DISSERTATION (2009-2011)

Name of the Student: Bhavish Shila Patel PGDM-C [Media Management], JICM, Bhopal Email: bhavish.jicm@gmail.com

Dissertation on To find Penetration of DTH in Bhopal & Consumer preferences

Dissertation Undertaken: Dheeraj Bhardwaj Vashisht Founder of: K&V Media

Submitted To: Dheeraj Bhardwaj Vashisht Email: vashishtd@gmail.com

TOPIC

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INTRODUCTION RELEVANCE OF STUDY LITERATURE REVIEW RESEARCH METHODHOLOGY SCOPE & LIMITATION Bibliography

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Research Proposal
To find DTH Penetration and Consumer Preferences among the DTH players in Bhopal

INTRODUCTION:
Since 2003, the DTH industry has been growing very fast. The DTH market acquired around 16 Million subscribers by the end of 2009, an increase of approximate 44 percent over the 2008. Since DTH TV industry is currently in growth phase, it is expected to attract a large number of subscribers in near future. As per our new research report Indian DTH Market Forecast to 2012, the number of DTH TV subscribers projected to grow at a CAGR of around 18 percent during 2010-2013 to 39 Million by 2013.Therefore, to understand the present market scenario of DTH industry and to identify the market king of DTH TV industry player in Bhopal. During the research, Ill try to find consumer preferences among the various DTH service provider and cable in Bhopal market. Further, the strength and weakness of DTH players which was faced by customers. The study will focus on the penetration of DTH in Bhopal and also find the ratio of cable penetration and the DTH.The currently Indian DTh market is being served by six private players-Dishes TV, TATA sky, Sun Direct, Big TV, Airtel Digital TV and Videocon D2H. These reports also explain the reason why all the consumers buy a particular brand. It also explains the impact of TVC on purchasing behavior of the consumers. Since 1959, when Indian television was first launched and the state owned Doordarshan aired just two channels in black and white as recently as 1991; the world of entertainment has made rapid and unusual strides.The turning points were the 1982 Asian Games when colour television was introduced and the 1991 liberalisation and deregulation that ushered in the era of foreign investments and foreign channels that egged the domestic players to jump into the foray.From large metros, satellite TV moved to smaller towns that spurred the sale of TV sets and brought about an upgradation from black and white television viewing to the colour one. With time, more and more changes took place and finally the DTH services arrived.DTH operations in India could be enhanced if the dearth of satellite capacity is removed by increasing the number of available Ku-band transponders that at present is 12 on Insat 4A, which in turn would mean more channels for viewing.Tax burdens on DTH are another area of complaint for operators.Around 40 per cent of revenues are siphoned off to pay taxes and license fee and another 12 per cent for services imposed by the Central government. Apart

from this, there are entertainment taxes that differ from state to state.Cable TV operators also give a stiff level of competition to the DTH sector by suppressing their prices artificially by way of under-declarations.This has pressurised the DTH operators to cut their profits to the extent of making them unviable.At present, there are 80 million TV households in India, of which over seven million are DTH ones. Since the penetration is just under nine per cent, there is much room for a massive growth rate, according to the Bharti Airtels head of brand and media, Chandrashekhar Balakrishnan.This is what the company is focusing on, to enhance its subscription base to 20 per cent, he added.Industry analyst Siva Sundaram said that India will be the leading power in Asia by 2010 in the field of cable market and by 2015; it will be the most profitable in the area of pay TV market.The growth of TV channels & cable operators created a big industry and market opportunities. There were as many as 1, 00,000 cable operators across India until few years back. However the services provided by cable operators were poor. The strikes, increase in tariff plan, selective broadcast and poor services were major cause of dissatisfaction among the customers. This has created an opportunity for DTH, which serves an immediate threat to the high-end cable networks India has about 130 million TV homes of which, Cable & Satellite (C&S) services are present in 97 million (74%) of the home. The DTH market in India comprises 11% of the total market with almost 15 million homes. The DTH industry growth lagged to 10.3% in 2008 from 16.7% a year earlier. But industry players agree that the digitization drive is expanding by 35-40% annually. However, industry estimates DTH to touch 35-40 million subscribers by 2012, and thats the number that every DTH brand has set its sights on. By 2015, DTH will enjoy a market share of 40%, digital cable 40% and analog cable will follow with only 20% market share. The DTH service market in India has emerged as one of the most lucrative markets which have successfully resisted the impacts of the current economic slowdown. The slowdown, instead, proved a boon for the Indian DTH industry as people started to cut on their entertainment expenditure and instead of viewing movies at theatres, they preferred to stay at home with their television sets. Current Scenario: Currently, the Indian DTH market is being served by six private players - Dish TV, Tata Sky, Sun Direct, Big TV, Airtel Digital TV and Videocon D2H. For the purpose of research, we have not included Doordarshan which is a free DTH service provider. The report contains comprehensive information about all the DTH service providers in India, with focus on indepth analysis of their strengths and weaknesses. It also explains the reason why all the incumbent players have been investing huge amounts in the promotion and marketing of

DTH services in the country. In the early 2008, five major players, Zees Dish TV, Tata Sky, Reliance ADAG, Sun Direct and Bharti Telemedia formed an umbrella body DTH Operators Association of India (DOAI). Dish TV is the largest DTH provider with a subscriber base of around 5 million, Tata Sky, a DTH joint-venture Company between Star (owned by Rupert Murdoch) and the Tata Group (20:80), now has around 3.4 million connections and the forecast for 2012 is that it will further increase to eight million, Sun Direct, the 80:20 JV between the Maran family and the Astro Group of Malaysia, over 2.3 million, Big TV about 1.2 million and Airtel Digital TV about 0.3 million subscribers (Source: Business Standard, May 1, 2009). According to sources, DD Direct Plus has a subscriber base of about 3-4 million subscribers, mostly in the remote corners of the country not connected by terrestrial or cable television. DTH operations in India could be enhanced if the dearth of satellite capacity is removed by increasing the number of available Ku-band transponders that at present is 12 on Insat 4A, which in turn would mean more channels for viewing. Tax burdens on DTH are another area of complaint for operators. Around 40 per cent of revenues are siphoned off to pay taxes and license fee and another 12 per cent for services imposed by the Central government. Apart from this, there are entertainment taxes that differ from state to state. DTH stands for Direct to Home which is a direct mode of transmission between Broadcaster and Subscriber through satellite. Broadcast centre collects the signals from different programming sources (like Sony, Zee, and Star). It processes the Signals and beams it to the Satellite.

Porters Analysis of DTH industry In Bhopal

1. Threat of substitutes: DTH faces stiff competition from the terrestrial, cable and IPTV. As per the industry estimates, there are 130 million TV homes of which 85 million are served by cable and around 16 million by DTH with the remaining taken by terrestrial transmission. Terrestrial Television: Doordarshan is the worlds largest terrestrial broadcaster with over 1400 terrestrial TV transmitters. The reach provided by this route is phenomenal with Doordarshan covering 88% of Indias geographical area. Covering the remaining 12% area required substantial capital investments which does not outweigh the benefits. The transmission was done originally in Analog mode but beginning from 2002, Doordarshan has partnered with BBC resources the consulting wing of BBC, in offering digital terrestrial TV. The transmission could be

received using a low cost Yagi antenna. However, due to lack of attractive content it does not seem to be a formidable threat for DTH. Cable TV: Cable TV currently operates in 2 modes viz. through CAS covering cities like Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkatta, and through non-addressable system in the rest of the country. As seen from the above diagram Cable TV enjoys the maximum share as compared to other medium. In case of CAS controlled areas, the subscriber has to buy Set Top Box (STB) to see the pay channels. On the other hand, in areas where non-addressable system is used, nearly all the channels are available without the need of any separate receiver by paying anywhere between Rs 100 to Rs 350 per month depending on the place. Due to phenomenal reach of Cable TV, it poses a serious threat to the growth of DTH industry.

2. Bargaining power of suppliers: DTH industry relies on three major supplies: Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) comprising of the satellite dish, Set Top Box with the necessary Access card, the Ku band transponders in the orbiting satellites and content. With India overtaking Japan as Asias largest DTH, the bargaining power of Indian DTH operators with CPE supplies have increased. However, the availability of transponders is increasingly becoming difficult. The Ku band transponder is generally provided by Astrix, the commercial wing of ISRO either through its own satellites or by leasing transponders from suppliers. With only two domestic satellite launches between 2007 and 2010 an d increasing DTH players, Astrix is in a better position to use DTH as its cash cow for the next 5 to 10 years. Also the crash of INSAT 4C and NSS8 has worsened the situation of DTH players. As there is not much of regulation particularly in terms of channel pricing, acquiring content from the broadcasters is also difficult. DTH vendors are at the mercy of the broadcasters.

3. Bargaining power of buyers: With enough options to choose both from the pont of alternate mediums like Cable, IPTV and Terrestrial broadcast and from the point of increasing DTH operators, the consumer is at his will to decide. Customers will continue to have a high bargaining power until DTH platforms try to differentiate them as superior players with better content and clarity.

4. Inter firm rivalry: With 6 operational players, the inter firm rivalry is quite high. The competition from state owned DD-Direct to private players is negligible from the content point of view as. Between Dish TV and Tata Sky there is an intense rivalry exhibited by price wars and discount schemes offered to new Other than price wars and intense competition in increasing customer base, there is also a competition at acquiring the content. Dish TV, Tata Sky and Sun Direct are part of big groups that also have popular bouquet of channels like Zee, Star and Sun respectively. The channels indirectly refuse content exorbitantly or mandating that all the channels of their bouquet to be transmitted when the vendor is already capacity constraint.

5. Threat of new entrants: With already 6 players in the DTH space, threat of new entrants is relatively low. There is already enough competition which will discourage new firms to enter this business. While getting a license is relatively easy, the barriers to entry are high when it comes to pr icing of CPE and getting the connections. Being the first mover, Dish TV has price.

