Digitization of television broadcast is the next big game changer for the TV industry in India, ensuring enhanced quality of pictures and service delivery and more importantly promising a quantum jump in subscription revenue for multi-channel networks such as TV18 and others. Even as spending on advertisement spots would continue to provide substantial revenue for TV broadcasters, digital transmission through set-top boxes unleashes a big opportunity to increase incomes for Indian broadcasters in line with global standards.
Television viewership has seen explosive growth in India over the past two decades, vaulting the cable TV industry to the No. 3 spot in the world behind China and the US. However, large-scale under-reporting of cable-enabled households by operators has been a major millstone around the necks of broadcasters, severely hampering their subscription revenue. The analog cable networks have also been hobbled by overloads with the massive leap in TV channels and offerings.
Today, more than 600 TV channels are beamed into homes round-the-clock, offering a heady mix of soap operas, music, dance, fashion, films, realty game shows, news and sports. By rolling out the mandatory Digital Addressable System (DAS), the technology allows for carrying up to 999 channels and gives the TV broadcasting industry a better share of the distribution pie. It is estimated that the last-mile cable operator pockets a whopping Rs.160 billion out of the Rs.200 billion paid by viewers, leaving a meagre Rs.40 billion for broadcasters, the Times of India reported in April.
Clearly, digitization would sharply boost the earnings of companies such as TV18, which operates news channels like CNBC-TV18, CNBC-Awaaz, CNN-IBN, IBN-7, IBN-Lokmat, and whose joint venture with Viacom offers a portfolio of popular entertainment channels - Colors, MTV, Sonic, Comedy Central, VH1 and Nick - and Viacom18 Motion Pictures, the group's filmed entertainment business. Earnings from these relatively new offerings, along with the History TV18 channel launched in tie-up with A&E Networks, are set to jump with rising viewership drawing in higher advertisement and subscription revenue.
Read More : Digitization of television broadcast is the next big game changer for the TV industry - EquityBulls.com
Television viewership has seen explosive growth in India over the past two decades, vaulting the cable TV industry to the No. 3 spot in the world behind China and the US. However, large-scale under-reporting of cable-enabled households by operators has been a major millstone around the necks of broadcasters, severely hampering their subscription revenue. The analog cable networks have also been hobbled by overloads with the massive leap in TV channels and offerings.
Today, more than 600 TV channels are beamed into homes round-the-clock, offering a heady mix of soap operas, music, dance, fashion, films, realty game shows, news and sports. By rolling out the mandatory Digital Addressable System (DAS), the technology allows for carrying up to 999 channels and gives the TV broadcasting industry a better share of the distribution pie. It is estimated that the last-mile cable operator pockets a whopping Rs.160 billion out of the Rs.200 billion paid by viewers, leaving a meagre Rs.40 billion for broadcasters, the Times of India reported in April.
Clearly, digitization would sharply boost the earnings of companies such as TV18, which operates news channels like CNBC-TV18, CNBC-Awaaz, CNN-IBN, IBN-7, IBN-Lokmat, and whose joint venture with Viacom offers a portfolio of popular entertainment channels - Colors, MTV, Sonic, Comedy Central, VH1 and Nick - and Viacom18 Motion Pictures, the group's filmed entertainment business. Earnings from these relatively new offerings, along with the History TV18 channel launched in tie-up with A&E Networks, are set to jump with rising viewership drawing in higher advertisement and subscription revenue.
Read More : Digitization of television broadcast is the next big game changer for the TV industry - EquityBulls.com