Bharti Airtel and Tata Group have terminated discussions for a merger of their direct-to-home (DTH) business, according to a Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) filing on Saturday.
At 250 million unique visitors a month, MX Player has for long been in the same bracket as YouTube (454 million) and Meta (324 million) in reach.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved revision in guidelines for providing direct to home (DTH) services in the country under which licenses would be issued for 20 years, Union minister Prakash Javadekar said. The Union Cabinet has also approved 100 per cent FDI in the DTH broadcasting services sector, Javadekar said, adding that while the commerce ministry had spoken of 100 per cent FDI in the DTH sector, the guidelines of the information and broadcasting ministry needed to be changed.
Bharti Airtel is expected to see its highest revenue growth, and subscriber addition during the third quarter (October-December) of FY25 among telcos, said analysts. The telco's top line in Q3 may see the fastest sequential growth at 5 per cent compared to 3 per cent for Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea (Vi). Airtel's annual mobile revenue growth would rise to 16 per cent, IIFL Capital said in an analyst note.
The DTH industry has to pay entertainment tax to state governments and service tax to the central government.
With the start of general elections as a source of revenue Bharti Airtel's direct-to-home arm is ready to launch its mobile DTH units for cars.
With the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) directive for operators offering digital television services to allow consumers to select and pay subscription for channels they choose to watch, instead of offering only bundled packages, direct-to-home (DTH) service companies have begun rolling out the services.
State-owned Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd plans to foray into providing Direct-to-Home TV or content delivery to subscriber's homes using satellite.
With over 40 million active subscribers (as of March 2013), DTH has grown tenfold from just 4 million customers six years ago.
DTH in cars will work with the help of a special auto-tracking antenna that will be mounted on the roof of the car.
In reply to a Rajya Sabha question, minister of state for information and broadcasting Anand Sharma stated that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had informed that a comparison of entry level package prices of a few DTH operators with CAS offerings reveals that DTH pricing in the country are not exorbitant.
This means the consumers will have to pay an additional monthly subscription to get these HD channels. Currently, the popular DTH bouquets (80-120 channels) are available at Rs 150-300 a month across most DTH platforms.
Trai plans to allow consumers to change operators without changing set-top box
Diversified business group Videocon on Friday said it has obtained licence to start its Direct-To-Home (DTH) services and expects to launch it by mid-September.
Trai has announced that it may fix prices of pay channels on the direct-to-home (DTH) platform in line with the Rs 5 per channel cap on conditional access system (CAS) services in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. This move will lower the fees but hit the income of broadcasters from DTH companies. However, new DTH entrants will benefit from the move as their cost of content will decrease. For the 2 existing DTH companies, Dish TV & Tata Sky, the current rates are likely to continue.
Videocon plans a foray into the direct to home business. The company has applied for the DTH licence and is expected to start services by next year, government sources said.
At least 45 more transponders needed to accommodate the spate of new channels, say experts.
Paytm app users will continue to use all services like mobile and DTH recharges except for Paytm Payments Bank's offerings including wallet funds, Fastag and bank accounts, according to the company hit by RBI restrictions. Paytm Payments Bank users will not be able to add any funds to their wallet and bank accounts but will be able to use the balance until it is exhausted, according to the RBI order. "The RBI has issued a directive restricting Paytm Payments Bank account/wallet from accepting new deposits or allowing credit transactions after March 15, 2024.
With three more direct-to-home operators set to enter the market by the year-end, subscribers can expect services at even cheaper rates.
Behind the ongoing legal tussle between direct-to-home company Tata Sky and Sun TV lies the growth potential of DTH
Doordarshan would introduce 17 more private free-to-air channels on its Direct-To-Home service in the next six months.
At a time the industry is slashing headcount, citing the downturn, direct-to-home (DTH) television service providers are adding employees.
In response to the consultation paper issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Friday, direct-to-home operators said the proposed interoperability of set-top boxes faced serious limitations.
This follows the show-cause notice that was issued to the company last month by the ministry of informaton and broadcasting and the response given by the company. According to highly placed sources, the letter of suspension of Bharti's DTH licence has been moved within the I&B ministry because it is not satisfied with the response sent by Bharti Telemedia.
According to sources in the Bureau of Indian Standards, the onus of providing the transcoders will be on new DTH players. The BIS has also been asked to submit a detailed report on interoperability of DTH set-top boxes to the I &B ministry. The set-top boxes being used to receive services from the existing players, Dish TV and Tata Sky, are not compatible with the new-technology services that will be provided by DTH firms.
In an interim order on Monday, the Supreme Court directed that Direct-to-Home (DTH) operators may charge no more than 42 per cent of the rates paid by cable operators for TV channels.
The regulator may ask broadcasters to abide by the tribunal's pricing formula.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Monday said the DTH subscriber base has swelled to more than 13 million in the country, indicating an increased penetration of the service.
With three new DTH companies set to offer DTH services, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has set new ground rules under which a DTH company will have to get into a commercial agreement within 45 days of it seeking a channel.
Starting December 1, the country's 3.2 million Direct-to-Home subscribers will be able to ask for refunds on DTH equipment (the set-top box and antenna) if they choose to discontinue the service.
DTH is still growing month-on-month, while the figures of CAS subscribers have begun to stagnate.
The festive season lit up sales numbers of direct-to home (DTH) television service providers, with nearly two million subscribers added in a month.
Watching movies on direct-to-home has become cheaper, with two major DTH operators, Airtel DTH and Big TV, slashing pay-per-view (PPV) prices of premiere (new) movies. While Airtel DTH has reduced prices of paid movie services by 33 per cent, Big TV has cut prices by around 50 per cent.
Tata Sky, the DTH venture of Tata group and Rupert Murdoch's Star group, on Monday went on air with the initial cost to users pegged at Rs 4,000 toward satellite dish and other hardware.
DTH major Tata Sky has approached the Advertising Standards Council of India seeking action against its competitor Airtel Digital's ad campaign, alleging that the advertisement was misleading.
Kalanithi Maran-run Sun TV's DTH application appears to have run into rough weather with the Company Affairs Ministry finding the proposal not in conformity with the stipulated guidelines.
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