Market Position Dish TV Indias first DTH service provider launched in October 2003 is the market leader with 6.4 million subscribers. Dish TV continues to be a market leader with 30% market share in 7 player scenario on date, with sizeable sales and distribution infrastructure of over 650 distributors and 45,000 dealers across 6500 towns once again, the largest in the category. These reach into far flung markets enables building of a diverse subscriber base across consumer segments, which are supported by its rich content of regional channel offerings. Dish tv has maintained its leadership position through an improved market share of all DTH subscribers. New offers, extensive marketing campaigns have contributed to impressive subscriber acquisition and are committed to provide the best value to our customers and investors by enhancing operational efficiencies and by leveraging economies of scale.

Market challengers The gap between the leader and the challengers is decreasing because of the increasing competition and promotion strategy followed by each player.

SUN DIRECT Sun Direct is an 80:20 Joint Venture between the Maran family and Astro Group of Malaysia. Its headquarters are located in Chennai, Tamil Naidu. With 170+ TV channels and 31 Radio channels, Sun Direct has a subscriber base of 3 million (April 2009) Sun Direct has a basic pack of Rs 75 monthly subscription which is the lowest price-point compared to the other service providers. Sun Direct was also the first DTH operator to introduce HD in India.

TATA SKY Tata Sky, an 80:20 joint venture between Tata Sons and the Star group, provides satellite television services to Indian viewers. The company was incorporated in 2004 and offers a range of media and entertainment options to customers. Tata Sky's direct-to-home satellite platform delivers more than 100 television channels, movies and interactive services for games, learning, recipes, news, chat rooms, etc. It has state-of-the-art digital infrastructure and a retail network that covers more than 4,500 towns in India. Based in Mumbai, the company has three call centres (Pune, Chandigarh and Hyderabad). Strengths 1. Leveraging on brand TATA and High brand recall 2. Technological expertise with Weaknesses 1. Second Mover after Dish TV who captured Market Share 2. Cannot match free service like DD 3. Currently Does not offer free Set Top Box like Dish TV 4. Litigation due to issues related to sports channels which it lost 5. Dependency on broadcaster and had issues with Sun TV

Newscorps DTH arm Sky 3. Superior Picture quality 4. Leads in introducing new packages & Services 5. Customer service 6. Rural penetration through ITC EChoupal and Godrej Aadhar 7. Interactive channels and program

guides 8. Innovative Product offering Tata Sky Plus

Opportunities 1. Larger disposable incomes with India 2. Tapping niche markets with Better service and Product offering 3. Expansion of distribution network

Threats 1. IPTV provides superior technology if implemented 2. Cable Set top Boxes provide easy switching due to negligible switching

through exclusive stores 4. Interactive advertising Tie up of with Samsung 5. Increase in number of TVs sold 6. Increase in the geographical boundaries with Rural Market untapped 7. Growing demand for quality of service in the form of DTH over Cable 8. CAS being made Compulsory

costs 3. Increasing Competition internally 4. Dependency on CPE suppliers to some extent 5. High dependence for transponders on ISRO 6. Dependency on broadcasters for their channel content and thus increase in cost 7. Videocon may enter DTH by building

would encourage switch. 9. Value Added Services are gaining steam.

its own set top boxes. 8. No Exclusivity in Content and Rule of Must Carry 9. Cap on Investment (20%) 10. Interoperability Regulations 11. Cap on foreign Investment

Airtel digital Airtel digital TVs standard definition broadcasts are in MPEG-4 with Interactive Service (it) and 7-day EPG (electronic programmed guide). Interactive Service (it) of Airtel digital tv includes a add-on service which allows a user to shop, book movie tickets etc. A universal remote is included in the package which can, over IR frequencies control both the TV and the DTH box. Like other DTH service providers it also provides a Video on demand interactive service which includes a catalogue of movies in Hindi, English and other regional languages which can be ordered on demand. Airtel digital launched on 8th October, 2008 with a 360 degree mega campaign "Come Home to the Magic". Since that it has launched 2 other campaigns 'Stars come home' (March 2009) and 'DTH Picture Clarity' (August 2009) has increased its channel base to 183+ channels. Airtel digital TV is now amongst the fastest growing DTH brands in the country and is available across 5000+ towns in India. It has also been ranked as the best DTH service by "Living Digital" magazine

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Strengths 1. Leveraging on brand Airtel and High brand recall 2. Superior Picture quality 3. Leads in introducing new packages & Services. 4. Recording System 5. Customer service 6. Large customer in telecom services. 7. Interactive channels and program guides Opportunities 1. Larger disposable incomes with India 2. Tapping niche markets with Better service and Product offering 3. Expansion of distribution network through exclusive stores 4. Increase in the geographical

Weaknesses 1. Fourth Mover after Dish TV who captured Market Share 2. Cannot match free service like DD 3. Big Players having large market share 4. Litigation due to issues related to sports channels which it lost

Threats 1. IPTV provides superior technology if implemented 2. Cable Set top Boxes provide easy switching due to negligible switching costs 3. Increasing Competition internally 4. Dependency on CPE suppliers to some extent 5. High dependence for transponders on ISRO 6. Dependency on broadcasters for their channel content and thus increase in cost 7. Videocon may enter DTH by

boundaries with Rural Market untapped 5. Growing demand for quality of service in the form of DTH over Cable 6. Value Added Services are gaining steam.

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building its own set top boxes.

Reliance BIG TV Reliance BIG TV limited is a part of Reliance Communications Ltd., a subsidiary of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group [2] founded by the Late Dhirubhai Ambani, the Indian business tycoon and owned by his son Anil Ambani. BIG TV started operations from 19 August 2008 with the slogan "TV ho Toh BIG Ho" ("If you have a TV, make it BIG"). It currently offers close to 240 channels and many interactive ones, 32 cinema halls (i.e. Pay per View Cinema Channels) as well as many Radio channels. The company plans to increase the number of channels in the near future to 400 and begin High Definition (HD) broadcast. It is the first Pan-India DTH provider that uses MPEG-4 for broadcasting. There are also plans to introduce services like i-Stock, i-News and other such interactive services in the future. . Reliance BIG TV's retailer network is spread across 100,000 outlets in 6,500 towns in India. This was literally unheard of in the DTH industry. They had effectively out-stripped the competition here. When it came to pricing packaging, their introductory offer stood at Rs. 1,490/- with 3 to 6 months of free subscription. They also introduced 32 Pay-Per-View Movie Channels, the highest by any DTH player. Not just that, while other players made subscribers pay for each movie, Reliance BIG TV introduced the unique concept of Subscriber-VideoOn-Demand (SVOD) under which the subscriber paid a monthly subscription of Rs. 50/- to get a 24 x 7 access to the 21 PPV channels showing Hindi and Regional Films. We were also the first to introduce dedicated PPV channels for Marathi, Gujarati and Bhojpuri films.

Videocon D2H Videocon d2h is a DTH satellite television provider in India based in Mumbai, using MPEG-4 with DVB S2 digital compression technology. Videocon Leasing & Industrial Finance Limited was incorporated on 4th September, 1986 as Adhigam Trading Private Limited.In terms of the necessary resolutions Passed under Sec. 21 of the Companies Act, 1956, the name of the Company was changed to Videocon Leasing & Industrial Finance Limited on 14th February, 1991.The Company received a fresh certificate of incorporation from the Registrar of Companies, Gujarat at Ahmadabad on 14thFebruary, 1991.

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Videocon d2h launched May 1, 2009. it came with a very good strategy for selling both of its electronic products like TVs DVDs along with the new set top box. This is offering direct to TV without any set top box also. Only the antenna is enough, it also came with DVD which is connected directly to the TV or antenna is connected to DVD which gives a best quality.

Relevance of the research:

This study is confined to the analysis the customers view on product and services of DTH players in Bhopal. The study also give the opportunity to understand why do consumers prefer DTH instead of cable? Apart from this the study can be further used for know who is the king in Bhopal market so that retailers is benefited which will ultimately benefit the organization. Objective of study: To find the satisfaction level of consumer with the services used by them Reasons of not using DTH. Reasons of using DTH. Reasons of not using cable. Reasons of using Cable. To find the customer migration to other service provider/ cable TV. To find best TV commercial among the DTH players. To find the impact of brand ambassador of DTH players.

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Literature Review:
The regular daily transmission started in 1965 as a part of All India Radio. The television service was extended to Bombay (now Mumbai) and Amritsar in 1972. Till 1975, seven Indian cities had television service and Doordarshan remained the only television channel in India. Television services were separated from radio in 1976. Each office of All India Radio and Doordarshan were placed under the management of two separate Director Generals in New Delhi. Finally Doordarshan as a National Broadcaster came into existence. National telecasts were introduced in 1982. In the same year, color TV was introduced in the Indian market with the live telecast of the Independence Day speech by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on 15 August 1982, followed by the 1982 Asian Games being held in Delhi. Now more than 90 percent of the Indian population can receive Doordarshan (DD National) programmes through a network of nearly 1400 terrestrial transmitters and about 46 Doordarshan studios produce TV programs today. DD Direct+ is a free Direct to Home (DTH) service that provides satellite television and audio programming to households and businesses in the Indian subcontinent. Owned by parent company Doordarshan, DD Direct Plus was launched on December 16, 2004. Now chairman of DD plus+ is Shri Arun Bhatnagar and CEO is B S Lalli under the ministry of information and broadcasting. The history of Indian television dates back to the launch of Doordarshan, Indias national TV network in 1959. In 1982, all of Doordarshan's regional stations were networked using INSAT 1A and a national feed called National Programme was introduced. Later that year, Delhi played host to Asian Games which were covered by the channel. To increase the channel's reach, the government launched a program to set up low and high power transmitters that would pick-up the satellite distributed signals and re-transmit them to surrounding areas. By 1983, television signals were available to 28% of the Indian population. Fueled by the success of the channel's commercialization and increased revenue from advertising, the channel's reach and popularity continued to grow and in 1990, the channel reached more than 90% of the Indian population. In 1991, Indian economy was liberalized and inviting foreign direct investments, deregulation of domestic business emerged. This lead to the influx of foreign channels like Star TV and creation of domestic satellite channels like Sun TV and Zee TV. This virtually destroyed the monopoly held by Doordarshan. In 1992, the cable TV industry started which lead to revolution.

