Television's next big wave

Fifty-nine-year-old Rupal ben does not understand the brouhaha behind the direct-to-home (DTH) satellite and a set-top box that her son bought a few days back and installed on top of their television set.

What she does understand is that her favourite shows look clearer (thanks to digital transmission that gives DVD quality picture). She also enjoys a bouquet of religious shows and Gujarati serials as compared to the earlier 20 channels that played on the idiot box.

She has still to realise that the "funny-looking box" supports up to 400 channels and that cable blackouts (due to power cuts) have stopped completely. Well, that's because DTH users receive their transmission directly from satellite and do not have to miss out on their favourite programme simply because the service provider does not have power supply.

Of the 108 million cable and television homes (C&S), there are approximately 2-2.3 million people like Rupal ben who have already opted for DTH services.

Players like Dish TV, Tata Sky and DD Direct can only hope to get a sliver of the 9 million homes that do not have a cable connection today. A few who are lurking around the corner are operators like Sun TV and the Anil Ambani-led Blue Sky DTH. 
 

BEAM THEM DOWN, SCOTTIE

DISH TV

Maxi: Rs 3,490 (includes set-top box, antenna) along with a subscription of 125 channels for three months.  After three months, a monthly subscription of Rs 300 (plus taxes)

Freedom Plan: Rs 3,090 (includes set-top box, antenna) along with a subscription of 60 channels for three months. After three months, a monthly subscription of Rs 60

Welcome: Rs 3,190 (includes set-top box, antenna) along with a subscription of 80 channels for three months. After three months, a monthly subscription of Rs 160 plus taxes in south India (Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka) and Rs 180 plus taxes in the rest of the India. (Rs 200 as installation charges extra on every plan; set-top box)

Channels: 160 channels including Star, Zee and Sony 

Availability: All India

TATA SKY

Introductory Offer: Rs 2,999 (set-top box, antenna) 

+ Rs 1,000 (activation and installation charges + one year warranty) + Rs 200 (monthly subscription fee)

Channels: 56 channels, including Star and Sony

Availability: All India

DD DIRECT+

One Time Payment: Less than Rs 3,000 for the set-top box and antenna (exclusive of installation charges, no monthly subscription)

Channels: 19 Doordarshan, 14 private free-to-air channels and 12 audio channels from AIR

Availability: All over India except the Andaman and 

Nicobar Islands

Why should people consider DTH as an option when they are happy with their cable operators?

"First, not all consumers are satisfied with the service provided by cable operators," claims Anjali Malhotra, VP (marketing), Dish TV. She continues, "Second, the capacity of the existing carriers is about 65-70 channels, while Dish TV offers 150 channels and has the capacity to add many more."

This is huge as compared to the channels provided by cable television due to its limited bandwidth. DTH also provides a subscription-driven revenue model for niche regional channels.

Is DTH cost-effective?

Figuratively speaking, no. A digital set-top box costs over Rs 3,000 (excluding installation charges) and compared to the Rs 250 that you might pay your cablewallah, this is expensive.

But here's the drawback. Cable operators give consumers no choice in terms of the channels that they show. As compared to that, DTH's monthly subscription rates vary from Rs 150-200.

Who offers DTH today and what do they include?

Dish TV offers channels from leading broadcasters like Star, Sony and Zee Television, along with a few international and regional channels. Tata Sky, on the other hand, is yet to include Zee's channel bouquet as a part of its offering.

DD Direct, the free-to-air DTH operator, offers its customers 19 DD channels and a few free-to-air channels like Sun TV, Star Utsav, MH1, Jain TV, Akash Bangla, Kairali, BBC World, Zee Music, Aaj Tak, Headlines Today and a few others.

What's the big deal about having DTH?

Vikram Kaushik, managing director and CEO, Tata Sky feels that DTH scores in offering services to let consumers watch their favourite programmes anytime.

Moreover, you can watch movies on demand. In other words, DTH is interactive and this makes the medium very special. DTH players like Tata Sky and Dish TV have introduced services like retrieval of news headlines at any given time.

For instance, if you want to take a look at some of the earlier news headlines (even when the channel is not airing them) Dish TV subscribers can "" via the set-top box "" request Zee News to air the news. Similarly, Tata Sky subscribers can get their share of news from Star TV. This is possible because the set-top box retrieves data from the satellite operators' servers.

Tata Sky is planning to launch a pay-per-movie service for which consumers pay a fixed sum to watch films.

"We are in the process of aggregating our movie content. Once it is in place, we will work out affordable options for our consumers to pay for Hindi and English movies," says Kaushik.

Tata Sky is also planning to launch high-end set-top boxes that will enable real time movie/programme recording right on its hard drives. Quite simply, the set-top box will essentially double up as a programme recorder.

Our verdict

Yes it works, but yes, it is expensive to begin with. The cost of a digital set-top box is prohibitive for most subscribers and this could affect penetration levels of DTH in India. But if the likes of Rupal ben are nodding in approval, maybe television's next wave has just begun.