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Tag: Videocon d2h

  • Geetanjali Kirloskar joins Videocon d2h board as independent director

    Geetanjali Kirloskar joins Videocon d2h board as independent director

    MUMBAI: DTH company Videocon d2h’s shareholders have approved the appointment of Geetanjali Kirloskar as an independent director, subject to the approval of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B).

     

    Kirloskar is an entrepreneur and the chairperson of Sakra World Hospital. She is also a director in Kirloskar Systems Limited and chairs several committees of trade associations such as Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). 

     

    Kirloskar has also been a successful and reputed advertising professional. She ran her own advertising agency – Pratibha Advertising until 1998, when she entered into a joint venture with InterPublic Group Worldwide (IPG Worldwide). She set up the first non-profit venture for cultural integration between two countries, India and Japan, called the India-Japan Initiative (IJI). Kirloskar is also an Honorary Consul for Finland at Bangalore.

     

    “We are delighted to have Mrs. Geetanjali Kirloskar on our board. She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in the fields of advertising, branding and media. She is a multifaceted and multi-dimensional personality, her dynamism and creative pursuits across various industries are well known. I believe that the vast experience that she brings to the table will be of great value in terms of creative aspects for our brand,” said Videocon d2h executive chairman Saurabh Dhoot.

     

    Kirloskar added, “I am an avid user of Videocon d2h services and have tremendous respect for the company’s ability to innovate and grow. I am delighted to join the Videocon d2h board and with my experience in advertising and branding, I look forward to contributing to its continued success.”

     

    A multi-faceted personality, she has also anchored the first reality show of its kind in India – Life’s Like That for Times Now.

  • DishTV ups HD channels offering to 48 with Zee Cafe HD

    DishTV ups HD channels offering to 48 with Zee Cafe HD

    MUMBAI: After adding Ten Golf HD to its offering earlier this month, direct-to-home (DTH) operator DishTV has now added Zee Café HD, taking its HD channel and services’ count to 48.

     

    This is the largest HD offering in the country so far by a DTH operator. As of August, rival DTH operator Videocon d2h had 39 HD offerings.

     

    Zee Café HD syndicates popular American television shows like Pretty Little Liars, Two And A Half Men, Gotham and Look Who’s Talking With Niranjan amongst others to appeal to the English-speaking population of India.

     

    Dish TV chief operating officer Salil Kapoor said, “Being a pioneer and market leader Dish TV has always stood up to its promise of providing maximum width and depth of content with an overall of 500+ channels & services. DishTV has always taken the lead in enhancing the value proposition and believes in providing the maximum and the best in entertainment to its subscribers.”

     

    “Our endeavor is to increase affinity with our audiences by providing them the choice of content they would like to watch. And now by adding Zee Café HD exceedingly popular English entertainment channel in our channel bouquet, we take pride to offer maximum Hi-Definition content to our customers and we will continue to expand our offerings with further additions,” he added.

  • Dish TV takes HD offering to 47 with Ten Golf HD addition

    Dish TV takes HD offering to 47 with Ten Golf HD addition

    MUMBAI: With the addition of Ten Golf HD, direct to home (DTH) operator Dish TV has taken its high definition channels and services count to 47, which is the highest in the country so far.

     As of August, rival DTH operator Videocon d2h offered 39 HD offerings to its subscribers.

    Ten Golf HD, the 24-hour sports channel dedicated to golf, takes DishTV’s HD sports channel count to seven. DishTV subscribers will be able to watch it on channel number 81. As was earlier reported by Indiantelevision.com, Ten Golf HD was slated to launch on 7 October.

    Dish TV India chief operating officer Salil Kapoor said, “Latest trends suggest that the growth of the HD category over the past year together with rising sales of flat panel TV’s (LED/LCD) has added a new dimension to the superior HD viewing experience. With the usage of DTH connections with HD boxes, the experience quotient for the subscribers is all set to go up. We are proud to announce addition of Ten Golf HD channel on our platform.”

     “Dish TV has a complete offering and mix of HD entertainment, music, news and regional language channels and has maximum content with 47 HD channels and services, making it the highest in the country,” he added.

  • Videocon d2h named best ‘Pay TV Service’ at Content Innovation Award in Cannes

    Videocon d2h named best ‘Pay TV Service’ at Content Innovation Award in Cannes

    MUMBAI: Indian direct to home (DTH) company Videocon d2h bagged the ‘Pay TV Service of the Year’ award at Digital TV Europe’s inaugural Content Innovation Awards held in Cannes.

