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Completion of the next two phases of cable television digitisation programme will be a win-win for all stakeholders who will see benefits of about Rs 14,800 crore on account of increased revenue disclosure by local cable operators, says a Crisil report.
"The next two phases of digitisation of television distribution, which we foresee extending all the way to fiscal 2018-end, should be the best so far for all the stakeholders. Our analysis shows stakeholders would benefit by Rs 14,800 crore" Crisil said in a statement.
"Of this, direct-to-home (DTH) operators are expected to garner as much as Rs 3,300 crore, multi-system operators (MSOs) are expected to receive Rs 1,500 crore, broadcasters are estimated to receive Rs 3,900 crore and incremental tax revenues of Rs 6,100 crores are estimated to accrue to the government, thanks to increased disclosure of revenues by local cable operators (LCOs) and increase in overall subscription base," it added.
After metros in Phase I and 38 cities in Phase II, other urban areas, including municipal corporations and municipalities, fall under phase III of the digitisation drive.
The next two phases of digitisation will cover the remaining urban and rural areas of the country. The timeline for completion of Phase III is December 31, 2015, and Phase IV - December 31, 2016.
Crisil estimates that given their already stretched balance sheets and high capital expenditure requirement in these phases, MSOs will be able to garner only 45 per cent of the incremental digital market in the next two phases of digitisation. The balance will go to DTH service providers.
"This is in contrast to the previous two phases of digitisation wherein MSOs garnered 67 per cent of incremental digital market together with LCOs," it added.
Crisil pointed out that DTH's upper hand in 'cable-dark' and sparsely populated regions will aid its market growth. And while incremental revenues will be on similar lines for both, profit share will be significantly more for DTH firms as they have complete access to subscription revenues unlike MSOs, which share a large part of their revenues with LCOs.
However, the DTH operators and MSOs also have to make investments over the digitisation period to gain more customers.
"DTH operators need to invest around Rs 13,700 crore over the implementation period. For MSOs, capital expenditure (capex) need is around Rs 8,300 crore. The capex requirements will be insignificant after the digitisation phase," the rating agency said.
