One out of three DTH subscribers inactive; industry faces slowdown

[iS THAT ME]

One out of three DTH subscribers inactive; industry faces slowdown

After the scorching pace of last three years, the six-horse race of India’s direct-to-home television business has finally run out of steam. Among 45 million gross subscribers in 2011 shared between Airtel Digital, Tata Sky, Dish TV, Sun Direct, Videocon D2H and Big TV, an embarrasingly high 15 million subscribers are inactive. Inactive subscribers are those who have DTH connections but have not renewed their subscriptions. What makes the numbers worse is a 50% jump in inactive DTH consumers over 2010 when their numbers stood at 10 million on a gross base of 33 million. Also, in terms of gross subscriber additions, 2011 saw only 36% growth over previous year whereas in 2010, the industry had recorded a 50% growth in gross additions over 2009 figures, indicating a slowdown.

The latest figures are part of an analysis by Media Partners Asia (MPA), a leading independent international media research agency. “The net additions (paying subscribers) in 2011 were around 8-9 million, taking overall net subscriber numbers to 29-30 million on a gross base of 44-45 million,” said Vivek Couto, executive director, MPA.

The last three months of 2011 marked a fresh peak and trough for the DTH pay-TV market in terms of gross subscriber additions. “While the industry added 1.6 million new subscribers in October, a mere 0.61 million were added in December,” the report said.

The MPA report names Dish TV the market leader with a 28.2% share. “Late entrant Videocon D2H has seen robust additions surpassing Big TV,” Couto added. According to the MPA analysis, Tata Sky and Airtel Digital TV have managed to corner 19% and 16%, respectively, while Reliance Big TV and Sun Direct have seen limited growth due to funding, churn and legacy satellite issues.

The good news is the doubling of gross DTH subscriber base in three years (2009-2011) a target which was expected to met only by 2014. However, industry losses are expected to have crossed R6,000 crore on revenues of close to R4,000 crore.

MPA predicts the quality of subscriber additions is expected to improve significantly with higher revenues per user, translating into improved churn and better yields. This is because of the impending digitisation regime under which cable television consumers in four metros will require a digital addressable set-top box from July. “While organised cable firms must import and seed their digital cable boxes as per demand and willingness of consumers, DTH is a ready and proven system with a 45-million subscriber base. Also, DTH players are offering high-definition boxes and other value-added services which will be a challenge for the vanilla digital cable boxes at the beginning,” said a senior analyst tracking media.

Source : Financial Express

 

[Pugazhbalaji]

But future will be dth.

 

[Mansher]

i doubt dth will survive once digital cables take charge! Reason are simple:

digital cables providing more channels and local channels than dth and they are also coming cheap! in my area they are charing rs 240 per month and giving 198 channels including all big channles while in reliance i am paying almost 400 but still i need to add more top up to get channels which my cable wala are providing!

 

[Ravi budhwar]

Ya cable operators have advantage . In my local area cable charges only 150rs. And all ch. Including z ch. And star and network 18 , sports means they are giving all ch. Including regional ch. That are not available in dth's . In Rdtv i am paying 250rs. But happy with rdtv also but one problem is regional ch. That are only available in local cable.

 

[Mansher]

yes but now cable wala seems more addvance! i m justing few things! plz note it's only comparing reliance digital tv hd and my digital cable

- in 240 rs i get almost 198 and new channels add as soon as it launch. while rdtv not adding new channels soon and i only get 160 channels in RDTV and that are counting with tons of news channels!
-in digital cable tv i can enjoy channels without logo issue!
-software is faster and also good ui,while reliance suck big time
- 15 days guide compare to 2 days in reliance
- not lose signal in rain .
- testing hd channels so soon we would have it channel too!
- monthly rent is 240 and they often come to collect 4-5 months after and even i can cut few bucks from it and he said ok.

i have more points but this are few!

 

[Pugazhbalaji]

For max regional channels, we can go for dish tv.

 

[iS THAT ME]

See, cable has its own advantages, while it has disadvantages too.
If for example, by any chance, the wire gets cut, u r with no choice but a shut down tv.
With DTH, there is no issue of cut and damaged wires. Also, audio/video quality is much better than digital cable.
We can take a la carte packs in DTH, while only single pack in most digital cable operators.

 

[Mansher]

same thing happen in DTH too, dth may also face cable cut out, lnb problems, dish alighment issue and some time they take 2-3 days and they charged too while digital cable is free from this as we can pick tech fast and also it is free one! also in rain dth also goes no signals while digital it will still show

you might not checked quality of digital cable, in my area i can find them almost same like reliance which is rate best in dth!

but in 240 you will have all channels in my are compare to spending 400 rs in rdtv hd i still not have ten's 3 channels, 2 new channels NGC and fox channels.

 

[iS THAT ME]

same thing happen in DTH too, dth may also face cable cut out, lnb problems, dish alighment issue and some time they take 2-3 days and they charged too while digital cable is free from this as we can pick tech fast and also it is free one! also in rain dth also goes no signals while digital it will still show

There is no cable cut out problem in DTH....very less...LoL
Dish alignment issue ? lnb problems ? why would there be a problem in them unless we tamper with them ?

you might not checked quality of digital cable, in my area i can find them almost same like reliance which is rate best in dth!

Yeah, coz rdtv doesnt give good quality. I have used rdtv and airrtel. the reason i stick to airtel is because of quality. RDTV sucks when i comes to quality...

but in 240 you will have all channels in my are compare to spending 400 rs in rdtv hd i still not have ten's 3 channels, 2 new channels NGC and fox channels.

You wont get English movies channels, variety of muic channels, bet you wont have Sony Mix and UTV Stars or VH1. there wont be BBC Ent. or host of CBS Channels...



Every thing has its advantages and disadvantages...
But if you look closely, DTH would appear to be the winner