JitendraKumar
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RC Venkateish, CEO, Dish TVis very upbeat of cashing in on demand of movie buffs through their new launch DishFlix. He is also confident of meeting the guidance of 6-7% average revenue per unit (ARPU) growth and subscriber addition of 1.5-1.7 million for FY16.
DishFlix is a video on demand service that can be availed after buying a hardware which will be pre-loaded with 50 movies, mix of Bollywood and Hollywood content, and 15 new movies will be added every month.
The company would continue to see sequential growth quarter on quarter going forward too, said Venkateish in an interview to CNBC-TV18. The company turned around in the fourth quarter of last fiscal and posted profit of Rs 35 crore, he said. “The business has crossed the inflection point and metrics look healthy across all segments,” said Venkateish
It has been a company strategy to take a 4-8 percent price hike every year would remain, he said.
Below is the transcript of RC Venkateish's interview with Latha Venkatesh & Reema Tendulkar on CNBC-TV18.
Latha: What is going so right that the stock has done so well? Is it that your subscriber numbers have done very well or it is that ARPUs are doing well?
A: We normally do not comment on stock performance but from company fundamentals perspective there has been sequential improvement quarter-on-quarter. The Q4 of the last fiscal was the time when we turned around and posted Rs 35 crore profits and effectively for the full fiscal we posted full year profit. We followed that up in the last quarter with Rs 55 crore profits in the bottomline.
Therefore, the business has crossed that inflection point which I had mentioned several times during the last year andso the metrics are looking a lot more healthy today than they were. Also, there are not any specific metrics; we have had improvement in market share, subscriber additions, in terms of average revenue per user (ARPU) gains and all the relevant metrics have shown good steady improvement.
Reema: Coming on the price hike that you have undertaken for the non-south market by close to about 4-8 percent. How will this improve your ARPUs? Will it help you meet your ARPU guidance of 6-7 percent for FY16 or with this price hike is it possible that you can beat your guidance?
A: We are not changing any guidance. This is a part of a planned strategy that we normally take two price increases in a year. One around February-March and another before the festive season and that's what we have done. Therefore, this is build into the projections or the guidance that we have given of 6-7 percent ARPU growth for the year. So there is no change in the guidance.
Latha: The 6-7 percent ARPU growth that you are seeing, you already are seeing it in the second quarter and we are almost through with the second quarter, just a month to go.
A: Six to seven percent is going to be year-on-year (YoY), so there will be QoQ gains as well.
Latha: And subscriber addition?
A: We had guided for 1.5 to 1.7 million and we are quite comfortable with our ability to head that number.
Reema: How have content cost trended in the current quarter and what is your expectation for the whole year?
A: We have guided for mid single digit content cost increase for the full fiscal. In the first quarter it was 5 percent YoY increase, so we are quite comfortable with the mid single digit guidance that we had given for content cost increase.
Latha: Any of the new businesses like video on demand (VOD), digital businesses. Can you give us any colour on how you are working on these areas?
A: We recently launched newproduct DishFlix which is a push VOD service which was priced at Rs 5,990. The customer can pick up the box and plug it and he doesn't require internet because the movies are downloaded on the hard disc through satellite and at any point of time he will have a fresh library of about 50 movies. This product has just been launched ten days ago. Initial response has been very enthusiastic, so we are quite hopeful that it will do well.
Latha: Any targets for the year?
A: We have our internal targets but we won't be disseminating that.
Reema: This would come under your subsidiary Dish Infra?
A: The hardware acquisitions are done by Dish Infra but the service provision is done by Dish TV.
Reema: Coming to digitisation. Is phase three digitisation on track for December?
A: The best person to answer that is the government but so far all indications are that they seem to be extremely serious about getting it on track as per date.
Reema: How have content cost trended in the current quarter and what is your expectation for the whole year?
A: We have guided for mid single digit content cost increase for the full fiscal. In the first quarter it was 5 percent YoY increase, so we are quite comfortable with the mid single digit guidance that we had given for content cost increase.
