Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Oct 21, 2003
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Oct 21, 2003 |
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Marketing
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New Products & Services `Dish TV has gained immensely from CAS' Rina Chandran
Mumbai , Oct. 20 FOLLOWING a soft launch earlier this month, ASC Enterprises Ltd's Dish TV has added more channels and claims to have signed on 15,000 subscribers, according to Mr Ashish Kaul, Vice-President, Corporate Brand Development, Essel group. At Rs 100 (plus taxes) for a basic bouquet of 48 channels, the KU-band service is being offered at about Rs 4,000 for the `customer premise equipment', including a set-top box. The move to introduce the conditional access system (CAS) has benefited Dish TV, Mr Kaul said. "CAS has opened up Indian viewers' eyes to the technology that is available, and what it can do. It has also familiarised audiences with the idea of choice, and issues like addressability and value-added services." Besides Zee, the bouquet includes all free-to-air channels. The network recently launched Premier Cinema for new Hindi films, Smile TV - a comedy channel, and Care TV, besides four satellite radio channels. Talks are on with Star and Sony to bring them on board. Like CAS, the direct-to-home (DTH) system is addressable, and clearly indicates who is viewing what, so there can be no under-declaration by cable operators, Mr Kaul said. "Since the signals are sent directly to the dish antenna in the viewer's home, there is no need for a cable operator or a multi-system operator." ASC Enterprises will focus on interior areas that are untouched by cable and satellite TV, and some metro audiences looking for niche channels and greater flexibility and control. The company has invested about Rs 400 crore on DTH and CAS and has a centralised facility for both. It plans to launch an aggressive marketing campaign at the end of the year. "CAS should not be only for the upper classes; we have to reach those who don't have access to these technologies. And there is obviously a need, because we are getting enquiries from places like Bhatinda, Alibagh and Ropar every week." Of the 70 million TV homes today, about 30 million have access only to DD. It is believed that the initial conversion to DTH will come from the upper end of existing cable and satellite households. There are an estimated 55 DTH platforms worldwide, with a subscriber base of more than 60 million households. While the initial investment in DTH is higher than CAS - about Rs 4,000-6,000, compared to Rs 3,000-5,500 - the monthly outgo is lower with DTH and the subscriber also benefits from new channels being added to the basket, apart from features like pay per view, personal video recorder and gaming console.
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