DDF Exclusive General Discussion, News, Updates And Comparison Of Various DTH Brands

[Harsha1996]

Bro, can u please provide actual source or data to prove that most new airtel digital tv subscribers r the ones who have opted for airtel black plan. Yes, for sure airtel would have got many new connections for its DTH business thru airtel black as it would have leveraged its vast presence in mobile and broadband segment and provided customers attractive offers to club all connections in one airtel black plan but i am certain still majority new customers would have come from standalone buying of DTH connections.

Bro, do u have any specific source that majority new customers are standalone customers....airtel want customer to be in there eco system....that's why they are bundling all services....and promoting and providing xstream box for nominal so called deposit... That's why their subscriber base increased....
I am not saying all new subs are because of this bundled plans but most of dth subs are because of that bundles....
And, do you think Amazon will accept prime video is the major reason for prime subscription they are not going to....same with airtel...

I have been using airtel digital tv for last 13 years and as years have progressed there services have become more better, be it customer care / product quality / app/ channel additions and all other things have greatly improved and i have not had any bad experience as far as service is concerned. There might b few cases where subscribers face issue but that is common in the best of companies. Also at many occasions customer is at fault but instead of co-operating with the company to resolve the issue they simply just criticise and disconnect the connection.

Every company, person will progress with the time...that's general...i am not saying they are worst or something...but what they are promoting premium service is need to be improved for sure...
Of course they improved themselves in every ascept even they changed that irritating logo....after year's...but that's not enough....they don't have standalone app for dth services...don't care but the dth section not efficient in the app...just compare it with tataplay app, even sundirect app...
Of course, every company have some issues and sometimes customers will face issues because of them that's for sure...but the way they respond is matters...and you are saying customer need to stay with them and co operate...for some extent not for silly reasons.....

 

[Harsha1996]

Coming to DTH companies facing losses bcoz of NTO regulations, that is so not true. Yes, as i have said that earlier business model where a particular DTH or Cable Operator might b entering long term deals with broadcasters at lower cost and selling the same channels to subscribers at a high profit margin while other operators getting same channels at higher cost thus generating low profit margin and all of them inflating a-la-carte channel rates so that customer does not opt for them may b thing of the past but now under new regulations there is fair level playing field as all r getting channels at same price.

Bro everybody is a loser in most cases because of this regulations....even end user even broadcaster everybody.... that's why 2.0 is coming.
In fact, because of new regulations only OTT got more subscribers.....this rules help them along with pandemic

 

[Harsha1996]

Coming to revenue there r ample avenues for it be it NCF, 20% MRP share of channels /bouquet taken by customers, carriage fee channels, ads on EPG/home channels / boot screen and many more. There might b churn in niche segment to OTT and some regular middle / lower middle class customers are definitely shifting to DD Free Dish but still there is a very large population which stays with pay tv operators and opt for their SD/HD/Hybrid boxes. Airtel Digital TV has managed to tap in better across audience spectrum hence has emerged as the winner so they should be give full credit for that. There is nothing sort of "loss leader" strategy for airtel digital tv, they r financially doing well. They r tapping into both the niche as well as regular customers by providing custom made plans for them, so u have the free OTT services being provided with their mobile, broadband connections which an airtel digital tv user can avail on XStream even if they have not opted for airtel black plan while if one opts for airtel black then certain extra benefits r clubbed into it which is not a new thing as discounted combo offers have been there in market for various products since ages . For regular SD/HD box customers airtel digital tv has designed so many low NCF/discounted plans which r tailor made for different regions or set of subscribers so that has also delivered great success. Even all the huge network of retailers which have longstanding relationship with airtel bcoz of its mobile/broadband business, it has helped immensely in scaling up business of its DTH arm

Bro if they put ads everywhere like u said it will he like local cable tv
And they provided some packs for gaing customers from all ends...
If you still didn't believe we need to wait for few years....that's the only option they are going to use dth business as a perk to compete with jio tv set top box....
Until and unless this NTO rules are changed and help all stakeholders in an efficient way.

 

[Harsha1996]

By providing OTT services for free, airtel digital tv or any other operators are not at loss. Firstly many OTT platforms themselves tie up with various operators to expand their footprint, certain times these r promotional tie ups where no fee is charged by OTT platforms and subscription is provided by the concerned operators with their services/plans and at other times there r tie ups where operators get subscription at discounted rates and same is passed on free / alongwith various mobile / broadband plans to customers. There is enough room to absorb such cost, for example if i am paying Rs. 499 per month rental to airtel broadband and they r giving 1 year free XStream Premium Plan to me so each month i have to pay this rental to avail free subscription and in this rental and thru various other revenue models whatever money it costs for operators to get & provide these OTT services , all of it can easily b absorbed in this and still company can earn profit. There r many revenue streams which regular users might b unaware of . If u might have noticed that Netflix plans never come free with lower or mid level plans bcoz these cost more to operators and r clubbed with higher pricing plans to absorb the cost

Did I mentioned players are losing revenue because of free ott and all...

