tech_genie
Member
- Joined
- 20 Sep 2012
- Messages
- 879
- Reaction score
- 697
COUNTRY: PAKISTAN
Switchover to digital TV
TWENTY years after the onset of satellite television, millions of Indians in the four metros — of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata — will have to switch over to digital set-top boxes from October 31.
The government, together with multi-system operators, is introducing a phased switchover to digital STBs in these four cities. On October 10, the analogue signals of English movie channels were switched off and last week the analogue signals for Hindi movie channels and general entertainment channels were likewise switched off.
And from October 31, all those television viewers who have not switched over to digital set-top boxes (STBs) will experience a blackout on their television sets in these cities. But the government is confident that a majority of viewers in these cities will change their STBs by the deadline. There are about 10.5 million cable households in these four cities, of which two million are still on analogue channels.
The digitisation of television broadcasting will help broadcasters earn more revenues, as it will plug the leakage in revenues. At present, thousands of cable operators – there are 10,000 local cable operators (LCOs) in the four cities – have opaque reporting systems and though they extract money from subscribers, many of them fail to pass it on to broadcasters.
According to Uday Shankar, CEO, Star India, digitisation will fundamentally change the broadcasting business in India, ensuring more money for content creators.
According to estimates, broadcasters get less than a third of the revenue of Rs1,500 crore in the four cities.
Of course, many of the LCOs will be wiped out, as multi-system operators (MSOs) take over the operations. In fact, several digital television broadcasters have already impacted the business of cable operators across India.
The government has launched a three-phase plan to roll out digitisation across the country. In the first phase, the four metros would be covered and by December 31, 2014, the rest of the country would be covered under it. Ultimately, 140 million analogue television households will have to acquire digital STBs.
The ambitious programme has resulted in a major fight between LCOs, MSOs and direct-to-home (DTH) operators. Leading DTH operators are now gearing up to meet the expected demand for their services, though MSOs will fiercely resist the migration of cable homes to digital ones.
*****
BUT unlike the DTH operators, who have by now established a solid infrastructure and have developed back-end and front-end expertise to deal with subscribers, the MSOs who were all along dependent on unprofessional LCOs, will now have to set up their systems.
MSOs, however, have the advantage of offering cheaper services and more channels to subscribers, especially of local languages. Another aspect is that their services are not disrupted during heavy rains or when gusty winds blow across an area, as happens in the case of DTH subscribers. MSOs are also able to bundle other services including broadband connectivity to subscribers.
While DTH operators invest about Rs2,500 on every new customer, the MSOs will have to bear the burden of Rs750 for an STB. Television broadcasters, however, are the biggest winners, as their revenues will soar, whether subscribers go for MSO-led STBs or DTH systems.
The October 31 deadline for the four cities will see the first major challenge for the government’s digitalisaton drive. Chief ministers Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal and J. Jayalalitha of Tamil Nadu — Kolkata and Chennai are the capitals of the two states — have been opposed to the mandatory switchover to digital transmission.
Banerjee is fighting on behalf of the thousands of LCOs in Kolkata, who will be wiped out. Jayalalitha has sought an extension of the deadline, but the government is unwilling to oblige her. Television broadcasters claim there is heavy under-reporting by LCOs and that their subscription revenues are less than a third of what they should be earning.
LCOs, who earn about Rs30 billion as subscription revenue every year in India, but pay MSOs less than a tenth of the amount, have emerged as a powerful lobby with connections to political parties. And with their entire revenue model being challenged by digitisation, they are putting up a stiff fight. They resisted digitsation for years, but are now being forced to accept it.
In the four metros, for instance, their carriage charges add up to Rs8 billion, whereas their subscription revenues are at Rs4 billion. With digitsation, their revenues will soar many times. Under the analogue system, subscribers get less than 100 channels, but after digitisation, it is mandatory for the MSOs to offer 500 channels to subscribers.
*****
SATELLITE television was first launched in India about 20 years ago by Subhash Chandra, the chairman of the Zee TV group. Chandra says that though the industry is incurring huge losses — he estimates it at Rs100 billion a year — there are tremendous opportunities for growth. According to him, the satellite TV industry will triple revenues to Rs1.5 trillion by 2020.
India’s satellite TV market is flooded with more than 800 channels, 600 of which are news channels. While in the past politicians were keen to start newspapers, many of them now start their own news channels.
Of course, news channels have also become aggressive, and many of their owners also have political ambitions. With news channels going out of their way in backing NGOs and activists, especially in their allegations against politicians, there are growing calls for curbs on them. Even the government wants the industry to establish certain norms while reporting events.
Some politicians have dragged television news channels to court for defamation. Recently, law minister Salman Khurshid, accused by Arvind Kejriwal, a former aide of anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare, of siphoning off funds from his NGOs — a charge that was initially reported by a television channel — has dragged the network to court, filing a defamation suit of Rs5 billion.
Chandra’s Zee TV itself has been accused of biased reporting by a Congress MP, who has also accused it of blackmailing his group of companies.
Increasingly, there are fears that many channels are set up to extort funds from politicians and business houses, besides seeking favours from government officials.
Political parties, especially in the south, are also setting up their own networks to project their points of view.
India’s satellite revolution may have transformed the country’s broadcasting sector 20 years ago, but the way ahead is littered with several challenges. The medium provides enormous power to a handful of people at the top, so it is attracting a lot of new players, many of who do not believe in any journalistic ethics or principles.
Source: Switchover to digital TV | DAWN.COM
