Need for the study

First of all I would like to thank India Study Channel for choosing such a relevant topic for discussion or posting of
resources.
The full form of DTH is “Direct To Home”. Today there is a lot of competition going on between a lot of big companies
to highlight their DTH service as the best service in India. Some of the current DTH providers in India are Reliance
BIG TV, Airtel Dish TV, Sun direct, Tata sky etc. A lot of competition is going between them to capture more and
more Indian market share which is one of the largest in the world.

In my home I have Tata sky connection. But earlier I used to have simple cable connection provided by cable service
providers, Which is still more famous in many parts of India. So since I have used both the services I better about
their pros and cons than anybody who have only used one i.e. either the DTH service or the cable service. So I would
like to bring to your notice some of the pros and cons of both of them.

First of all cable is still more famous in large parts of India like in villages or small towns, Where these DTH service
has not become a trend yet. Some of their benefit is that they are cheaper as compared to the DTH service. Also they
provide a wide range of channels which is not provided by the DTH service providers. For example, in my TATA sky
connection only star sports and ESPN are default sports channel. So if you have to watch a match on star cricket or
ten sports you have to take their sports pack. Similar is the case with other service providers (I don’t know which
channels they provide because I have TATA sky connection).
So certainly cable service is cheaper than DTH service.

Also in DTH service suppose yours validity is for 30 days from the date you made the payment then on the 31st day
or after some grace period they will cut your connection so you have to recharge as soon as your advance gets over.
But in the cable service you can pay even pay afterwards if you have a good relation with the cable operator. There is
no fixed time limit.

But DTH service have some advantages too as compared to cable service. First of all there are many added
functionalities in the DTH service. For example in TATA sky there is TATA active service through which you can
record a live match or any program of your choice and watch it whenever you want. So for example if you have to go
to office and it’s a day night match in India, you will miss all the action if you have a simple cable connection, but if
you have a DTH service(TATA sky connection) you can record it and watch it whenever you want. It is also helpful in
situation like suppose two of the best program are coming on two channels at the same time but you can watch only
one so what you can do is record the other at the same time and watch it in your free time.

In DTH service there are also additional facilities wizkids, travelguru etc. where you can teach your kids general
knowledge or math or you can plan your travel. Also you can pay your monthly payments for the DTH service online.
Also there is a facility like ‘”i” button in TATA sky which provides you with information about the current program and
future programs also. So you can plan your day according to it (for example if you want to watch a particular movie
which will be shown on some channel).

One more advantage is there that you can take one DTH connection and can have multiple connections from it , if
you have multiple TV at some extra cost. Also I feel that quality of the picture is better than that provided by cable
connection.

So now I have given my experience of both of them as I have used both. Now its up to you to choose any one of
them

Thank you

DTH which is nothing but direct to home services is very new in Indian soil. It was introduced very late in the Indian
market. Now it has come a long way from being a slow starter to a rapidly growing market. We can see that all major
companies(reliance, airtel, Tata) are eying this growing market to some good money and also to help them self from
getting constant income year after year.

Go are the days of cable TV. Now DTh services in India growing increasingly competitive (which in some case good
for the consumer). DTH services in India is no longer just channels being aired , now you can access the world wide
web through the set top box. To add to the various lets of feature now Tatasky has introduced a new product in which
the consumer and pause and play.

Various DTH services in India are Tatasky, DishTV, BigTV, DigitalTV, SunDirect,Videocon D2H.

Present scenario

IN THE current context of the global financial meltdown, the Direct to Home (DTH) industry in India is in the
throes of multifarious challenges and opportunities.

The ‘big game’ is all about shaping up grandiose plans to master the winning rules to garner as much
portion of the Indian DTH pie as possible by a handful of players.

Since the DTH space denotes ‘big value’, akin to the space occupied by television and telephony, inter-firm
rivalries have thrown up price wars, discount schemes, procurement of transponders, ambitious targets for
improving the subscription base, popular bouquet of channels, set top boxes with superior quality of videos,
improving content, etc as a desperate means to entice the Indian viewer.

A neat 20 per cent annual growth is being witnessed in the DTH sector in India with over 8.5 million
households having digital pay-TV.

