PREFACE

India, with its booming economy, plus 8 digit growth, is witnessing a surge in the income levels. This has led to increased demand for entertainment and luxury and people now want to enhance their television viewing experience. Their increased desire for superior video and audio quality has also been reflected in our research findings. All this will sound music to the ears of all the DTH service providers planning to increase their market share many fold.
The potential of DTH in Indian market is seemingly substantial. This has motivated us to undertake a market research project to analyze and assess the future prospects of its acceptability and growth in India. To make our project comprehensive and to make our results conclusive, we have done a thorough analysis in terms of in-depth primary and secondary research.
Scanning through articles pertaining to DTH in newspapers, magazines and internet; interviewing dealers and marketers, sales executives; getting questionnaires filled by 250 respondents; we are confident that our findings present the facts as they are.
The whole project has been so designed that it not only meets the requirements of our course curriculum, it also will be useful to existing and coming DTH service providers.

Research Methodology

Our report is an integral part of my Market Research paper, 3rd Semester of my Bachelor of Business Studies (BBS) course at Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, D.U. this project has been prepared under the guidance of our subject teacher, Mrs. Preeti Rajpal Singh. The project aims to understand the consumers’ perception about cable service providers and the attributes they would like to associate with television entertainment. We also aim to understand the perception of users of the DTH technology about the various DTH service providers.
India, with its booming economy, plus 8 digit growth, is witnessing a surge in the income levels. This has led to increased demand for entertainment and luxury and people now want to enhance their television viewing experience. Their increased desire for superior video and audio quality has also been reflected in our research findings. All this will sound music to the ears of all the DTH service providers planning to increase their market share many fold.
We have tried to cover various dimensions in the report and tried to make it as comprehensive as possible.
The entire research methodology is summarized below-
• Literature study of Principles of Marketing and Market research.
• Exhaustive study of secondary material on DTH available on magazines, newspapers and internet.
• Depth interviews of o Dealers of DTH equipment o Distributors and other marketers dealing with DTH o Sales heads, sales executives and other company personnel of the DTH service providers.
• Observing the consumers’ perception and purchase patterns while visiting dealers and the kiosks of the service providers.
• Understanding the consumer’s perception through structured questionnaires which were aimed to- o Understand the attributes the consumers seek to associate with television entertainment. (Common for all the respondents). o Determine the initial investment per month charges people would be willing to pay for a DTH connection(for non-DTH users) o Understand the consumer’s perception of the competing service providers (for DTH users) o Pilot survey of 25 respondents (10% of the total sample) o Analysis and interpretation of the findings from the questionnaires. o Project submission.

The project took us 4 weeks for completion. The whole research and analysis schedule can be summarized as below-
Week 1
• Literature study of principles of Marketing and Market Research.
• Exhaustive study of the secondary study and related articles pertaining to DTH available on newspapers, magazines and internet.

Week 2
• Exhaustive study of the secondary study and related articles pertaining to DTH available on newspapers, magazines and
• Depth interviews of dealers and other intermediaries.
• Depth interviews of sales executives and other company personnel.

Week 3
• Depth interviews of dealers and other intermediaries.
• Getting questionnaires filled by respondents from different parts of Delhi and from different backgrounds.

Week 4
• Getting questionnaires filled by respondents from different parts of Delhi and from different backgrounds.

Week 5
• Analysis and presentation of data.
• Interpretation of findings.
• Report preparation and findings. SECONDARY RESEARCH
The Concept of DTH
-The Indian Perspective
The History of DTH
Watching television is no longer what it was a few years back. Today we have the concepts of DTH and CAS in operation. . Bad transmission quality, blackouts, disconnection of channels, high cable bills -- all these are history now. Direct-To-Home (DTH) television service, more popularly known as direct broadcast satellite service was first proposed in India in 1996. But it did not pass approval because there were concerns over national security and a cultural invasion. In 1997, the government even imposed a ban when the Rupert Murdoch-owned Indian Sky Broadcasting (ISkyB) was about to launch its DTH services in India. Nearly, three years after well-heeled Indian Television Viewers were tantalised by the prospect of unrestricted access to hundreds of global channels, the Union Cabinet on 2nd November 2000, finally cleared Direct-to-Home (DTH) broadcasting. The new policy required all operators to set up earth stations in India within 12 months of getting a license. The companies offering DTH service have to have an Indian chief and foreign equity has been capped at 49 per cent. There is no limit on the number of companies that can apply for the DTH license. Today DTH has become an alternative to traditional Cable TV in India.