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Every city in the India had a complex web of co-axial cables running through the streets with a new breed of entrepreneurs called as Local Cable Operators (LCO) taking in charge of distribution. The film industry was shocked by this sudden growth and there were even organized protests for calling off the Cable TV industry. There were simply too many cable operators in the country and the channels had a difficult time in getting its returns as the existing system was a non-addressable and the operators could simply give a reduced number of subscribers to amass profit. This lead to the emergency of a new breed of firms called as Multi System Operators (MSO) who had heavy financial muscles to make capital investments. . The MSO industry became highly monopolistic which warrants government participation to ensure competition. Later on, the United Front Government had issued a ban on use of ku-band transmission. After a change of government, the ban got lifted finally in 2001 and TRAI issued the guidelines for operating DTH. Countrys first private DTH license was awarded to Dish TV in 2003 which started operations in 2004. Prasar Bharati also started its product DD-Direct+. DTH Digital TV system receives signals directly from satellite through the dish, decodes it with the Set-Top Box and then sends stunningly clear picture and sound to TV which is the business under taken by some companies by observing the rate of growth and scope for business & opportunity in the Indian market which has 120 million viewers of TV. With the Indian economy growing at a GDP growth rate of 7.4%, there is a sense of growth prevailing everywhere. The average Indians disposable income and purchasing has risen to never before levels. The Indian entertainment and media industry is not far behind. It is currently estimated at a worth of Rs.450 billion with a CAGR of 18% over the next 5 years. Terms which were alien to Indians like capital DTH, digital cables, IPTV are suddenly finding presence in the countrys journals. In 2007, TRAI proposed a new initiative by name Head end-In-The-Sky (HITS) Model as an alternative to the existing cable distribution. Instead of the MSOs providing the bundle, there will be a single HITS operator who will prepare the bundle of channels and beam it to the Headed in the satellite. The LCOs can receive this digitalized bundle and deliver to the individual homes. With HITS, country wide implementation of CAS becomes instantaneous and cost-effective. This benefits both the broadcasters and the customers by ensuring Addressability, Better quality of service and increased number of channels. Another emerging trend is the IPTV which is yet to be regulated and one can expect lot of action in this sector.

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According to a report on Direct to home (DTH) service, it predicts that India would overtake Japan as Asias largest DTH by 2010 and be the Asias leading cable market by 2010 and the most profitable pay-TV market by 20015. These makers offer service packages of television channels through a personalized system of digital set-top boxes and a satellite dish antenna. The Indian government has put a conditional access system (CAS) in place in some of the major metropolitan cities, aimed at protecting the interests of television viewers. Viewers on the system only pay for the channels they watch, and not for the entire package of channels offered by the cable operator/multi-service operator. The government made it mandatory for all service providers in three major cities to switch to the CAS in January 2007. Given that India is the third-largest market in the world for cable TV, with an estimated 65 million homes subscribing to cable TV services, the switch created a tremendous opportunity for makers homes of digital in set-top boxes. India. The three citiesMumbai, Delhi and Kolkataaccount for nearly 15 percent of all cable TV The two companies that benefited the most from the switch are Tata Sky and Dish TV, the two major DTH service providers in the country. In the first few days after the CAS became operational, Tata Sky said it was receiving as many as 25,000 calls per day from customers inquiring about their services. Multi-service operators are currently importing most of the hardwareor the set-top boxesinto the country. Both Tata Sky and Dish TV are enjoying the benefit of the mismatch between demand and supply of hardware. Both have launched huge advertising campaigns to attract consumers with their service offerings. They hope to attract many consumers who would otherwise have purchased just a set-top box to access their favorite television channels. Instead, they hope to convince buyers to pay a little extra to get the DTH player as well as the additional software for hundreds of pay-channels. According to the Cable Operators Federation of India, over 200,000 set-top boxes have been installed in the CAS areas of Delhi and Mumbai. But the demand for set-top boxes is bound to grow as hardware prices are expected to plummet. As it is, prices of set-top boxes have declined rapidly from 10,000 Indian rupees (approx. U.S. $225) last year to 3,300 rupees (approx. $75) this year. Currently, DTH penetration is estimated at 3.5 million, which includes 1.7 million subscribers of Dish TV, 300,000 for Tata Sky and the rest accounted for by the national broadcasters DTH service, Doordarshan. Industry sources estimate that by 2015, the DTH market will grow to 30 million. While the largest company in the business, Dish TV, has so far been concentrating on rural areas and the smaller towns, it is now changing its strategy to target larger metropolitan cities with a range of value-added services.

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Dish TV will be investing 5 billion rupees (approx. $114 million) to upgrade its facilities, including production of set-top boxes and satellite infrastructure. As DTH services improve and demand swells, its likely that new companies will emerge in the manufacture of set-top boxes to cater to the growing market. According to our research report "Indian DTH Market Forecast to 2012", direct-to-home (DTH) industry in India has been witnessing tremendous growth for the past few years. Such a stupendous growth is mainly due to the continuous drop in setup and service costs of DTH. Further, decline in the prices of Set-Top Box (STB) has made DTH a viable option for the Indian users. It is anticipated that, the DTH market will post 28% CAGR growth during 2011-2014, thus positioning India as one of the most favorable destinations for industry investments. The report outlines that, the Indian DTH industry holds dynamic future prospects with new technologies and business opportunities emerging at a rapid pace. Thus, it is suggested that, to remain competitive in the market, players require offering the latest bouquet of services along with the flexibility and content that consumers want. The research has identified that, High Definition (HD) content is an emerging market segment, which is currently at its early growth stage. The affluent middle class consumers have widely accepted the market offerings and helped players to maximize their revenue results. Additionally, various DTH companies are coming up with more number of channels for their subscribers. Besides, the report contains comprehensive information about DTH service providers in India, with a focus on in-depth analysis of their strengths and weaknesses. It also explains the reason why all the incumbent players have been investing heavily in the promotion and marketing of DTH services in the country. Contrary to the perception that Direct-to-Home (DTH) television technology is an urban or a metro phenomenon, 70 per cent of its DTH subscribers reside in rural areas and towns with a population under a million. And metros like Delhi or Mumbai contribute only 2-3 per cent to the overall DTH subscriber base of 13.2 million, say the findings of a report by Francis Kanoi, a leading marketing research firm. - Tata Sky tunes in to the power of plus - Shuchi Bansal: MyWay or the highway">Shuchi Bansal: MyWay or the highway - Dish TV partners Indiatimes for mobile VAS - DTH operators ask govt to rationalise taxes - Subir Roy: The cobweb of wires is clearing">Subir Roy: The cobweb of wires is clearing - TDSAT dismisses Tata Sky review petition on licence fee Within the rural markets, it is Dish TV and DD Direct Plus DTH services that have the most penetration. Tata Sky, Dish TV and Sun Direct DTH services are preferred brands in top metros, the report says. The southern market is dominated

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by Sun Direct DTH services, while in high-income households (monthly income above Rs 50,000), Tata Sky is the dominant DTH brand, the report adds. Over seven million DTH subscribers, or more than half the total of 13.2 million, come from rural markets alone, where Dish TV and DD Direct Plus are the clear leaders. Towns of a population under one million (semi-urban towns) contribute another two million DTH subscribers, the report states. There are several new channels that are only launched on the DTH platform and who tend to charge a premium from the advertisers on their spot-rates, based on the feeling that DTH is watched by high-end consumers with large disposable incomes. The report breaks this myth, says a senior executive of a leading media agency. This is significant because none of the five private DTH operators (and DD Direct) provide a state-wise or a region-wise break up of their subscriber base. Such data are also not provided by the DTH companies to the government. This is also significant because DTH is a fast growing market, estimated to touch Rs 3,000 crore in the current financial year based on sales turnover, with the bulk still expected to come from rural India and semi-urban towns. In 2008-09, the size of the DTH market was around Rs 1,500 crore. The states of Maharashtra, Goa, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan are the leaders in DTH subscription, contributing over 6.4 million DTH connections or 48 per cent to the overall DTH subscriber base, the report says. The top seven metros have a huge potential for DTH services, as 91 per cent of households still prefer cable TV over DTH, says the report. Agrees Salil Kapoor, COO, Dish TV, the largest DTH operator: We have a big challenge in the metros and a tough competitor in digital cable operators. However, it is these metro towns where our average revenue per user is better, as our value-added services are consumed largely. Rural markets are important but competitive when it comes to offering the content, as its largely language-driven, with sharp preferences on what they want to watch. In terms of geographical location, North India and Western India together contribute over 8.4 million DTH subscribers, while the southern market contributes 3.2 million. The report also states that there are 126 million cable homes in the country, of which 50 per cent are based in rural India.

Indian DTH industry

India is witnessing a boom in the cable and satellite industry today, there are 134 million households that own television sets and over 500 television channels. The growth can be attributed to the fact of rising incomes, array of options, affordable prices and the presence of better technologies. The push also came with the arrival of Direct-to-Home technology years back that changed the outlook of television viewing in India.Just in the time gap of one year

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(2009-2010), the digital space has witnessed a growth of 28 per cent with the subscriber base reaching to 20 million. A particular segment that has seen tremendous growth in the space of media and entertainment is Direct-to-home (DTH) technology- an achievement of sorts considering the subscriber base for DTH in 2006 was a scanty 1 million. By this year-end, India will become largest DTH country leaving the US behind, which has got 32 million DTH subscribers base.According to a report by Media Partners Asia (MPA), the number of Indian DTH subscribers will reach 45 million by 2014, and 58 million by 2020. The report goes; total pay-TV subscription revenues in India will grow at an average annual rate of 14 percent over the next five years and 10 percent over the next decade, reaching more than US$12 billion by 2020.DTH will scale up to almost 35 per cent market share while cable will retain 70 per cent the report said.The CAS (conditional access system) mandate changed the game in cable & pay TV industry. Initially, Dish TV was the only existing DTH player in the market. But in 2007, CAS made it necessary for households in metro cities to watch television through set-top box only. Received by criticism, this diktat was accepted gradually with consumers lining up to purchase set top boxes. Sun Direct immediately launched its DTH services, followed by market players like Reliances Big TV, Airtel, Tata and Videocon.At its commencement, the DTH industry saw sub-Rs 2000 entry price triggered by incumbents in 2008 to counter rivals. Today, the upfront price is hovering around Rs 1000 and a monthly fee of Rs 200-300 plus an option of packages, making mass users watch television at a reasonable price.

