(Updated) Unfair Price Rise by ESPN STAR force DTH Operators to pull off HD Channels

Before on-field battle between India-Pakistan Cricket series begins, battle was started between official boradcasters ESPN-STAR and various DTH Operators. ESS has raised price of its HD channels from Rs 40 to Rs 120, which is huge price, and in protest several DTH opertaors like Airtel, Dish TV and Sun Direct have decided to pull of ESS HD channels viz ESPN HD and STAR CRICKET HD.

These price rise displays greediness of ESS by charging such huge amount for its HD channels considering HD viewing is gaining popularity in India. Inspite HD channels were highely charges, channels continued to broadcast advertisments (which included HD Movies channels as well). TRAI should intervene and stop this price rise forced by Channel broadcasters.

In protest I have decided to drop plan of subscribing to SD version of Star Cricket, and watch all matches on Doordarshan!

Source

The country's top direct-to-home (DTH) players Airtel Digital, Sun TV and Dish TV have pulled the plug on ESPN HD and Star Cricket HD just before the start of the much-anticipated India-Pakistan series due to a sudden hike in tariffs by the broadcaster. There are almost a million high-definition (HD) subscribers on DTH in India out of a total market of 50 million.

A DTH operator told TOI that ESPN HD, which used to cost Rs 40 per month, is now being priced at Rs 142 monthly, while customers who earlier paid Rs 40 for Star Cricket HD will now have to pay Rs 120 monthly. This hike they said is too steep for them to pass on to their subscribers. However, Tata Sky, Videocon D2H and Reliance Big TV will continue telecasting the HD versions of the sports channels. The India-Pakistan series starts on December 25 and has attracted huge advertiser interest with ESPN expected to rake in around Rs 120 crore.

Salil Kapoor, Dish TV CEO, told TOI, "This sort of increase before the start of such a series is not justified and we have decided to not carry these channels on the HD platform. Broadcasters need to be more sensitive about pricing although we are still hoping some sort of a solution can be achieved before the series starts." He added the adoption and growth of HD in India will be impacted with this kind of insensitive pricing by broadcasters.

Dish TV has the highest number of DTH subscribers in India at around 14 million, while Airtel DTH has 7.5 million registered users. HD has been a growing segment for all DTH operators. A spokesperson for Airtel DTH also confirmed that they will not be telecasting the HD version of ESPN and Star Cricket.

Update: ESPN STAR has denied allegations that prices have increased for their HD channels. Now not sure, who to blame, ESS or Airtel for removing channels before high profile India-Pak Cricket series.

 

Ridiculous channel packages by TATASKY

DTH operator TATASKY is well known for its after sales service & good Customer Care service. But one thing many of its customers agree (as per different forums) is that channel packaging by TATASKY is worst.
Their move to remove Sports channel out of base pack was welcomed by many saying that this would bring base price lower, and also avoid burden on un-interested customers. But later it introduced Life-style Gold pack and putting all new channels like Imagine, Colors in it, but what was ridiculous that FTA channels like 9X were also added in that pack, and even business news channel from UTV. This channels were no way related to lifestyle! And many other DTH operator do provide this GEC channels in base pack with other Hindi GEC.
Later they introduced many pack a Cosmo pack for English movie channels like TCM, World Movies, etc. It looked fine as package contained special genre channels, but again TATASKY made a strange decision of adding business news channel ET NOW to this pack. This would be most stupid decision about channel packaging by any pay TV operator.
Customers should lodge a protest about such packaging to TATASKY, and better TATASKY should explain about their ridiculous packaging. This type of channel packaging is causing lot of discontent among customers, and TATASKY should act on it before it is late (i.e. customers shift to better options).

Radio on DTH, will we get it in India?