Tata Play can easily sustain but as i have discussed numerous times that they need to change its strategy.... Add more home channels and air teleshopping ads, add more carriage fee channels , more ad on apps ,,home page of android box etc.

So you are asking them to cheap and provide ads everywhere is it mi phone or what?

Tata sky clear with their strategy ott bundles and hybrid model...they are going to be content aggregator they sell channels and ott, rent movies etc.,
Already they are placing some ads in places we don't want it to place ads in app...it will hamper...the user experience...
U are asking tataplay app to change like airtel app...i think customers don't want it...because tataplay app also have live tv...

 

[Harsha1996]

Overseas satellite tv or media landscape cannot b compared to India. All things r vastly different. TV and OTT both r here to stay and grow in India. Broadcasters and DTH/Cable operators need to correct their mistakes to stop/reduce their churn in subscriber base rather than blaming TRAI, DD Free Dish or OTT platforms for their downfall.

It is easy to say...but OTT is gaining market...people belived no broadband, no censor with this...OTT can not gain market but it is happening...It is not because of OTT or DD Free Dish...the big reason is TRAI...
1.OTT they are providing
2. Actually DD free fish needs to be entry point in major...but it is eating pay tv revenues because of TRAI...

 

[dino29]

I maybe wrong but i strongly feel that for FIFA World World Cup Viacom18 will provide a 4K Feed to major DTH Platforms. We may see a service channel getting added for same before start of the event.
Also Sports18 HD likely to b added alongside this.

I am anticipating that some partnership or merger might be happening between 2 leading DTH operators , this might be accompanied by sharing of satellite and other resources. We might see gradual migration happening for it to new satellite. Also as new RIO agreement is signed with various broadcasters, pending channels will b added on Tata Play and Airtel Digital TV....for dish d2h i think they will wait till internal disputes get sorted out. Airtel Digital TV viewers should keep a watch on softwares updates which r likely to include changes like new transponder / satellite addition in system settings, roll out of 4 digit LCN and therafter even keep an eye on scrolls for LCN realignment.

Some of u were stating that for different DTH Platforms common channels cannot be streamed on designated satellites. I would like to tell u that it is very much possible...1stly multiple encryptions will b added on required channels so that concerned channels can v accessed by viewers of respective platforms, 2ndly individual DTH operator can block/allow visibility of desired channels with the help of bouquet ID feature which is available with the backend end and enabled on all the boxes box thru the software and lastly subscription management will continue to be separately managed for each of the platforms which includes RIO agreements & so will the LCN Numbers and other such things. As far as i remember already in new regulations brought by MIB it is clearly mentioned that even incase of acquisition or merger still for certain period all data has to b stored separately.

Most important thing which has been introduced in the new guidelines is that foreign tv channels cannot be made available as service channels unless they have valid tv channel licence from MIB... So this is likely to affect transmission/availability of channels like Hits, Shorts TV in India. Also for Indian Origin companies who want to launch their content as service channels on various platforms, for the same a fixed fee needs to paid. Biggest change which has been made is with regards to exclusivity of these service channel, a company can introduce a service channel only on a single platform....if say Tata Play provides Shorts TV then Airtel Digital TV cannot transmit it and vice versa.
I am sure DTH and Cable operators will challenge these rules in courts / TDSAT

Few years back too certain changes were brought about (don't exactly remember if these were recommendations or formal rules) wherein number of service channels were capped to certain % of total channels carried on a platform.

Already service channels r barred from airing ads

 

[Sivabhaskar]

I maybe wrong but i strongly feel that for FIFA World World Cup Viacom18 will provide a 4K Feed to major DTH Platforms. We may see a service channel getting added for same before start of the event.
Also Sports18 HD likely to b added alongside this.

I am anticipating that some partnership or merger might be happening between 2 leading DTH operators , this might be accompanied by sharing of satellite and other resources. We might see gradual migration happening for it to new satellite. Also as new RIO agreement is signed with various broadcasters, pending channels will b added on Tata Play and Airtel Digital TV....for dish d2h i think they will wait till internal disputes get sorted out. Airtel Digital TV viewers should keep a watch on softwares updates which r likely to include changes like new transponder / satellite addition in system settings, roll out of 4 digit LCN and therafter even keep an eye on scrolls for LCN realignment.

