Professional Documents
Culture Documents
March 2014
Table of Contents
Broadcasting Industry................................................................................................................... 2
Overview.................................................................................................................................... 2
Digital media ............................................................................................................................. 4
Market statistics ........................................................................................................................ 7
Regulatory issues..................................................................................................................... 10
Digital Media Industry ................................................................................................................ 19
Overview.................................................................................................................................. 19
Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) ...................................................................................................... 20
Operational development .................................................................................................. 20
IPTV broadcasters ............................................................................................................... 23
Pay TV ...................................................................................................................................... 30
Cable TV................................................................................................................................... 33
Market overview ................................................................................................................ 33
Cable TV regulatory environment ...................................................................................... 34
Digitalisation of Cable TV ................................................................................................... 37
Satellite TV............................................................................................................................... 40
Direct-to-Home (DTH) TV.................................................................................................... 40
Major cable and pay TV operators .......................................................................................... 51
Free-to-Air TV .......................................................................................................................... 58
Disclaimer ................................................................................................................................. 59
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Broadcasting Industry
Overview
India has emerged as one of the largest TV markets in the world, after the
introduction of television to India back in 1959. At the same time with the
emergence of new technologies and broadcasting platforms the local industry has
been totally transformed. With the roll out of extensive networks for cable TV
services, the infrastructure available provides a real opportunity to operate
telephony and Internet services over these networks. Change flowing from new
technology has not been raid, however. Indian telecom operators seeking to
increase revenue and stimulate demand by offering Internet Protocol Television
(IPTV) services, for example, have faced hurdles of high costs, low broadband
usage and slow speeds.
In the meantime, the television programming landscape had been totally
transformed over the last decade. India has been producing the highest number of
feature films in the world in the shortest time and had become one of the largest
producers of TV programming outside Hollywood. At the same time sport has been
a major driver of the Indian cable and satellite TV market. Cricket, as the countrys
national game, has been a particularly strong impetus to the sector. All this has
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Critically, the changes also helped the government to move on to its primary
objective of allowing the convergence of telecommunications and broadcasting
technologies. The initiative to permit cable operators into basic telephony was
considered radical. Cable operators were already providing TV services and were
also permitted to provide internet services. The provision of basic telephony
services could add value to their package and give them a more significant role in
the telecom market. Clearly the market was being presented with a range of
opportunities to make commercial use of the available range of technologies. Two
companies, InCableNet and SitiCable, had launched internet services over cable as
early as 1999. The scene was set for more change in the sector.
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Schedule for migration to Digital Addressable Cable TV System (DAS) 2012 - 2014
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Market statistics
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Foreign investment
The MIB policy on foreign investments issued for the sector at the start of 2000 set
out the following guidelines:
all future laws on broadcasting would be applicable to them and they would
not claim any privilege or protection by virtue of this approval;
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By 2007 the MIB was confirming its position on foreign investment: Foreign
investment proposals involving up-linking from Indian soil may be allowed to
Indian Companies, who were broadcasters having minimum 80% of Indian
shareholding and Indian management control. There was no restriction on foreign
equity in proposals related to production of software, marketing of TV rights, air
times, advertisements, etc. No foreign equity was allowed in private FM
broadcasting. For a cable network company, not less than 51% of the paid -up
share capital should be held by Indian citizens.
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MTNL
In 2006 MTNL was preparing to be the first to market with IPTV in India. A
commercial launch of its Tri-band service had been set for October of that year.
The operator had been testing the service in Delhi for more than a year and in
Mumbai since mid-2006. The service was designed to support a range of FTA and
pay-TV channels, as well as Video-on-Demand (VoD). Tariffs had not been decided
but were expected to be similar to the then prevailing charges of cable TV
operators. In the meantime MTNL needed to seek regulatory approval to launch its
IPTV offering. Neither its basic telephony or mobile licences gave it the right to
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Bharti Airtel
In 2007 Bharti Airtel was working with supplier UTStarcom to launch an IPTV
service. Bharti was already testing IPTV services in limited areas of Delhi, having
commenced these tests in 2005. The two companies said they would aim to launch
the service in Delhi by the end of 2007; they planned to provide around 150
television channels by the commercial launch.
IBM was contracted by Bharti Airtel in 2008 to help boost its service offerings.
Under the deal IBM would deliver services worth US$150 million to Bharti over a
six-year period that would strengthen the telecommunications companys
networks and develop expertise in providing television content over the Internet.
Bharti Airtel launched its IPTV service under the brand name of Airtel Digital
Television at the start of 2009. Offering services of voice, broadband, TV and video
entertainment, the service included up to 135 TV channels.
In March 2011 Bharti Airtel announced the launch of its Airtel Broadband TV
IPTV service, offering 28 live TV channels to subscribers via computers and
laptops. Three different tariff options were being offered, with prices starting at
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Reliance Communications
Microsoft and Reliance Communications announced a partnership in 2007 that
was designed to deliver Internet-based television services to homes in India.
Reliance agreed to pay Microsoft about US$500 million in licence fees to use its
software for IPTV services. Reliance Communications said in May 2010 that it had
launched IPTV services in Delhi and Mumbai, to be followed by launches in six
other cities.
Aksh Optifibre
Aksh Optifibre was one of the first movers into the IPTV market. The company has
been providing television and telephony services over the Internet on a revenuesharing basis with MTNL and BSNL. The company claimed about 30,000 IPTV
customers by 2010; it also reported a monthly Average Revenue per User (ARPU)
of around INR200 at the time. The forecast growth was expected to see 100,000
IPTV customers and an ARPU of INR300 by mid-2011.