Radio on DTH splits broadcasters

Should radio be a part of the direct-to-home (DTH) broadcasting bouquet? The question has the country's media industry sharply divided.
Though some DTH platforms offer radio (mainly state-owned All India Radio and satellite radio WorldSpace), the government is yet to take a decision on whether to allow such a service.
One of the issues raised by some media players is that FM radio licences are city or town specific, and that offering FM stations on DTH could be a violation of government norms.
Replying to a consultation paper floated by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on the matter, WorldSpace has said that carriage of radio channels as part of DTH TV service is well-accepted in most parts of the world, including the US, Europe and the Middle East. According to WorldSpace, radio channels that are approved by the competent authorities to offer national level services may be permitted to provide content to DTH operators in India.
FM radio player Entertainment Network India Ltd (ENIL) wants radio on the DTH platforms for greater reach. Unlike TV signals, radio requires lower bandwidth. "So, there won't be much additional burden on carrier capacity and on transponder bandwidth," ENIL has said.
On the other hand, Radio Mid-Day, another private FM radio player, has said that DTH service providers "cannot provide our Mumbai radio stations to their customers outside Mumbai." Also, any service by DTH "to provide our channels should be after taking our prior consent and after paying requisite fee," it said.
Dish TV, the first DTH operator, has said that DTH operators should not be allowed to provide radio channels as it may be a violation of the licensing conditions and uplinking/ downlinking guidelines. If DTH operators are allowed to offer radio stations, many government norms need to be reviewed and changed, Dish TV has said.
The Zee Turner Alliance, too, has opposed the idea. "DTH platform owners should not be permitted to carry radio channels as the licensing for the radio services is separate and distinct," it has said. It has argued permitting radio channels on DTH would result in infringing of territorial limits specified by the existing radio licences.
Other DTH service providers, including TataSky, Reliance Big TV, and Sun Direct, have however, stand in favour.
TataSky has stated that it is a common practice in many other countries to offer radio on DTH and even on cable. There is no conflict of business interest with an existing radio system as DTH is a paid service, it has said.
Reliance has compared this scenario with the telecom sector. "Like in the case of telecom service providers, which can provide mobile TV in addition to traditional voice and data, DTH operators can carry TV signals containing audio and video, and also audio signals of a radio channel," Reliance has argued.

I believe TRAI should provide satellite license to radio channels along with some regulation for the content. Also the radio channels should be asked to produce a seperate beam/signal for DTH targeting whole nation unlike Region/City specific which radio channels has. Lets see what happens.

Videocon eyes one crore DTH subscribers; to start services on May 1

Videocon eyes one crore DTH subscribers; to start services on May 1
Diversified business house Videocon Group is making an ambitious foray into the direct-to-home services with plans to garner one crore subscribers in the next six years.

The group, which made an announcement of Rs 1,000 crore for the DTH venture earlier, made a soft launch of its 'Videocon D2H' services last evening in Macau in front of its 2,500 dealers, who where specially flown in there.

"The full commercial roll-out will start from May 1. In the first year, we are looking at 15 lakh subscribers and add similar number every year. The target is to have one crore subscribers in six years," Videocon Group Chairman Venugopal Dhoot told PTI.

He said the company is set for a mega roll out of its DTH services as the 2,500 dealers will have around 15,000 showroom across the country.

"That gives us an advantage. Besides, we will also be offering TVs with in-built set-top boxes (STBs), which no one in the market offers," Mr. Dhoot said.

He said over 40 engineers of the group spent nearly two years in developing the TV sets with in-built STBs.

The DTH services will leverage on Videocon's brand equity. "We had also unveiled a new brand logo for the group, which will be common for DTH, mobile services and the consumer durables segment," he said.

Asked about the pricing of its DTH offering, he said: "It will be competitively priced with those of the existing players. We will also have packages which are innovative and give customers value for money."

HD era begins on Indian Television - Sun Direct HD Launched

After launch of DTH (Direct to Home) TV via satellite few years back, Indian television has come long way from 1 operator to 6 operators. As number of operators increased, the competition increased resulting need to operators to provide something new. BIG TV came with bunch of PPV movie channel catering various genre of movies. Airtel's DIGITAL TV provided 'Worldspace' Radio.
Now SUN DIRECT, the DTH service from SUN Group (India) and Astro Group (Malaysia) have launched HD service. Initially it will have 2 movie channels in Tamil & Telgu, while Hindi movie channel would be added soon. It is also expecting HD content from FOX, Warner Bros who have recently began their services in India. Then Common wealth games 2010 in HD would also made available.

Targeted initially at a niche set of TV viewers, Sun Direct’s HD services will begin with two channels–one each for Tamil movies and Telugu movies–at a cost of Rs 10,000 per subscription, before the company’s plans of eight channels are put in place.
It has entered into an arrangement with Korean chaebol Samsung to supply the set-top-boxes required for the HD services.
While various international channels and content providers have queued up to obtain permission for HD broadcast in India, it is the Commonwealth Games 2010 that will flag off the HDTV wave in the country, as the mega event is set to be telecast on the HDTV platform, Sun Direct officials said.
Stating that HDTV was a growing market D’Silva said, “In this coming year at least 20% of the 1.5 million LCDs sold will be of the HD format. We look to capture approximately 20% of this market in 2009-10… So we have a target of around 60,000-70,000 subscribers for the first year.”
Having lined up global channels like Fox International and Warner Brothers to be telecast on its service, Sun Direct looks to capture 40-45% of the DTH market this fiscal, up from its present 30% share. Towards this end the company has earmarked Rs 150 crore as marketing budget.