WHAT IS DTH
Direct-to-Home is essentially a delivery system. A DTH subscriber can get all the channels with a pizza-size dish antenna and a decoder box. He doesn't need a cable connection or huge dishes that are required for C-band (the frequency on which Star and other channels broadcasts). DTH is telecast on the KU-band. This is merely a stronger signal, which is encrypted by the decoder and accessed by the subscriber. Under C-band range the cable operators were already providing DTH service. But the operators have to depend on a 12 feet diameter dish antenna and they could receive only 20 channels. But when KU-band comes into existence it can receive up to 200 channels with a tiny 12-inch dish antenna. The opening up of the DTH television service is expected to lead to a technology war between 'open architecture system' and 'proprietary system'. The Open Architecture Technology enables a subscriber to access more than one DTH service. One-time investment in the set-top box or integrated receiver decoder required even if one wants to shift to another platform. Other service can be accessed by changing an access card. The proprietary Technology enables the customer to access only the service provided by one operator. Each time the subscriber wants to shift to another service or platform it would be necessary to make changes in the existing hardware. Other services cannot be accessed.
The open architecture system means technology similar to the cellular phones currently in vogue in the country. In this case, DTH subscribers would have to make a one-time investment in the hardware. The consumer's preference on the service would depend on the access card (akin to a SIM card), that will be provided by the operator.
On the other hand, proprietary technology implies that hardware for DTH is made to the specification of one particular operator, which can only accept the access card provided by the particular party. If the subscriber wishes to shift to the similar service he would have to invest in new hardware again.
Now, when DTH is allowed with proprietary technology then it means either blocking of entry of competitors or, making it imperative for the government to issue licence to the operators providing the service at a later stage.
Keeping the subscribers in mind the government at a later stage would not be in a position to deny the subscriber a licence under the Broadcasting Act. Though it is not a good idea to block any form of technology from entering the country, it may be desirable on the part of the government to spell out clear-cut policy guideline on DTH. This may prevent the possibility of a monopoly in DTH services.
The proprietary technology versus open architecture technology debate still remaining a major bane of contention, some DTH operators favour a receiver which will allow the consumer to use only its signal. The open method allows the consumer to buy a receiver, a very expensive piece of equipment, form a DTH provider and have the option of receiving signals from any DTH provider later. The proprietary option will benefit consumers who subscribe to one-DTH provider.