According to Harsh Bijoor, a brand consultant, “Since Dish TV, the biggest market player on the Indian soil,
has not scraped even five per cent of the pie, there is plenty left for other players to eat.”

In the early 2008, five major players, Zee’s Dish TV, Tata Sky, Reliance ADAG, Sun Direct and Bharti
Telemedia formed an umbrella body – DTH Operators Association of India (DOAI).

The Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of India in its ‘2008 Pay TV Piracy Survey’ have predicted
that the Grey TV market of around USD 1.1billion will gradually be taken over by the legal DTH industry.

Marcel Fenez, chairman CASBAA, said, “Despite the global sinking of economies, the Asia Pacific market is
healthy and the decline in growth will not derail the industry. With 1.7 million digital cable subscriptions, the
digital pay-TV market is finally taking off and this degree of penetration represents a tipping point for our
industry in Asia.”

Starting with a million strong subscriber base in August 2006, Tata Sky, a DTH joint-venture Company
between Star (owned by Rupert Murdoch) and the Tata Group, now has more than 2.7 million connections
and the forecast for 2012 is that it will further increase to eight million.

The Indian DTH growth scenario bodes well for the advertising industry as well with over Rs 30-40 crores
being earmarked by these companies annually for advertising revenues.

While Tata Sky has roped in Bollywood actors Amir Khan and Gul Panag for its promotion, Shahrukh Khan
endorses for the Dish TV.

MD and CEO of Tata Sky, Vikram Kaushik, recently confirmed in an interview that the company estimates
were standing at Rs 40 billion for its final funding requirement as ‘competitive entries’, ‘explosive growth in
volume’ and customer acquisition have jacked up the costs.

Tata Sky recently launched the NDS-developed XTV personal video recorder (PVR) that enables the
customers to watch a particular TV show while recording another. It is being hailed a ‘major introduction’ in
the Indian DTH market.
Within a few days of its launch 2, 500 PVRs, priced at Rs 8, 999, were sold as claimed by the Tata Sky MD,
Kaushik.

This places Tata Sky among the top 19 ‘pay-TV operators’ around the world with NDS solutions being a
unique introduction to facilitate flexibility of PVR to their subscribers.

A deal along similar lines was announced by Bharti Airtel, in the provision of DTH services, dependent on
NDS for its conditional access.

N Arjun, executive director Bharti Telemedia, expressed enthusiasm about the company’s expansion plans
by disclosing that his company looked forward to providing the best of home entertainment services via
Airtel digital TV in terms of latest technology and exciting content. “Since DTH is the future of home
entertainment, with the support of our technology partner NDS, we will render superior, state-of-the-art
services to our DTH service customers”, he said.

Sun Direct, which entered the DTH sector as a discounted brand in opposition to Tata Sky, notched at a 30
per cent premium and supposedly mopped up over a million subscribers within a short time span.

Tata Sky, though placed at a launch-premium of Rs 1,000, is open to segmentations.

A demand of a tax holiday of five years from the government has been mooted by the DOAI that should
incentivise the DTH industry as its market has reportedly surpassed the Japanese one in the last five years.

The Indian DTH industry players look forward to a seven times multiplication of its market, about 40 million
subscribers by 2015, from a total of 165 million pay TV households.

Analysis

Since 1959, when Indian television was first launched and the state owned Doordarshan aired just two
channels in black and white as recently as 1991; the world of entertainment has made rapid and unusual
strides.

The turning points were the 1982 Asian Games when colour television was introduced and the 1991
liberalisation and deregulation that ushered in the era of foreign investments and foreign channels that
egged the domestic players to jump into the foray.

From large metros, satellite TV moved to smaller towns that spurred the sale of TV sets and brought about
an upgradation from black and white television viewing to the colour one. With time, more and more
changes took place and finally the DTH services arrived.

DTH operations in India could be enhanced if the dearth of satellite capacity is removed by increasing the
number of available Ku-band transponders that at present is 12 on Insat 4A, which in turn would mean
more channels for viewing.

Tax burdens on DTH are another area of complaint for operators.

Around 40 per cent of revenues are siphoned off to pay taxes and license fee and another 12 per cent for
services imposed by the Central government. Apart from this, there are entertainment taxes that differ from
state to state.