     

    Videocon d2h is India’s fastest growing pay TV operator. For the quarter ended 30 June, 2015, Videocon d2h’s subscription revenue grew 32.2 per cent year on year to Rs 599 crore. On the other hand, the company’s revenue from operations grew 23.3 per cent year on year to Rs 663 crore. Videocon d2h’s gross subscriber base stands at 13.70 million, whereas its net subscriber base is at 10.64 million.

     

    Videocon d2h executive chairman Saurabh Dhoot said, “As the fastest growing Pay TV operator in India and the DTH market leader for the fourth consecutive year in terms of incremental market share, Videocon d2h has worked hard for its success in what can only be described as a strongly competitive marketplace. Our focus of providing superior customer service for each and every single one of our 14 million gross subscribers has served as the foundation for several milestone accomplishments for Videocon d2h, including adding 2.64 million subscribers, growing subscription revenues by 38.3 per cent during this past fiscal year.”

     

    Videocon d2h CEO Anil Khera added, “2015 has certainly been a banner year for Videocon d2h. We started the year with the launch of India’s first 4K Ultra HD channel in January, became the most valued Indian company to be listed on NASDAQ with our successful IPO with a market cap of $1.24 billion as of 30 June, 2015. Being honoured with Pay TV Service of the Year award is a celebration of our customer delight approach.”

     

    Accepting the award, Videocon d2h deputy CEO Rohit Jain said, “Being named Pay TV Service of the Year, especially from a global field of innovative businesses, is truly the icing on the cake.”

     

    On the other hand, Discovery Networks International was named as the Best International TV Networks Group. Discovery Networks CEEMEA also won the Best Series Launch of the Year for Dynamo: Magician Impossible (season 4).

     

    Endemol Beyond was crowned MCN of the Year, whereas the Channel of the Year award went to Eurosport. The award for the Best New Channel launch went to AMC Global. 

     

    Some of the other major winners at the awards were Entertainment One, which won International Production Company of the Year, ITV Studios Global Entertainment was awarded as the Best Content Distributor.

     

    BT took home the award for 4K Initiative of the Year for its Ultra HD Service, whereas the Cloud TV Innovation of the Year award went to Easel TV for Curzon Home Cinema. Orange for Watch with Twitter bagged the Social TV Innovation of the Year award.

     

    The Industry Innovation of the Year went to VOO for the .évasion box and Videowall. Rovi bagged the TV Technology Award (content discovery) award for Personalized Discovery Solution 

     

    The awards were attended by more than 100 programming and technology industry executives in Cannes.

  • Is India ready to embrace 4K Ultra HD?

    Is India ready to embrace 4K Ultra HD?

    CANNES: Ever since Star Sports broadcast a few important matches in 4K Ultra HD featuring the Indian team during the ICC Cricket World Cup earlier this year, a question hovering on many a lips is: Is India ready to embrace 4K Ultra HD?

     

    On Day 1 of Mipcom 2015, a panel comprising Videocon d2h deputy CEO Rohit Jain, Indiantelevision.com founder, CEO and editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari, BT Media & Broadcast VP Mark Wilson-Dunn and Travel XP CEO Prashant Chothani precisely attempted to answer this very question.

     

    Starting out, Jain gave an overview of how the direct to home industry has grown over the years and also how Videocon d2h has been a frontrunner in the recent past in terms of contributing heavily in helping India become a completely digitised country. “The last couple of years have seen some significant changes in how the television and broadcast ecosystem has evolved. India is among the fastest growing economics, and the biggest advantage is having an audience of 670 million under the age of 25 years,” he stated.

     

    “India also has the second largest market for Pay TV connections with 150 million homes. There are challenges of over-the-top (OTT) players coming in globally and India in a big way, but that must not be a hindrance for innovators like us to continue bringing about the best changes and continue being thought leaders in our space,” he added.

     

    Continuing the discussion and bringing a more global perspective to things, BT’s Wilson-Dunn said, “I honestly believe that India is a very strong content oriented market and has the right ingredients to grow as a 4K consuming audience. With the recently successful test of waters with the Cricket World Cup in India, it has certainly given a lot of confidence to us that India and Asia as a whole is ready for 4K consumption.”

     

    The panel agreed that sports would play a major role in establishing the future of 4K as well along with other live events and movies. “We are currently investing heavily in creating only 4K content and are confident that within the next two years, 4K will be huge in India,” said a confident Chothani. “I am currently also looking for the right partners for the distribution of the channel globally and I can already see the benefits of producing in 4K initially than going back and reinvesting in migrating from HD to 4K.”

