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A Hybrid Model Approach for DD's DTH Service
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A hybrid model approach for DD’s DTH service
With the hybrid model approach, supported by a well thought business model, the commercial status of DD can change potentially, says R.C. Bhatnagar
Restructuring Doordarshan DTH service by introducing a hybrid model
Image The DTH venture of Doordarshan started in the year 2003, when "Pilot project of "Ku-band transmission" (Free-to -air DTH)" was approved by the Government. The prime objective of the project was to provide TV coverage to the uncovered areas of the country that came in shadow zone of terrestrial transmission due to difficult terrain conditions. DTH technology emerged as a natural choice to fulfill the objective because it ensured coverage of entire population of the country in a cost effective and reliable way. Planning Commission sanctioned Rs. 164.35 crore for the project that made it possible for Doordarshan to fulfill its obligation as the Public Broadcaster. Project was completed by Doordarshan in a record time of one year and DTH uplinking centre (Satellite Earth Station for uplinking of Ku-band signal) was set up at Todapur, Delhi. The Ku-band transmission started in December, 04 using NSS-6 satellite. The FTA bouquet consisted of 33 TV channels, which included 19 Doordarshan channels and 14 channels of private broadcasters. Later this DTH platform was expanded to accommodate 50 TV channels. At present, there are 42 TV and 21 radio (All India Radio) channels on 5 Ku transponders of INSAT 4B that replaced NSS-6 satellite. The uniqueness of Doordarshan DTH service is its Free to Air (FTA) channels. It means that viewer does not have to incur recurring expenditure in the form of monthly subscription. There is only one time investment on part of the viewers towards cost of Dish, LNBC and set top box. For any other type of cable TV/conventional DTH the viewer is bound to pay recurring charges to the service provider, who provides him with a customized set top box to receive his signal only.
Bottlenecks in FTA transmission
Initial launch of Doordarshan DTH was extremely successful and service became immensely popular and scaled fast to cover an estimated subscriber base of 6 million. But as the time passed and other private DTH players came in India with their costly yet attractive bouquets, Doordarshan DTH started loosing the popularity due to its weak content and lack of any marketing strategy that could formulate a sustainable model to generate revenue and increase the popularity of the bouquet. The FTA DTH of Doordarshan today is a loss-making proposition. The revenue generated is comparatively negligible as compared to the cost of content creation and programming, transmission, salary of staff etc.
It is a truth that only a strong platform with attractive content will enable DD to grow its customer base making this platform even more attractive to other broadcasters, who would also like to join this platform, thus attracting even more customers. This will generate revenue and would also ensure that Doordarshan continues to maintain high viewer-ship for free-to-air social, cultural and educational channels. Without an attractive platform and revenue generation Doordarshan may not even fulfill its PSB obligations as it may not be able to attract viewers.
Strategies for improving the present FTA model
At this stage it is essential for the Public Service Broadcaster (PSB) i.e. Doordarshan to devise a proper business model that will make it a viable business proposition and also make it easier to discharge its duty of a public broadcaster. This can be made possible with a combination of free-to-air and pay-TV model. With the hybrid model approach supported by a well thought business model the commercial status of DD can change potentially. This combination will enable Doordarshan to have a separate identity compared to the private sector DTH operators. DD platform will have a unique selling proposition (USP) that none of the other private sector operators are likely to have. Customers will have the option of switching off payment and still continue to get multi-channel free-to-air television. With large scale penetration in the rural and poor areas with a strong human workforce, DD can make some attractive offers like subsidy on standard receive systems that can be distributed through remotely located Doordarshan stations and establish a unique market positioning. In addition, the legacy of being the Public Service Broadcaster can establish DD as an "honest operator", who can gain the faith of public more easily without any flashy marketing gimmicks that have hidden traps revealed at later stage.
Content: A governing factor
The most important factor for making any platform popular is the rich content along with a host of value added services. Care should be taken to select the software ie channel content so that it suits the interests of both types of viewers-the rural and average segment-interested in FTA channels and the niche segment, who is willing to pay but won't compromise on either the quality or the content of the channels. Proper audience research should be carried out to have an idea about the public choice so that appropriate bouquet conforming to the choices of both types of segments may be produced and marketed to enlarge the subscriber base.
Obviously the role of the Public Service Broadcaster is more than that of a pure entertainment provider. It also involves taking up the important issues like education, rural development, social issues, health care and most importantly to be always present there with the sole aim to protect the national integrity and safety in the times of crisis instead of cashing on by sensationalizing the tragedy.
