The free movie channels on Airtel Digital TV will sport advertisements throughout the film on the shoulder of the screen, covering a fourth of it, similar to advertisements during cricket matches.

Customers will still be able to view the paid version of movies for 25 to 100 a movie, with no advertisements. The free movie channel will at all times show viewers an option to watch the paid, ad-free version of the movie.

Bharti Airtel’s chief executive of the DTH division, Shashi Arora, confirmed the move and said that the launch of the ‘freemium’ business model will create new revenue streams for DTH operators and film producers.

“We are proud to launch yet another industry first …Going forward, I am absolutely certain that this will create an all new avenue for movie watching in India,” he said. Bharti will begin this model with one channel, more channels will be added based on consumer demand.

Although Trai has issued a new regulation restricting advertisements to under 12 minutes per hour, which has been challenged by broadcasters in TDSAT, the ‘freemium’ model sidesteps the traditional advertisement model.

Source: The Economic Times

No official comment has been received from both the companies, however according to sources, the two companies are in advance stages of discussion for the stake sale. If it goes through, the deal will look at merging the DTH business of the two companies.

Sources say the valuation of the stake is around Rs 2,500 crore. The companies will take another 10-15 days before making any official announcement. A term sheet is also likely to be signed, but the deal will be a combination of cash and stocks.

The amount of Rs 2500 crore will be significant for RComm considering that the company is sitting on a debt pile of around Rs 39,000 crore.

RComm is looking at bringing down its debt by around Rs 10,000 crore this year.

In March, the company said that it was in talks with Samena Capital. It had given a timeline of May-June for the announcements and with this DTH deal coming up to around Rs 2500 crore, the company is looking at bringing down debt to save interest cost.

Overall, RComm will be able to bring down debt by around Rs 10,000 crore.

Source: Moneycontrol.com

Videocon d2h added 2.33 million subscribers last year, closely followed by Indian rivals Dish TV with an additional 2.2 million subscribers, and Tata Sky’s 1.9 million. Following those, Russia’s Tricolor added 1.29 million subscribers to its DTH service, Sky Brasil added 1.251 million subscriptions and Sky Mexico had another 1.12 million customers on board.

“Videocon d2h has been constantly topping the charts with [the] highest number of additions in the Indian scenario but achieving this on a global scale, that too on an annual basis, is phenomenal and overwhelming,” said Saurabh Dhoot, group director, Videocon is quoted as saying in Indian Television. “We have always raised the bar in various parameters in the category and this provides another instance for the same. Through all our endeavours we will continue adding value to our customers.”

Anil Khera, chief executive officer of Videocon d2h added: “This is a very proud moment for us as a company. We have not only maintained our lead within the country but have outshined even global competition.”

SNL Kagan places Dish TV (with 14.7 million subscribers) as the fourth largest pay-TV operator in the Asia-Pacific region; while Indian multi-system operator (MSO) Den Networks with 11.2 million subs, MSO Siti Cable with 10.5 million subs, and DTH operator Tata Sky with 10.2 million subs, are placed as Asia’s eighth, ninth and tenth largest pay-TV players respectively.

SNL Kagan’s research looked at 106 major operators serving no fewer than two million video subscribers or one million fixed-line broadband subscribers at year-end 2012.

Source: Rapidtvnews.com

So far, the Cinema Plus pack from Sun Direct has developed a huge following with more than a million subscribers opting for the exclusive movie services on offer. Timed with the ICC Champions Trophy series, Sun Direct rechristens this pack as ‘Cinema+ Sports’ with the addition of Star Cricket, ESPN, Star Sports and Star Sports-2 at the unprecedented and unmatched price of only Rs.185 per month, to make this a movie and sports fans dream-come-true offer. Offer details as below:

• Star Sports and Star Sports-2 will be available on basic packs. All packs will carry these two channels starting from basic package onwards.

• ESPN and Star Cricket will be available on Cinema + Sports and all packs above this pack for the South and for all packs above ROI Value for ROI pack subscribers.

• ESPN HD and Star Cricket HD will be available to all HD subscribers at the new HD pack price of Rs.150/- per month. Now customers can enjoy Champions Trophy in True HD.

