Changes in Satellite and Cable

television in India terms of technology

like

DTH, CAS, HITS…

What is Cable TV?

• CATV is a method of providing consumers with

access to television programs via cable located in

the subscribers’ premises.

How does it work?

• In CATV, the signals are sent through cables and

not through the air, thus doing away with "line of

sight" requirement and enabling much better

quality of reception. The television signals that

come via cable are not disturbed by trees,

buildings, or other hindrances.

Cable TV penetration in India

• India has over 148 million households (out of 231 million) with TVs, of which over 126 million have access to CATV or Satellite TV, including 42 million households which are digital subscribers. In Urban India, 88 per cent of all households have a TV and over 70 per cent of all households have access to satellite, cable or DTH services.

(The TAM Annual Universe Update – 2012)

• India now has over 500 TV channels covering all

the main languages spoken in the nation.

• Digicable Networks (India), Hathway Cable and

Data Com, InusInd Media and Communications

(InCable), and DEN Networks are some of the

notable cable service providers in India.

Satellite Television

• Satellite television can be defined as television broadcasting using satellite technology.

• After 1982 when Indian National Satellite (INSAT) was launched there came a sharp rise in number of transmitters, began colourtelevision and telecast of Asiad games increased private investment in television sets.

• Beginning of Satellite Television in India was marked by

world first techno-social experiment SITE- Satellite

Instructional Television Experiment- for education &

development purposes.

• That followed number of other experiments like SITE,

School Television, UGC Country Wide Class Room, Jhabua

Development Communication Project, Indira Gandhi

National Open University transmission and Gyan Darshan

for educational and social development purposes.

IPTV

• Internet protocol television

• The new technology to provide multiple channel television content over the internet.

• Uses the IP to deliver live television programming as well as variety of video content over broadband cable networks.

• IPTV A joint venture between MTNL and BSNL also in association with AkashOptifiber.

DTH

• DTH stands for Direct-To-Home television.

• DTH is defined as the reception of satellite programmes with a personal dish in an individual home.

• DTH licenses in India will cost $2.14 million and will be valid for 10 years. The companies offering DTH service will have to have an Indian chief and foreign equity has been capped at 49 per cent. There is no limit on the number of companies that can apply for the DTH license.

• DTH television is digital and interactive.

• It offers many subscription channels.

• TRAI issued gudelines for DTH operations.

• First private DTH – DISH TV in 2003, which

started operations in 2004.

Current players in DTH industry

• DD Direct+.

• TATA Sky.

• Dish TV of ZEE group.

DTH Market Share

• DD Direct+ = 50% (3.5 milllion homes)

• Dish TV = 31% (2.1 million homes)

• TATA Sky = 15% (1.1 million homes)

• Others = 4%

(TAM People meter survey)

The following companies also have license to

operate DTH service:

• Sun Direct of Sun Network.

• Reliance Blue Magic.

• Bharti Tele media.

• Videocon Industries.

DTH pricing

• DTH providers justify the prices as it offers

high quality transmission which makes TV

viewing a pleasant experience.

• Tata-Sky offers 58-channels to consumers at

an introductory offer of Rs 200 per month. You

will have to pay Rs 3,999 for hardware (set-top

box and installation), and a monthly charge of

Rs 200.

• Zee group's Dish TV offers its hardware and

installation at Rs 3,000 (excluding taxes) and

three months' free subscription. This Dish TV

package of 75 channels costs Rs 180 per month.

• The second DTH operator is government-owned

DD-Direct Plus. This comes at a one-time cost of

Rs 2,000-2,500.

What are the concerns over DTH?

• In the absence of regulation, DTH operators

may hike their fees arbitrarily. They may force

consumers to pay for bouquets of channels,

instead of individual channels. Also there

could be illegal redistribution of DTH feed

through multiple distribution units, amounting

to evasion of tax.

