DTH operators, film producers bet big on pay-per-view

Direct-to-home (DTH) service providers and film producers see pay-per-view (PPV) buying of movies emerging as a significant contributor to revenues, with the growing popularity and expanding subscriber base of satellite television.

Television viewers have received an fantastic option of PPV, which allows them to view movies or individual programmes for a nominal fee. Movies are seen as especially well-suited for the pay-TV model, allowing subscribers the option of viewing in the privacy and comfort of home at a time of their choice.

The major providers of PPV include the Essel Group-owned Dish TV, Tata Sky, a joint venture between the Tata group and Star TV, Reliance Communications’ Big TV and Bharti Airtel’s digital TV. Sun Direct still needs to capture this potential market.

DTH operators update the menu of movies on offer every fortnight and subscribers pay between Rs 25 and Rs 75, depending on whether it is a monthly rental or an a la carte offering. PPV rights for movies are sold for a fixed duration and on a non-exclusive basis, depending on the star cast, time of release and box-office ratings.

DTH firms have been experimenting with the PPV model for some time now. Earlier this year, Tata Sky offered its customers an option of viewing Slumdog Millionaire for Rs 25 a pop. The offer lasted for three days before the Academy Awards and some 1,50,000 viewers took it up.

UTV Motion Pictures will release its Phir Kabhi movie, which has been produced at a cost of Rs 3 crore, on all the platforms including Dish TV, Tata Sky, Big TV and digital TV. UTV and operators see the film as an experiment in the right direction for both producers of small-budget films and the platform itself.

“Generally, we buy satellite rights in a bundle, including conventional, DTH and Internet protocol TV. PPV rights are initially sold to DTH operators to give them the advantage of airing it in advance.” says Amrita Pandey, vice-president, international distribution and syndication, UTV Motion Pictures.

Airtel digital TV will premiere Hannah Montana: The Movie, ahead of its theatrical release in India. The movie, available from July 22 for PPV subscribers, is priced at Rs 75.

DTH operators are optimistic about such a trend catching on and are hoping pay-per-view emerges as a separate revenue stream. Currently, the PPV business contributes an insignificant amount to their revenues.

Rajesh Jain, research head, information, communications and entertainment, KPMG, an consulting and audit firm, says, “PPV is a step forward to increase stickiness for DTH services. Operators are still testing the waters in terms of viewer demand, just as producers are evaluating the market dynamics.”

A report by KPMG and industry lobby Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) predicts that the number of DTH subscribers in India is at 13 million and estimates that the subscriber base will grow to 25-27 million by 2012.

Sun Direct adds Sahara channels; offers free top up pack

Sun Direct, the direct-to-home (DTH) service provider, has added two Hindi channels to its bouquet from the Sahara basket – Sahara One and Sahara Filmy.

The DTH service provider has also rolled out a new option of including one free top up pack with the basic packs – Shine Pack (North, Bengali and Oriya).

As part of the initiative, a customer can choose any one of the top up packs – Marathi top up (ETV Marathi and Zee Marathi), Gujarati top up (ETV Gujarati) and Hindi Movie (Zee Cinema) along with their basic packs at no extra cost.

The two new channels and the free top up packs will be available across the Sun Direct platform from 1 July.

High-Definition TV hits India

Nearly five years after High-Definition (HD) televisions flooded the Indian market, viewers are finally set to get a taste of high-definition television viewing . This, as HD-enabled MPEG 4 set-top boxes that enable HD content to play on these televisions, were so far absent in the Indian market. The Tamil Nadu-based DTH player, Sun Direct, which claims to be the second largest DTH player in the country with an active subscriber base of 3.1 million, has altered the scenario. By launching Sun Direct HD, the player, which will continue to offer its non-HD DTH services, has become the first service provider in India to offer high-definition viewing television services.The less than two-year old company, which has so far incurred ‘expected’ cumulative annual losses of Rs. 450 crore and is looking to break-even in the next four to five years, is banking on the niche HD service as one of the offerings that will help in achieving its target of three million additional customers in FY 2009-’10. Though Tony D’Silva, COO, Sun Direct, admitted at a press conference held in Mumbai that the penetration of DTH is higher and semi-rural and rural areas where cable network faces several hindrances as compared to metros like Mumbai and Delhi, he added that target clients belonged to Segment A and B in metros and big cities.

Justifying the decision to offer HD-enabled MPEG 4 set-top boxes imported from Samsung to the viewers at a cost of Rs 10,000, D’Silva said, “The HD-viewing experience is definitely a niche offering. With LCD sales set to touch the 1.5 million mark this financial year, we are looking at capturing 20 per cent of these LCD owners for our subscriber base. As for the next financial year, the government’s decision to offer a HD broadcast of the 2010 Commonwealth Games should popularise the format to a great extent. Also, as we have seen in the past, LCD televisions as well as the HD set-top box are bound to see a fall in prices, thus attracting more customers. As for the monthly fees, it is an affordable Rs 100, available as an addition to our basic packs.”