Cable TV operators also give a stiff level of competition to the DTH sector by suppressing their prices
artificially by way of under-declarations.

This has pressurised the DTH operators to cut their profits to the extent of making them unviable.

“At present, there are 80 million TV households in India, of which over seven million are DTH ones. Since
the penetration is just under nine per cent, there is much room for a massive growth rate”, according to the
Bharti Airtel’s head of brand and media, Chandrashekhar Balakrishnan.

“This is what the company is focusing on, to enhance its subscription base to 20 per cent,” he added.
Industry analyst Siva Sundaram said that India will be the leading power in Asia by 2010 in the field of cable
market and by 2015; it will be the most profitable in the area of pay TV market.

Interestingly, the rural rich were the first to positively respond to the advent of DTH industry and those in
the remote areas with no or unreliable access to the cable services will be tapped in by the DTH players.

The ‘Indian Readership Survey 2008 R2’ findings have shown that the Dish TV is the largest player with over
3.1 million subscribers, followed by DD Direct, Tata Sky and Sun Direct, which has a predominance in the
southern zone.

The zone wise analysis puts the western zone with 2.24 million topping the subscriber base charts and the
North, South and East following the lead.

While the ‘big game’ hots up between the DTH service providers, the regular big Indian couch potatoes may
keep surfing the channels and choosing from the burgeoning options.

Financial condition

Share / Save
E-mail
Add to your favorites

Send from any other e-mail address or e-mail program:

Any e-mail

Powered by AddToAny

Indian DTH News

Explores latest trends in Indian DTH

Sun Direct posts Rs 1.5 bn loss for Aug-Oct period

MUMBAI: Amid a rapidly-growing subscriber base, the Kalanithi Maran-owned Sun Direct has
taken a loss of around Rs 1.5 billion for the three-month period ended 31 October 2009.
For the fastest growing DTH operator in terms of subscribers, the loss in the quarter has
increased from the trailing three-month period. Sun Direct had posted a loss of Rs 1.3 billion for
the quarter ended 31 July.
Sun Direct’s ARPU (average revenue per user) stays almost flat at Rs 90 during the three-month
period ending 31 October, the lowest in the industry.
Malaysia-based Astro has suffered “associate losses” of Rs 300.64 million from its 20 per cent
holding in the DTH venture over the stated three-month period.
Astro has so far invested $122 million (Rs 5.73 billion) in Sun Direct till 31 October.
Meanwhile, Astro has subscribed to 6.28 million additional new ordinary shares (till 5
December) of Rs 10 each in Sun Direct through its wholly-owned subsidiary South Asia
Entertainment Holdings Limited (”SAEHL”). The total cash consideration for this is Rs 500
million, representing a price of Rs 79.57 per share.
The holding of SAEHL in Sun Direct remains at 20 per cent.

Source: http://www.indiantelevision.com/headline…dec138.php

December 12th, 2009 | Posted in DTH News | No Comments

Sun mulls entry into distribution of TV channels biz

MUMBAI: Kalanithi Maran-owned Sun TV Group is planning to enter into the distribution of
television channels business along the lines of Star Den, Zee Turner and MSM Discovery.
The idea is to assemble together a whole host of channels and create a bouqet for distribution in
cable, DTH and other delivery platforms.
“There is no final decision yet but Sun is contemplating creation of a bouquet that would include
distribution of third-party channels,” says an industry source.
Sun officials, however, were not willing to comment on the issue.
While Sun has a formidable bouquet of 20 south-language channels, the presence in the other
parts of the country would be fortified with the addition of third-party channels. A wider bouquet
of channels comprising Hindi, English and possibly sports content would help in particularly
exploiting pay revenues from DTH.
Even in the four south Indian states, an expansive bouquet would shore up subscription revenues.
Besides, carriage and placement of channels would be smoother to some extent.
“It would be a wonderful move if Sun decides to create a distribution platform that would
include other broadcasters. There is a business opportunity in this,” says a media analyst.
There are several channels such as Sahara that would like to be aligned. “However, the power of
the bouquet will depend on what channels join. In Hindi or English content, the stronger
channels are already aligned,” says the head of a distribution company on request of anonymity.
source:http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k9/dec/dec114.php

