The Hindu Business Line : DTH set-top boxes come free in Dish TV’s new marketing offer

New Delhi, May 10 Prices of DTH Set Top Boxes (STB), the most bitter pill to swallow for cable consumers looking to shift to the digital platform, are now crashing down.

The boxes are being offered for free (or almost, if you agree to pay for other value-added services).

Dish TV, the first in the three-player pay TV market, is offering free STBs and hopes to double its monthly acquisition of subscribers with the offer.

With the entry of Reliance and Bharti, due very soon, entry prices to DTH were expected to be lowered. Already, Sun Direct is charging customers Rs 75 for its services, taking on the burden of a significant subsidy on its hardware.

Currently operating only in the southern states, the company is to launch services in North India in a few months.

“Competition only expands the market. In the southern market, for example, we were acquiring 15,000 subscribers a month. With a second player, that become 18,000 and now its 30,000 a month,” said Mr Jawahar Goel, Managing Director, Dish TV.

Media spend

“Annual brand communication is to the tune of Rs 120 crore for some operators, and in the next year the combined media spend of DTH operators could reach Rs 1,000 crore,” he added.

Dish TV has designed a high decibel campaign, starring brand ambassador Shah Rukh Khan, to support the company’s new marketing initiative, said Ms Anjali Malhotra Nanda, Vice-President (Marketting), Dish TV.

Under the offer, a 12-month maxi package, for example, will now cost Dish’s consumers Rs 3,990 which is inclusive of subscription and 67 movies.

A more basic freedom plus subscription for 18 months, including movies available on demand, will also be offered for the same amount.

The Essel Group company has also redesigned the logo which now also carries a Z from sister company Zee TV. The offer will be open for the next 45 days at least.

Per-customer cost

With the scale, the DTH operator is expecting to reduce per-consumer acquisition cost.

Dish TV currently has a subscriber base of 3.1 lakh and is hoping to become EBIDTA positive in the financial year 2009-2010.

The company, which is in the process of filing a rights issue to raise Rs 1,200 crore, is also carrying out a trial of a special microblade antennae acquired from an Israeli company on a train for the Ministry of Railways.

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