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Number of digital cable TV subscribers in India is expected to reach 61 million in 2015 from 6 million in 2011, says Rohan Dhamija, co-head, India Practice, Analysys Mason.
Analogue subscription will reduce by more than half to 41 million by 2015 from 88 million in 2011.
While broadcast digitization will benefit most value chain players, Multi System Operator (MSO) economics on a per-subscriber basis will especially see significant improvement, says Rohan Dhamija
MSO economics will improve further as they bundle broadband with Cable TV for a greater proportion of their subscriber base post digitization, Dhamija said.
Although digitization will result in significant upside, MSOs will need to navigate operational and financial challenges prior to reaping benefits.
The Television Networks (Regulation) Amendment Bill 2011 aims to digitize the entire country in a phased manner. The subset clause in the bill mandates a complete analogue switch off by end of year 2014.
Meanwhile cable digitization will also help boost the DTH industry. DTH players will be positively impacted by the digitization process. The financial and execution challenges faced by the cable industry through the government mandated digitization process will open up a window of opportunity for DTH.
Industry estimates suggest that 20 percent of urban subscribers and 40 percent of rural cable TV subscribers will face affordability issues with regards to paying for a portion of the digital STB cost associated with migrating to digital cable. The afore-mentioned in turn, could lead to approximately 20 percent of the total existing analog cable TV subscriber base churning to DTH (instead of migrating to digital cable), according to Analysis Mason.
However, driven by ability to offer broadband and higher channel carrying capacity, digital cable is expected to grow much faster than DTH.
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