December 12th, 2009 | Posted in DTH News | No Comments

Star pays Rs 500 million to acquire TV rights for four films

MUMBAI: Star India has acquired for Rs 500 million the exclusive satellite rights of Amitabh
Bachchan starrer Paa and Aladin, Salman Khan’s Wanted and the recent Akshay Kumar starrer
De Dana Dan.
Says Star India EVP (marketing) Anupam Vasudev, “Yes, we have bought the rights of these
four films on an exclusive basis.” He, however, did not comment on the acquisition price.
Industry sources say Star has paid Rs 500 million for the telecast rights.
Zee recently announced the acquisition of four movies from Eros.
http://www.indiantelevision.com/headline…dec116.php

December 12th, 2009 | Posted in DTH News | No Comments

Khan versus Khan

Dish TV’s new campaign presents Shahrukh in a new avatar to take on Tata Sky’s Aamir
You could call it the clash of the titans. Tata Sky’s innovative use of its brand ambassador Aamir
Khan as a ventriloquist, aging taxi driver, family man and puppet (remember the actor’s man-
woman act in the first of his commercials for the DTH operator last year) has indeed made rivals
sit up and take notice of it.
That is why competitor Dish TV has also decided to do away with the mundane and present its
brand ambassador Shahrukh Khan in a different avatar. He appears as a 75-year-old man in
Dish’s new campaign Ghar Aayi Zindagi.
The slugfest is understandable. Despite mounting losses (the company had a net loss of Rs 476
crore in the last financial year), Dish hopes to cross the seven-million-mark in terms of
subscribers by the end of this financial year. Its current subscriber base is 6.3 million.
Tata Sky, on the other hand, has a subscriber base of 4.5 million and has been growing fast.
According to industry estimates, there are 17-18 million DTH subscribers in the country. Not a
large figure considering that India has over 75 million cable and satellite homes.
In a market that is choc-a-bloc with seven players, Dish realises that ads that can cut through the
clutter will help it stand out in the crowd. If that means having to do something unusual with its
brand ambassador, so be it. “Like FMCG brands, where consumers gravitate towards one for
personal gratification, we aim to position Dish TV through Shahrukh as a brand that buyers can
trust,” says Salil Kapoor, chief operating officer, Dish TV.
This is the first time in six years that Dish TV has embarked on a brand rejig with an eight-week-
long campaign that includes two new commercials with Khan supported by a clutch of print and
radio advertisements. This need for change, explains Kapoor, was necessary in order to build an
emotional connect with consumers - something that was missing in its earlier campaigns.
Says Sudhan Deo, investment director at media agency MediaEdge:CIA, “In a category such as
direct-to-home, it is easy to fall into the trap of product advertising. This is a problem that
confronted telecom operators as well a while ago. They managed to get out of it with some
intelligent advertising. DTH operators are slowly but steadily realising this.”
Both Tata Sky and Dish seem to be taking a cue from this insight. Never mind if the acting skills
of their brand ambassador are put to the test time and again, they are up to to it, in fact, even
enjoying it. Says Vikram Mehra, chief marketing officer, Tata Sky, “It’s a pleasure working with
Aamir. He is involved in the nitty-gritty of every ad. It’s fun because he lives the brand.”
So far, Tata Sky has released four campaigns with Aamir since taking him on as their brand
ambassador in 2008. Clearly, the DTH operator is hardly dissappointed with the show the
versatile actor has put up.
Now it’s Shahrukh’s turn to wow audiences with his histrionics. Says Kapoor, “It wasn’t easy
giving up a message as strong as ‘Wish Karo, Dish Karo’, but we were clear we wanted to
establish Dish TV as a brand that a family can rely on.” These communication changes will be
backed by Dish’s investments in back-end infrastructure. “That is an on-going process,” says
Kapoor.
There is no doubt that the DTH industry is growing. According to a FICCI-KPMG report, digital
pay TV households including digital cable, DTH, IPTV etc is slated to grow at a compounded
annual growth rate CAGR) of 35.4 per cent by 2013.
That’s an opportunity Dish, Tata Sky and the five others don’t want to miss out.
Source