Growth drivers

Growing middle-class Rising incomes Increasing television penetration Sales of LCD monitors Price wars and various packages options attracting consumers Advantage over traditional cable operators

The Big Three With 7 operational players- Dish TV, Tata Sky, DD Direct, Sun Direct, Reliance Big TV, Airtel Digital TV and Videocon D2H - the rivalry is high.

Brand Dish TV Tata Sky

Launch 2004 2006

Market share 32% 25%

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Sun Direct Big TV Airtel Digital Others *Analysts Reports

2008 2008 2008 -

19.27% 11.56% 6.42% 4.50%

DishTV is the first private satellite television service provider in India. It recently posted a revenue collection of Rs 3286 million in the second quarter of this fiscal. With 2.8 million subscribers added in the second quarter, the brand now boasts of over 9 million subscribers in the country. New offers (cash back, on demand movies), extensive marketing campaigns with Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan as brand ambassador and the fact that Dish was first to arrive, have added to its phenomenal subscriber acquisition.Dish TV that was launched in 2004 and is a division of Zee Network Enterprise (Essel Group Venture). Dish TV has on its platform 267 channels and services including 21 audio channels. Dish TV has a distribution network of about 1400 distributors and 55,000 dealers that spans around 6600 towns across the country.

Tata Sky arrived when there was only one DTH brand in the market. Years later, it stays as the main competition to Dish TV which it follows in the league of highest market share. Tata Sky is a joint venture between the Tata Group, that owns 80% and STAR Group that owns a 20% stake. In 2008, Singapore-based Temasek Holdings picked up 10% stake in Tata Sky from the Tata Group which reduced latters stake in the venture to 75%.Tata Sky recently surprised everyone when it slashed the price of its set-top-box by 40% to Rs 999, a scheme that was followed by others. It is now planning to modify its array of products for rural and urban markets. It also introduced an educational application for its users, a valuable addition to television viewing. The brand is promoted by Aamir Khan who is aptly pitted against Shahrukh Khan of Dish TV. Sun Direct is clawing its way up in the DTH market claiming that it now reaches more than 6.4 million homes. The company is an 80:20 joint venture between Kalanithi Maran owned Kal Media Services and Astro All Asia Networks Plc (Astro), a Malaysia-based cross-media group. It was recently announced that Astro will make an investment of Rs 3.96 billion in Sun Direct which will take up formers share to 35%.Of the High definition television services being offered by players these days, Sun Direct was the first one to launch it. Along

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with a tie-up with television channel Set Max, Sun Direct also became the first one to broadcast IPL-3 in high definition. It involves its rivals in price wars by acting as a discounted brand but with hidden taxes.

The rural push What mobile phone did to communication across India, DTH is doing to television viewing. Initially considered an exclusive for urban families, DTH services have now successfully penetrated in the rural market which has 70 million TV owning households (2010).

Share of pay-DTH among all DTH households 2008 73% Urban 34% Rural *TAM survey 2010

2009 79% 49%

2010 86% 64%

According to TAM 2010 report, the share of pay-DTH among all DTH households has been 86% for urban compared to 64% for rural areas. Yet, the growth of DTH-using households has been stupendous if compared to urban households. The growth of digital viewing in rural households emerges from the affordability factor. The set-top-boxes and connections are cheap and so are the television sets.Bharti Airtel wooed customers in smaller towns by providing new DTH subscribers with free talk time on their Airtel phone connections. Tata Sky has introduced its programming guide in Hindi whereas others are offering attractive cost-effective prices in rural areas. The chart below shows that a number of states (largely rural) in the country have been showing great interest in opting for digital TV:

Government & Foreign investments

Foreign investment, including FDI, NRI and PIO investments and portfolio investments are permitted up to 49 per cent for DTH under Government route. Within the limit of 49 per cent, FDI will not exceed 20 per cent.

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The total direct and indirect foreign investment including portfolio and foreign direct investment in Headend-In-The-Sky also called HITS (Comcast's satellite multiplex service) Broadcasting Service shall not exceed 74 per cent. FDI upto 49 per cent would be on automatic route and beyond that under government route. *(Ibef)

40 per cent of the costs incurred by DTH players are due to high taxations and high license fee imposed by the government.

The threats Cable television: With TRAIs (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) nod to services like DTH, IPTV, HITS, the regulator is not only attempting to digitalize the television but also curb the long running monopoly of cable industry. An approximate of 30,000 cable TV operators are present at all corners of the country. With the installation of set-top-boxes and monthly rentals they work upon providing CAS services to users which brings bouquet of channels to users with their local and regional channels. Even as DTH grew faster than cable industry, the larger share of television pie is still with the latter. According to TAM report, as of 2010, there are 103 million C&S (cable & satellite) households in India, a growth of 15.2% from 90 million in 2009. But the sector is not entirely organized. There are too many local cable operators and when it comes to calculating collective revenues, they money gets lost somewhere with them. To tackle the menace of local cable operators, the biggies are pushing the government to phase-out analogue cable networks by making encrypted set-top boxes compulsory for users. Internet Protocol Television: A digital television service provided through internet protocol, which includes delivery by broadband connection, IPTV services is slowly penetrating the television market. India has 9 million broadband connections which makes the market quite ready for IPTV. That is why Telecom giants like BSNL, MTNl and Airtel have already seeped in and international companies like UTStarcom and CopperGate have shown interest in the Indian market.

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It is believed that while IPTV is for classes, DTH is for masses - although, it should not be forgotten that the latter received the same conjecture at its arrival. As per IDC (International Data Corporation), in India, the number of subscribers is expected to reach 966,000 subscribers by 2011. It expects 15.9 per cent of all the residential broadband subscribers in India to use IPTV by the end of 2011. Headend in the sky or HITS: This is a satellite multiplex service that provides cable channels to cable television operations. HITS chooses a clever method of penetrating cable homes through a deal with cable operators. A HITS operator transmits channels to the cable operators using a satellite, after which the cable operator distributes the signals to subscribers homes through set-top-boxes. Even though the service is cost friendly, the difference lies in the fact that HITS can not reach directly to a subscriber, unlike DTH which sends the signal to the homes without the requirement of a cable operator. In 2009, the government issued policy guidelines for HITS after getting a nod from the Union Cabinet and also allowed a concessional customs duty of 5 per cent on importing digital headend equipments. HITS players were also provided with the FDI limit of 74%. The Essel group is the current existing permission holder for offering HITS.

Digital TV: IP TV vs. DTH vs. Cable TV

Television is not a new concept. We are watching television for more than three decades. But, as everyone knows, technology is ever evolving which is leading towards the exponential changes in the world of television. With the advent of Digital TV, people got more choices to select the medium of their television viewing experience. Every one is going beyond terrestrial broadcast to get the best quality and enhanced television viewing experience. There are three kinds of digital television broadcast systems existing today including Satellite TV, Digital Cable TV and IP TV (Internet Protocol Television) being the latest entrant in the world of television content broadcasting. Internet Protocol Television (known widely as IP TV), being the newest arrival on the block, threatens the other two mediums by promising to give a tough competition. IP TV is a mechanism of viewing the regular television channels over IP. Similar to Satellite TV andCable TV, the signal is encrypted using vendor specific security mechanisms and can only be decrypted by a receiver (STB). The video is sent in the form of IP packets over the existing broadband infrastructure and is assembled at the viewers end with the help of a Set Top Box. This becomes advantageous as existing broadband distribution infrastructure can be

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used to deliver television signals enabling the user to enjoy television over the same broadband connection used for surfing the internet. This is beneficial for broadcasters as they can offer Triple Play service of voice, data and television over the same network using the same infrastructure. Triple Play service refers to three different services of VoIP, Internet and IP-TV bundled together and offered over the same network. With IP TV, one can be assured of better video quality and stereophonic sound much like in case of DTH & DigitalCable TV. Even the customer specific services of Video on Demand (VOD) become a reality. Also, this enables broadcasters to have two way communications with the viewers as opposed to in case of DTH and Cable TV. IP TV, still being in its stage of infancy, is not very stable. Due to high bandwidth requirement (approximately 5 Gbps, even ADSL2+ technology can support only up to 25 Mbps), hundreds of channels cannot be broadcasted simultaneously. Every channel change request by the user goes to the content server resulting in a delay for changing a channel. Currently, IP-TV is in roll out phase with broadcasters being BSNL, MTNL, Airtel and Reliance only in selected cities of India. IP TV has it own advantages but now, lets move on to Satellite TV (popularly known asDTH). In DTH, signal is received using a dish antenna installed at the user premises. The specifications of dish antenna may vary for each broadcaster with some broadcaster using bigger dish or varying the number of LNBs(Low Noise Blocks). This dish antenna receives the signal in encrypted form from the satellite and is installed with in direct line of sight of the satellite. Also, a Set Top Box (STB) is placed inside the viewers home. From this antenna, RG-6 coaxial cable connects the STB for signal transmission. This STB works only after a particular signal quality & strength is achieved which is fine tuned by using signal meter while installing the dish antenna. As in the case of Cable TV, STB receiver is used to decrypt the signal and enable the viewer to watch TV. In case of DTH, the content is direct controlled by the broadcaster and enables the viewer to pay and view the channels/bouquets as per his requirements. Similarly, the advantages of DVD quality signal and stereo sound are implicitly available to the viewer. The major advantage comes in the form of signal being available 24/7 as there is no intermediate operator between the broadcaster and the viewer unlike IP TV orDigital Cable TV. Various DTH broadcasters in India are Tata Sky, Bharti Airel, Sun Direct, DD Direct, Reliance Big TV, and Dish TV. Satellite TV or DTH seems very promising and is quite a but successful in getting hold of market share but Cable TV is still on top claiming the highest numbers of subscribers to itself. Cable TV was one of the very early systems deployed worldwide against the traditional