THE POLICY
The policy on DTH includes the following clauses:
• Companies to beam from India,
• Separate licenses for internet, fax services on DTH,
• Company's CEO and majority of directors to be resident Indians,
• Recordings of programmes to be preserved for 90 days,
• Rs. 50 crore penalty for serious violations of programming code,
• Only 20 per cent foreign direct investment.
• Rs 10 crore initial deposit for 10-year license.
• Rs 40 crore bank guarantee
• 10 per cent Government shares in annual profits.
DTH service obviates the need for the friendly neighbourhood cable operator. What you get is what you pay for. For an investment of around Rs. 12,000 on a decoder and a pizza-sized dish antenna, a DTH subscriber will be able to receive global channels.
The Centre has, however, built in safeguards against the creation of broadcasting monopolies, compromise of national security and distortion of public taste.
There is to be a 49 per cent cap on foreign equity in DTH service providers. Of this, up to 20 per cent is to be foreign direct investment and the rest is to be foreign institutional investors, overseas corporate bodies and non-resident Indian investments.
DTH is the first major step towards convergence but extra caution had been taken to ensure that no vertical monopolies were created.
For security reasons, DTH players will have to beam from the home soil through earth stations within the country. They will also have to adhere strictly to the advertisement and programme codes lay down by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting.
For similar reasons, the chief executive officer and a majority of directors of DTH companies would have to be resident Indian citizens.
To obviate creation of monopolies, the share of existing broadcasting companies and cable network owners would be restricted to 20 per cent in the DTH ventures. The new companies will also have to keep the I&B Ministry informed about any changes in the equity pattern.
There will be no restriction on the number of DTH licences to be issued by the I&B Ministry for a 10-year period.
While companies will have to furnish an initial deposit of Rs 10 crore, they will have to pay Rs. 40 crore as bank guarantee for the 10 year license period. At least 10 per cent of the total revenue generated will have to be shared with the Government.
In case of violation of rules, apart from the threat of revocation of the licence, the errant companies will have to shell out penalty to the tune of Rs. 50 crore. They will be required to preserve for at least 90 days, recordings of all programmes to be able to make those available for Government scrutiny.
Doordarshan could also provide DTH service but the final decision in the matter rested with Prasar Bharati. Companies keen on using the technology for other services like fax and Internet will have to obtain separate licenses. DTH service providers have to show Doordarshan channels on the must-carry mode.
The Concept of CAS
CAS stands for conditional access system, which is a digital mode of transmitting TV channels trough a set-top box (STB). The transmission signals are encrypted and viewers need to buy a set-top box to receive and decrypt the signal. The STB is required to watch only pay channels, not free-to-air channels, like Doordarshan. The best thing about it is that you need to pay for only those channels you would like to watch.
In the new system, Indian broadcasting companies will decide which channels would be 'non-pay' (free-to-air) and which would be 'pay'. The viewer will now be able to select the pay channels he wishes to watch and pay for only these. Each broadcasting channel will determine the rates for buying the channel.
Currently, there is no segregation and subscribers pay a blanket rate for the entire service. There will soon be two levels of segregation. The first will be a broad differential according to lower, middle and upper classes of society across cable households.
The second differential will be amongst pay channels, like premium channels, which will include focused news, entertainment, sports, music channels and niche channels like nature, health and fashion.
History of CAS in India
The idea of CAS was mooted in 2001, which was followed by a furore over charge hikes by channels and subsequently cable operators. It was decided that it would be first introduced in the four metros. It has been in place in Chennai since September 2003.
According to estimates, only 25 per cent of the people have subscribed the new technology. The rest watch only free-to-air channels. The inhibiting factor is the cost of the STB. The set-top box is the device that enables a subscriber view pay channels. This instrument decodes signals from the cable operator for viewing a pay channel. It can also monitor the number and duration of channels viewed by the subscriber.
Advantages of CAS
For viewers: Under, CAS viewers can watch only what they would like to watch, than what the cable operator has on offer. Subscribers save money they now spend on unnecessary channels. They will get better transmission (because of the use of optic fibre instead of metal cables). The cable operators will no longer have any control over the pricing of channels.
For broadcasters: It benefits broadcasters as they always had to grapple with the issue of cable operators not declaring the actual number of subscribers, and hence suffering losses. With CAS, they can find out the exact number of subscribers with a cable operator.
For cable TV operators: They need to pay a part of the subscription fees to the broadcasters only for the actual number of end users who opt for the channel. This allows operators to price their channels according to their popularity.
For advertisers: It gives a far more accurate indicator of programme popularity with only the actual subscribers of each channel being accounted for.
So why has there been opposition to CAS?
Consumer activists were essentially opposed to the high cost of the STB. If more people subscribe to CAS nationwide, the prices would come down. There were also apprehensions about fees being charged for the bouquet of channels instead of individual channels. The latest ruling from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has struck down bouquet-wise pricing.
In simple terms, a person who wants to want only watch Star News, for example, will no longer have to buy the Star bouquet, comprising, Star Movies, Star World, Star One etc.
Activists are also seeking a limit on the duration of advertising on air. Cable operators are opposed to CAS because they become redundant and even if that didn't happen, they can no longer understate the real number of subscribers and cheat the government of entertainment tax.
Service providers are opposed because they have to set up new digital machinery for CAS and may even have to share the price of the STBs, to avert competition from direct-to-home transmission.
DTH versus CAS
DTH does not compete with CAS. Cable TV and DTH are two methods of delivery of television content. CAS is integral to both the systems in delivering pay channels.
Cable TV is through cable networks and DTH is wireless, reaching direct to the consumer through a small dish and a set-top box. Although the government has ensured that free-to-air channels on cable are delivered to the consumer without a set-top box, DTH signals cannot be received without the set-top box.
Besides, the monthly subscription cost for DTH and CAS on cable will vary. While you can opt for a number of channels in CAS, under DTH you have a limited choice depending on the package you opt for. The quality of the broadcast will be of high quality with big players in the fray.

DTH versus cable TV
In DTH, TV channels would be transmitted from the satellite to a small dish antenna mounted on the window or rooftop of the subscriber's home. So the broadcaster directly connects to the user.
DTH can also reach the remotest of areas since it does away with the intermediate step of a cable operator and the wires (cables) that come from the cable operator to your house.
DTH offers better quality picture than cable TV. This is because cable TV in India is analog. Despite digital transmission and reception, the cable transmission is still analog. DTH offers stereophonic sound effects.
Apart from enhanced picture quality, DTH has also allows for interactive TV services such as movie-on-demand, Internet access, video conferencing and e-mail. DTH will not be able to be an alternative to cable if the initial investment is more than that for cable. DTH requires initial investment for both a dish antenna and a TV-top box.

