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Latha Venkatraman

As the conditional access system makes its way to New Delhi, it's time to see how many pay channels lag behind in the TRP race.

Call it conditional access system (CAS) or anything else you choose to, addressability is an issue that will need to be addressed sooner than later in the era of cable and satellite television. Who takes the initiative is the question. Will it be the consumers, cable operators, multi-system operators (MSOs), broadcasters or the government?

Well, the initiative taken by the government with other stakeholders earlier this year did not go too far. Political compulsions of the government and the lack of preparedness on the part of MSOs and broadcasters may have scuttled chances of a rollout. Nearly six months later, there are murmurs about implementing CAS in Delhi. The trigger was the Delhi High Court order that quashed the denotification of Delhi from the CAS rollout plan. Now MSOs in Delhi are talking about plans to go in for a CAS rollout. The deadline of two weeks is bound to leave many subscribers with a Hobson's choice.

"There are many issues but these will be resolved as the rollout gains momentum," says an official of an MSO. Revenue sharing, piracy and the price of pay channels are some of the issues that are likely to surface. "There is no clarity on how the Rs 72 charged for the free-to-air channels will be distributed among the cable operators, MSOs and the broadcasters," he adds. Piracy concerns stem from the use of analog system as opposed to the digital system. However, leading MSOs are more likely to go in for a digital system. No doubt, in the immediate aftermath of the CAS rollout, pay channels may suffer some viewership loss, but the transparency that will accrue out of an addressable system augurs well for the television industry. Under-declaration, a serious problem faced by the industry, particularly by the pay channels, could definitely be curbed under CAS, industry representatives argue.

However, in an addressable environment, pay channels will not only need to have riveting content to drive consumers to choose them over local channels, but also work out their distribution reach as subscription revenues will be as crucial since advertising revenue.

Meanwhile, consumers continue to be wary of the CAS rollout. In Delhi, the CAS rollout is scheduled to commence from South Delhi and it is not without consumer concerns. The Indian television audience, especially those who have opted for cable and satellite, have never had it so good in terms of number of channels. Yet consumers are complaining that there is not enough to watch. Equity analysts tracking the movement of listed entertainment companies are hopeful of a continued growth phase for some of these companies. One of them is Zee Telefilms Ltd (ZTL), the largest of listed companies. "CAS should be good for ZTL as it would enable the channel grow its subscription revenue. Now, under the TRP system, ZTL lag behind big shows that appear on other pay channels," says an analyst.

History channel

It is certainly a niche channel, but one that would definitely find its select viewers across all sections. Sometime last month, National Geographic and AETN International came together to launch The History Channel on the Star bouquet. The channel is expected to reach 15 million cable-and-satellite homes in the first phase, and is likely to go up to 25 million homes by June 2004, says a spokesman.

Much of the programming is focused on biographies of popular personalities — Charlie Chaplin, Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa and John F. Kennedy, among others. But the programming mix would also include other genres such as mystery, technology, crime, spies, war and transportation. For parents worried about the growing interest of youngsters in pulp fiction, The History Channel should be a welcome change. Considering that India has a large non-English viewing population, the channel has decided to launch a two-hour Hindi feed daily. Of course, the aim is to increase Hindi feed to 24 hours in the next six months.

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