Mr Nagarajan Kanthan, Regional Head (South), Reliance Digital (formerly Big TV), was wrapping up for the day when this correspondent landed at his office a few days ago — at about 3 pm.

How come so early today….lean day?

“Lean day? No way,” he said adding, “actually I am travelling…. travelling like crazy these days…Came from Coimbatore just this morning, and have to catch my evening flight to Madurai,” he said. He is going there for a dealers' meet in the region, “and also to explore possibilities of expanding dealership network there”.

Tamil Nadu is now Reliance Digital's focus market as the State has almost close to 100 per cent TV penetration and hence big scope for growth. The company has been beefing up its distribution and retail networks across the State.

Overall, the cable and satellite industry has altered the dynamics of the market very significantly in the last few years. And, more so in Tamil Nadu. So, not just for Reliance, the State is now a focus market for all the six DTH service providers – Dish TV, Tata Sky, Sun Direct, Reliance Digital, AirTel Digital and Videocon's d2h.

TV penetration

While average TV penetration in India is about 60 per cent, thanks to the previous Government's ‘free TV' scheme for all ration card holders in the State – irrespective of income levels, almost all households (there are close to 1.6 crore households in the State), Tamil Nadu boasts over 90 per cent TV penetration with sizeable number of 2-TV homes in urban towns.

The State still has a lot of far-flung, cable-dark areas, offering better chances for DTH players. “Till a few years ago, it used to be a tough task for us to sell one DTH connection a day in a tier III or even tier III cities, as we had to educate consumers and convert them. Today, even people in rural areas are surprisingly well aware of the technology,” says Mr Kanthan.

Market share

According to industry sources, of the overall 150 million TV homes, more than 100-110 million homes come under the C&S (Cable and Satellite) category. With around 32 million subscribers, the DTH industry commands a little over 30 per cent of this market. Tamil Nadu, with almost 35 per cent (of C&S homes) DTH penetration, “is well ahead of the rest of the country”, he said. Cashing in on this trend, all operators are offering special entry fee and monthly subscription packages in the State. Besides, for 2-TV homes, they offer a special monthly package rate of around Rs 150 a month for the second connection – irrespective of the package of one chooses.

In India, six players put together add an average one million connections a month. At least, 10 per cent of this comes from the Tamil Nadu market. “On an average, we sell 14,000 connections in Tamil Nadu alone,” Mr Kanthan says.

More interestingly, Tamil Nadu is very significant because large number of households is converting to digital from analogue cable connections. And, the State is also the biggest market for high-definition flat panel TVs in the country, propelling further growth in DTH connections. (According to Mr Manoj Mohandas, Regional Executive of LG Electronics, over 12 per cent of the company's flat panel TV sales in India comes from Tamil Nadu alone. Samsung too says that the State accounts for a chunk of its FPD TV sales).

Though still cable is a dominant player in the country, DTH is forging ahead to be the preferred choice of many TV viewers, observes Mr Kanthan.

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