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terrestrial system. It started with the analog systems in place. The signals from the various satellites were received at the Multi System Operator (MSO) end with the use of multiple high end dish antennas. These signals were then multiplexed at MSO end and then, transmitted to homes using coaxial cables. These signals were amplified by placing signal amplifiers at strategic points in the cable network. The whole network was managed by distributors authorized by MSO according to the area divisions. But as the signals were analog and were transmitted in a clear format, a lot of noise used to get added over the network before it reached the end user. Also, Signals were stolen by placing hooks on the wire adding to a lot of noise. This made life miserable for those who paid these MSOs on a regular basis for the services. Now, that the Digital Cable TV is in place with broadcasters, Cable TV viewing experience is much different from what it used to be in case of Analog Cable TV as mentioned earlier. With Digital Cable TV, the user needs to install a Set Top Box (STB) at home and has a luxury of choosing channels/bouquets as per his requirements. The major advantage comes in the form of crystal clear Video and stereo audio. The signal distribution model still remains the same. But the signal is now encrypted and can only be decrypted by STB. So, even if someone tries to form a signal leakage point, it is of no use as the signal is nothing but a noise without subscription from MSO. The leading Cable TV broadcasters inIndia are Den Networks, Hathway & DigiCable. As we discussed about the three different mediums of Television viewing, the major difference lies in the broadcast medium. All the three mediums need altogether different kinds of headend systems. These headend systems ensure that the signal is encrypted correctly and control the complete broadcast. These headend systems track the users for their viewing needs. The architecture of these headends varies completely from each other and the implementation is very much specific to technology solution providers like NDS & Nagravision. As a viewer, we need to keep the following points in mind before subscribing to one particular medium of television viewing. Uninterrupted Signal : This is first and foremost need for television viewing. Every system is useless if we do not have continuous signal available. The signal availability depends on the medium of broadcast. Generally, the least signal interruption occurs in case of Satellite TV as the signal is received directly from the Satellite to the viewers home. Where as in case ofCable TV, the intermediate area operators set up faults or failures can cause disruption in signals which is quite possible given the power supply scenario is most parts of India. IP

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TVnetwork also suffers due to ongoing construction works in the neighborhoods resulting in coaxial cable disruptions and thus, switching off the whole Triple Play Network. But in case ofSatellite TV signal, nature plays an important role. Signal outage occurs in case of DTH due to heavy rains, storms etc. So, If you live in an area prone to heavy rainfalls or storms, Satellite TV is not for you. Customer Service: One major deciding factor should be the customer service provided by the broadcaster. As we need to use different services, easy access to these services is a must. STB Software reliability: As everyone is aware, all the receivers (STBs) work using a software, this software needs to be reliable. Make sure that you have done enough review of a product before subscribing to it. Signal Quality: As the three broadcast mediums are different, Signal quality also might vary. Although, the quality of audio/video does not differ drastically, but still the noise can get added to Cable and IP TV broadcast mediums in particular areas making signals problematic. Network Infrastructure: As I mentioned earlier, this is most important consideration for IP TVrequirements. Technically, IP TV requires a huge bandwidth to make TV viewing experience seamless which is still a deterrent in India. This will deteriorate more once the HDTV channels come into focus. Although broadcasters are claiming to offer high speed internet services, it is still seen that required speed is not available in most parts of India. Services Offered: All the three broadcast mediums being different, the services offered by the broadcasters vary very widely. IP TV is much more suitable to the needs if you require Video on Demand much frequently. Also, Electronic Program Guides (EPGs) flexibilities and accuracy should be a consideration. Cost: In the end, cost will definitely be a deciding factor. All the three different mediums cause the cost to vary to extremes. Cable TV is still the cheapest option as the existing network infrastructure is being used to deliver the signals. Satellite TV costs are higher due to installation and packaging of channels varying with each service provider. IP TV seems to be cost effective only if Triple Play services to be used. In a nutshell, the digital television industry is in its nascent stage in India with IP TV just being born. It takes a lot of infrastructure support to provide seamless digital and interactive television experience. Digital Cable TV and DTH have stabilized over a period of time. It will take some more time for IP TV in the coming years to prove its edge over the other two mediums. The Digital Television broadcasting technology is still evolving and it will get complex with the advent of Personal Video Recorders (PVRs) and High Definition content. And as every field of life has it, only the fittest will survive.

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Bollywood biggies occupy DTH space

As the Indian DTH turf heats up, marketers in the fray are leaning on top Bollywood stars to help their cause. The 20-million subscribers strong Indian DTH market has six major playersDish TV, Tata Sky, Sun Direct, Reliance Big TV, Airtel Digital and Videocon D2H. And four of them have a bollywood star endorsing them. So, while Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan endorse Dish TV and Tata Sky, respectively, Airtel Digital has Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor singing its praises. Videocon D2H is the latest to have jumped on the bandwagon, roping in Abhishek Bachchan to endorse its offering. Anil Khera, CEO, D2H explains the rationale behind signing up Abhishek Bachchan; "We are a part of the entertainment industry, so it makes perfect sense for us to rope in Bollywood stars because they belong to this domain." Clearly, Bollywood stars have become a norm in the DTH space. Says Ajai Puri, director and CEO, Bharti Telemedia; "Brand ambassadors are an integral part of our communication strategy. They gives us instant clutter-breaking capability and help build brand recognition faster." Airtel Digital TV used eleven celebrities to launch in October 2008. In September last year, the company launched a six week ad campaign with Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor. "Thanks to that campaign, we had the highest sales achieved by any operator during October 2008, doubling our September sales in the process," avers Puri. Brand Airtel has a clutch of film stars- Shah Rukh Khan, R Madhavan, Vidya Balan et al- which are used in different promotions as and when required. In November last year, Dish TV, the market leader envisaged on a brand revamp campaign 'Ghar aayi Zindagi' with its brand ambassador Shah Rukh Khan and is going to spend Rs 100crore on advertising in the coming financial year. Says Salil Kapoor, CEO, Dish TV; "We have been able to move from a functional to an emotional positioning thanks to this campaign. Hiring Shah Rukh Khan has enabled us to save on advertising spends as he helps us get the message across more effectively in fewer exposures." At Rs 3,000, the average cost of getting each new subscriber for DTH operators is fairly high, while the ARPU for the industry stands at about Rs 200-Rs 250, which effectively means a long investment recovery period. Add to that the fact that DTH players subsidise equipment and content to gain a sizeable subscriber base and some like Sanjay Behl, CEO, Big TV, feel that celebrities do not justify their costs.

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"In the DTH sphere, it is dangerous if you do not watch costs with a hawk eye." Nonetheless, the operator is close on the heels of launching a promotional campaign with Hrithik Roshan, the ambassador of Reliance Communications, of which Big TV is a part. Industry sources say that the company will be spending Rs 150-crore on advertising this year. [The Economics Times]

DTH players eyeing big with Brand Ambassadors: Celebrity Endorsement Sachin Tendulkar, Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Aamir Khan, Yuvraj Singh are a few names who not only have an iconic status but also endorse a number of brands. Why do brands need an ambassador? Why is it that celebrities want to endorse brands catering to different segments of the market? These are just a few pertinent questions arising in many brains. The recently concluded Cricket World Cup 2011 saw a list of cricketers being fetched by big brands to sign in for their products. It is seen that in almost all sectors of FMCG, Consumer Durables, Electronics and Technology, there are at least two celebrities endorsing rival brands. DTH players have never been far from doing the same. Dish TV had roped in Shahrukh Khan as their brand ambassador in 2007 and have extended their contract again. They still continue to count on the star power of SRK. Similarly, Tata Sky roped in Aamir Khan in 2008 with the television commercials gaining a lot of popularity because of the actors different looks and the humor blended with each look. The companies have time and again tried their best to capture the emotions of their consumers. Today, more than half the population of the country looks forward to these stars as their icons and idols be it Amitabh Bachchan or Sachin Tendulkar. It is the emotional quotient attached to the star power that the brands like to cash on. Abhishek Bachchan was earlier endorsing Reliances Big TV but jumped to Videocon D2H in 2010. Perhaps, the father-son duo of Amitabh and Abhishek have both endorsed for Big TV at some point in time in their respective careers. These are recognized faces that the people see everyday. The curiosity to peep into celebrity life is at its peak with the technology growing at a brisk pace. The moneys spent in attaining these stars takes the budget to a new level and at times reaching an all time high. Industry experts have a take on the celebrity endorsements that have been happening since quite sometime. There are two things in India that sell more than anything Bollywood and Cricket. The brand has had the likes of A.R.Rahman, actors like Vidya Balan, R.Madhavan and cricketers Zaheer Khan and Gautam Gambhir endorsing for them. The current brand ambassadors for Airtel DTH are the

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real life couple Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor and the earlier campaigns revolved around their relationship with a tinge of humor. The brand believes that celebrities or icons definitely help in enhancing the image of the brand as well as increasing sales. She will soon be seen in the television commercials for Nepals first DTH provider Home TV. The only player in the Indian DTH market who has not yet acknowledged the services of celebrities to promote themselves is Sun Direct; Chennai based Sun Networks DTH service. Bollywood cuts across all segments removing all barriers in terms of age, sex, religion or even region. A close second in the hearts of the people is cricket which is popular and played in almost all the parts of the country. Today every sportsman or sportswoman who makes India proud soon sees himself or herself as the ambassador of some or the other brand. However the future is too vague to speak about now and it will be left on the imagination of the common man to keep guessing as to which brand will come up with a new brand ambassador to tingle their senses and deviate their buying behavior. With changing technology in the DTH arena, we shall soon be witnessing changing brand ambassadors. He quickest way of ending a war is to lose it. But none of the DTH player in India is willing to lose the battle, which has just began. The reason is simple: as the DTH market in the country is in a nascent stage, 91% of it is still untapped, and no one wants to lose the opportunity.At present, there are 135 mn TV households in India, out of which over 12 mn have DTH service. As the penetration of DTH is just 9%, there is a huge untapped potential, especially in tier-1 and -2 cities. Of the total industry growth, 35% growth for the DTH industry came from metropolitan cities, while the rest came from cities and towns of tier-2 and below.The DTH industry experienced 300% growth in FY 2008-09, with over 7 mn new subscribers adopting DTH service.Industry insiders believe that DTH will continue to lead in terms of growth, due to better awareness, ease of installation and independence from cable plant. Industry people expect DTH to grow at over 30% per year, till 2012. The war among players is not limited to services and subscribers, but is on the advertisement front as well. DishTV is promoted by Shahrukh Khan. The company has recently extended its brand association with 'King Khan' for another eighteen months. As brand ambassador, Khan plays a key role in product communication on television, in print and outdoor media. The company had first tied up with Khan in 2007 to endorse its DTH service. SRK cuts across age groups and demographics and appeals to a universal audience just like our products, and was therefore a natural fit for the brand. We believe his endorsement of DishTV reinforces the attributes of the brand and reiterates the positioning: Thoda Aur Wish Karo. Dish Karo, says Salil Kapoor, COO, DishTV.Not willing to lose the celebrity mileage Tata Sky has roped in Amir

