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The DTH players have witnessed almost two-three times or a 40% incremental jump in the set-top-box
In the last two months Tata Sky has shifted a bulk of their labour force from other states to cater to the growing demand for putting up more and more DTH service in the four metros.
Not without reason. With the reality of digitisation hitting the four metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai with the deadline ending on 31st October, direct-to-home (DTH) companies and the big multi-system-operators (MSOs), are having a good time.
In a country where local cable operators (LCOs) grossly under-declared their subscriber figures, the mandatory shift from analogue cable to digital addressable systems (DAS) has suddenly bring in festival bonanza for these players.
The DTH players have witnessed almost two-three times increase in their sales of set-top-box (STB) sales in the last two months. Says a senior executive of Tata Sky: Generally the four metros constitute for 15 per cent of our subscriber additions. “In the last two months, it has become 40 per cent."
The biggest sales push has been seen in Delhi followed by Kolkata, Chennai and the lowest being in Mumbai because the level of digitisation is already high.
“Incremental numbers are really good. In October itself the total DTH industry numbers have gone up with the demand from the four metros up 2-3 times of regular,” says Shashi Arora, CEO of Airtel Digital TV told Business Standard. The company now has close to 7.5 million subscribers in India.
Anil Khera, CEO of Videocon D2H added that the company has seen atleast 2.5-3 times jump in the set-top-box (STB) sales in the four metros in the last month. “The demand was significantly higher in the last two-three days. We have already touched 6.9 million subscribers and by this weekend we should be able to touch 7 million, backed by the digitisation drive,” Khera added.
Market leader Dish TV, claims that its STB sale has seen phenemonal sales. “We have seen about 10 times jump in STB sales during the past few weeks, in Delhi and about 7-8 times jump in Mumbai," said Salil Kapoor, COO, Dish TV.
Meanwhile, the large MSOs also gained from the government mandate, as the subscribers asked the LCOs to install STBs. Many MSOs have seen a 5-6 times jump in their subscribers.
“Our subscriber numbers have gone up by almost 5-6 times. We have converted almost 100 per cent analogue homes to digital. Cable has head-start advantage over DTH,” K Jayaraman, MD and CEO of Hathway Cable & Datacom said.
Senior officials from MSOs also pointed out that while LCOs had their way in the metros till now, the demand for STBs have made the system transparent and all the MSOs, though are just converting the analogue, are still in for big gains.
Big gains for DTH & cable in 4 Metros
In the last two months Tata Sky has shifted a bulk of their labour force from other states to cater to the growing demand for putting up more and more DTH service in the four metros.
Not without reason. With the reality of digitisation hitting the four metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai with the deadline ending on 31st October, direct-to-home (DTH) companies and the big multi-system-operators (MSOs), are having a good time.
In a country where local cable operators (LCOs) grossly under-declared their subscriber figures, the mandatory shift from analogue cable to digital addressable systems (DAS) has suddenly bring in festival bonanza for these players.
The DTH players have witnessed almost two-three times increase in their sales of set-top-box (STB) sales in the last two months. Says a senior executive of Tata Sky: Generally the four metros constitute for 15 per cent of our subscriber additions. “In the last two months, it has become 40 per cent."
The biggest sales push has been seen in Delhi followed by Kolkata, Chennai and the lowest being in Mumbai because the level of digitisation is already high.
“Incremental numbers are really good. In October itself the total DTH industry numbers have gone up with the demand from the four metros up 2-3 times of regular,” says Shashi Arora, CEO of Airtel Digital TV told Business Standard. The company now has close to 7.5 million subscribers in India.
Anil Khera, CEO of Videocon D2H added that the company has seen atleast 2.5-3 times jump in the set-top-box (STB) sales in the four metros in the last month. “The demand was significantly higher in the last two-three days. We have already touched 6.9 million subscribers and by this weekend we should be able to touch 7 million, backed by the digitisation drive,” Khera added.
Market leader Dish TV, claims that its STB sale has seen phenemonal sales. “We have seen about 10 times jump in STB sales during the past few weeks, in Delhi and about 7-8 times jump in Mumbai," said Salil Kapoor, COO, Dish TV.
Meanwhile, the large MSOs also gained from the government mandate, as the subscribers asked the LCOs to install STBs. Many MSOs have seen a 5-6 times jump in their subscribers.
“Our subscriber numbers have gone up by almost 5-6 times. We have converted almost 100 per cent analogue homes to digital. Cable has head-start advantage over DTH,” K Jayaraman, MD and CEO of Hathway Cable & Datacom said.
Senior officials from MSOs also pointed out that while LCOs had their way in the metros till now, the demand for STBs have made the system transparent and all the MSOs, though are just converting the analogue, are still in for big gains.
Big gains for DTH & cable in 4 Metros