     

    Indiantelevision.com’s Wanvari was more cautious in his approach on how India will embrace 4K. “I am sure 4K is the natural progression from HD, and with players like Prashant already investing heavily on creating the content pipeline, is an encouraging sign for the future of the content roadmap of the country. Although, the transponder space, which is currently available, is a cause of major concern and could be a downer for the spirits of many content distribution platforms like a Tata Sky and Videocon d2h,” he opined.

     

    The panel also discussed how 4K would ideally be for a niche audience, which would be in a position to generate higher average revenue per users (ARPUs) for distribution platforms that are currently generating anywhere between $3-4 on a monthly basis that could go up to $10-15 with 4K being introduced.

     

    At the end, the consensus amongst the panelists was that in the next five years, India will see a sizeable growth in the number of 4K content available on linear platforms, but these are still early days and one can only play the waiting game as the bigger challenge that still lies ahead is complete digitisation and accountability of users of content in the country.

  • Reliance Jio appoints Amit Shah as senior vice president

    Reliance Jio appoints Amit Shah as senior vice president

    MUMBAI: Reliance Jio Media has appointed Amit Shah as the senior vice president – content carriage and Value added services (VAS) of the company.  

     

    Shah will report to Reliance Jio CEO K Jayaraman and will be looking after the content and carriage aspect of the business. 

     

    A source in the company informs Indiantelevision.com, “A series of veterans from the cable fraternity will be joining Jio as the launch date comes closer.”
     

    Earlier, Shah worked for two years as head content carriage and VAS for Videocon d2h. He was also associated with Hathway Cable & Datacom as GM accounts content and strategy.

  • Videocon d2h ropes in Himanshu Dhoreliya as content head

    Videocon d2h ropes in Himanshu Dhoreliya as content head

    MUMBAI: Videocon d2h has appointed Himanshu Dhoreliya as content head. Reporting to CEO Anil Khera, he will be based in Videocon d2h’s Mumbai headquarters. 

    Himanshu Dhoreliya comes to Videocon d2h with an impressive track record and more than a decade of experience in content development, content management and channel distribution for leading media and entertainment companies.  

     

    Videocon d2h executive chairman Saurabh Dhoot said, “The expertise that Himanshu Dhoreliya brings to the table will definitely add to and strengthen our content management bandwidth. This is an especially vital role & I believe that with his extensive experience & leadership, he will bring the best for brand Videocon d2h.”

     

    Videocon d2h CEO Anil Khera dded, “We are very pleased to welcome Himanshu Dhoreliya as content head, a role that will benefit greatly from his intuitive knowledge of the DTH industry. We are hopeful that he will help lead Videocon d2h in developing innovative content acquisition strategies while maximizing the use of our services to fulfil the needs of our valued customers – all, of course, keeping in sync with Videocon d2h’s goal of being the best in the industry.” 

     

    Dhoreliya former CEO and co-founder of TelevisionPost.com, has held positions with MSM Discovery Private Limited, the joint venture broadcast distribution company owned by Multi Screen Media and Discovery Networks, as well as ESPN Software.

  • Videocon d2h eyes 35-40% EBITDA growth at Rs 8.6 billion in FY-2016

    Videocon d2h eyes 35-40% EBITDA growth at Rs 8.6 billion in FY-2016

    MUMBAI: Driven by strong subscriber growth momentum and improving average revenue per user (ARPU), Indian direct-to-home (DTH) company Videocon d2h is expecting EBITDA to be in the range of Rs 8.2 – 8.6 billion in FY-2016, which translates to approximately 35-40 per cent growth over EBITDA in the fiscal year ended 31 March, 2015.

     

    As was earlier reported by Indiantelevision.com, Videocon d2h is also planning to increase its monthly subscription rates in the range of Rs 12 – 23 per month.

     

    The company maintains its current first half of the fiscal year ending 31 March, 2016 guidance of 25-30 per cent period on period growth of EBITDA, and is guiding towards 40-45 per cent period on period growth in the second half of the fiscal year ending 31 March, 2016.

     

    Videocon d2h executive chairman Saurabh Dhoot said, “We are pleased to provide strong EBITDA growth guidance for fiscal year 2016. This is driven by strong subscriber growth momentum, improving ARPU and further benefit of operating leverage. We remain excited about our long term subscriber growth prospects as a result of the government mandated move to digitalisation. We have positioned ourselves to take advantage of the 100 million subscriber homes opportunity for the industry over the next four to five years.”

  • DTH operators woo customers with lucrative offerings

    DTH operators woo customers with lucrative offerings

    The year has started on a good note for direct to home (DTH) subscribers. Even as Indian DTH players have seeded close to four million set-top-boxes (STBs) across the country in Q1-2015 alone, with growing competition and increasing digitization push, the companies are now also putting their best foot forward to woo more subscribers, while retaining existing ones.

