”

    Featured products at IBC will include solutions for advanced digital
    television; advanced advertising; and participation television.

    — OpenTV Vision: Supporting its theme for IBC, OpenTV will debut a supermodal, zoomable user interface (ZUI) that fundamentally changes the way viewers navigate and make viewing choices from the massive amounts of available content, by providing navigation tools that create relevance and match interests.

    — Advanced Digital Television:– OpenTV will showcase a number of live HDTV services from OpenTV customers as well as a wide array of HD set-top boxes from ADB, Pace, Philips, Scientific Atlanta, and Thomson.

    — OpenTV will demonstrate the power of its popular Core2/PVR2
    set-top software through the demonstration of a HD guide
    developed by Nagravision. The guide features key elements such
    as time-shifting, scheduling, and series linking, as well as
    push VOD.

    — OpenTV will demonstrate IPTV, highlighting a solution for
    hybrid IPTV deployments by cable and satellite operators.

    — OpenTV Core2/PVR2 supports multiple application execution
    environments including HTML and Flash(R). OpenTV will showcase
    its Flash solution, based on the award-winning MachBlue(TM)
    from Bluestreak Network, supporting rapid authoring of enhanced
    programming using standard Adobe(R) Flash authoring tools.

    OpenTV will also demonstrate its industry -leading HTML
    solution with home networking applications.

    — OpenTV has also integrated technologies with ICTV(TM) and will
    be demonstrating a personalized mosaic that delivers
    alternative navigation and Internet-type programming and
    advertising capabilities to OpenTV-enabled set-top boxes.

    As far as advanced advertising:solutions are concerned the company will conduct demonstrations that will feature an end-to-end production system for enhanced advertising that engages audiences by enabling compelling, interactive advertising applications to be created, validated, scheduled, and launched more quickly and less
    expensively.

    — Also shown will be OpenTV’s advertising sales and inventory
    management solutions with a demonstration of OpenTV’s ad
    decision engine for dynamic insertion of targetted ads.

  • Astro teams up with Thomson for STB with DVR

    Astro teams up with Thomson for STB with DVR

    MUMBAI: Thomson, the provider in digital video technologies, has entered into an agreement with Astro, the satellite TV operator in Malaysia to provide a new set-top box with digital video recorder. 

    At present, Thomson is providing Astro with an entry-level digital satellite TV set-top box in support of the operator’s ongoing customer acquisition programme. The new Thomson set-top box will enable Astro to launch Malaysia’s first DVR service, according to an official release.

    The deal to provide the new set-top box with digital video recorder coupled with an extension to the existing contract for entry-level set-top boxes is the fruit of Thomson’s commitment to broaden both its media and entertainment product offering and client base globally including in the Asia Pacific region.

    Thomson technology to help drive Astro’s growth strategy

    With over 1.8 million residential TV subscribers across Malaysia, Astro is the largest multi-channel TV business in Asia, outside Japan. The company is continuing to increase subscriber numbers by extending the content and services it provides customers.

    The new Thomson set-top box will enable Astro to launch the DVR service. In addition to the recording functionality, advanced features such as pausing or rewinding live TV, will give Astro subscribers greater control, choice and flexibility over what they watch and when, than ever before. Customer acquisition is a priority for Astro and Thomson’s set-top box expertise and technology will provide it with fully-featured products to help the operator achieve its new subscriber targets and tap new revenue streams, informs the release.

    “We are very excited to be launching the new DVR technology in Malaysia, re-enforcing our position of product innovator in the television domain. The continued expansion of our subscriber base in Malaysia is testament to the quality and variety of programmes and services we offer and the new generation platform is a perfect example of our desire to lead the field. We are very pleased to renew our long term partnership with Thomson drawing on its innovations, expertise and proven international track record.” said Astro Group COO David Butorac.”We are delighted to have achieved yet another milestone as Astro’s lead supplier for set-top boxes,” said Thomson CEO Satellite, Terrestrial and Cable Business unit Koen Van Driel. 

    “In selecting our DVR solution, Astro has demonstrated its confidence in Thomson’s ability to bring advanced content-delivery platforms to market. When taken with our agreements with major operators in the region such as Starhub in Singapore, AUSTAR in Australia and Tata Sky in India , this contract places Thomson at the forefront of the Asia-Pacific set-top box market,” he concluded.
     

  • Mainland China, Taiwan’s exports of broadband products up 55% in 2006

    Mainland China, Taiwan’s exports of broadband products up 55% in 2006

    MUMBAI: Mainland China and Taiwan are expected to export over 54 million broadband communication products in 2006 worth over $2 billion — up 55 per cent year-on-year according to Global Sources’ China Sourcing Report: Broadband Communication.

    Mainland China is expected to ship 22.3 million units in 2006, while Taiwan is projected to export 31.8 million units. Report publisher Mark Saunderson said, “Broadband device manufacturing in mainland China and Taiwan relies heavily on exports. In 2006, sales of broadband products are expected to reach about $2.4 billion, with exports accounting for at least 85 per cent, or more than $2 billion.”

    Despite growing demand, manufacturers say export prices will fall in 2006.

    Among Taiwan makers, 64 per cent expect prices to fall between 10 and 20 per cent. Among mainland China makers, 84 per cent said prices will remain stable or drop by up to five per cent in the months ahead.

    The survey also shows:

    Taipei and Hsinchu are the main manufacturing hubs in Taiwan
    Shenzhen and Dongguan are the key production centers in mainland China

    Taiwan makers are developing voice and multimedia over DSL/cable products, while Mainland suppliers are focusing on faster speed and extended transmission distances

    Makers serve brands and customers worldwide including Dell, Fujitsu, Italy Telecom, LG, Linksys, Lucent, Siemens and Thomson

    China Sourcing Report: Broadband Communication examines manufacturing, technology and pricing trends for cable and digital subscriber line (DSL) modems, gateways, routers, optical networking equipment and related products. It profiles 27 leading suppliers in mainland China and Taiwan, with specifications for 72 best-selling export products.