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Khan to promote its brand. The Bharti Group owned Airtel Digital had as many as ten celebrities in its launch ads.One would remember how Airtel Digital had designed a teaser campaign to announce its arrival, where the ad had a plush red sofa landing with a thud and the tag line at the bottom read: 'See you at home'.One would also remember that even before Airtel Digital could break the campaign or get it to its envisioned end; Big TV, the ADAG Group venture, hijacked the teaser by floating its own campaign on similar lines.Sun Direct, a 80:20 joint venture between the Maran family and the Astro Group of Malaysia, has no celebrity to endorse the brand.We want the quality and affordability of our services to speak for ourself. It is about how you strategically address different needs of various customer segments for a long lasting relationship with the existing customers and reaching out to new DTH users. Our churn is less than 2%, which is by far a huge deviation from the industry norms, points out Tony D'Silva, COO, Sun Direct. Unlike the global market, the regulatory framework in India does not permit exclusive content. In the global market, exclusivity remains one of the biggest USPs of DTH operators worldwide. In international markets such as the US, the finely segmented channels, exclusive content and high penetration of interfaces such as digital video recorder (DVR) have grown the market. Globally, sports programing has benefited greatly through on-demand services. In India, the rule of 'must-carry' obliges a DTH player to carry all the channels provided by the broadcaster. Trai has indicated that exclusivity can only be provided when the Indian DTH market matures, and there is a perfect competition in the market. In the absence of content differentiation, the competition remains in pricing, which may even cannibalize the industry.Besides pricing, value-added-services like movie-on-demand (MOD) and pay per view (PPV) are features that give DTH operators the edge. These players are making TV viewing a completely new experience, in addition to the value added services like DVRs, PVRs and standard features.Tata Sky was the first private player to introduce DVR in the Indian market. To remain in the competition, rest of the players, except Sun Direct, have made the technology available to their subscribers. In the absence of an exclusivity of content, PPV and interactive features are the core two differentiators for DTH operators, and we expect that this is where most innovations will happen. With our history of offering innovative and collaborative products, this is an area where we will leverage our competitive strengths, says Sugato Banerji, chief marketing officer, DTH, Bharti Airtel.

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In the developed DTH market, the shift is towards high definition (HD) technology, because there is a radical difference between the existing standard definition and high definition. The trend is slowly picking up in the country's DTH industry. Sun Direct, which is spearheading the price war, claims to be the pioneer in launching HD services in the DTH industry, while others are not far behind.Interactive services have become another warfare. Each operator is looking at ways of monetizing these interactive services, by offering new and enhanced services to customers. Differentiation in the minds of customers has created customer service, innovative bundling, and quality of delivery and software. HD channel is another potential differentiator.DishTV has recently launched interactive banking service ICICI ACTIVE. The service enables DishTV viewers to access information on ICICI Bank products and services, from the convenience of their homes.Similarly, Tata Sky has fourteen interactive services, The content is developed to meet the expectations of our subscribers across various age groups. Matrimony-based classifieds, educational applications for young students, cooking recipes-on-demand and 24x7 Darshan on TV have been all firsts in the Indian market says Vikram Mehra, CMO, Tata Sky.Though DishTV, the market leader, has had the advantage of first mover; it would be interesting to see how Bhatri's Airtel Digital and ADAG's Big TV, the two giants of India, Inc, carry forward the battle. Especially, when the government has imposed a 5% customs duty on set-top boxes, making the cost to the consumer costiler.

Flash back: DTH INDUSTRY IN INDIA

IN THE current context of the global financial meltdown, the Direct to Home (DTH) industry in India is in the throes of multifarious challenges and opportunities. The big game is all about shaping up grandiose plans to master the winning rules to garner as much portion of the Indian DTH pie as possible by a handful of players. Since the DTH space denotes big value, akin to the space occupied by television and telephony, inter-firm rivalries have thrown up price wars, discount schemes, procurement of transponders, ambitious targets for improving the subscription base, popular bouquet of channels, set top boxes with superior quality of videos, improving content, etc as a desperate means to entice the Indian viewer.A neat 20 per cent annual growth is being witnessed in the DTH sector in India with over 8.5 million households having digital pay-TV. According to Harsh Bijoor, a brand consultant, Since Dish TV, the biggest market player on the Indian soil, has not scraped even five per cent of the pie, there is plenty left for other

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players to eat.In the early 2008, five major players, Zees Dish TV, Tata Sky, Reliance ADAG, Sun Direct and Bharti Telemedia formed an umbrella body DTH Operators Association of India (DOAI).The Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of India in its 2008 Pay TV Piracy Survey have predicted that the Grey TV market of around USD 1.1billion will gradually be taken over by the legal DTH industry.Marcel Fenez, chairman CASBAA, said, Despite the global sinking of economies, the Asia Pacific market is healthy and the decline in growth will not derail the industry. With 1.7 million digital cable subscriptions, the digital pay-TV market is finally taking off and this degree of penetration represents a tipping point for our industry in Asia.Starting with a million strong subscriber base in August 2006, Tata Sky, a DTH joint-venture Company between Star (owned by Rupert Murdoch) and the Tata Group, now has more than 2.7 million connections and the forecast for 2012 is that it will further increase to eight million.The Indian DTH growth scenario bodes well for the advertising industry as well with over Rs 30-40 crores being earmarked by these companies annually for advertising revenues.While Tata Sky has roped in Bollywood actors Amir Khan and Gul Panag for its promotion, Shahrukh Khan endorses for the Dish TV.MD and CEO of Tata Sky, Vikram Kaushik, recently confirmed in an interview that the company estimates were standing at Rs 40 billion for its final funding requirement as competitive entries, explosive growth in volume and customer acquisition have jacked up the costs.Tata Sky recently launched the NDS-developed XTV personal video recorder (PVR) that enables the customers to watch a particular TV show while recording another. It is being hailed a major introduction in the Indian DTH market. Within a few days of its launch 2, 500 PVRs, priced at Rs 8, 999, were sold as claimed by the Tata Sky MD, Kaushik.This places Tata Sky among the top 19 pay-TV operators around the world with NDS solutions being a unique introduction to facilitate flexibility of PVR to their subscribers.A deal along similar lines was announced by Bharti Airtel, in the provision of DTH services, dependent on NDS for its conditional access.N Arjun, executive director Bharti Telemedia, expressed enthusiasm about the companys expansion plans by disclosing that his company looked forward to providing the best of home entertainment services via Airtel digital TV in terms of latest technology and exciting content. Since DTH is the future of home entertainment, with the support of our technology partner NDS, we will render superior, state-of-the-art services to our DTH service customers, he said. Sun Direct, which entered the DTH sector as a discounted brand in opposition to Tata Sky, notched at a 30 per cent premium and supposedly mopped up over a million subscribers

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within a short time span.Tata Sky, though placed at a launch-premium of Rs 1,000, is open to segmentations.A demand of a tax holiday of five years from the government has been mooted by the DOAI that should incentivise the DTH industry as its market has reportedly surpassed the Japanese one in the last five years.The Indian DTH industry players look forward to a seven times multiplication of its market, about 40 million subscribers by 2015, from a total of 165 million pay TV households.

Analysis
Since 1959, when Indian television was first launched and the state owned Doordarshan aired just two channels in black and white as recently as 1991; the world of entertainment has made rapid and unusual strides. The turning points were the 1982 Asian Games when colour television was introduced and the 1991 liberalisation and deregulation that ushered in the era of foreign investments and foreign channels that egged the domestic players to jump into the foray. From large metros, satellite TV moved to smaller towns that spurred the sale of TV sets and brought about an upgradation from black and white television viewing to the colour one. With time, more and more changes took place and finally the DTH services arrived. DTH operations in India could be enhanced if the dearth of satellite capacity is removed by increasing the number of available Ku-band transponders that at present is 12 on Insat 4A, which in turn would mean more channels for viewing. Tax burdens on DTH are another area of complaint for operators. Around 40 per cent of revenues are siphoned off to pay taxes and license fee and another 12 per cent for services imposed by the Central government. Apart from this, there are entertainment taxes that differ from state to state. Cable TV operators also give a stiff level of competition to the DTH sector by suppressing their prices artificially by way of under-declarations. This has pressurised the DTH operators to cut their profits to the extent of making them unviable. At present, there are 80 million TV households in India, of which over seven million are DTH ones. Since the penetration is just under nine per cent, there is much room for a massive

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growth rate, according to the Bharti Airtels head of brand and media, Chandrashekhar Balakrishnan. This is what the company is focusing on, to enhance its subscription base to 20 per cent, he added. Industry analyst Siva Sundaram said that India will be the leading power in Asia by 2010 in the field of cable market and by 2015; it will be the most profitable in the area of pay TV market. Interestingly, the rural rich were the first to positively respond to the advent of DTH industry and those in the remote areas with no or unreliable access to the cable services will be tapped in by the DTH players. The Indian Readership Survey 2008 R2 findings have shown that the Dish TV is the largest player with over 3.1 million subscribers, followed by DD Direct, Tata Sky and Sun Direct, which has a predominance in the southern zone. The zone wise analysis puts the western zone with 2.24 million topping the subscriber base charts and the North, South and East following the lead. While the big game hots up between the DTH service providers, the regular big Indian couch potatoes may keep surfing the channels and choosing from the burgeoning options.