SUN DIRECT HD website
Sun Direct launches HD services in India - Televisionpoint.com
Sun Direct ushers in high definition TV viewing - Times of India

Politics Direct-To-Home

http://www.indiantelevision.com/mam/headlines/y2k9/apr/aprmam9.php

Political advertising money has started moving to the DTH sector. Dish TV and Tata Sky have firmed up ad deals with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and are in talks with other political parties, including the Congress, as India goes to the Lok Sabha polls this month.
The BJP has committed Rs 1.5 million to Dish TV, which has a subscriber base of close to five million. Tata Sky, however, did not disclose the ad money it would get from the BJP.
“We have signed up with BJP for Rs 1.5 million and will be running their ads for a period of four weeks. We are also in talk with other parties,” Dish TV MD Jawahar Goel tells Indiantelevision.com.
Starting today, Dish TV will have ad spots running on its default landing interactive channel no. 999 and branding on its News Active and Bhakti Active services.
“We have developed this platform as a specialized media for advertisers. As the elections are coming, this is a good opportunity for national political parties like BJP and others to reach out to the 25 million viewers that Dish TV has,” says Goel.

So now politicians have understood the power of DTH TV services. BJP as always trying to have hands on all available mediums to reach out to public, has now joined hands with leading DTH operators TATASKY & DISH TV. Congress too can't ignore the power of this new medium and has joined DTH operators.
Now after elections are over, lets hope any of these parties look into reforms in DTH about pricing, channel packages and other issues faced by DTH customers.

DTH in India

Here is the summary of DTH operators in India regarding technical aspects and some advantages & disadvantages which user may face depending upon their views about the service
As of 18 Jan 2009. Number of channels may vary as channels added/removed by operator

DD Direct Plus
Owner: Prasarbharti (Public Broadcaster)
Satellite: Insat 4B at 93.5°E (Earlier on NSS 6 at 95°E)
Encryption: Un-encrypted
Encoding: MPEG-2
Channels: 50 TV, 21 Radio
Advantages: Completely Free (Free to Air), Good Audio/Video quality, Can be received any parts on India and neighbouring countries, Users can also enjoy local AIR audio channels in part of country, Carries many popular Hindi music channels
Disadvantages: Mostly DD channels and less popular Hindi private channels, appears monotonous as mostly carrying music & news channels, very slow in adding new channels, no EPG, no interactive services

DISH TV
Owner: Essel Group by ZEE
Satellite: NSS 6 at 95°E
Encryption: Conax
Encoding: MPEG-2
Channels: 140 TV, 4 Radio including 6 PPV MOD channels (50 TV & 21 Radio receivable from DD Direct Plus) + Interactive Channels
Advantages: First private operator to launch DTH service in India, user-friendly affordable packages based on regional languages, Carries DD Direct Plus channel in its EPG
Disadvantages: Slow in adding newly launched channels, NEO sports channels not available, not at par in customer service (as per various forums), delay in updating website

TATASKY
Owner: TATA (80%) and SKY (20%)
Satellite: Insat 4A at 83°E
Encryption: Videoguard
Encoding: MPEG-2
Channels: 147 TV including 6 PPV MOD channels, 0 Radio + Interactive Channels
Advantages: Good Audio/Video quality, fast package activation & account recharge, aggressive in adding newly launched channels, EPG in Hindi
Disadvantages: Costlier compared to other service providers, Lack of language based channel packaging, missing few ZEE channels & ZEE SPORTS, Missing popular music channels, No Audio channels

SUN DIRECT
Owner: SUN group (India) & Astro (Malaysia)
Satellite: Insat 4B at 93.5°E
Encryption: Irdeto
Encoding: MPEG-4
Channels: 110 TV, 3 Radio (50 TV & 21 Radio receivable from DD Direct+)
Advantages: First operator to use MPEG-4 encoding so can carry more channels, South Indian market targeted hence carry more south Indian channels then other operators, can receive DD Direct Plus channels as both use same satellite
Disadvantages: No ESPN-STAR SPORTS, NEO channels, no interactive services, less presence in other parts of India