DTH versus cable TV

• In DTH, TV channels would be transmitted from

the satellite to a small dish antenna mounted on

the window or rooftop of the subscriber's home.

So the broadcaster directly connects to the user.

• DTH can also reach the remotest of areas since it

does away with the intermediate step of a cable

operator and the wires (cables) that come from the

cable operator to your house.

• DTH offers better quality picture than cable TV.

This is because cable TV in India is analog.

Despite digital transmission and reception, the

cable transmission is still analog. DTH offers

stereophonic sound effects.

• Apart from enhanced picture quality, DTH has

also allows for interactive TV services such as

movie-on-demand, Internet access, video

conferencing and e-mail.

• DTH will not be able to be an alternative to cable

if the initial investment is more than that for

cable. DTH requires initial investment for both a

dish antenna and a TV-top box.

CAS

• CAS stands for conditional access system, which is a digital mode of transmitting TV channels trough a set-top box (STB).

• The transmission signals are encrypted and viewers need to buy a set-top box to receive and decrypt the signal.

• The STB is required to watch only pay channels, not free-to-air channels, like Doordarshan.

• The idea of CAS was originated in 2001, which

was followed by charge hikes by channels and

subsequently cable operators. It was decided that

it would be first introduced in the four metros. It

has been in place in Chennai since September

2003.

• According to estimates, only 25 per cent of the

people have subscribed the new technology. The

rest watch only free-to-air channels. The

inhibiting factor is the cost of the STB.

Pricing of channels under CAS

• Broadcast regulator TRAI has fixed a ceiling of

Rs 5 per pay channel per month under the CAS

regime, much to the disappointment of

broadcasters.

• Under CAS, a subscriber can access to around 22

pay channels apart from the free-to-air bouquet

within the Rs 200 package monthly.

Advantages of CAS

• For viewers:

• Under, CAS viewers can watch only what they

would like to watch, than what the cable

operator has on offer.

• Subscribers save money they now spend on

unnecessary channels.

• The cable operators will no longer have any

control over the pricing of channels.

• For broadcasters:

• It benefits broadcasters as they always had to

grapple with the issue of cable operators not

declaring the actual number of subscribers, and

hence suffering losses.

• With CAS, they can find out the exact number

of subscribers with a cable operator.

• For cable TV operators:

• They need to pay a part of the subscription

fees to the broadcasters only for the actual

number of end users who opt for the channel.

• This allows operators to price their channels

according to their popularity.

• For advertisers:

• It gives a far more accurate indicator of

programme popularity with only the actual

subscribers of each channel being accounted

for.

Will CAS be cheaper than cable TV?

• Yes, according to a TRAI order, if one opts for all

the existing channels then the pay out will be less.

For example, the Star bouquet at present comes

for Rs 67 for eight channels. Under CAS, if one

avails all the eight channels then the pay bill will

be Rs 40 plus a 12.2 per cent service tax. The new

tariff order will reduce the cable bills in Delhi,

Kolkata and Mumbai.

HITS

• Headend in the Sky (HITS) is Comcast's satellite multiplex service that provides cable channels to cable television operations.

• HITS combines cable stations into multiplex signals on just a few satellites; cable television companies can then pull in hundreds of channels at the local headend with relatively little equipment.

• The Indian Government on November 12, 2009

approved guidelines for Headend In The Sky

(HITS) broadcasting service.

• The approval comes several months after the

information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry had

first sent the HITS policy draft to the Cabinet.

• HITS players have been allowed a foreign direct

investment (FDI) of up to 74%, on par with the

telecom sector.

• Noida Software Technology Park Ltd (Jain TV

Group) started India's one and only HITS service,

JAINHITS.

• JAINHITS is a Satellite–based Digital Cable TV

Distribution Platform which provides digitised

and encrypted satellite TV signals directly to the

Cable Network Owners. This is the only Direct-

to-Network (DTN) service in India.

Thanks for watching…

Jansher Chakkittammal