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TAM: Current Scenario

STATE-WISE PERPECTIVE

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Rural:

DTH PENETRATION:

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SECs PENETRATION:

Awareness of DTH:

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SWOT ANALYSIS OF DTH:

STRENGTH Dishtv was the first entrant in the DTH category and has thus become synonymous with the satellite TV broadcasting business in India. Leveraging its lineage with the Zee group, dishtv has built acommendable brand and relevant product that answers the consumer needsfor quality entertainment. The technological edge and differentiation with respect to other brands stands exemplified through its unique offerings of mobile dish with presence in aircrafts (Kingfisher), navywar ships, mobile vans and selected railway saloons.

WEAKNESS
The subscriber acquisition cost is still very high. However, compared to the current industry benchmarks, it stands at the lowest by far. The cost towards acquiring consumers is under constant scrutiny in an endeavor to bring it down. In a market trend of consumers down sliding on the packaging tiers, due to more value being packaged at the lowest packs, dish tv has exhibited a growth in ARPU. However, ARPU continues to be an area of concern with the constant endeavor to monitor, upgrade and enhance the revenues.

OPPORTUNITIES
Indias 127 million television owning households, which define the potential depth for the DTH category, will act as a low hanging fruit for adoption. The further roll out of CAS by the new Government, into more towns will impact the growth rate of the DTH category and trigger consumers to make a decision between digital cable and DTH, thereby aiding faster expansion of the digital entertainment world. Enrichment of Value Added Services (VAS) basket with gaming and a host of active services, some going pay, will continue to be opportunity areas for revenue enhancement. An eventful sporting calendar with the ensuing Commonwealth games and a series of Cricketing tournaments will act as a catalyst for this category too. The recent stabilization and a revived hope for bouncing back of the economy as early as the second half of this year will facilitate faster adoption of the category. Emergence and growth of traffic at the organized retail chains like Big bazaar, Next, The mobile store, Reliance digital etc. will also add more visibility leading to better acceptance of the product.

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THREATS
DTH is currently a six player market. Price cuts and reduced margins, spurred by severe competition, can pose a threat to revenue enhancement. Improved quality of services by digital cable and IPTV players are potential threats. Churn management and retention cost scan negatively impact bottom-lines unless constant attention and Strategy is deployed to manage and control the subscribers base.

Competitors in Bhopal:
PLAYERS DISH TV:DTH service was launched back in 2004 by launching of Dish TV by Essel Group's Zee Entertainment Enterprises. Dish TV is on the same satellite where DD Direct+ is. Dish TV started its service in Pakistan with the collaboration of Budget Communication. Dish TV was only DTH operator in India to carry the two Turner channels Turner Classic Movies and Boomerang. Both the channels were removed from the platform due to unknown reasons in March 2009. Dish TV is a DTH satellite television provider in India, using MPEG-2 digital compression technology, transmitting using NSS Satellite at 95.0. Dish TVs managing director and Head Of Business is Jawahar Goel who is also the promoter of Essel Group and is also the President of Indian Broadcasting Foundation. Dish TV is a division of Zee Network Enterprise (Essel Group Venture). EGV has national and global presence with business interests in media programming, broadcasting & distribution, speciality packaging and entertainment. Zee Network incorporated Dish TV to modernize TV viewing. Dish TV is Indias first direct to home (DTH) entertainment service. By digitalizing Indian entertainment, this enterprise brought best television viewing technology to the living room. It not only transmits high quality programmes through satellite; but also gives a complete control of selecting channels and paying for them. Dish TV imparts DVD quality picture and stereophonic sound effects to the customers. It promises to change the experience of TV viewing with its uninterrupted transmission service. The endeavour enters next level of entertainment with futuristic features, such as EPG (Electronic Programme Guide), parental lock, games, 400 channels, interactive TV and movie on demand.

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CUSTOMER PREMISE EQUIPMENT (CPE) The Equipment or Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) consists of the following: Dish Antenna with LNB STB with Remote Pre-activated Viewing Card The Dish Antenna is installed at an appropriate location at the customer's premise. It is then connected to the STB through a cable. The cable in turn, is connected to the TV set.The encrypted TV signals are received from the satellite on the Dish Antenna and transmitted to the STB. The customer is also provided with a Viewing Card, which is inserted into a slot in the STB. The Viewing Card decrypts the TV signals chosen & paid for by the customer, for better clarity of viewing on TV. PRE-ACTIVATED VIEWING CARD This card is just like a SIM card of mobile phone. To receive dishtv signals, this card needs to be activated after installation. Every VC is uniquely numbered. This number is of 11 digits followed by a hyphen and 1 digit after that. You can locate this on your VC. For Example: 01500010000-1. No 2 VCs can have same serial number. The viewing card is pre-activated so that you can start watching the channels as soon as you get your dishtv installed. SUN TV: Sun Direct is an 80:20 Joint Venture between the Maran family and Astro Group of Malaysia. Its headquarters are located in Chennai, Tamil Naidu. With 170+ TV channels and 31 Radio channels, Sun Direct has a subscriber base of 3 million (April 2009) Sun Direct has a basic pack of Rs 75 monthly subscription which is the lowest price-point compared to the other service providers. Sun Direct was also the first DTH operator to introduce HD.

TATA SKY Tata Sky, an 80:20 joint venture between Tata Sons and the Star group, provides satellite television services to Indian viewers. The company was incorporated in 2004 and offers a range of media and entertainment options to customers. Tata Sky's direct-to-home satellite platform delivers more than 100 television channels, movies and interactive services for games, learning, recipes, news, chat rooms, etc. It has state-of-the-art digital infrastructure and a retail network that covers more than 4,500 towns in India.

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Airtel DTH:
Airtel digital TVs standard definition broadcasts are in MPEG-4 with Interactive Service (it) and 7-day EPG (electronic programmed guide). Interactive Service (it) of Airtel digital tv includes a add-on service which allows a user to shop, book movie tickets etc. A universal remote is included in the package which can, over IR frequencies control both the TV and the DTH box. Like other DTH service providers it also provides a Video on demand interactive service which includes a catalogue of movies in Hindi, English and other regional languages which can be ordered on demand. Airtel digital launched on 8th October, 2008 with a 360 degree mega campaign "Come Home to the Magic". Since that it has launched 2 other campaigns 'Stars come home' (March 2009) and 'DTH Picture Clarity' (August 2009) has increased its channel base to 183+ channels. Airtel digital TV is now amongst the fastest growing DTH brands in the country and is available across 5000+ towns in India. It has also been ranked as the best DTH service by "Living Digital" magazine.

Reliance BIG TV:Reliance BIG TV limited is a part of Reliance Communications Ltd., a subsidiary of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group [2] founded by the Late Dhirubhai Ambani, the Indian business tycoon and owned by his son Anil Ambani. BIG TV started operations from 19 August 2008 with the slogan "TV ho Toh BIG Ho" ("If you have a TV, make it BIG"). It currently offers close to 240 channels and many interactive ones, 32 cinema halls (i.e. Pay per View Cinema Channels) as well as many Radio channels. The company plans to increase the number of channels in the near future to 400 and begin High Definition (HD) broadcast. It is the first Pan-India DTH provider that uses MPEG-4 for broadcasting. There are also plans to introduce services like i-Stock, i-News and other such interactive services in the future. Reliance BIG TV's retailer network is spread across 100,000 outlets in 6,500 towns in India. This was literally unheard of in the DTH industry. They had effectively out-stripped the competition here. When it came to pricing packaging, their introductory offer stood at Rs. 1,490/- with 3 to 6 months of free subscription. They also introduced 32 Pay-Per-View Movie Channels, the highest by any DTH player. Not just that, while other players made subscribers pay for each movie, Reliance BIG TV introduced the unique concept of Subscriber-VideoOn-Demand (SVOD) under which the subscriber paid a monthly subscription of Rs. 50/- to get a 24 x 7 access to the 21 PPV channels showing Hindi and Regional Films. We were also the first to introduce dedicated PPV channels for Marathi, Gujarati and Bhojpuri films.

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Primary Research: Bhopal Bhopal population:

Population Census of India 2011 - The Census of India 2011 which started on 1st of April in 2010 is a historical landmark in Indian history. This will be largest census in human history till date ever done by any government in the world. Government of India will collect data from each and every household in the states and union territories of India. The Census 2011 is the 15th National Census of India undertaken by the government after a gap of 10 years. However this year, the Government of India has added another task to prepare a National Population Register (NPR) along with census data. Over the years, Indian census has been a reliable source of information on Demography, Economic Activity, Literacy and Education, Housing and Household Amenities, Urbanization, Fertility and Mortality, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Language, Religion, Migration, Disability and many other socio-cultural and demographic data in India.During 1951-61 the population growth was nearly 120%. In the decade of 1971-81, the establishment of Mandideep industrial area coupled with heavy commercialization, and expansion of Government services further gave impetus to the population, which recorded a phenomenal 74.35% decadal growth. Thereafter also the population continued to grow rapidly before declining to approx. 34.92% during 1991-2001. There is a clear indication that unusually high growth is now stabilizing and the rate will further slowdown in the following decades particularly because the area base has significantly widened. Bhopal city is the most urbanized districts of the state. As per 2001 census, 80.53% of the district population lives in urban areas, predominantly, in the city. In between 1901 to 1921, the urbanization declined as a result of plague outbreaks. The urban population then rose steadily from its low 30.4% in 1921 to 43.3% in 1951. In 1956, Bhopal was made the state capital and, in the same decade, the industrial township of BHEL was established. This led to substantial population-increase and by 1961 the urbanization of the district rose to 61.6%. In subsequent decades, rate of urbanization seems to be eventually stabilizing at about 80%.

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Social Structure
The city has shown a continuous growth in the female population. According to 2001 Census, the city had 898 females per 1,000 males which is almost equal to the State average (Urban) of 912 females per 1,000 population, but it is lower than the other class I cities of the Region which have not been subjected to sudden migration and are socially more stabilized. A lower female ratio indicates difficult housing situation prevailing in the city. The migrant worker has a tendency to leave his family behind unless he is hopeful of obtaining a house within his rent paying capacity. Increased rate of housing supply will certainly improve social and cultural life of the city, which is essential for creative and productive life.

