Since television was first introduced in India, in 1959, the country has
emerged as one of the largest TV markets in the world. In the last decade, the
television programming landscape has also been totally transformed. The country
has one of the largest broadcasting networks in the world. Doordarshan,
established in 1959, reaches to more than 90% population. The type of expansion
being witnessed in digital media is expected to continue at an increased rate.
Television, radio, CAS, and DTH have already made their presence felt. IPTV and
mobile TV are still in the nascent stage and are yet to make a major mark on the
broadcast arena.
Convergence of broadcasting and telecommunications are in their early stages.
Convergence basically describes two trends: the ability of different network
platforms (broadcast, satellite, cable, telecommunications) to carry similar
kinds of services; and the merging of consumer devices such as telephones,
televisions, or PCs.
Broadcast on a High
The broadcast segment is on a high growth path. New channels, new content,
and new formats proliferate. In the last few years, a lot of development is
happening in the broadcast segments. Major developments that are taking place
are:
Regionalization: As the consumer market grows, along with the retail boom,
regional media (both TV and radio) offer better RoIs for the same media spend.
The immediate impact is the growing number of regional TV channels, national
players entering local markets, and regional players foraying into specialty
genres in their states.
Content Fragmentation and New Content: The market is changing from push to
pull, the consumer demands what he/she wants. This results in fragmentation of
content. This development is evident with the growth in the number of specialty
and niche channels. The coming years will see targeted channels for special
segments like health, lifestyle, leisure, shopping, and travel.
Multiple Distribution Platforms: Broadcast technologies are changing
fundamentally. Technology will get better, smaller, and cheaper by the day. This
will spike off a new wave of innovation in content and build new business models
with multiple platforms on offer. New distribution platforms will evolve the
relationship between content and carriage. The lowering of costs and multiple
platforms like digital cable, DTH, IPTV, and mobile TV will keep fueling more
and more broadcast TV channels and niche content.
IPTV, Now Matured
IPTV is now about a decade old. Until recently, it represented merely a new
application of the same time-tested TV business and service models found in
cable and direct broadcast satellite TV. But the current generation of IPTV
platforms enable broadband operators to introduce new types of interactive TV
features, new kinds of service bundles, and new modes of advertising and
promotion not possible previously.
Today's platforms already support multi-play service line-ups that give
operators a competitive advantage, and as platforms continue to evolve toward
multi-service convergence, competitive advantages that they enable will
increase.
Currently, most telecom operators in India are in the trial mode and busy
building up the network to deliver IPTV services. However, some Indian operators
such as MTNL and BSNL have already launched the service in Delhi, Mumbai, and
Pune but are seeing a low take up rate on account of limited content
availability with them.
IPTV is currently using the latest state-of-the-art, higher compression
technology-MPEG-4 Part 10, also known as H.264 encoding. This technology
provides two times higher compression than the existing MPEG-2, which is widely
deployed by DTH operators worldwide. Hence, H.264 offers customers a similar
quality of video for a longer loop length over any other competitive available
technology. This technology is currently being used in developed and developing
countries to offer standard definition (SD) and high definition (HD) content. HD
is gaining traction in other markets like Singapore and Hong Kong, where
operators are relying on H.264 to offer HD content at the rate of 8-9 Mbps while
SD is offered at 2 Mbps for good quality.
The other piece of technology is in access area, which is predominantly
served through ADSL 2+ in our country; however, with the emergence of VDSL2+,
fiber-to-home and passive optical network (PON) technologies, there are options
available to serve multiple HD and SD TV to our customer. The business cases of
these emerging technologies are being worked out by operators in other markets.
From the India perspective, these technologies need to be tested and vetted for
the adaptability and reliability point of view. Hence, it would be too early to
talk about the best-suited technology at this point in time.
The DTH Paradigm
Indian pay TV viewing is slowly being transformed from analog to digitized
content. Apart from the benefits in terms of better quality and more choices to
the subscriber, this also spells a sea change in the revenue pattern of
broadcasters and the government.
At present, the Indian pay TV market size is 70-mn households strong, with
around 4 mn using DTH. Going forward, the regulatory push, changing lifestyles,
and the demand for quality service with rising income and awareness will be a
boon for DTH players. At the moment, Dish TV and Tata Sky are the dominant
players in the DTH space, and newer players like Bharti, Reliance, and Videocon
are chalking out entry strategy during the current fiscal year.
The CAS Idea
The idea of CAS (conditional access system) was mooted in 2001. It was
followed by oppositions over charge hikes by channels and, subsequently, by
cable operators. CAS seems to be beneficial to viewers, broadcasters, and cable
TV operators as well as to advertisers.
CAS was rolled out in certain designated areas of Indian metros on January 1,
2007 to enable digital signals to users and create accurate database in terms of
viewership. But none of the said targets had a 100% achievement rate.
Also, multi system operators (MSOs) are facing a growing risk from DTH
services, which are fast acquiring subscribers in non-CAS areas.
CAS has faced opposition from various sections. Consumers were opposed to the
high cost of set-top boxes. There were also apprehensions about fees being
charged for the group of channels instead of individual channels.
Cable operators are opposed to CAS because they become outmoded and they can
no longer minimize the actual number of subscribers and defraud the government
of entertainment tax.
Service providers are opposed because they have to set up new digital
mechanism for CAS and may even have to share the price of STBs, to prevent
competition from direct-to-home transmission. Also, CAS has been postponed time
and again.
Radio, TV on a Roll
The Indian TV market is on a roll. On the digital platform, the consumer
will choose what they want to see, making it all the more imperative for every
player to stand out in the bunch and be a compelling offering.
Quality will be determined by a clear vision to set the agenda. In TV, just
good technology will not do wonders, though it is important. Compelling content
and new formats, coupled with elements of design-look and tone of the sets, the
on-air feel, the anchors, crisp editing, virtual sets, and graphic elements are
critical factors that improve quality.
Propelled by the opening of FM Radio licenses under the favorable Phase-II FM
Radio policy initiative, radio was one segment that most media companies made
their entry into. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has been very
practical and proactive in the second phase of regulatory mechanism. This
support and access is what is reflected in the bullish growth of the radio
sector.
Mobile TV
The Indian telecom regulator's decision to clear the air surrounding the
launch of mobile TV by broadcasting companies and telecom service providers is
an indicator of their effort to scale internationally.
Encouraged by the positive result following mobile operators' field trials
globally, many Indian telecom companies are getting ready to plunge into the
mobile TV business. But this will happen only when the telecom regulator, TRAI,
comes out with a comprehensive policy and identifies suitable spectrum bands.
Global markets are slightly ahead of India. Mobile broadcasting commercial
services have already been launched in the US, Korea, Finland, and Germany among
others. In India, Doordarshan has already started a mobile TV project and is in
the process of rolling out commercial services. Mobile handsets maker Nokia is
running a pilot project with the national broadcaster Doordarshan to test the
feasibility of commercial rollout of this service.
The broadcast industry has surpassed expectations and projection. And the
outlook for the coming years remains extremely positive for all stakeholders,
including national broadcasters, regional broadcasters, distribution companies,
and content firms.
This year will, in fact, herald the beginning of a new era in broadcasting.
Distribution (Pay TV) revenues will grow rapidly along with advertising. With
the coming of new distribution platforms, including IPTV and Mobile TV and the
growth of DTH, 2008 will effectively be the year that we will witness the real
effects of digital platforms and convergence.
Sandeep Budki
sandeepb@cybermedia.co.in
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