Confident of meeting 67 ARPU guidance in FY16 Dish TV
DishFlix is a video on demand service that can be availed after buying a hardware which will be pre-loaded with 50 movies, mix of Bollywood and Hollywood content, and 15 new movies will be added every month.
The company would continue to see sequential growth quarter on quarter going forward too, said Venkateish in an interview to CNBC-TV18. The company turned around in the fourth quarter of last fiscal and posted profit of Rs 35 crore, he said. “The business has crossed the inflection point and metrics look healthy across all segments,” said Venkateish
It has been a company strategy to take a 4-8 percent price hike every year would remain, he said.
Below is the transcript of RC Venkateish's interview with Latha Venkatesh & Reema Tendulkar on CNBC-TV18.
Latha: What is going so right that the stock has done so well? Is it that your subscriber numbers have done very well or it is that ARPUs are doing well?
A: We normally do not comment on stock performance but from company fundamentals perspective there has been sequential improvement quarter-on-quarter. The Q4 of the last fiscal was the time when we turned around and posted Rs 35 crore profits and effectively for the full fiscal we posted full year profit. We followed that up in the last quarter with Rs 55 crore profits in the bottomline.
Therefore, the business has crossed that inflection point which I had mentioned several times during the last year andso the metrics are looking a lot more healthy today than they were. Also, there are not any specific metrics; we have had improvement in market share, subscriber additions, in terms of average revenue per user (ARPU) gains and all the relevant metrics have shown good steady improvement.
Reema: Coming on the price hike that you have undertaken for the non-south market by close to about 4-8 percent. How will this improve your ARPUs? Will it help you meet your ARPU guidance of 6-7 percent for FY16 or with this price hike is it possible that you can beat your guidance?
A: We are not changing any guidance. This is a part of a planned strategy that we normally take two price increases in a year. One around February-March and another before the festive season and that's what we have done. Therefore, this is build into the projections or the guidance that we have given of 6-7 percent ARPU growth for the year. So there is no change in the guidance.
Latha: The 6-7 percent ARPU growth that you are seeing, you already are seeing it in the second quarter and we are almost through with the second quarter, just a month to go.
A: Six to seven percent is going to be year-on-year (YoY), so there will be QoQ gains as well.
Latha: And subscriber addition?
A: We had guided for 1.5 to 1.7 million and we are quite comfortable with our ability to head that number.
Reema: How have content cost trended in the current quarter and what is your expectation for the whole year?
A: We have guided for mid single digit content cost increase for the full fiscal. In the first quarter it was 5 percent YoY increase, so we are quite comfortable with the mid single digit guidance that we had given for content cost increase.
Latha: Any of the new businesses like video on demand (VOD), digital businesses. Can you give us any colour on how you are working on these areas?
A: We recently launched newproduct DishFlix which is a push VOD service which was priced at Rs 5,990. The customer can pick up the box and plug it and he doesn't require internet because the movies are downloaded on the hard disc through satellite and at any point of time he will have a fresh library of about 50 movies. This product has just been launched ten days ago. Initial response has been very enthusiastic, so we are quite hopeful that it will do well.
Latha: Any targets for the year?
A: We have our internal targets but we won't be disseminating that.
Reema: This would come under your subsidiary Dish Infra?
A: The hardware acquisitions are done by Dish Infra but the service provision is done by Dish TV.
Reema: Coming to digitisation. Is phase three digitisation on track for December?
A: The best person to answer that is the government but so far all indications are that they seem to be extremely serious about getting it on track as per date.
Reema: How have content cost trended in the current quarter and what is your expectation for the whole year?
A: We have guided for mid single digit content cost increase for the full fiscal. In the first quarter it was 5 percent YoY increase, so we are quite comfortable with the mid single digit guidance that we had given for content cost increase.
Confident of meeting 67 ARPU guidance in FY16 Dish TV