There is a choice of offers for both New and Existing customers:

• New subscribers opting for Standard Definition connections can now buy Sun Direct DTH with Cinema plus pack with 1 month free for just Rs. 1690, 4 months free at Rs. 2090.

• Super value pack in which HD viewers can subscribe for 2 months at Rs. 2290 and World sports pack for 2 months at Rs. 2490.

• Existing subscribers on value pack can now upgrade their pack to Cinema + Sports packs for just Rs. 185 per month and watch Champions Trophy FREE!

What’s more, Sun Direct offers ‘Pause, Record, Rewind ‘facility on all its SD and HD boxes at no extra cost. Now customers can now record and enjoy their favorite program and watch it whenever they want.

Commenting on this initiative Mr. Mahesh Kumar, Managing Director of Sun Direct, said “Sun Direct has always strived to deliver the best entertainment value to our customers. Our Cinema Plus pack with its exclusive movie services and channels has been a runaway hit. With the Cinema+ Sports pack, we are sure to make this pack even more attractive. With the onset of digitalization, a pack like this which offers movies and sports at just Rs.185/- will easily make Sun Direct the smartest digital TV option in the market compared to any DTH or even cable offering”.

For further details log on to: www.sundirect.in.

Star Sports 2 is airing the on-going ICC Champions Trophy 2013 live with Hindi commentary.

In addition, Sun Direct consumers will now also enjoy access to High Definition channels like Star Cricket HD and ESPN HD. Star Cricket and Star Cricket HD are airing the ICC Champions Trophy 2013 in English.

Speaking to indiantelevision.com Tata Sky CEO Harit Nagpal said that the channel is available only on MPEG 2. At the same time the company is moving towards MPEG 4 technology and its new standard definition boxes are also incorporating this technology.

As had been reported earlier by indiantelevision.com ESS resolved its dispute with Airtel Digital TV has signed a multi-year agreement with the DTH platform to enable distribution of its channels Star Cricket, Star Sports, Star Sports 2, ESPN, Star Cricket HD and ESPN HD on the DTH platform.

Source: Indiantelevision.com

Airtel Digital has 375 channels and services including 17 HD channels and six interactive services. With this strategic agreement, Big Magic will now have access to the 8.1 million customer base that Airtel boasts of (as on March 2013).

RBNL’s carriage deal with Airtel for Big Magic, makes it the second Indian DTH operator to carry the channel, apart from Reliance Digtial TV. Viewers can now tune into Big Magic on their Airtel Digital TV on channel no 631 from today. The channel airs a mix of locally relevant entertainment, including drama, crime, socio-mytho, game shows and talent shows.

Says RBNL CEO Tarun Katyal: As a broadcaster, we’d like to reach maximum audience and we are glad to be associated with Airtel.

Adds a media observer: “The deal is significant as Airtel has a sizable subscriber base in the markets that Big Magic is targeting. The expectation obviously is that the extra audience will lead to extra advertising revenues.”

Source: Indiantelevision.com

“The DTH segment has grown 7-8 times ever since the digitisation process started in the country,” India’s top DTH service provider Dish TV deputy vice president (UP zone) Salil Srivastava said here.

Currently, there are about 40 million DTH operators in India, while analogue connections are estimated at 750 million, he informed. He said Dish TV continued to be the largest operator due to its value offering and superior transmission quality.

Source: Business Standard

• Total revenue for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2013 was Rs. 1474.4 million as compared to Rs. 919.4 million during corresponding quarter last fiscal.
• The consolidated operating profit (EBITDA) for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2013 was Rs. 260.2 million as compared to operating profit (EBITDA) of Rs. 31.1 million during corresponding quarter last fiscal.
• 
  Initiated subscriber wise billing for DAS cities.
• 
  SITI Cable consolidated its presence in key towns.