December 10th, 2009 | Posted in DTH News | No Comments

Two HDTV studios to come up in Delhi and Mumbai

MUMBAI: Two High Definition television (HDTV) studios are being set up in Delhi and
Mumbai, with field production and post-production facilities in four metros.
Also coming up is an HDTV uplink at Delhi apart from HDTV terrestrial transmitters in the four
metros.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said that HDTV broadcasting transmission
provides pictures with a resolution 4 to 5 times higher than the existing transmission. It provides
clear, noise free picture quality on wide screen TV receivers in aspect ratio of 16:9.
Meanwhile, an amount of Rs. 12.09 billion has been set aside for digitalization of Doordarshan
out of an outlay of Rs. 13.69 billion approved for the new schemes in the 11th Plan. The
modernization schemes include work on digitalization of existing studios, establishment of
digital transmitters, replacement & augmentation of old studios, transmitter & satellite broadcast
equipment and setting up of HDTV facilities.
Doordarshan at present has a total of 66 studio centres spread all over the country, of which 23
centres are either already digitalised or being digitalized. Thirty-nine studio centres which are
partially digitalized or analog are planned to be fully digitalized in the 11th Plan. The remaining
four studios which are analog are proposed to be digitalized in the 12th Plan.
The agenda includes taking up 40 locations where analog High Power Transmitters are
operational for setting up of Digital terrestrial transmitters (DTT) in the country during the 11th
Plan.
In addition, 14 High Power TV transmitters (HPTs) and 60 Lower Power TV transmitters (LPTs)
are being replaced by state of the art analog transmitters, besides modernization and
augmentation of equipment at existing studio centres.
Satellite Earth Stations are used in Doordarshan for networking of its programmes/channels
throughout the country. It is proposed to upgrade and modernize existing Earth Stations and
Digital Satellite News Gathering (DSNG) equipment in the 11th Plan.
source:http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k9/dec/dec101.php

December 10th, 2009 | Posted in DTH News | No Comments

Zee Cafe to telecast live Miss World on 12 December

MUMBAI: English GEC Zee Cafe will telecast live the crowning of Miss World on 12
December at 8:30 pm.
Last year Parvathy Omanakuttan narrowly missed the crown. This year Pooja Chopra represents
the country.
When asked how does she feel about the great responsibility on her shoulders, she said,
“Everywhere the Miss World entourage travels, people specifically ask to be introduced to Miss
India, simply because of the standards set by the contestants representing India over the years.
Particularly, Aishwarya Rai is remembered, even today almost 15 years after her victory, as the
most successful Miss World ever. In fact, the reigning Miss World Ksenia Sukhinova from
Russia has expressed great admiration for her. So very evidently, I have very big shoes to fill and
I will try my best!”
So, what does Pooja think are her odds of winning the pageant? “Oh, please don’t ask me that.
There’s no way of telling who’ll take home the crown. There are 112 winners here. But I’ll put
my best foot forward””
source:http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k9/dec/dec92.php

December 10th, 2009 | Posted in DTH News | No Comments

Tata Tea books heavy on all Star Channels for new

campaign
BANGALORE: Tata Tea has blocked over 1000 spots on all the 14 Star Network channels on 9
December for its ‘Jaago Re’ campaign.
Tata tea ads will appear in the first spot of each ad-break an have a mix of celebrities speaking
about the campaign.
Await detailed report…
source: http://www.indiantelevision.com/mam/head…cmam19.php

December 9th, 2009 | Posted in DTH News | No Comments

Turner acquires 76 per cent in NDTV Imagine

MUMBAI: NDTV is selling most of its indirect stake in NDTV Imagine to Turner Asia Pacific
Ventures (TAPV) for $ 117 million.
The deal involves sale of 76 per cent of NDTV Imagine for $ 67 million and also fresh issue of
equity shares for $ 50 million to Turner.
The transaction will be via NDTV Networks plc.
Prior to the issuance of primary shares to TAPV, NDTV networks plc will retain a stake of 5 per
cent in Imagine. The transaction is subject to receipt of an approval from the board of Time
Warner Inc and from regulatory authorities.
http://www.indiantelevision.com/headline…/dec72.php

December 9th, 2009 | Posted in DTH News | No Comments

What’s On India" ON DD DTH ?

