With the addition of 2 lakh subscribers every month, private direct-to-home (DTH) service operators Dish TV and Tata Sky may cross Rs 650 crore (Rs 6.5 billion) in revenues for financial year 2007-08, a three-fold increase from 2006-07. The revenues of private DTH operators may cross the Rs 1,000-crore (Rs 10 billion) mark in 2008-09 with a total subscriber-base of 8 million. Private DTH operators have to pay 10% of their revenues as the licence fees to operate the services.
With most private television channels deserting it, DD Direct Plus, the direct-to-home (DTH) company from Prasar Bharati, has become a true pubcaster carrying 34 channels of which 31 are from Doordarshan.These 31 DD-channels include 19 television channels and 12 All India Radio channels. The private channels that were recently disconnected from DD Direct Plus include Aaj Tak, Headlines Today, BBC World, Star Utsav and Akash Bangla, sources said.
After the quality of service regulations for cable operators in CAS-notified areas, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has recommended a slew of service obligations for Direct-To-Home operators.
Currently, only three addressable platforms in DTH services, conditional access system and IPTV, are available in the country with DTH services having the maximum subscriber base.
Reliance Communications is planning to hive off its direct-to-home and Internet protocol TV businesses into a separate company titled Reliance Digital Works.
This is no surprise, given that the deadline for digitisation in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai was October 31 and DTH firms and multiple-system operators were eyeing a windfall.
Doordarshan will launch soon its own "common man's" direct-to-home at a cost of Rs 164 crore (Rs 1.64 billion) with four transponders envisaging 40 channels, including private ones, Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday.
The service, offering 175 channels, will be initially available to customers in 62 cities -- starting October 9, 2008 -- through 21,000 retail points, including retail relationship centres across the country. Later, it will be expanded to 252 cities.
Ahead of India visit of News Corp chief Rupert Murdoch, the proposal for the direct-to-home venture by Star is shuttling between ministries raising doubts whether the Rs 1,600 crore
While conditional access system continues to remain in disarray, the first direct-to-home television service in the country is likely to take off by October 1 with a Zee promoted company signing its license agreement with the government on Friday.
The company, according to industry sources, is hoping to get an FIPB approval before that. Market sources said the sales team has sounded out October 8 as the launch date. Government had earlier asked Bharti group to seek a separate FIPB approval within three months for its upcoming DTH services.
In a major initiative, the Tatas on Tuesday announced a joint venture with the Star group for providing direct-to-home services in India, a venture that is estimated to involve an investment of over Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion).
Prasar Bharti's ambitious project to provide television coverage to remote areas via direct-to-home service is expected to begin only by March next year since the earth stations needed for the purpose would be ready on by that time.
After conditional access system, direct-to-home television may finally become a reality with the government clearing a Zee promoted company's letter of intent for setting up the services in the country.
This means once a DTH consumer buys a set-top box, he will be able to access the service of any service provider with technical changes in the box. The ministry of information and broadcasting has asked the Bureau of Indian Standards to draft norms for advanced DTH set-top box technology, including related to interoperability of the boxes.
After Zee Telefilms, it may be Star, which joins the race for direct to home service and is likely to tie-up with the Tatas in an estimated Rs 250 crore (Rs 2.5 billion) venture.
Since both are addressing the same consumer, the proposal has inter se equity as a plus point. And the business of capping the CAS/DTH bill to the TV-watching home has a certain populist appeal. The problem is that the basic proposal on CAS was unfair to channel owners and removed the incentive for channels to produce superior/differentiated programming that might cost more money and/or which commands greater audience pull.
RComm will test launch its direct to home services Big TV this week, which would include some niche channels that are currently not available in India.
In a move, which may allow direct-to-home service providers to beam exclusive channels, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has sought a review of the existing policy, which bars such channels on DTH platforms.
The DTH industry had been growing at an explosive rate, with 100 per cent increase in customer base and a steady income from customers.
Diversified business house Videocon Group is making an ambitious foray into the direct-to-home services with plans to garner one crore (10 million) subscribers in the next six years.
Reliance Big TV, a subsidiary of Reliance Communications, will offer 202 channels initially and increase the bouque to 330-350 over a period of time, company CEO Arun Kapoor said in Mumbai on Tuesday.
Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), the country's second largest oil marketing company, plans to diversify into bottled water and direct to home (DTH) services in an attempt to boost its profits.
Tata officials on Wednesday met Information and Broadcasting Minister S Jaipal Reddy and are believed to have raised, among other things, the issue of the Rs 1,600 crore DTH venture they have entered into along with the Star Group.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has recommended that the government ensure and expedite availability of more Ku band transponders (which can be used for TV as well as data transmission) so that DTH companies can also offer broadband services.
Prasar Bharati's Direct-to-Home project would bring about a 'revolution' in television coverage with 60 per cent of the potential viewers in North-East to be brought under the project, which would also open up self-employment opportunities, its chief
Amid the controversy over conditional access systems, Doordarshan on Tuesday announced that its direct-to-home services carrying 30 free-to-air channels would be launched by March next year.
The cost of acquiring direct-to-home subscribers could be 70-80 per cent higher for new players like Sun Direct, Bharti and Reliance Bluemagic than the existing players like Dish TV and Tata Sky due to superior technology and expensive set top boxes
Bharti Airtel said on Wednesday its digital services added 1.50 million customers between April and October this year and 60 per cent of its subscribers are from the rural region.
Discovery Networks India Executive Vice-President and MD Deepak Shourie said that the DTH platform has been able to quickly penetrate cable homes by reaching out to 5 million subscribers within a couple of years. Discovery Communications globally offers channels such as Discovery Health, Military Channel, TLC, Science Channel, Investigation Discovery among others. The group might bring in one of these channels for the DTH platform, sources indicated.
Why are DIIs holding such a high stake in Zee, which is beset with alleged governance issues? Perhaps they think Zee is a deep-value stock, observes Debashis Basu.
The cable industry, which reaches over 80 million out of India's 130 million TV-owning homes, is getting ready to strongly oppose the government's move to raise the foreign direct investment limit for direct-to-home service providers from 49 to 74 per cent without doing the same for cable companies.
DD Freedish is the 'largest TV platform in India', going to 58 million homes, featuring 70-odd private channels. DD Freedish reaches about 278 million people, and is easily among the top five TV platforms in the world.
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