BIG TV
Owner: Reliance ADA group
Satellite: Measat 3 at 91.5°E
Encryption: Mediaguard
Encoding: MPEG-4
Channels: 186 TV including 30 PPV MOD channels, 10 Radio + Interactive Channels
Advantages: Uses MPEG-4 encoding, carries more number of channels then any other operator, Carries more number on PPV channels, Carries most of popular GEC, Movies & Sports channels
Disadvantages: Confusing channel packaging for beginner users, may end up costlier if channel package not selected wisely

AIRTEL DIGITAL TV
Owner: Bharti Airtel group
Satellite: Insat 4CR at 74.0°E
Encryption: Mediaguard
Encoding: MPEG-4
Channels: 144 TV, 10 Worldspace Radio + Interactive Channels
Advantages: Uses MPEG-4 encoding, 1st DTH provider to provide worldspace radio, Universal remote control provided
Disadvantages: Not identified yet

Joining soon to the list VIDEOCON DTH.

Source:
http://www.lyngsat.com/in4b.html
http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/dish.html
http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/tatasky.html
http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/sundirect.html
http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/big.html
http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/airtel.html
http://www.saveondish.com/forum/dish-networks-india-f-1.html
http://broadbandforum.in/direct-home-cable-fm-iptv-television/

TATASKY - Time to Change!

Launched in August 2006, TATASKY (referred as TS later)has come far way now competiting with India’s 1st and only DTH operator (then) - DISH TV. Although started under shadow of SKY UK and channel lineup dominating from STAR group, it has now come long way with many popular and new channels onboard (some exclusive). But now as market continues to grow and with launch of BIG TV from Reliance ADA nearby, time has come for it to change
Some changes it could under go to become more consumer (viewers) friendly are such as

Channel Packaging: Its area where DISH TV still scores, if TS comes out with packaging based on language, it would help viewers to opt for channels based on regional language and bringing down its monthly subscription

Channel Genre: Some people may be interested in Sports while some in Religious channels only, some in Entertainment & Movies, while some in News & Information. So it would be good idea to distribute channels based on its genre which could again give benefit to viewers to select their channel of interest and opt out from rest thereby avoiding lesser monthly subscription

Movies On Demand: MOD is the main source of income and if properly managed and marketed could prove useful for viewers as well as for TS. For this TS should bring cost down (Rs 30 - 40) for old movies and not more than Rs 50 for latest movies. They should get right for Movie on MOD before being telecasted on any channel. Then they should include good regional movies on MOD. Also could be added popular TV serials episodes and lastly Sports content

Audio Channel: TS should consider adding AIR (Radio) channels as well as popular private FM channels from various cities or tie-up with FM providers for Audio channel on DTH

Advanced Interactive services: TS still lags behind services like SKY/DirectTV in providing Interactive services. They should include Tetetext service covering LIVE sports scores, Share Market rates, Forex/Comodity prices, Movie/Music review, Tour Guide, etc. (although some may be covered currently under ACTIVE STAR NEWS)

Subtitle: TS should look forward in providing subtitle (although it is based on content providers), TS can take initative by starting it on STAR channels

Still many points could be added, but hope TS comes out with some of changes mentioned above providing benefit to viewers and sametime adding profits to its pockets

DD Direct Plus - How can it be improved?

DD Direct Plus (DDD+) - The DTH service launched by Prasarbharti, as FTA which could been cheap source of entertainment for people of India reaching whole of nation. But after 3-4 years of its launch (Dec 16, 2004 - Wikipedia), is it settled?
When launched it promised to be a good source of entertainment, with good FTA channels on board, but with time most of popular channels like AAJ TAK, ETV Marathi, SUN TV has left the platform. And the PB has no offer to attract popular channels. The channels currently available are either those who don't find place on pvt. platform (DISH TV/TATASKY) or channel recently launched.
Some suggestion for popularising the service & improve the quality
1. Launching exclusive quality entertainment channels on DDD+, which can telecast new shows as well as old previuos shows.
2. Launching Movie channels showcasing good movies from bollywood, Regional (& ofcourse hollywood)
3. Program Guide service - after 3 years in service PB should manage that now
4. Improving regional channels programming quality in par with pvt. channels
5. Interactive services like Teletext, subtitle, News, weather, Cricket scores, Sensex- For reception of this, PB can approve few STB models compatible for reception of interactive services
6. Acquiring sports content from F1, Soccer & other sports to improve DD Sports