The Hindu Business Line : For a slice of the dish

Over the next few months the number of direct-to-home (DTH) satellite television players will double. And though the current players have campaigned significantly for the DTH platform, consumers can prepare to see and hear of the many virtues of the new medium, and be wooed by a wide range of offers and packages. DTH’s current reach may account for less than a tenth of the cable and satellite market at 7-8 lakhs, but thanks to the big-time investment that Tata Sky and Dish TV have made in their brands and in consumer education, awareness of the platform is quite high. Something that the new entrants such as Reliance, Bharti and Videocon will surely be glad for.

But given the huge untapped market to be converted into DTH homes, no one is going easy on the advertising and marketing spends just yet. From the promise of superior technology, prices comparable to those of analogue cable, and language- and geography-sensitive packages, consumers will have lots to look forward to. More interactive features and freebies will be used as baits. Clever advertising campaigns will accompany the marketing efforts.

The new players are hoping to match, if not outdo, Sun Direct, Tata Sky and Dish TV in promoting their services. If we do the maths then, based on what current players are believed to be spending, it will take the category to about Rs 800 crore next year. That explains the profile of the licence-holders; big players with deep pockets. Dish TV, the largest and oldest of the pay DTH players, spent nearly Rs 100 crore on advertising last financial, almost 23 per cent of its annual net revenues. Nonetheless it will still hike its budget. Videocon plans to spend more than Rs 150 crore on brand and service communication of its direct-to-home service, D2H+, according to its Director Saurabh Dhoot. Tata Sky is not listed and would not share or comment on its ad and marketing spends but is believed to spend just as much if not more. Reliance said it wouldn’t be outdone. Industry sources say its budget is estimated at Rs 200 core a year, with 20 per cent reserved for the launch month a few weeks away. Jawahar Goel, Managing Director, Dish TV, describes it as ‘land grab mode’.

There’s time yet for the brands to fight each other. For now they are all betting on the fast-growing share of the DTH pay-TV platforms in cable and satellite households and rising average revenue per user. “All the spends will certainly help grow the category. No matter how clever a campaign, when you get to the retailer, who, let me remind you, gets a commission, he may just convince you to pick a competitor’s product. Or you may just change your mind depending on the offer available at the moment,” says Goel. Big TV’s being test-run since January and is to launch with around 250 channels, at least 32 of which will be movie channels, some of them Reliance’s own. A special discounted offer has already been made to the Reliance Communications’ network of STD booth operators. The company dismissed reports of a “free television” at launch offer, but tie-ups with LCD television makers themselves offering big discounts to Big TV customers was not ruled out.

New players will have to take a cue from current ones and subsidise hardware; Sun Direct is offering its brand for a monthly service charge of just Rs 75. Dish TV announced an offer recently that gave away the hardware for free, but sold consumers hours of video on demand. A free set-top box finally, then? The entry price will be critical; however set-top boxes may not be dished out for free by others. “My personal view is that offering your brand for free is not a good idea. You can price it competitively, and even offer freebies, but giving it away for nothing reduces the value of the brand,” says Anirudhha Banerjee, President and COO of Publicis Ambience, the agency which has bagged Videocon’s D2H+ account.

Dhoot, however, hints at “bigger surprises” when the brand is launched in August. Exclusive D2H+ stores that will also provide after sales service and recharge vouchers through home delivery have been planned for across the country. It will also have to its advantage Videocon’s access to 85 per cent of 55,000 retail points in the consumer electronics space, and an after sales service that it claims makes five million consumer contacts. “Along with this we will leverage our existing Next and Planet M network along with our logistics and service infrastructure,” says Dhoot, stressing that its DTH brand, however, will be distinct from the Videocon brand.

Reliance will similarly leverage its telecom business for bundling billings and its chain of 250 Web Worlds across 105 cities and Reliance communication franchise stores. If required, Tata Sky says, it can also draw on associated companies for similar synergies. But for now it’s focused on offering consumers “affordable packages” such as the Rs 200 package that it’s currently advertising.

“It’s a price point that’s cheaper than that of cable too. And we are offering our consumers choice, and attractive schemes as well as value-added services,” says Vikram Mehra, Chief Marketing Officer. Like a package of non-English channels that has mass appeal, and cooking recipes on demand for upmarket audiences.

Before December, Tata Sky will start marketing its Personal Video Recorder, allowing for more convenient and non-linear manner of viewing television content. Dish TV has plans for Digital Video Recorders. Forward through the anchor intros in talent shows, rewind and watch your favourite cricketer hit a six six times over if you please, or delight in the vamp slapping the bahu three times again ... The new entrants are likely to highlight their more current technology. “Our services will be unique as we will provide bouquets with a regional flavour. We will be on MPEG 4 platform with DVB S2, a striking difference when compared to the current services available from the competition. It will be the first time in the world,” says Dhoot.

Reliance, which will also run on MPEG4 technology, has also set up a “redundant” or back-up uplinking station in Bangalore for disruption-free telecast. More friendly multilingual user interfaces, regional packages and a larger and more current library of movies are some of the other features to look forward to.

For advertisers a DTH client is not just a big spender. As Publicis’ Banerjee explains, the combination of media and entertainment lends itself to some interesting and fun creative work. “There is always something new to work on, be it the multi-angle cricket telecast or the value-added service of Active Darshan. For the latter, we did something very different but still managed to maintain the ‘jhingalala’ proposition of fun,” says Ashutosh Karkhanis, Creative Director at Rediffusion DY&R, which handles the Tata Sky account. Shah Rukh Khan, who endorses Dish TV, and is expected to do so till end of the year, is also expected to have competition. What strategy Bharti and Reliance will adopt for their brands is being guarded fiercely as the launch dates approach. The primary game, however, will still be that of category selling.

“Our research shows us that the consumer is aware of it being a better product, but there hasn’t been enough motivation for them to make the move. The cost factor is just one of the reasons, but the other argument has been that the local operator provides some sort of familiarity and comfort,” says Publicis Ambience’s Banerjee.

Consumers also tend to shrug off claims of superior quality. That’s why Tata Sky has buses and minivans on the road as part of its below-the-line marketing activities that also cover road shows and melas. Seeing is believing. “We’ve seen that in cities such as Mumbai or Gurgaon, when we install our dish in one house within a month or two the entire building has made the switch and is ours,” says Mehra, whose company is facilitating subscriptions through credit card payments via telephones.

The DTH players could have, like they did in the past, benefited from an extension of the conditional access system (CAS). When pockets of the three metros of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata were deprived of their favourite pay channels, Tata Sky and Dish TV scooped up stranded television audiences. With talk of elections, the next phase of CAS proposed in new pockets of the three metros could be pushed to beyond December, as forcing the citizen to pay more for anything, including their daily dose of television entertainment, will never be welcome.

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