Page 31 - AIB | The Chanel | Issue 2 2012
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THE CHANNEL
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ISSUE 2 2012
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31
with approval pending for a further
300 channels. I believe India is the
third largest TV market after USA
and China and yet TV penetration
is only close to 60% of total
households, so there is plenty of
scope for exponential growth.
The larger cable operators here
are distributing about 500+
channels though they can take up
to 800 channels. There are a number
of international companies
launching but most of these
channels are regional and local
players. What is happening right
now is that news is going very
regional. In fact on the national
network you also see regional slots
which are aiming to launch their
own regional channel. So it is not
broadcasting but more
narrowcasting which broadcasters
are doing right now.
India is unusual in that it has a
greater number of DTH players
compared to Western markets.
DTH subscriber numbers are
crossing the 40mmark and showing
significant growth but at no point I
would say it this cutting into the
cable homes – cable and DTH are
complementing each other.
How much do people engage with
content on the second screen?
People are buying handsets and
tablets but the cost of subscribing to
the value added services (VAS) is a
huge barrier. Costs are coming
down, but we are still in the
nascent stage. Of 650m handset
users only 10m+ are using the
mobile for other services.
Are the rural poor taking part in
the technological evolution?
Not yet. Interestingly though, TV is
not showing metro specific
programming but highlighting
issues which are related to the rural
India even though C & S
penetration in rural India is quite
low. The storylines of soaps on TV
all revolve around this. For the
rural India to use the second screen
though, that will take some more
time. Importantly, the Indian
Government is pushing the second
screen concept by subsidising the
cost of tablets for the younger
generation of students so in the
next few years this will spread to
the rural India as well.
What's the outlook?
I personally feel that the dust of
digitalisation will soon settle. When
95m cable homes need to go digital
it cannot happen overnight. The
channels are pushing for
digitalisation because it will get
transparency into the system – the
problem of under‐declaration will
go away and you will know how
many boxes are receiving how
many channels. The projections for
DTH are very good – there are 625
channels, cable operators on
average show 300‐400 channels,
and DTH companies are already
showing 140‐150 channels. The
average Indian consumer probably
doesn’t watch more than ten
channels but is now gaining access
to different kinds of programming
including National Geographic and
Discovery.
For foreign entrants, the main
mantra to be present in India is to
ʹthink globally and act locallyʹ. If
you follow that, you are bound to
get success.
Amitabh Srivastava, thank you.
FOCUS
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THE CHANNEL
While mobile TV is yet to pick up
in India on a large scale,
broadcasters and telecom service
providers have already launched
TV-on-the-go services in larger
mobile markets. MTNL has
launched mobile TV services for
its 2G and 3G subscribers in
Mumbai and Delhi; Zee New
Media launched India ’s first OTT
TV distribution platform, Ditto TV,
with TV content and VOD to
mobile phones, laptops and
tablets; and The Times Group's
BoxTV.com will enable viewers to
watch movies and TV shows
online.
#
▼
Far left
Televised cricket
always draws a
crowd in India
Left
Bollywood
actress Katrina
Kaif launching a
newBlackBerry
with FM radio
Mobile is
the new
radio in
every
pocket
“
”
urce FICCI-KPMG Report 2012 India
