Chief Strategy Officer, INX Media Apart from the huge untapped market, the use of new technology like HDTV and the potential of quadruple play mean there's still scope for new players We have a TV household penetration of just over 50 per cent while it is more than 90 per cent in most other countries, so we have a long way to go in terms of penetration. Then multiply this by the number of languages that we have and you get a sense of where one section of growth will come from. There is then the whole subject of TV on the mobile and interactive TV which hasn't even happened yet in India. What's stopping the introduction of most of these services is a little bandwidth which will allow a two-way path to support interactivity. |
There's also a whole new generation of HDTV channels waiting in the wings to enter the consumers' home. The HDTV experience makes SD (the current day standard ) look quite basic. The consumer experience with quadruple play is yet another new opportunity. Imagine the growth and excitement when the same picture is available on the cell phone, the land line phone (which will have an inbuilt screen), the TV set and the PC. |
What we have as TV channels today in India are very basic and soon you'll be able to go to the TV set and order your pizza or make a booking at the local multiplex for a movie and select your choice of seat using your remote control, and so on. None of this is my imagination "" it's available today in cities like Hong Kong on PCCW's Now TV platform, for example, at a relatively modest price. It won't be long before this will be available in parts of Indian cities. In other parts of the country which are evolving from no-TV to their first set, there will be equally extraordinary growth coming from the base level consumer too. |
There will be a changed landscape where many of the rubbish channels will simply die or go out of business and will be replaced by higher quality services with additional features. So when one looks at the opportunities, I would add that there is room for more channels although the new ones will need to be more directed at specific target audiences. There is room for premium channels like a golfing channel, cooking channel, gardening, horse racing channel, motoring channel, 24-hour sports news channel and so on. In addition, there will be channels dedicated to men-and women, retired folk, children, education, health, interior decorating and other special interest content which viewers will be willing to pay a premium price for. |
As the distribution system eases up, with the onset of more platforms like Reliance and Bharti, there will also be a greater opportunity for channels to be carried. |
President, Network Sales,
Licensing And Telephony, SET
The top 3 channels get 80% of ad revenues. So, while the costs of the other channels equal those of the top 3, it's difficult to see how they'll survive
The television space is indeed getting overcrowded. There are so many channels in each category whether it is news, entertainment, regional languages or sports. However, today you cannot club, say, all the Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs) together. In the entertainment space, there are the top three Hindi channels and then there are the rest. The top three command 80 per cent of the advertising revenue in the category and the rest play around with the remaining 20 per cent.