The Hindu Business Line : ‘Counter productive policies affecting Indian cable TV growth’

New Delhi, March 17 At $55, the average revenue per pay TV household in India is below most other markets, including the mature markets of the US ($985), the UK ($912) and even those of the Philippines ($127), Thailand ($117) and Korea ($109). The ranking virtually reflects the regulatory regime index scorecard of these countries. The only jurisdiction with more rigid and counter productive policies than India is China, as per a study.

The analysis of the average per pay TV household showed that Indian market betters only China ($29), and Vietnam ($24). The average annual investment levels are also low on the list of markets studied by the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA), the industry-based advocacy group.

The report, however, pointed out that India’s regulatory structure is in need of an overhaul, and the Government needed to make it a priority. “India’s draconian limits on both pricing and packaging for video services are affecting the entire industry value chain with an adverse impact on investment in digital infrastructure and content availability.”

According to the “The Digital Vision: India in 2012,” the average investment which pretty much matches the ranking order of the per household revenue list, is at $21 per pay TV household, according to data of three years ending December 2006. India’s digital TV adoption rate (six per cent of television households) also remains modest.

Reach may grow

Reach of the cable industry is expected to grow from the 60 per cent in end 2007 to 100 million Indian homes by end 2012. “With 71 million homes wired, digital television and broadband networks are set to play a vital role in India’s economic development just as they did in Japan, Europe and the US and elsewhere. With private investment waiting in the wings to increase high-speed digital capacity for cable TV, the benefits for consumers and the economy as a whole stand to be enormous,” said Mr Simon Twiston Davies, CEO, CASBAA, who was in the city for a two-day conference.

International experience demonstrates that over all household penetration and growth of advanced services are highest where competing infrastructure players are allowed to exercise their creativity and serve new markets on a revenue generating basis. In these countries, cable operators compete with telecom companies and with DTH operators in partnership with xDSL (technology that provide digital data transmission over the wires of a local telephone network), cable or wireless broadband operators , says the study.

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