ANNUAL FY2013 – Highlights

• Total revenue for the financial year ended March 31, 2013 was Rs. 4836.6 million as compared to Rs. 3642.6 million during last fiscal, recording a growth of 33%.
• The consolidated operating profit (EBITDA) of SITI CABLE for the financial year ended March 31, 2013 was Rs. 869.6 million as compared to operating profit (EBITDA) of Rs. 192.0 million during the last fiscal.
• 
  SITI CABLE consolidates its Pan India presence through strategic expansions in Eastern, Western and Central India Region Towns i.e. Patna, Guwahati, Pune, Indore, Jaipur, Bhopal, Jabalpur and Ujjain.
• 
  “Own your customer (OYC)” exclusively developed to empower the business partner (LCO)

Mumbai, India; May 30, 2013 – The Board of Directors of SITI Cable Network Limited (SITI CABLE) (BSE: 532795, NSE: SITI CABLE EQ) in its meeting held today, has taken on record the Audited Consolidated Financial Results of the company and its subsidiaries for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2013 and audited consolidated annual financial results for the financial year 2012-13. SITI CABLE today reported fourth quarter consolidated total revenues of Rs 1474.4 million.

Mr. Subhash Chandra, Chairman, stated, “Indian markets provide media and entertainment companies with a variety of opportunities to deliver localized content through Digital Cable TV services. Digital technology offers the requisite solution holding the promise of better satisfaction at all levels of the distribution chain including the consumers. The digital addressable systems (DAS) will enhance further scope of the cable TV services. The benefits of DAS rollout are expected to contribute significant growth in the revenues. SITI Cable ongoing efforts to leverage its strengths in digital regime are reflecting in the performance of the company” Mr. V D Wadhwa, CEO of SITI Cable commented “Our total revenue and EBITDA grew to Rs 4836.6 million and Rs. 869.6 million, a healthy growth of 33% and 353% respectively over last fiscal. We have taken the several key steps like providing OYC system, carriage revenue share, training for our Business partners and customer education to ensure the smooth transition to digital regime. We have made conscious and concerted effort to align our people, processes and technological up gradation more closely with our business strategy there by giving ourselves the best chance to capture emerging opportunities in the Industry esp. Broadband, VAS etc. besides substantially infusing the capital required for digitization.”

He further added, “For the wider digitization roll out, we are further upgrading our digital infrastructure and Subscriber Management System. The company is well placed to benefit from the ongoing digitization implementation and fully geared up to grow its Revenue and Profitability at a faster pace.”

For full report, please check this link: SITI-4Q-FY 2013-Earning Release

And things look likely to get even better for it if one goes by the massive 27 per cent it commands of the DTH market, and the fact that it is looking at raising average revenues per user (ARPUs), reducing customer subsidies in the medium term and in the process increasing profitability.

Let us look at the standalone Q4-2013 results as against the corresponding Q4-2012

Revenues for Q4 FY 2013 stand at Rs 555.40 crore, a rise of 7.5 per cent from the corresponding last year quarter Rs 516.44 crore. Subscription revenues at Rs 500 crore recorded a growth of 15.3 per cent. Total expenses too went up 7.4 per cent, standing at Rs 580.36 crore in Q4 FY 2013 (Rs 540 crore in Q4 FY 2012). Programming and content cost accounted for a large chunk of this increase rising 34 per cent during this period to Rs 196.72 crore as against Rs 146.76 crore.

Although Dish TV reported a loss of Rs 43.62 crore, it is a 11 per cent improvement over the Q4-2012′s loss of Rs 49 crore.

Let us take a look at the Q4-2013 financials in comparison with Q3-2013

Revenues in Q4-2013 have marginally decreased by Rs 2.42 crore as against Rs 557.82 crore reported in Q3-2013. While programming and content costs have risen by over 20 per cent to Rs 196.72 crore (Rs 162.69 crore in the immediate preceding quarter), it has got more efficient while reducing its selling and distribution expenses to Rs 74.2 crore (Rs 90 crore.). Additionally, it scaled down its advertising expenses by 30 per cent to Rs 16.6 crore (Rs 23.7 crore). EBITDA in Q4 2013 fell 12.8 per cent to Rs 120 crore against Rs 137.77 crore in Q3-2013. And losses fell to Rs 43.62 crore as opposed to Rs 44.48 crore.

Dish TV has increased its new subscriber prices and pack prices in the past few months and has managed to bring down its subscriber acquisition cost (SAC) to Rs 1,996 as against Rs 2,201 in the immediate preceding quarter.