For those new to the term, high-definition viewing typically refers to five times sharper picture quality; a more effective, CD-like sound quality in the form of 5.1 channel Dolby and a 16:9 aspect ratio that allows for wide-angle viewing and thus makes the viewer’s more ‘real’. However, contrary to the belief of most anticipating it would be adventure and lifestyle channels as well as news channels that would make for initial HD content in India, it will be Tamil and Telugu movie channels, one each, that will serve as the first HD broadcasters in India. Elaborating on the content plan, D’Silva said, “We are looking at launching the Sun Direct HD in two phases that will be spread out across the ongoing financial year. In the first phase, we will be able to launch four channels without increasing our transponder capacity. These four channels include two movie channels, one each in Tamil and Telugu, offering HD-compatible films from SUN TV’s library to kick-start operations. In fact, we plan to add four new movies every month to this already well-stocked library.” Not a surprising strategy when 85 per cent of the DTH player’s clientele are viewers in South India.

However, having started its pan-India roll-out in September last year, it has also entered into an agreement with the National Geographic Channel (NGC) for bringing one of its HD channels onto the platform. Though the NGC is in the process of acquiring a license for facilitating HD broadcast for four of its channels – Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Music, Nat Geo Adventure and Nat Geo HD in India, limited transponder capacity will see Sun Direct HD going ahead with just one for its first phase. A plan to develop a library for Hindi films shot on HD and subsequently initiating an exclusive channel for the same is on the anvil as well. But this is likely to take anywhere between three to six months, admitted V. Narayan, Head-Marketing, Sun Direct.

As for the second phase, for which the provider will have to get permission for increasing transponder capacity, a clear content strategy is yet to be derived upon. Perhaps, news channels like INX news, which have shifted to the HD format and channels like Star TV (which opted for HD for the latest version of Mahabharata), could make for potential choices.

DTH operators eye foreign channels to woo subscribers

s competition hots up in the direct-to-home (DTH) space, operators, including Dish TV and Sun Direct, are now turning to foreign language channels to build their content bouquet in a bid to take themselves ahead of other players.

Even though the viewership remains small, DTH players are looking at adding more foreign channels such as Fox, DW and Warner Brothers’ WB to their portfolio with increasing demand. “The viewership remains mostly in metros and tier I and II cities. Howev er, these channels add to the content offering and with more channels coming in, the demand certainly has gone up,” Dish TV Chief Operating Officer Mr Salil Kapoor said.

The Essel Group firm currently offers TV5 Monde (French), DW TV, NHK (Japanese), MGM and WB. Asked if the company would bring in more such channels, Mr Kapoor said, “To broadcast foreign channels in India, we have to obtain licence from the Information and Broadcasting ministry. With that in mind, we would look at bringing in more foreign channels depending on their availability and if there is viewer demand”.

Sun Direct is also actively looking at offering foreign channels to its subscribers. – PTI

Reliance Big TV may cancel IPL DTH deal

 

Reliance Big TV, the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) direct-to-home (DTH) venture, which has bagged the official DTH partnership for the T20 cricket Indian Premier League (IPL) with a bid of $ 31.16 million for four years, has decided that it will not go ahead with the proposed deal, if the broadcast rights for the league are given to its competitor.

“We at Big TV, have been talking with the IPL officials since October last year on the issue of being offered only the DTH rights, while the TV rights are going to others. This is an unfair business practice and is adequately not acceptable to us, hence we may hold back.” an senior ADAG official, who did not wish to be named, said to us.

“Negotiations are still on with the BCCI though, and a final decision on our stand will be announced by the first week of February. However, the ADA Group is keen on being involved with IPL in a big way in the future.”, the official adds.

In August 2008, Big TV outbid the other contender Airtel Digital TV, which had put in a bid of $ 30.28 million for the same number of years. The tender for the DTH partner was held on August 08 and only Big TV and Airtel Digital TV bid for it.

Lalit Modi, chairman and commissioner, IPL, could not be contacted for his comments, at the time of filing of this report.

Meanwhile, title sponsor DLF has made it clear that it’s not pulling out of the Twenty20 extravaganza for the next four years.

74% FDI in DTH raises security concerns

Jawahar Goel, the managing director of Dish TV, is unequivocally opposed to increasing the limit of foreign investment in direct-to-home (DTH) sector in India from the current 49 per cent to 74 per cent.

In conversation with Shuchi Bansal, Goel focuses on security as a major concern in case the government raises the FDI bar.

Why are you against increasing the FDI limit for DTH?

There is a clause in the DTH Policy which states that “all foreign personnel likely to be deployed by way of appointment, contract or consultancy etc. by the licensee for installation, maintenance and operation of the licensee’s services shall be required to obtain security clearance from the government of India prior to their deployment.”

On one hand, such a clause was included in the policy because broadcasting and uplinking stations must be secure.

But now the government is keen to give away management control in DTH operations to foreign nationals. If it does that, it must remove the clause. We’ve raised the security issue in the past, too, as the proposal was on the verge of getting clearance some time ago. We are only asking the government to take a informed view of the situation.