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Other services
India Broadcast Live (IBL), a division of Archer Entertainment Media
Communications, added five channels to its portfolio in 2006, bringing the total to
10 live streaming channels on its platform. India Broadcast Live had earlier
debuted what was claimed to be the first Indian IPTV platform India TV Live with
five channels in August 2006. The service carried these channels directly from
India, in real time, and delivered them worldwide, via broadband, to any webenabled device PCs, Laptops, PDAs and mobile phones. The company claimed
that India TV Live did not directly compete with broadcast, satellite and cable
television offerings, but was expected to become an additional platform to provide
on-the-go news, information relating to business and investment, and
entertainment. In 2007 IOL Broadband launched what it also claimed was Indias
first IP-based on-demand television service to more than 250,000 subscribers
using software, servers and middleware from Seachange International. Leveraging
off the networks of MTNL, IOL Broadband was set to offer an on-demand line-up of
film and music videos to its customers in Mumbai. Other IOL Broadband IPTV
services included interactive gaming, video conferencing, an e-education channel,
and live financial data from the Bombay Stock Exchange. The system also
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Broadcasters continue to see some hope for the market in the corporatisation of
cable operators that began through the efforts of SitiCable and InCableNet. The aim
was to bring fragmented cable operators together under one network umbrella.
SitiCable, which was established in 1995, had built a presence in over 50 cities and
provided 40 channels to its operators (from whom it levied 25% of their
subscriptions), while InCableNet provided transmission to more than 2 million
homes. Both had city-specific channels (SitiCable and CVO, respectively), which
were providing localised programming and also served as media vehicles for local
advertising.
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programming and advertising codes for all channels except those received
encrypted from a satellite;
The bill also set conformation standards for all cable equipment.
Strict guidelines on cable and broadcasting content were set down, with specific
rules for programming and moral decency. However, there was still inadequate
regulation for cable distribution, no regulation on content and no technical and
service quality standards. There were no guidelines for programs and
advertisements applying to the foreign satellite channels which can be received.
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Digitalisation of Cable TV
The TRAI released a set of recommendations on digitalisation of cable TV in 2005.
The recommendations were issued after a detailed process of consultation with
stakeholders. The recommendations provided for a national plan for digitalisation
whose first phase was set to commence in 2006 and end in 2010 to coincide with
the Commonwealth Games. The expansion of digital services in the country was to
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Apart from a free DTH service offered by Doordarshan, there were six private DTH
operators licensed to provide service to the market.
By 2011 the DTH operators had a combined subscriber base totalling 44.2 million.
The number of private satellite TV channels registered with the Ministry of
Information and Broadcasting (MIB) as of March 2012 was 831.
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total foreign equity holding in the applicant company not to exceed 49%;
within the foreign equity, the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) component
was not to exceed 20%;
the proportion of the paid up equity share capital to the total issued equity
capital of the Indian promoter Company, held or controlled by the foreign
investor, shall form part of the FDI limit of 20%;
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Market developments
The DoT and the Wireless Planning Commission (WPC) approved a proposal by a
Tata-Star partnership in 2005 to provide DTH digital television services. Prior to
this, Tata-Star had signed an agreement with the Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) to lease all twelve Ku-band transponders on the INSAT-4A
satellite. The satellite deal would enable the transmission of around 150 digital
channels to homes across India, including those in the most remote regions. The
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INSAT-2E;
INSAT-2DT;
INSAT-2B;
INSAT-2C;
PAS-10;
ThaiCom.
Asianet Communications
Started in 1993, Asianet Satellite Communications Pvt Ltd was the largest cable
network services company in the state of Kerala. Operating from over 40 centres
throughout Kerala, the network reached over 3 million homes and establishments.
Carrying up to 70 channels, Asianets cable network included five exclusivelyowned channels that were only cable-cast over its network, namely Asianet Cable
Vision (ACV, a news, events and movie channel), Jukebox (interactive video music
channel), Medley (interactive video music channel), Swathi (audio music channel),
Info (network information channel) and Jyothi (education channel).
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Star TV
Star TV deployed its own digital compression system and the first of its pay
channels by hooking up with about 1,000 regional Indian cable operators 100 in
each of the five metropolitan areas and an additional 500 throughout the country.
Imported decoders were being sold to operators. The company had also built up its
software package through its 49% acquisition of United Televisions of Mumbai.
The Cable Operators Federation of India (COFI) had failed to endorse Star TVs Star
Movies subscription channel, citing overpricing and other issues.
India was one of the most successful early markets for Star TV, with annual
revenues of US$600 million back in 2000. Star TV rose rapidly in prominence in
2000, on the back of very successful programming in the local Hindi language.
Game shows were popular, especially one Kaun Banega Crorepati which
rescued a struggling network and catapulted its host Amitabh Bachchan back to
superstar status.
Star gained approval to set up a wholly owned subsidiary in India, establishing a
cable TV company and programming base. It rapidly built up its customer base and
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Disclaimer
The contents (Information, material, suggestions) have been provided for general information. The
information and opinions contained in the document have been compiled from publicly available
data or sources believed to be reliable. If the said content contains any mistakes, omissions,
inaccuracies and typographical errors, etc. FRPT Research assumes no responsibility thereof. The
company does not warrant the totality and absolute accuracy, adequacy or completeness of this
information and materials and expressly disclaims any liability for errors or omissions in this
information and materials herein.
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