Present Players in the DTH Market

• Dish TV
• Tata Sky
• DD Direct Plus Dish TV

Dishtv is India’s first direct to home entertainment service that has digitalized Indian entertainment to bring to your home the best in television viewing through the latest in digital technology. It not only broadcasts high quality programmes straight from the satellite to your home, but also gives you absolute and complete control of what you watch and what you pay for. It is almost like having your own satellite up in the sky.

The Story So Far

Dish TV added sony package to their aervices around mid of 2006 and also increase their subscription price too . That really improved Dish TV customer numbers and services too. On 14 July 2006, the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal gave a favourable judgement for Dish TV by ordering STAR TV to allow Dish to broadcast all the channels in its boutique at 50% cost within 15 days of the decision.
After that Dish TV started test signals for the star bouquet and ended them at midnight, 18th of aug and started to broadcast them as pay channels in Dish TV services . After the launch of TATA Sky dth services in India, Dish TV also began to expand its value added services like Active channels, E.P.G. (electronic program guide).For this, Dish TV is giving a S.T.B. software upgrade which will change their menu options and support new services . The upgrade is currently provided to customers free of cost and will finish at the end of the sep. 2006 . Dish TV currently has more than 165 T.V. channels and 35 audio channels counting sony and star bouquet .

Dish TV is the direct compititor from TATA sky and have huge base of more than 12,000,00 customers across India.

The Lineage

Dish TV is an Essel Group venture. Essel Group has a vast range of national and global business interests that include media programming, broadcasting & distribution, packaging, entertainment, online gaming and telecom, in close synergies with ventures active in the areas of content, distribution and infrastructure.

Essel Group has always been a pioneer - Zee TV the first Indian satellite channel, Siticable the first MSO, Esselworld the first theme park, Playwin the first online lottery, Essel Propack, which is the world’s No. 1 in packaging - were all revolutionary concepts in their respective fields.

Continuing with the same path-breaking tradition, the group brought a new era of digital quality TV viewing.

The Satellite Link

Dish TV uses NSS-6 to broadcast its programmes. NSS-6 was launched on 17th December, 2002 by European-based satellite provider, New Skies (one of the only four fixed satellite communications companies with truly global satellite coverage)

Dish TV - India's first KU-band DTH entertainment service, hopped on to NSS-6 at from an INSAT satellite in July 2004. The change in the satellite was to increase the channel offering as NSS 6 offered more transponder capacity.

LIST OF CHANNELS

CHANNEL PACKAGES AND LIST OF CHANNELS AVAILABLE ON DISH TV

• dish Welcome
Movies
Zee Cinema Max Star Gold Kids
Cartoon Network
Fashion Zee Trendz Fashion TV
Sports
ESPN Star Sports Zee Sports Ten Sports
News
Zee News Aaj Tak CNN Headlines Today Total TV BBC
Infotainment
Animal Planet Discovery National Geographic
Music Zee Music ETC Music B4U Music MTV Music MH1 Music Balle Balle
Religious Zee Jagran Aastha GOD TV Sanskar International TV5 Asia (French) Hindi Entertainment Zee Smile Siti Channel Play TV Sab Star Utsav
English Entertainment ABC Asiapac Regional Entertainment ETC Punjabi ARY Digital India NE TV N TV SS Music Jaya TV AsiaNet Akash Bangla ETV Marathi Kairali

dish Plus
English Movies HBO Zee Studio TCM PIX MGM Star Movies Music VH1 Trace TV Channel V
Kids Pogo Animax Nick Boomerang Toon Disney Disney Channel Hungama Infotainment The History Channel
Entertainment Zoom Zone Reality AXN Zee Cafe Travel & Living Star World

dish Bioscope
Break - Free Hindi Movies Zee Premier Zee Action Zee Classic

dish News
Euro News Zee Business CNN Aawaz CNBC TV 18 NDTV 24X7 Star News Times Now

