The Hindu Business Line : `Bandwidth issue could drive up costs for broadcasters'

THE country's television industry has had a stupendous growth during this year with a large number of broadcasters joining the fray but distribution infrastructure has not kept pace.

A serious bandwidth space issue facing the industry could drive up costs for broadcasters, industry representatives said.

Channel carrying capacity of multi-system operators (MSOs) has touched its maximum level of 860 megahertz, according to Mr Jagjit Singh Kohli, Chief Executive Officer, ETC Networks Ltd. "At 860 megahertz , cable operators are able to carry about 100 channels. But most cable operators have a carrying capacity of 550 megahertz, which mean they can carry 67 channels," Mr Kohli said.

This situation, according to Mr K. Jayaraman, Managing Director and CEO, Hathway Cable and Datacom Pvt Ltd, is grim as far as mofussil towns go where capacities are mostly at around 550 megahertz.

The country's television distribution is mainly controlled by the cable system even as alternatives such to direct-to-home and broadband are being considered.

Upgradation of distribution infrastructure is of critical importance at this junction. MSOs have commenced this upgradation. But cable operators, positioned at the lowest end of the distribution chain, are unable to pump in investments in upgradation of infrastructure, industry sources said.

According to Mr Jayaraman, there is also severe customer resistance to hike in subscription rate. "The MSOs are not even able to recoup the pay content costs and hence the question of adding further capacity is not possible due to severe cash losses and lack of capital," he said.

With more channels entering the fray, annual carriage fee has risen manifold, now averaging around Rs 7 crore-Rs 12 crore. Carriage fee has risen above transponder cost which is around Rs 1.2 crore annually. This could have a telling effect on the costs of broadcasters, industry sources said.

The cable industry needs to go digital keeping in view the large number of channels entering the fray. Going digital will enable the number of channels to increase from the current 60-100 to the 300-500 channels.

The other advantage would be high quality video and audio, according to officials at Incablenet

Major MSOs have converted to digital systems. "Additional investments can be scaled up depending upon a roadmap to be drawn up by the Regulator for a pan-India roll out," Mr Jayaraman said.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, the regulator for the broadcast industry, has taken up a study on digitalisation of cable and the report is awaited. According to Incablenet, the major benefit of digitalisation is to offer DVD quality transmission to customers without having to change their TV set and various other benefits.