The company added 200,000 net subscribers in Q4-2013- its lowest net new adds for a quarter since 2007 – taking its net subs base to 10.7 million. This low net add figure has alarmed some observers; but this has happened at a time when India is going through a gut wrenching change of digitisation of its cable TV infrastructure. Phase II of digitisation has been moving rather slowly with cable TV operaors in many cities which were supposed to come under the digitisation hammer fighting the government’s mandate in courts and getting stay orders. So, many subscribers there are continuing to receiving analogue signals and hence have not moved to digital as yet. Hopefully, in the coming days as digitisation moves forward DTH providers will have some spillover benefits of subs moving to digital services.

Dish TV’s ARPUs were also lower for Q4-2013 at Rs 157 as against Rs 160 for the immediate preceding quarter.

Let us look at the consolidated FY-2013 results as against FY-2012

FY-2013′s consolidated revenues stood at Rs 2,166.80 crore, a rise of 10.7 per cent as against last fiscal’s Rs 1957.9 crore. It reported an EBITDA of Rs 575.9 crore as against Rs 496 crore last fiscal (a 16.1 per cent increase) with its EBITDA margin standing at 26.7 per cent.

It has reported a 5.1 per cent YoY increase in content costs as against an overall increase of 11.5 per cent in total expenses to Rs 2,215 crore (Rs 1,983.8 crore).

What is noteworthy is the way it has managed to bring down the net loss for FY-2013 to Rs 66 crore compared to Rs 133.14 crore in FY-2012. The earnings per share (EPS) too has shown a massive improvement from a negative Rs 1.25 to a negative Rs 0.62.

Dish TV has a bouquet of 400 plus channels and it added another five HD channels in April 2013 taking its offering to 42 HD channels and services on its platform. Most analysts are bullish on the stock, currently trading at Rs 64.30.

Says Dish TV chairman Subash Chandra, “In the media sector, digitisation, though not fully up to speed, holds big potential for the industry. DTH platforms, in particular, look forward to a level playing field contributing to meaningfully higher ARPUs and stickier subscriber bases over time. Dish TV’s industry leading initiative, to hike acquisition and pack price is likely to be a catalyst to achieve that.”

Dish TV recently launched India’s first standard definition recorder, Dish+ with an unlimited recording facility. This was initially launched in the 42 cities covered under Phase 1 and Phase 2 of digitisation and is now available across India as a value for money differentiator over its competitors’ offerings.

Dish TV managing director Jawahar Goel points out that fiscal 2013 saw most players in the Indian DTH industry evolve to the next level and Dish TV led the industry and helped it pull off a significant increase in the new subscriber acquistion price over the last several months thereby reducing the effective cash burn per subscriber.

“While the resultant decline in industry gross additions is marginal, it is expected to be well compensated by the quality of subscribers,” he highlights. “There was no respite though from the multiple taxation which the DTH industry is reeling under. Uncertainty on the rollout of goods & services tax (GST) continues to be an overhang on the earnings potential of the industry,”

He is quite confident that DTH will score over cable TV thanks to the strong service back up the sector has built and its increasing focus on value growth rather than chasing subscriber numbers.

“On the digitisation front, the MSO’s readiness on encryption, packaging, dunning and effective business processes is taking undue time. With increasing expectations, customers however will gradually align to a technologically progressive and service oriented mass-scale platform, albeit at a premium. Dish TV has experienced strong though early signals of churned subscribers getting back to its platform in select markets in the current quarter,” says Goel says in a parting statement.

Other points for FY 2013 to be noted are:

* The company set up a 70:30 joint venture company Dish T V Lanka (Pvt) Ltd on 25 April 2012 under the laws of Sri Lanka with Satnet (Pvt Ltd). Satnet has a DTH licence and the joint venture will work on providing DTH related service in the island country.

* The company has extended the life of the consumer premises equipment (CPE) for depreciation purposes of to five years for equipment activated on or after 1 April 2012. Upto 31 March 2012, in certain cases, the one-time advance contribution towards the CPEs in the form of rental was being recognized over a period of three years from the activation date. There is no significant impact on financial results of the quarter and year-ended 31 March 2013 on account of change in estimate for revenue recognition.

* Dish TV’s net-worth as at 31 March 2013 is eroded by its accumulated losses. However, the management has prepared the financial results assuming that the Company will continue as a going concern considering that it has adequate resources in the form of operating cash flows, sanctioned credit facilities from lenders and bank deposits to adequately meet its obligations.

