The digitisation countdown has begun with a plethora of players in the fray to woo the consumer as never before. It is time, therefore, for you to separate the wheat from the chaff.
While consumers will have varied options on their platter, they better watch out for the following key parameters to choose their operator: financial muscle, technology edge, infrastructure support, benchmarked service standards, and above all pedigree.
Digital space today includes six established DTH players along with three to four digital cable players. Indian television market today is 142 million TV households, out of which 40 million are through DTH and Digital Cable, which contributed about 6 million subscribers.
Dish TV’s managing director, Jawahar Goel, explained, “There are three groups - Zee, Sun and Tata-Star - for whom DTH forms part of forward integration of their business. Then, there is Airtel Digital TV and Reliance Digital TV, promoted primarily by telecom companies and the sixth one Videocon d2h is a hardware manufacturer. Thus, companies with proven track record and for whom DTH is a long-term play would make for a better choice as compared to other options available in the market.”
“Since DTH has been operating in the market for many years now, they have an advantage in terms of branding, high quality digital transmission, content recording facility, high definition channel offerings and the necessary infrastructure required to provide customer support services,” said Abneesh Roy, associate director, institutional equities research at Edelweiss.
Commenting on the ongoing transition to digitisation phase, Rahul Kundnani, research analyst - institutional equities, media & retail, SBICAP Securities,said,”During the transition from analogue to digital cable, DTH players have the funds to equip themselves with the necessary infrastructure, inventory of set top boxes, and grab some of the market share of analogue cable.’’
On the financial health of operators, Roy at Edelweiss observed, “The largest, strongest and the only listed entity in this space Dish TV turned free cash flow positive in the fourth quarter last fiscal. Riding high on the mandatory digitisation exercise, it is certain to make some decent profits in the current financial year.” He, however, said, “I will not be able comment on financials of other players in the competitive set but players like Airtel Digital TV and Tata Sky are also backed by strong promoters. Beyond these names, I think financial strength of other companies is weak.”
Talking in specific about the fundamentals of DTH operators, Kundnani at SBICAPS Securities averred, “Dish TV is amongst the strongest player in DTH business today with an operating profit margin (25 per cent), which is highest in the industry and is poised to improve further with the subscriber additions.” Rajeev Dalmia, CFO, Dish TV, stated, “To steer the company towards profit making, we have put in the requisite infrastructure and investments in building technology, content and backend.”
Commenting on the outlook for digital cable space, Edelweiss’s Roy asserted, “Only the top three or four players in the market are financially strong. Hence, there is a lot of concern in the market whether smaller players will be able to execute digitisation properly or not.”
DTH players all set to woo consumers - Mumbai - DNA
While consumers will have varied options on their platter, they better watch out for the following key parameters to choose their operator: financial muscle, technology edge, infrastructure support, benchmarked service standards, and above all pedigree.
Digital space today includes six established DTH players along with three to four digital cable players. Indian television market today is 142 million TV households, out of which 40 million are through DTH and Digital Cable, which contributed about 6 million subscribers.
Dish TV’s managing director, Jawahar Goel, explained, “There are three groups - Zee, Sun and Tata-Star - for whom DTH forms part of forward integration of their business. Then, there is Airtel Digital TV and Reliance Digital TV, promoted primarily by telecom companies and the sixth one Videocon d2h is a hardware manufacturer. Thus, companies with proven track record and for whom DTH is a long-term play would make for a better choice as compared to other options available in the market.”
“Since DTH has been operating in the market for many years now, they have an advantage in terms of branding, high quality digital transmission, content recording facility, high definition channel offerings and the necessary infrastructure required to provide customer support services,” said Abneesh Roy, associate director, institutional equities research at Edelweiss.
Commenting on the ongoing transition to digitisation phase, Rahul Kundnani, research analyst - institutional equities, media & retail, SBICAP Securities,said,”During the transition from analogue to digital cable, DTH players have the funds to equip themselves with the necessary infrastructure, inventory of set top boxes, and grab some of the market share of analogue cable.’’
On the financial health of operators, Roy at Edelweiss observed, “The largest, strongest and the only listed entity in this space Dish TV turned free cash flow positive in the fourth quarter last fiscal. Riding high on the mandatory digitisation exercise, it is certain to make some decent profits in the current financial year.” He, however, said, “I will not be able comment on financials of other players in the competitive set but players like Airtel Digital TV and Tata Sky are also backed by strong promoters. Beyond these names, I think financial strength of other companies is weak.”
Talking in specific about the fundamentals of DTH operators, Kundnani at SBICAPS Securities averred, “Dish TV is amongst the strongest player in DTH business today with an operating profit margin (25 per cent), which is highest in the industry and is poised to improve further with the subscriber additions.” Rajeev Dalmia, CFO, Dish TV, stated, “To steer the company towards profit making, we have put in the requisite infrastructure and investments in building technology, content and backend.”
Commenting on the outlook for digital cable space, Edelweiss’s Roy asserted, “Only the top three or four players in the market are financially strong. Hence, there is a lot of concern in the market whether smaller players will be able to execute digitisation properly or not.”
DTH players all set to woo consumers - Mumbai - DNA