DTH-the new battle ground for the Corporates

In 1962 Telstar satellite relayed a television signal over North America, sparking off the satellite television revolution.
India too experimented first with satellite television in the mid 1970s under the SITE programme and later in 1982 with the Doordarshan national network. The exponential growth of cable TV in India in the 1990s made us a part of the global satellite television revolution.Now the stage is set in India for the next generation of satellite TV -- Direct to Home broadcasting.Location and accessibility to the cable line no longer matters in a DTH scenario. That's because the programmes are beamed directly to the television at home.

Direct broadcast satellite (DBS) is a term used to refer to satellite television broadcasts intended for home reception, also referred to more broadly as direct-to-home signals. The expression direct-to-home or DTH was, initially, meant to distinguish the transmissions directly intended for home viewers from cable television distribution services that sometimes carried on the same satellite.

What happens when four biggies of the Indian business world (i.e., TATA group , Reliance ADAG group , Bharti group & the Essel Group) decide that each wants to rule the same segment? One, their pockets burn real deep. Two, customers rule.

In the Direct to Home (DTH) market, installation charges as low as Rs 1,400 and a dirt cheap monthly subscription cost — less than Rs 100 — are fast becoming a reality. The number of channels is slated to go from 150 to 400 in a few months. Plus, digital video recorders and high definition (HD) are on their way. This has doubled the industry growth.
A DVR allows consumers to pause, record, play back, rewind and fast forward their favorite television shows. Industry sources said that DTH companies are expected to slash DVRs box prices by nearly half to $175 to $200 per unit. DVRs for cable channels would soon be available for between $75 and $100 (Rs.7000 to Rs.8000). At the same time, Dish TV and Tata Sky have been announcing attractive price and packaging offers for their DTH services. Since the launch of their services, the price of a DTH connection has plummeted by 15 to 20 percent. According to an industry source, the main worry for DTH incumbents is the pricing of DVR boxes by RCom's Big TV which may offer a DVR-DTH connection at $125 to $175 along with financing schemes. "Other cable companies such as Zee Group's WWIL and InCable are also toying with the idea of the launch of DVRs," the sources added.

The new direct-to-home (DTH) players, who have so far been competing on the telecom front, are now battling for mindshare with their smart ad campaigns.For instance, Reliance ADAG’s Big TV and Bharti Airtel’s Digital TV have unleashed a new ad game of sorts. While Bharti Airtel ran advertisement teasers for its new DTH business for a week before officially launching the service on October 9, arch rival Big TV, launched in August, unleashed its counter campaign on October 2nd.It’s a close match and an expensive affair too. It’s estimated that the monthly ad spends by the five existing players are around Rs 30-40 crore, making it one of the costliest product category in recent times, similar to the well-documented battles of the two cola companies.But its results could be felt by the fact that while three months ago, the industry was acquiring 2.5 lakh customers every month, the number has now doubled to 5 lakh, and could go up to 7-8 lakh in a few months once the new players settle down.

As the battle to grab more subscribers continues unabated. With DTH making its appearance in India, there is likely to be a rice, programming and technology war to attract DTH subscribers. As in the telecom sector, let's hope the consumer wins.