* The name of the Company’s wholly owned subsidiary in Singapore, namely, Dish TV Singapore Pte Limited was changed to Digital Network Distribution Pte Limited on 12 March 2013. The Company entered into a share purchase Agreement dated 19 March 2013 with a party for transfer of its investment at an agreed price of Sing$12,000. On 1 April 2013, the share holding in Digital Network Distribution Pte Limited was transferred and, accordingly, as at 31 March 2013, the investments has been shown under current maturities of long term investment.

* During the current year, Direct Media Distribution Ventures Pvt. Ltd (formerly known as Dhaka Warriors Sports Pvt Ltd) disinvested its holding in the Company from 59.86% to 45.24% and consequently, it ceases to be the holding company of Dish TV India Limited.

*Hitherto, the exchange differences arising from foreign currency borrowing to the extent that they are regarded as an adjustment to interest cost, were treated as borrowing cost in terms of AS – 16, “Borrowing Costs.”

During the year ended 31 March 2013, pursuant to a clarification dated 9 August 2012 from the MCA, the Company has changed the accounting policy w.e.f. from 1 April 2011, to treat the same as “foreign exchange fluctuation”, to be accounted as per AS – 11 “Effects of Changes in Foreign Exchange Rates,” instead of AS – 16 “Borrowing Costs”.

This change has resulted in a reversal of finance cost of Rs. 70.68 crore and increase in depreciation by Rs. 11.24 crore during the year ended 31 March 2013. The aforesaid change, resulting in a net gain of Rs 59.44 crore, has been shown as ‘exceptional items’ in the financial results for the year ended 31 March 2013. In this regard, if the company had followed the same accounting policy as in the previous year, finance costs for the year would have been higher by Rs 58.41 crore; depreciation expense would have been lower by Rs 14.15 crore and the loss for the year would have been higher by Rs 44.26 crore.

Source: Indiantelevision.com

ESS currently has the television broadcast rights of an enviable list of leading sporting events across various categories. In cricket, ESS has broadcast rights of the International Cricket Council, BCCI international and domestic cricket, Cricket Australia, England and Wales Cricket Board and the Champions League T20. In soccer, ESS holds broadcast rights for Barclays Premier League, Spanish La Liga, Italian Serie A, the English FA Cup and England international matches. In Motorsports, ESS has broadcast rights for F1 and Moto GP. In tennis, the sports broadcaster showcases Wimbledon and Australian Open besides the Men’s ATP Tour/ ATP Masters series. In Golf, ESS showcases The Masters, The US Open, The Open Championship and the One Asia Tour.

Airtel digital TV customers can SMS for ESPN HD/ for Star Cricket HD to 54325.

About ESPN Software India Pvt Ltd

ESPN Software (I) Pvt. Ltd distributes and markets ESPN STAR Sports services in India. ESPN STAR Sports(ESS) delivers a wide array of premier international, regional and local sports events and programming across multiple platforms, each localized to deliver differentiated programming to meet diverse needs of Asian sports fans. In India, ESS network of channels include STAR Sports, STAR Sports2, STAR Cricket, ESPN, STAR Cricket HD, ESPN HD & Fox Sports News.

About Airtel digital TV

Airtel digital TV is a leading national DTH service provider offering MPEG 4 & DVBS 2 – currently the most advanced digital broadcasting technologies available in the world. With 375 channels & services including 17 HD channels and 6 interactive services, Airtel digital TV introduced many firsts to the segment including a universal remote, several unique interactive applications, multi lingual EPG, and integrated anytime, anywhere recording through mobile and web. Backed by a 24×7 customer care, Airtel digital TV had 8.1 million customers as on March 2013.

About Bharti Airtel

Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa. Headquartered in New Delhi, India, the company ranks amongst the top 4 mobile service providers globally in terms of subscribers. In India, the company’s product offerings include 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, mobile commerce, fixed line services, high speed DSL broadband, IPTV, DTH, enterprise services including national & international long distance services to carriers. In the rest of the geographies, it offers 2G, 3G wireless services and mobile commerce. Bharti Airtel had over 272 million customers across its operations at the end of April 2013. To know more please visit, www.airtel.com

Source: Business Wire India