In another significant development for digitisation, four large MSOs (Hathway, Den Networks, WWIL and Digicable) have announced their consumer packages. We expect the announcement of packages to bring further clarity to subscribers about subscription charges, and speed up the digitisation process. Lack of consumer packs was a major product gap in comparison to DTH. Also, Ms. Ambika Soni, I&B Minister, had recently met the Delhi Chief Minister, where the latter assured that Delhi will meet the deadline and the state government will take steps in this direction (Delhi has been a laggard compared to Mumbai). Further, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) has upped the ante in terms of government-run publicity campaigns in electronic and print media. Also, in our view, joint ads issued by major MSOs and individual ads by DTH players, apart from the firmness of MIB in meeting the deadline, augur well for the progress of digitisation.
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Consumer packs announcement: Major step ahead for digitisation
In our view, signing of the inter-connect agreements and announcement of consumer packages signal the crossing of two significant hurdles in the completion of Phase 1 of digitisation before the October 31, 2012 deadline. Amongst MSOs, Hathway will be offering three packs of 135, 198 and 242 channels for INR160, INR220 and INR275, respectively. Similarly, Den Networks has announced three packs offering 112, 219 and 235 channels for INR180, INR225 and INR270, respectively. WWIL will charge INR100 for the basic package of 118 channels and INR150 for the other three packages, each of which are specific to Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata. Apart from these packages, consumers will also be given the option of choosing channels from an a la carte list. All the above packages are exclusive of entertainment and service taxes. In comparison, Dish TV offers 205 channels for INR200 (as per our analysis INR178 ex-service tax), 235 channels for INR255, 245 channels for INR305, 270 channels for INR380 and 280 channels for INR400. All of Dish TV’s pack prices are inclusive of service tax.
I&B Ministry firm on deadline
Ms. Ambika Soni, Minister of Information & Broadcasting, has again reiterated that the Phase 1 deadline will not be extended. According to Ms. Soni, ~90% TV households (including DTH homes) in Mumbai have installed set top boxes, followed by Kolkata with ~77% and Delhi and Chennai both with ~70% TV households each having set top boxes. Even though Delhi remains a laggard, the Delhi government has assured that digitisation will be completed in the city by the Phase 1 deadline, and it will launch a campaign soon to educate subscribers about the approaching deadline.
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Hathway Cable & Datacom, Dish TV, ZEE
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