• dish Welcome Regional - complete your welcome bouquet by picking any one

dish Hindi/Punjabi Zee TV Sahara One Zee Punjabi ETV - Rajasthan ETV - UP ETV - Bihar ETV - MP ETV - Urdu Geo TV Sahara Samay India TV NDTV India Sony Star One Star Plus

dish Gujarati Zee TV Zee Gujarati ETV - Gujarati Sahara One NDTV India Sahara Samay ETV - Urdu Sony India TV Star One Star Plus

dish Oriya ETV - Oriya Zee TV Sahara One ETV - Urdu ETV - Bihar Nepal 1 NDTV India Sahara Samay Sony India TV Star One Star Plus

dish Tamil/Malayalam Asianet News Jeevan TV Asianet Plus NDTV 24x7 ETV - Urdu Indiavision Star Vijay Amrita TV

dish Bangla Zee Bangla ETV - Bangla Zee TV Zee Aakash Sahara One ETV - Bihar Nepal 1 NDTV India Sahara Samay Sony India TV Star One Star Plus

dish Marathi Zee Marathi Zee TV Sahara One NDTV India Sahara Samay ETV - Urdu Sony India TV Star One Star Plus dish Telugu Zee Telugu ETV - Telugu MAA TV ETV - Urdu ETV2 Telugu News NDTV 24x7

dish Kannada ETV - Kannada Zee Kannada ETV - Urdu NDTV 24x7

Channels available as part of the Free-to-Air DD DTH Service

DD1 DD India DD News DD Sports DD Lok Sabha DD Rajya Sabha DD Kashir DD Punjabi DD Bharathi

DD Sapthagiri DD Bangla DD North East DD Gujarati DD Sahyadri (Marathi) DD Oriya DD Chandana (Kannada) DD Podigai (Tamil) DD Malayalam

DD Gyandarshan Aaj Tak Zee Smile Star Utsav Jain TV Headlines Today Zee Music MH1 Music

Akash Bangla ETV Marathi ETC Punjabi Kairali (Malayalam) TV 9 (Telugu) Sun TV Sun News » Radio Channels Punjab Radio AIR VBS AIR Telugu AIR Marathi

AIR Tamil AIR Gujarati FM Rainbow Om Shanti
AIR Kannada AIR Bangla AIR Hindi RA ELP
AIR NE AIR Punjabi FM Gold RA FLP

TWO MORE CHANNELS ADDED VOYAGES AND BBC WORLD AS OF OCT 2006

Prices

The prices of the Dish TV connection were revised recently. As per the latest prices, for the Dish TV connection, the initial investment including set-top box, all costs and taxes is Rs. 3600. For the subscription, two packages are available, one for Rs. 225 per month and the other for Rs.374. The latter includes premium channels. Tata Sky

Tata Sky has revolutionised television viewing in India through its superior digital quality picture and sound. The service aims to empower the Indian viewer with Choice, Control and Convenience through its wide array of programming and interactive features. Tata Sky offers viewers a variety of channels ranging from entertainment, sports, movies and music to news and documentaries in DVD picture quality and CD quality sound.

Vision of Tata Sky

Tata Sky launched its Satellite Television service with top-of-the-line infrastructure. It aims to revolutionise Indian entertainment by offering superior DVD quality picture and CD quality sound. The service’s vision is to:

Inception and Heritage

Incorporated in 2004, Tata Sky is an 80:20 JV between TATA and STAR. Tata Sky endeavors to offer Indian viewers a world-class television viewing experience through its Satellite Television service.

The Sky Brand

The SKY brand, owned by the UK-based British Sky Broadcasting Group, brings to Tata Sky the reputation of more than 20 years experience of satellite broadcasting. SKY is well known for the innovative products and services launched by BSkyB, such as DTH broadcasting in 1989, digital satellite broadcasting in 1998, interactive television services in 1999 and the SKY+ personal video recorder in 2001. Tata Sky joins an international group of DTH businesses that includes platforms as far apart as the UK and Italy in Europe, and Mexico and Brazil in Latin America.

The Tata Brand

The Tata Group is one of India's largest and most respected business conglomerates. It comprises 93 operating companies in seven business sectors: information systems and communications; engineering; materials; services; energy; consumer products; and chemicals. The Tata Group has operations in more than 40 countries across six continents, and its companies export products and services to 140 nations. The Group and its enterprises have been steadfast and distinctive in their adherence to business ethics and their commitment to corporate social responsibility. This is a legacy that has earned the Group the trust of many millions of stakeholders in a measure few business houses anywhere in the world can match.

Extensive Service Network

Tata Sky has established an extensive customer service network across the country. It has engaged a field force of approximately 3000 service engineers, who are complemented by high-end 24x7 call centers, manned by multi-lingual customer service associates, trained to solve all customer problems.

Tata Sky takes direct responsibility for hardware installation at subscribers’ homes, as well as for providing after-sales service.

Tata Sky also retails its hardware and prepaid recharge vouchers through popular consumer electronic stores to enhance customer convenience.