Global scenario
Many countries like Sweden, Italy, UK, France, Germany, Spain etc have taken up DTH as an important mode of TV signal distribution along with the existing cable or terrestrial modes. Various countries have adopted different models like FTA+ Pay TV, FTA+PPV (Pay per View) and DVB-H (TV over mobile) to suit their needs. It has been found that for popularity of Pay TV the content is the most important factor. Also it was found that the local language and regional content are important factors to attract the viewers. In the developed countries, where per capita income is high, people are ready to pay more to access high quality contents like HDTV, Pay per View, and Interactive services.
Present status of DTH in the country
At present, Doordarshan DTH is free to air with no subscription charges, whereas the other DTH services such as "Dish TV" and "Tata Sky" available in the country are operating on purely commercial basis. Also, more commercial DTH services like Reliance, Bharati Telecom and Sun are in the offing. There had been delay in launching of these services due to some problem in the INSAT series 4 and NSS satellites that provide the Ku Band transponders for transmission of DTH signal
In India, to regulate these services Ministry of I&B have issued guidelines. These guidelines for DTH services are prima-facie on a subscription-based (Pay-Channels) business model. Essential features of these guidelines, therefore, envisage mandatory encryption of signals, use of Conditional Access (CA) and Subscriber Management System (SMS) to enable the subscribers access to signals directly and the broadcasters to realize subscription revenues from the service providers / customers. The guidelines neither envisage nor make it financially viable to run a free to air DTH service.
The private DTH operators are charging a monthly subscription according to the bouquet subscribed by the viewers. The rates are purely subjective on the part of DTH service provider and the schemes floated by them from time to time are also as per their discretion. Apart from regular subscription extra charges are levied for accessing premium services like Movie on demand, interactive sports programmes etc. It was mandated in Doordarshan's pilot project of Ku-band transmission that the service should be self-sustainable and carriage fee would be charged from the private channel operators for coming to the DD DTH platform. However, this did not proceed as expected and there was reluctance on the part of private operators to pay carriage fee as asked by Prasar Bharati, which carried these channels free of cost for more than two years and they started moving to Pay DTH platforms run by private operators to earn revenue from subscription fee. This has been a setback for DD DTH and the loyalty of the viewers was at stake.
Doordarshan proposal for pay channels
A successful Pay DTH has been proved to be a highly paying business in any corner of the world. Doordarshan will have to turn Pay DTH for providing private channels in its bouquet, in addition to meet its commitment to provide its signal free of charge to people as a public broadcaster, to regain its popularity and to sustain the service.
The following options can be considered to meet the requirements of both FTA and Pay channels over the Doordarshan DTH platform;
A hybrid model consisting of both FTA and Pay TV channels, where the FTA channels would be available to the public without any subscription, while `niche' services would be provided on paid basis through CAS enabled set top boxes (STB).
Value added and interactive services like video on demand and pay per view with addressability of the subscriber.
Transmission of HDTV programmes (Pay Channel). Many popular movies can be transmitted in HDTV format over DTH as Pay channel.
By deploying new compression format i.e. MPEG-4 which is now becoming more and more popular, Doordarshan plans to use this new technology. With this format, as compared to the presently available 10 channels per transponder, nearly 16 channels can be accommodated. Providing HDTV over satellite is more convenient and suitable by using this better compression technique.
Also, in the interest of consumer and the success of DD DTH service another most important point to be kept in mind is that any new proposed MPEG 4 system should have backward compatibility. In fact DVB has already developed the second generation DTH standard called DVB S2 standard with backward compatibility mode. This means that the DVB S2 standard enables combining of both MPEG2 and MPEG4 compressed streams into a common emitted stream, which can be decoded by both the existing MPEG2 boxes as well as new MPEG4 boxes. The service provider has to ensure this compatibility by using standard equipment.
There are three major components of Pay DTH, which are as under:
DTH Centre (Head End - Uplink / Turn around station) - This is required to receive the programmes through satellite, cable, play-out system etc. and then uplink on Ku-band.
SMS (Subscriber Management System) and Call centre - This is for managing the accounts of the customers / subscribers of the Pay- DTH / and to address complaints of viewers.
System for distribution of Receive Segment to the subscriber - This is to distribute the special receive systems (with interactivity) to receive the Pay TV.
Doordarshan is already having the DTH Centre (Head End) but SMS and the system for distribution of Receive Segment to the subscribers was not established because presently DD DTH is free to air and there are no Pay channels. For including Pay channels in Doordarshan DTH platform and making it financially viable, the DTH Centre (Head End) will have to be upgraded, which can be taken up by Doordarshan, while the other two tasks viz. SMS / Call centre and system for Receive Segment distribution may be outsourced. Doordarshan has proposed to upgrade the present DTH platform by turning out 50 free to air channels, 144 Pay channels, 4 HDTV channels and 50 radio channels. The proposal is under consideration.