What’s On India” Launches TV Guide Channel
The channel will be fully operational by December 2009 and aims to reach 20 million homes by
the first quarter of 2010.
Venture-backed What’s On India Media Pvt Ltd (WOIML) has launched the India’s first
consumer TV guide channel today. The channel, which is currently available to only Hathway
users, will be fully operational by December 2009 and aims to reach 20 million homes by the
first quarter of 2010.
The Mumbai-based company has been backed by Sequoia Capital India and Nexus Venture
Partners. Among other investors in WOIML include Julie Peterson, who was earlier with STAR
TV in Hong Kong, besides ITV/GranadaMedia in the UK. She is a partner in the firm with
around a 9.34% stake.
The channel has an electronic programme guide (EPG) which aggregates programming
information from hundreds of TV channels.
Whats on India was founded in 2005 by Atul Phadnis, who had earlier worked with media
agency Rediffusion-DY&R, Mindshare, Starcom and TAM Media. It was originally set up as
Aarohan Media Software Pvt Ltd. The company received its first funding from financial services
advisory firm Wealth First Advisors in October 2006.
It has clients from both media platforms such as IPTV, DTH and cable (names like Big TV,
WWIL, Hathway) besides the TV channels themselves including Star, Sony, Zee, MTV,
Viacom, Times Now, UTV, Discovery, 9X etc.

December 9th, 2009 | Posted in DTH News | No Comments

Govt needs to do more to regulate content on TV

NEW DELHI: The Government today admitted that more needs to be done to regulate the
content on television channels particularly in the light of obscenity and objectionable matter, but
said it was working to rectify the situation.
Answering questions in Parliament, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said:
“We are working with all stakeholders to monitor content in a more effective way”, adding that
she was “personally monitoring this.”
She also said: “Some channels have shown the aptitude for self-regulation.”
Soni said that notices and advisories were sent to the concerned channels under the Cable TV
Network (Regulation) Act 1995 and even stricter action was being taken wherever necessary.
She also said she had drawn the attention of Home Minister P Chidambaram to the telecast by
cable networks or multi-system operators of some channels that did not have permission to
downlink in India.
She had written a letter to the Home Minister and also state Chief Ministers about two months
earlier drawing attention to some of these channels. These channels include Peace TV, ARY Q
TV, TV Maldives and Saudi TV, which are exclusively focused on Islamic teachings.
The Centre has also asked the states to set up district level committees to monitor telecast of such
channels, she said.
Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Mohan Jatua said the government had issued
an advisory on 7 October to all authorized multi-system operators and cable operator
associations to discontinue with immediate effect transmission/re-transmission of illegal
channels. Penal action will be taken against illegal operators.
source: http://www.indiantelevision.com/headline…/dec68.php

December 9th, 2009 | Posted in DTH News | No Comments

« Previous Entries
•
Top of Form

Search...

Bottom of Form
Bottom of Form

• Archives
○ December 2009 (40)
○ November 2009 (24)
○ October 2009 (48)
○ September 2009 (43)
○ August 2009 (63)
○ July 2009 (112)
○ June 2009 (133)
 ○ May 2009 (66)
○ April 2009 (42)
○ March 2009 (31)
○ February 2009 (65)
○ January 2009 (141)
○ December 2008 (111)
○ November 2008 (114)
○ October 2008 (184)
○ September 2008 (72)
○ August 2008 (10)

• Recent Posts
○ Sun Direct posts Rs 1.5 bn loss for Aug-Oct period
○ Sun mulls entry into distribution of TV channels biz
○ Star pays Rs 500 million to acquire TV rights for four films
○ Khan versus Khan
○ Two HDTV studios to come up in Delhi and Mumbai
○ Zee Cafe to telecast live Miss World on 12 December
○ Tata Tea books heavy on all Star Channels for new campaign
○ Turner acquires 76 per cent in NDTV Imagine
○ What’s On India" ON DD DTH ?
○ Govt needs to do more to regulate content on TV
○ Sun TV to hike ad rates of GEC channels
○ Trai probes into number of TV channels
○ Reliance BIG TV introduces regional content on its PPV platform
○ Enjoy Dish Active Service
○ Star channel awaits regulatory approval