     

    Going by the latest Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) report, almost 34.90 million DTH subscribers in India are inactive as against the total registered subscriber base of 76.05 million till the quarter ending March 2015. So while the DTH operators have been thumping their chests about adding new subscribers, their constant effort is channelized towards luring existing subscribers to stay on. And one such way to do that is by launching new products and services.

     

     

    As the year kicked off with the ICC Cricket World Cup and Indian Premiere League (IPL), DTH players got into overdrive mode early on with offerings galore. From Tata Sky launching 4K STBs, Videocon d2h rolling out a 4K Ultra HD multi genre channel, Dish TV offering discount packs, Sun Direct giving away an HD DVR connection at the cost of an HD connection on buying Samsung Curve to Airtel Digital TV’s UHD TV, it has been the year when DTH subscribers have been spoilt for choice.

     

     

    Over the past eight months, different players have come up with different strategies to increase subscription as well as add more active subscribers.

     

    Here’s a lowdown on who did what:

     

    Dish TV

     

    The DTH operator, which had in 2014 created a sub-brand called Zing, started the year by launching Zing for the Tamil Nadu market. Dish TV had introduced the sub-brand to cater to the specific needs of consumers in different regions and also give competition to the cable industry. Through this, Dish TV offered more than 145 channels, including 49 Tamil channels and services in a mere price of Rs 99 per month. Soon after, the operator launched Zing for the Kerala region as well. This time, it gave more than 150 channels, including 16 Malayalam channels at Rs 99 per month.

     

    Cashing in on the IPL, Dish TV, which was one of the sponsors for Kolkata Knight Riders, introduced a special Cricket+ package to increase its subscription revenues as well as the entertainment quotient.

     

    Dish TV, in order to get the ‘Art of Living’ lovers onboard launched Anandam Active to showcase the teachings of the spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar. The service was made available to the subscribers of Dish TV with a monthly subscription fee of Rs 59 per month.

     

    “It has been our constant endeavour to make television viewing a wholesome experience for the entire family. We have always believed in offering unique content to our subscribers,” Dish TV COO Salil Kapoor had then said.

     

    Soon after, in order to lure music lovers, Dish TV tied up with Hungama to launch ‘Music Active Service.’ The service was launched to enhance Dish TV’s portfolio in the field of VAS and music and provide unlimited music to subscribers. While it launched the service at an introductory price of Rs 35 till 31 October, it will be priced at Rs 45 starting 1 November.

     

    The platform has something for everyone. In order to satiate the needs of movie lovers, Dish TV launched its first Home Video System – DishFlix. With this first of its kind push VOD service, Dish TV aims to empower consumers to enjoy uninterrupted ad-free entertainment. Through the service, viewers will be able to pause, play, fast forward and rewind movies or TV shows at their own convenience. Another unique feature is that this service will not require an internet connection as the content will be pushed to the customer’s STB via satellite. The customers for the service will need a DishFlix Box, which is priced at Rs 5990 that comes preloaded with 50 movies. Out of these, 15 movies will be refreshed every month on FIFO (First in First Out) basis (one new movie every two days) so that the viewable movie library is always updated. The monthly subscription to Flix studio is Rs 100.

     

    Tata Sky

     

    Tata Sky started its year with the launch of first 4K STB in India at a time when the country was preparing for the biggest cricketing extravaganza, the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. While for the new subscribers, the 4K box was available for Rs 6400, existing subscribers could avail the box at Rs 5900.

     

    Soon after, the DTH operator decided to disrupt the market by making DTH connections affordable for its customers. Keeping this in mind, the operator launched the ‘Daily Recharge’ voucher, which empowered subscribers to pay only for the day they watched TV at Rs 8. This also became the smallest denomination of recharge voucher in the television-viewing sector globally. Tata Sky’s aim was to make inroads into untapped markets.

     

    “This initiative elevates the DTH sector by redefining the pace of digitization and reach to markets nationwide,” said Tata Sky MD & CEO Harit Nagpal at the time of launching the service.

     

    The latest addition to the DTH operator’s offering is its new upgraded STB – Tata Sky+ Transfer, which will enable users to transfer the recorded content onto alternative screens. The new product addresses the growing consumption of video on the move, through smartphones, tablets and other alternative screens. The new STB, which is priced at Rs 9300 for new subscribers and Rs 7200, for existing customers, will work on a Wi-Fi connection.