Did you make a presentation to the ministry recently?

Yes. The ministry officials asked us to show the single messaging system which DTH technology makes possible. This means that any DTH operator can send a message to an individual viewer on his\her TV screen. You can imagine the implications of this service if it’s not handled responsibly.

Currently, the service is banned by the government. This could be a security concern and we have been told that there is no way to intercept these messages.

But wouldn’t the increased foreign investment limit help the DTH sector which is making huge losses?

Today not a single company has exhausted its foreign investment limit. Within 49 per cent , the Foreign Direct Investment limit currently is not more 20 per cent. The remaining 29 per cent is NRIs, OCB and FIIs. May be the sectoral divide could be removed so that FDI could go up within the 49 per cent limit.

If Rupert Murdoch moves up his stake in Tata Sky to 74 per cent, he could gobble up Dish TV. Is that a worry?

I think every Indian should be worried about Rupert Murdoch. We have seen how he operates in other countries. Having said that, we are not worried about Tata Sky. We still register more subscribers than Tata Sky every day at 5,000 boxes. What the DTH players need to worry about is Sun Direct enrolling 12,000 customers a day.

Thanks : Bussiness Standards

TDSAT: Zee Turner share Zee Telugu, Zee Kannada with Tata Sky

The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has directed Zee Turner, to share the signals of Zee Telugu and Zee Kannada with direct-to-home (DTH) service provider Tata Sky.

The interim order was passed after the TDSAT admitted a petition by Tata Sky dated December 19, 2008, in this regard. TDSAT has directed the DTH service provider to sign the reference interconnect offer (RIO) with Zee Turner for sharing signals of the two channels.

Justice Arun Kumar, Chairperson, TDSAT, said, “As an interim measure and without prejudice to the rights and contentions of the parties, we direct the petitioner (Tata Sky) to sign the RIO on without prejudice basis and on the RIO being signed, the respondent (Zee Turner) will start supply of signals of the two channels, Zee Telugu and Zee Kannada, to the respondent, for which the respondent will pay in accordance with the RIO.”

Tata Sky had approached TDSAT on the dispute over terms and conditions of Zee Turner given in its RIO, wherein the latter had contended Tata Sky should take all channels of the Zee Group instead of two, as it had done earlier.

The Tribunal also issued notice to Zee Turner, which was accepted by its counsel, advocate Yoginder Handoo, and said the matter would be heard on February 13, 2009.

DTH players plan high definition content

In order to break the clutter in the 5-player direct-to-home (DTH) market and to create value-added offerings for the consumers, DTH operators such as Dish TV and Sun Direct are planning to add high-definition (HD) content as a seperate bouquet in the next few months.

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. The HD bouquet of channels (10-15) may cost 20-30 per cent more than the regular bouquet, sources said.

HD channels simply means television content with high resolution pictures and enhanced sound quality.

Several broadcasters having HD channels like Fox, HBO, ESPN, NGC, Discovery and others are waiting for an opportunity and an addressable platform like DTH or digital cable to launch their channels in India.

While Dish TV will add the HD content once it gets additional transponder space on Protostar satellite next month, Sun Direct is launching its own HD channels on the existing transponder bandwidth. Others like Tata Sky, Big TV and Airtel’s Digital TV are also expected to follow suit, sources said.

“We will add the high-definition content to our offerings once we expand our transponder capacity with the launch of Protostar satellite in January,” Jawahar Goel, MD of Dish TV, country’s largest DTH operator, said. Dish TV currently has over 4.5 million subscribers or a little less than 50 per cent market share in the DTH market.

Sun Direct, the regional DTH service provider, having 1.9 million subscribers, recently ventured into north India and is also looking at adding at least 8-10 high-definition channels to its DTH platform.

Source : BT

Big TV head Arun Kapoor quits

After a short stint, Big TV president Arun Kapoor has quit the organisation. Prior to joining Reliance ADAG’s DTH venture in July, Kapoor was working as CEO of Zee Group’s DTH Dish TV.

Kapoor came into the DTH arena after spending years in the telecom sector. He was the CEO for Hutchison Essar South Ltd’s Punjab Circle.

Big TV claims to have touched 500,000 subscribers within 50 days of launch.

Dish Tv rides high with 4.4 million subscribers

Speeding up its customer acquisition programme, Dish TV has mopped up 431,253 subscribers in the month of October to take its total base to 4.4 million. Dish TV claims to have a 53 per cent market share in a business that has seen aggression from all the direct-to-home operators including new entrants Big TV and Airtel Digital TV.

For the second quarter, Dish TV had added 529,000 subscribers in the second quarter of the current fiscal and now has a foot print in 6,500 towns across India.

Dish TV said it has recently added three new channels on its platform. Tata Sky has garnered over 2.7 million subscribers while Sun Direct has 1.7 million connections. Reliance’s Big TV claims to have pocketed 500,000 within 50 days of launch.