• Categories
○ DTH News
○ Television News
•

• Satnet Discussion Forum

○ Online anti movie piracy
 ○ Aircel Aommunication....
○ Don't you think 3 Idiots is 'not' based on 5 point someone!!!!?
○ Which Is Your Favorite Sport?
○ Chrome OS goes 64bit; adds a hypervisor
○ 10 Must-have Google Chrome extensions
○ Latest Dishtv TVC: with an Emotional touch- Featuring SRK & Tisca Chopra
○ Making of Dishtv TVC: SRK in 75 year look
○ Fifa 2010
○ Video of new Dishtv TVC: SRK in a 75 year old look
○ Enjoy Dish Active Service
○ Star Jalsha Removed
○ http://worldsat-forum.com/forum/index.php
○ To Be A Part Of The Digital Age, IT Training Is Necessary
○ Anti Pollution Fault (fap Filter)

• DTH News Feed

○ Dish TV board approves to raise funds upto USD 200 mn admin
○ Dish TV plans to raise $150 million via FCCBs admin
○ IPTV: BSNL, MTNL do it MyWay admin
○ Slowdown an upside for DTH industry admin
○ UTStarcom to support BSNL’s IPTV roll-out admin
○ Videocon’s DTH to roll out from Punjab, targets 10 June launch admin

• UserOnline
○ 1 User Online
○ Users: 1 Guest

• Recent Comments
○ Saurabh on Star channel awaits regulatory approval
○ Sturch on Centre for Content Protection issues recommendations for FTA
receivers
○ Kaushal on Dish TV Launch their new website
○ Saurabh on Dish TV Launch their new website
○ Saurabh on Ministry signals cheaper digital TV option

• Tags
Airtel amp Asia Broadcasting business cable cent channel company Content country
Digital Dish DTH dth services duty entertainment finance minister government India
 Information July June market Ministry Mumbai New Delhi News revenue sector series
service share show space Star Tata tax Team television time Week World year Zee
•
•
Top of Form

Search...

Bottom of Form
Bottom of Form

• Pages
○ Airtel Digital Tv
○ BIG TV
○ DD Direct Plus
○ Tata Sky

• Archives
○ December 2009
○ November 2009
○ October 2009
○ September 2009
○ August 2009
○ July 2009
○ June 2009
○ May 2009
○ April 2009
○ March 2009
○ February 2009
○ January 2009
○ December 2008
○ November 2008
○ October 2008
○ September 2008
○ August 2008

• Categories
○ DTH News (1167)
 ○ Television News (132)