Some of u were stating that for different DTH Platforms common channels cannot be streamed on designated satellites. I would like to tell u that it is very much possible...1stly multiple encryptions will b added on required channels so that concerned channels can v accessed by viewers of respective platforms, 2ndly individual DTH operator can block/allow visibility of desired channels with the help of bouquet ID feature which is available with the backend end and enabled on all the boxes box thru the software and lastly subscription management will continue to be separately managed for each of the platforms which includes RIO agreements & so will the LCN Numbers and other such things. As far as i remember already in new regulations brought by MIB it is clearly mentioned that even incase of acquisition or merger still for certain period all data has to b stored separately.

Most important thing which has been introduced in the new guidelines is that foreign tv channels cannot be made available as service channels unless they have valid tv channel licence from MIB... So this is likely to affect transmission/availability of channels like Hits, Shorts TV in India. Also for Indian Origin companies who want to launch their content as service channels on various platforms, for the same a fixed fee needs to paid. Biggest change which has been made is with regards to exclusivity of these service channel, a company can introduce a service channel only on a single platform....if say Tata Play provides Shorts TV then Airtel Digital TV cannot transmit it and vice versa.
I am sure DTH and Cable operators will challenge these rules in courts / TDSAT

Few years back too certain changes were brought about (don't exactly remember if these were recommendations or formal rules) wherein number of service channels were capped to certain % of total channels carried on a platform.

Already service channels r barred from airing ads

.
I have a couple of questions:

1) Is satellite TV capable of transmitting 4K pictures? (I am assuming yes, theoretically at least). I am reading elsewhere on the web (from unverified sources) that it would require huge bandwidths even for a single channel to transmit 4K signals over air. How feasible is this for our Indian satellite TV operators to implement, even if it is for a single channel?

2) Do the current Set Top Boxes that have already been provided by our DTH operators (including hybrid streaming boxes which can stream 4K over the Internet) have the hardware to receive 4K signals over air?

@Siva, I would like you to join in the discussion, please.

 

[Stvnn]

But, Indian DTHs have already experimented it through Star Sports/Star Gold 4K long back..

 

[Sivabhaskar]

But, Indian DTHs have already experimented it through Star Sports/Star Gold 4K long back..

.
Woah! I wasn't aware of that.

It is awesome if that was the case. Are you aware which DTHs participated in that?

 

[Vadirocks]

I maybe wrong but i strongly feel that for FIFA World World Cup Viacom18 will provide a 4K Feed to major DTH Platforms. We may see a service channel getting added for same before start of the event.
Also Sports18 HD likely to b added alongside this.

I am anticipating that some partnership or merger might be happening between 2 leading DTH operators , this might be accompanied by sharing of satellite and other resources. We might see gradual migration happening for it to new satellite. Also as new RIO agreement is signed with various broadcasters, pending channels will b added on Tata Play and Airtel Digital TV....for dish d2h i think they will wait till internal disputes get sorted out. Airtel Digital TV viewers should keep a watch on softwares updates which r likely to include changes like new transponder / satellite addition in system settings, roll out of 4 digit LCN and therafter even keep an eye on scrolls for LCN realignment.

Some of u were stating that for different DTH Platforms common channels cannot be streamed on designated satellites. I would like to tell u that it is very much possible...1stly multiple encryptions will b added on required channels so that concerned channels can v accessed by viewers of respective platforms, 2ndly individual DTH operator can block/allow visibility of desired channels with the help of bouquet ID feature which is available with the backend end and enabled on all the boxes box thru the software and lastly subscription management will continue to be separately managed for each of the platforms which includes RIO agreements & so will the LCN Numbers and other such things. As far as i remember already in new regulations brought by MIB it is clearly mentioned that even incase of acquisition or merger still for certain period all data has to b stored separately.

Most important thing which has been introduced in the new guidelines is that foreign tv channels cannot be made available as service channels unless they have valid tv channel licence from MIB... So this is likely to affect transmission/availability of channels like Hits, Shorts TV in India. Also for Indian Origin companies who want to launch their content as service channels on various platforms, for the same a fixed fee needs to paid. Biggest change which has been made is with regards to exclusivity of these service channel, a company can introduce a service channel only on a single platform....if say Tata Play provides Shorts TV then Airtel Digital TV cannot transmit it and vice versa.
I am sure DTH and Cable operators will challenge these rules in courts / TDSAT

Few years back too certain changes were brought about (don't exactly remember if these were recommendations or formal rules) wherein number of service channels were capped to certain % of total channels carried on a platform.

Already service channels r barred from airing ads

4K - Viacom Ready To Give But Who Is Ready To Show??? Not Even Single DTH Ready For That, Due To Transponders Shortage,,,