     

    Videocon d2h

     

    For Videocon d2h, the highlight of the year has been the launch of the first 24-hour 4K Ultra HD multi genre channel in January. The 4K Ultra HD channel is a content pipe that can carry multi genre feeds like movies, video on demand, travel, infotainment, sports etc provided by international broadcasters or independent content providers. The channel was launched just before the ICC Cricket World Cup, thus enabling subscribers to experience the sport in 4K Ultra HD.

     

    In June, the company unveiled its new initiative aimed at preschool and elementary school aged children with the launch of SMART Services. This comprised value-added bouquet of learning activities and games available exclusively to Videocon d2h subscribers at a subscription rate of Rs 45 per month. The banner included Smart Learning, Smart Kids and Smart Games, all available on subscription basis.

     

    Airtel Digital TV

     

    Airtel Digital TV was the first to launch indigenously manufactured STBs, in keeping with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ campaign. The STBs have been made available in HD and soon all of Airtel Digital TV’s STBs will be manufactured in India. These indigenous Airtel Digital TV HD+ STBs offer features like – Full HD 1080p support, MPEG-4 video with Dolby Digital Plus Surround Sound; 5X picture clarity; unlimited recording (via USB-drive); and USB-based Wi-Fi connectivity for On-demand, Anytime TV and Interactive Gaming.

     

    In order to make available DTH account details easily, Airtel Digital TV launched the missed call service for customers. Through this, customers can get their DTH account details on their mobile number by just giving a missed call on 08130081300. The service is completely free of cost for all Airtel Digital TV customers and provides information regarding customer ID, balance and validity, package name, monthly rental, base package rental, top up rental, last recharge date and amount and number of connections to customers on an SMS within five seconds of the missed call.

     

    The company also rolled out an innovative and easy to use Self-Care application for television sets, a first-of-its kind by a DTH service provider. A TV replica of the ‘My Airtel mobile app,’ the Self-Care enables customers within Airtel Digital TV HD STBs could easily access their account details real-time on their TV sets. The app can be accessed by connecting the STB to an internet connection via a LAN cable or with the help of the newly launched plug and play Wi-Fi dongle– Airtel Infinity.

     

    Sun Direct

     

    DTH operator Sun Direct wooed its customers during the two mega sporting events of the year – the ICC Cricket World Cup and IPL. The platform, which believes that events like these help increase its existing subscriber base, came up with special packs during the World Cup and IPL. While it offered the Star Sports bouquet on its bestselling Cinema+Sports pack for the World Cup, it provided Sony Six, the official broadcaster for the league free to new customers in order to incentivize them during the IPL.

     

    Sun Direct offered the Cinema+Sports package at Rs 195 per month during WC and focused on the pack in order to fulfill the requirements of its customers, during the cricketing season.

     

    During IPL, the operator also provided IPL add-on free for customers, who recharged beyond six months. That apart, Sun Direct also came up with an add-on for Rs 44, which allowed customers to watch the T20 matches for the entire duration of the tournament. “We see the IPL as a good tool to win back customers and improve our recharges substantially,” Sun Direct CEO Mahesh Kumar had earlier told Indiantelevision.com.

     

    While DTH operators have been putting their money where the mouth is by launching innovations as well as technological upgrades, the fact remains that close to 45 per cent of DTH subscribers are inactive in India. Going by this figure, DTH players will have to ramp-up their offerings to ensure that those coming onboard stay with them on as loyal customers in the long run.

  • Videocon d2h eyes higher ARPU, ups monthly subscription prices

    Videocon d2h eyes higher ARPU, ups monthly subscription prices

    MUMBAI: In a bid to attain growth in average revenue per user (ARPU), direct-to-home (DTH) operator Videocon d2h has decided to increase its monthly subscription prices pan India.

     

    Depending on the monthly subscription rate of the package, prices will increase in the range of Rs 12 – 23 per month. 

     

    The move comes in the wake of content expansion benefitting consumers as well as numerous technological advancements that the DTH operator has made over a period of time.

     

    Currently Videocon d2h offers various packages in North, East & West India, Delhi City and South India. The packages on offer to subscribers in price range varying from Rs 202 – Rs 613 are as follows: Super Gold Pack, Gold Maxi, New Gold Sports Pack, New Diamond Pack, Platinum Pack, Platinum HD Pack, South Silver, South Silver Maxi, South Silver Sports, New South Gold, South Gold Maxi, New South Gold Sports, New South Diamond Pack, South Platinum Pack and New South Platinum HD.

     

    Videocon d2h offers a robust lineup of channels and services totalling 525 national and regional channels and services across India.