• Recent Entries
○ Sun Direct posts Rs 1.5 bn loss for Aug-Oct period
○ Sun mulls entry into distribution of TV channels biz
○ Star pays Rs 500 million to acquire TV rights for four films
○ Khan versus Khan
○ Two HDTV studios to come up in Delhi and Mumbai
○ Zee Cafe to telecast live Miss World on 12 December
○ Tata Tea books heavy on all Star Channels for new campaign
○ Turner acquires 76 per cent in NDTV Imagine
○ What’s On India" ON DD DTH ?
○ Govt needs to do more to regulate content on TV
• Ambani all set
• to offer direct-to-home (DTH) TV
• services in the next few weeks, and
• even Zee group’s Dish TV already
• announcing that it will offer free
• set-top boxes (STBs) on new subscriptions
• to its DTH service, the
• city’s cable operators are gearing up
• for an all out war.
• “We have already gone digital,
• and have now introduced valueadded
• services to our kitty such
• as video-on-demand (VoD) and
• games,” says Ganesh Naidu, promoter
• of SCOD-18. “We are also
• planning to offer personal digital
• video recorders (DVRs),” he adds.
• SCOD-18 was formed when 18 of
• Mumbai’s cable TV operators got
• together to form their own headend
• (cable TV control room) to take
• on the ever-expanding DTH industry.
• The conglomerate has received
• financial support from You Telecom
• which is, in turn, funded by Citi
• Ventures.
• “We invested in cable TV operations
• because we know its potential.
• As per a recent research by AC
• Nielsen, ground networks command
• the biggest share – at 70 per cent – in
• entire cable TV industry,” says EVS
• Chakravarthy, CEO of You Telecom.
• ‘BIGGEST ADVANTAGE: SERVICE’
• Naidu, who is also the president of
• Cable Operators and Distributors
• Association (CODA), further added
• that cable operators have decided to
• train all their distributors and stakeholders,
• right down to the wiremen
• on the street, in an effort to be more
 • customer-friendly.
• “We have also tied up with Scientific
• Atlanta, a Cisco-owned company
• that is a leader in IPTV solutions,
• for the supply of digital set-top
• boxes (STBs),” Naidu said.
• Like SCOD-18, even other multisystem
• operators (MSOs) such as
• Hathway, are at pains to point out
• their networks’ advantages over that
• offered by DTH players.
• “Our biggest strength is the service
• we offer. A cable operator will go
• to a subscriber ten times in a single
• day to solve problems – for free.
• Comparatively, Dish TV or TataSky
• will do it for a year and then charge
• a customer for such services,” claims
• Rohinton Dadyburjor, general manager
• for operations at Hathway.
• He further added, “We are giving
• a 5-year warranty on our digital
• STBs. On the other hand, TataSky
• or Dish TV will give only a 1-year
• warranty.”
• ONLY PROBLEM: NO FILMSTARS!
• Anil Parab, another cable operator
• and who is also a Shiv Sena MLC,
• points out that a local cable operator
• will never mind a person having
• two television sets at his home.
• “But with a DTH connection, you
• have to pay for every additional TV
• set you want to connect,” says
• Parab.
• The only disadvantage cable operators
• face at the moment, according
• to their association’s president
• Naidu, is that they have no brand
• ambassador.
• “The only problem we have is
• that we don’t have any Shahrukh
• Khan or Hrithik Roshan promoting
• our services. But we do have our cable
• operators, and they are more
• than enough!”

marketing
Mumbai: Videocon’s entry into the direct-to-home (DTH) industry in July has spiced up
competition in the segment and the main players are focusing on three mantras for success –
packaging, pricing and marketing. Looking to grow by almost 100% in the current financial year
– from Rs 1,500 crore in 2008-09 to an expected Rs 3,000 crore in the current financial year –
leading firms have increased their marketing budget by 20% to 25%.
Sun Direct's marketing budget was hiked from Rs 125 crore to Rs 150 crore in FY10, whereas
Big TV has an annual spend of about Rs 160-180 crore on marketing and promotion, and is
believed to have spent Rs 50 crore last August during its launch month. Bharat Business Channel
Ltd (BBCL), the company housing Videocon's DTH venture, plans to invest Rs 1,000 crore over
two years. Since the launch of Tata Sky Plus, the company has spent over Rs 25 crore on
promotion of the total investment of Rs 2,500 crore made in the project.
Sugato Banerjee, CMO, Bharti Airtel DTH, said, "The FY10 marketing budget has definitely
increased to achieve better distribution in large and small cities." Tata Sky with Aamir Khan,
Dish TV with Shahrukh Khan and Airtel's recent Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan ads have
created an impact and make these three the only DTH players using movie celebrities in their
ads. Big TV and Sun Direct, on the other hand, plan to continue with their current ads and are not
in any hurry to rope in Hindi film stars.
Tony D'Silva, COO, Sun Direct, said, "We achieved the three-million subscriber mark by March
and recently touched four million."
On the other hand, Big TV believes in fulfilling the increasing regional and Hollywood market
demand. Mahesh Prasad, president, Reliance Big TV, said, "In the last financial year, our
subscriber base was 1.4 million, which increased to two million in March this year. We have
recently tied up with a Warner Brother channel and Korean and Russian channels for global
content."
To increase customer base, most DTH players introduced festive offers during Onam and Rakhi.
"Based on the past 12 months' operation, we have seen an increasing demand for our product and
are on the lookout to introduce similar offers on Diwali and Dussehra," said Prasad of Big TV.
D'Silva of Sun Direct said, "DTH service is a capital intensive industry and does soak...