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Type of Research
Descriptive Research:

Descriptive research includes surreys and fact finding enquiries kind. The major purpose of descriptive research is the description of the state of affairs as it exists at present. The main purpose the research is to find the penetration of different DTH players in the Bhopal market M.P. This is a Descriptive research because it is based on primary and secondary data and survey on DTH used to interpret the research problem and tries to give some insight in to problem. Random Sample A sample design is a definite plan for obtaining in sample from a given population. It refers to the technique or the procedure the researcher would adopt in selecting the items for the sample. In this project, the samples have been selected from the population using simple random sampling Technique Sample size: 50 household random samples were chosen for this research. Sample has been taken from different area of Bhopal.

Data Collection
The information needed to further proceed in the project had been collected through primary data. Data collection procedure: Primary data collected through questionnaire . Considering the brief I have to choose the research site which was Bhopal in M.P. Next level we selected sample size according to brief. Then, we go to door to and simply conversation cum interview with respondents; at least we take one member from a household. We taken picture, Interview of respondents but not each respondent because they dont want to face camera. But they are most comfort with simply conversation. We used the tool enquiry through conversation and observation apart from interview.

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PRIMARY DATA Primary data consists of information collected for the specific purpose at hand for the purpose of collecting primary data, survey research was used and all the retail outlets sellers using different brands and their competitors were contacted. Survey research is the approach best suited gathering description. In this dissertation, the primary data was collected through questionnaire from the people belonging to SEC A, B .

Limitations
The sampling plan was based on non-probability method and no scientific methods were adopted. The universe selection and sample size is not sufficient to represent the whole population. Due to time constraint the survey has been done on the basis of convenience PROCESS OF DATA ANALYSIS:The whole research was done in two parts; the 1st part consisted of descriptive qualitative research. In this part there was a cheat sheet prepared which consisted the questions to be asked to the respondents? The conversation was then recorded in an audio device. The cheat sheet consisted of the various questions asked to the interviewee. On the basis of their answers, the most spoken words were extracted from the recordings.

Objective: To find DTH Penetration & Consumer Preferences among the DTH players in Bhopal.

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Methodology used: Questionnaire method

Sampling Design: A sample design is a definite plan for obtaining in sample from a given population. It refers to the technique or the procedure the researcher would adopt in selecting the items for the sample. Research Instrument The instrument which has been utilized for the collection of data is the questionnaire. Questionnaire is a Performa containing sequence of questions to collect information from the respondent. Thus, questionnaire consists of number of questions printed or typed in a definite order on a form or set of forms.

Questionnaire:
1. Do you watch Television using DTH or Local cable connection? o DTH o Local Cable Connection

51%

49%

DTH

Cable

Interpretation: 51% of viewers view television using DTH, while 49% of them watch using Cable. More than half a population has shifted towards DTH, which is a large share.

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2. If you have a DTH connection, which among you use? o TATA SKY o DISH TV o AIRTEL o BIG TV o SUN TV o OTHERS

TATASKYDISHTV35%

39% BIG5%AIRTEL15%

Others6%

Interpretation Tata Sky is the market leader with 39% of market share, followed by Dish TV and Airtel with 15% of market share respectively. 3. Why you choose DTH over Cable? o o o o Because of the Picture quality You want more channels with clarity Connection problem with Local cables Cost is Less Other: ..
CHANNEL PREFENCES&ADON SERVICES20%

PICTUREQUALITY 30%HOUSEHOLD

PICTURE QUALITY&COST50%

Interpretation

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30% respondents choose DTH because of better picture quality, 50% gave reason of both picture quality and cost ,20% told great services and more channels. 4. Does celebrity endorsement affect on purchasing decision? o No o Yes
70% 30%

NO

YES

5. Which TVC of DTH you like? o TATA SKY o DISH TV o AIRTEL o BIG TV o D2H VIDEOCON o NONE OF THESE

40%

25%

20%DishTV Shahrukhkhan

Noneofthese

TATASKYAmirkhan

15%Airtel KareenaKapoor

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6. Who is your favourate brand endorser of DTH? o Sharukh khan o Amir Khan o Saif Ali Khan o Kareena Kapoor o Abhisek Bachchan o Vidya Balan

Others 15%

Kareena 15%

AMIR 30%

SRK

40%

7. How much do you pay to your DTH Operator? (Monthly)

o o o o o 100200 200300 300400 400500 Morethan500

Interpretation:
25%DTHusersspend100200permonthforsubscriptionfeewhile36%spend200300 permonth,14%spend300400permonth,5%spend400600permonth,20%spend variableamountbetween200450permonth.

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8. How often do you watch or would like to watch Regional News Channels?
o o o Regularly Occasionally Never

Interpretation
36%ofpopulationwatchesorwouldliketowatchRegionalNewsChannelsregularly,38% occasionallyand26%never.

9. Do you activate any extra value added service of DTH? o YES o NO o SOMETIME o NEVER 10. What is one thing you dont like about DTH services? o Pay-extra money for other services o Bad signal due to rain 11. Which extra services of DTH services do you like most? o Game o Movie on demand o Englisg speaking o Live record your favourate program

Interpretation
70%ofhouseholdwatchesorwouldliketomovieondemand,30%rest.

Address: NameAge Male Female

House No.:.

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Findings On survey
1) Maximum Person keep Dish TV kit and recharge facility. 2) Awareness of new connection and new recharge offers of Dish TV is similar to Tata Sky and Airtel Digital. 3) There is a communication gap between the company and the customers. This doesnt seem to be the case with other DTH providers. 4) Availability of vouchers lie between price ranges from Rs 100 to 1000. 5) Availability of voucher is one of the major issues among Dish TV dealers, For small amount of recharge they use vouchers, but use other modes of recharge for large amounts. Due to the shortage of stock they are not able to retain their customer for long time. 6) EPRS system seems to be the most troublesome recharge option for Dish TV. 7) In case of Dish TV because of frequent trouble complains in EPRS recharge option, vouchers are preferred over others that are not the case with other brands who use all other options. 8) Customer care service is considered to be very poor as dealers often complain of problems in recharge process managed by Dish TV. 9) Many persons say they recommend Tata Sky and Airtel because they get the installation done much faster in comparison to Dish TV. With Dish, it takes up to 3-4 days sometimes. 10) The company hasnt been able to keep up the promises made to the customers, like installation and activation commitments are often not met. 11) Connect between the Call Center and the Service center is not good. 12) Customer Care is not reachable on Toll-Free easily, waiting time is high on toll-free numbers.

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13) Dish TV changes the price plans and offers more frequently as compared to other DTH providers. This along with improper communication confuses customers which beings down the consumer satisfaction levels.

14) There has been a growing trend of dish TV customers and dealers being shifting to other major brands like Tata Sky and Airtel Digital as they provide better value added services like after sale service, recharge facilities and customer care

15) Most customers surveyed have complained that the Distributor/Sales people do not visit much and they are not receiving sufficient support.

16) Other DTH brand provides best support facility, quick recharge and installation facility, which provides them with the competitive advantage..

17) Good thing which i found in Dish TV according to dealer feedback is offer, dealers and customer like their but same time they shows un satisfaction with frequent changes in offer. 18) Specific Comments By customers:a) Due to the bad EPRS system of Dish TV, they are not able to recharge higher amount and as they face such problems frequently, they try to recommend other DTH brands to their customers. b) The dealers mostly prefer to sell Tata Sky and Airtel because their installation system is very fast. Also if dealers are committed to their customers regarding any specific time limit, the other DTH brands never let them feel down, which helps the dealers to keep good relation with their customers.

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c) The dealers generally sell recharge vouchers of Tata sky worth Rs 1lac per month, but in case of Dish TV they only sell vouchers worth Rs 5-10k. The main reason behind it is lack of availability and also poor EPRS system. It took long time to recharge. So dealers push its customer towards Tata sky and Airtel Digital. d) There has been problem on the behalf of the distributers front, distributer have been setting there own price and negotiating according, this has been matter of loss for the dealers in most the case the profit got is not up to the mark. RECOMMENDATION & SCOPE 1) Increase awareness: Since there is lack in communication channel, it should be tackled with care and dealers should be constantly made aware about the offers and new plans through meetings with company executives at regular intervals.

2) Improve processes and techniques: In order to make recharge or activation process more transparent and user friendly, the EPRS technology needs to be upgraded consistently.

3) Give more value added services: Since Tata sky and Airtel have clear edge over value added services like free installation DTH needs to mend its strategy to face these competition. One way of doing this would be to offer at least the same service as these two competitors are trying to eat the market share.

4) Improvement in after Sales Services: Arrange proper training for customer care executives as Dish TV lacks proper after sale service.

5) Standardized the price plans and avoid frequency changing: Frequent changes in price and offers is proving no good for Dish TV as it is in way frustrates the customers with changes in offers without being informed about it. So Dish TV needs to watch out for this and should pre inform the customers about the offers and changes well in advance. This in a way, I feel would create more brand loyalty and preference. 6) Voucher Availability: Make proper channel of Distribution of voucher. 7) Visibility: Danglers create more impact on customer mind, it always visible and promote offer and help to recall brand resonance.

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REFERENCE
http://www.indiandth.in/ www.sundirect.in/mediaDetails.php?mediaId=1 http://realinfo.info/index.php?topic=810.0;topicseen http://www.media-partners-asia.com/mpanews120809.asp http://www.mumbaispace.com/dth/airtel-dth.htm www.simplymalayalees.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=696 http://www.televisionpoint.com/news2009/newsfullstory.php?id=1252499760 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPTV http://www.coolavenues.com/mba-journal/marketing/outdoor-ooh-changing-faceoutdoor-advertising-india http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Analysis-Of-The-Media-Industry-InIndia/995277 http://www.rediff.com/money/2005/apr/18eco.htm http://teck.in/dth-direct-to-home-tv-in-india-features-and-price-comparison.html http://www.telecomtiger.com/DTH_fullstory.aspx?passfrom=DTH&storyid=7981&se ction=S218 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dish_Network http://www.tatasky.com/why-tata-sky.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Sky FICCI-KPMG Report, Media & Entertainment Industry projected to grow at 13% over next five years to INR 1091 bn FICCI Report, The Indian Entertainment and Media Industries - A Growth Story Unfolds TAM Report, Zee 24 Ghante Chhattisgarh

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