Business Partners

Tata Sky has invested in state-of-the-art digital infrastructure and has partnered with global leaders in digital technology for the pay television market.

Indian Space Research Organisation (Satellite):
The company has on lease all 12 KU-Band transponders on ISRO's Indian satellite, INSAT 4A, the most advanced and high-powered KU-Band communication satellite in the region. The satellite enables Tata Sky to offer superior picture and sound quality with a wider range of channels.

Business Support Software:

NDS: Tata Sky has partnered with NDS, the leading provider of technology solutions for pay television. NDS systems has played a key role in the end-to-end system architecture and launching the nationwide digital service. The NDS VideoGuard conditional access solution provides superior broadcast security, and enables Tata Sky to offer multiple programming and pricing packages.

Siebel: Tata Sky has selected Siebel, leaders in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, to support operations across the areas of call centre and field service operations, customer order management and product configuration.

Kenan: Comverse’s Kenan FX billing software has been selected to support billing for all residential, institutional and commercial customers. The Kenan software has been enhanced specifically for Tata Sky, to support a first in industry pre-paid billing capability which will provide customers with the ability to pay as you go.

SAP: SAP the leading Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) application suite, has been selected by Tata Sky to support the company’s materials management, sales and distribution, finance and control and human resources requirements.

IT: Sun Microystems: Tata Sky has selected Sun Microsystems to provide world-class technology infrastructure, which helps the company to deliver highlevel service standards for its Satellite Television service. The servers ensure maximum up-time, fault recovery and load management. Sun has also provided Tata Sky with installation, engineering expertise and support.

Digicomp: Tata Sky has partnered with Thomson and Humax, world leaders in digital broadcast terminology, for building top-of-the line digicomps, customized specifically for the Indian markets. The technology’s feature rich design will enable Tata Sky to deliver multiple programming, pricing packages and interactive services to its customers. How Tata Sky DTH works
Tata Sky uplinks channels to its satellite that transmits digital signals directly to a minidish fixed on the subscriber's balcony, terrace or outside the window. The minidish relays the signals to Digicomp that decrypts and relays them to the television. A large building with multiple inhabitants can use a single minidish with individual digicomps at each home.

Entertainment
Tata Sky's satellite service brings home a whole new entertainment experience with its direct-to-home (DTH) television service. Subscribers can now choose from a variety of popular and new channels and enjoy interactive features. Some of the highlights of the service are:

Entertainment and media channels
Tata Sky offers subscribers popular channels such as STAR group channels, Sony, Discovery, Disney, MTV, NDTV, ESPN STAR Sports, National Geographic, Eenadu, TV Today, Asianet and many more.
Digital-quality service
The service provides viewers with DVD-quality picture and CD-quality sound, enhancing their viewing experience.
Television goes interactive
Ever thought of playing interactive games on your television? Or getting weekly channel schedules right on the TV screen with synopses of programmes? Interactive features on Tata Sky make all this and more possible. Features like Actve STAR News, Actve Newsroom and Actve Khabar allow viewing multiple channels on a single screen. For kids there is a special Actve Wizkids learning service. With parental control functions it's also easy to lock channels with special PIN numbers.
Customer service and infrastructure support
Tata Sky has set up a pan-India distribution network of popular consumer electronic stores and mobile phone outlets that retail its hardware and prepaid recharge vouchers. The company has also tied up with LG, ITC International Business Division and Indian Oil Corporation to support its distribution network.
Tata Sky undertakes installation and servicing of hardware at subscribers' homes, ensuring high levels of customer service. The company has engaged a field force of qualified professionals complemented by multi-lingual customer service associates adequately trained to solve all customer problems.
Distinguishing features

Some of the attributes, which will distinguish Tata Sky from other players in the market, are related to its pedigree that culminates into two of India's biggest brand names. The TATA group is one of the most trusted corporate houses of the country. On the other hand, STAR has been the leading entertainer in India for many years now. Add to that, Tata Sky leverages STAR's parent company, BSkyB's experience in the pay television market. BSkyB operates several pay television platforms including Foxtel, Sky New Zealand, and Sky Italia across the world.

Secondly, customer service is a key factor that will distinguish Tata Sky from other pay television platforms. Tata Sky will be directly responsible for installing and servicing the hardware at every subscriber's home, thereby ensuring the highest levels of customer service. The company has engaged a field force of about 3,000 people who will be complemented by a high-end 24x7 call centre, manned by multi-lingual customer service associates, trained to solve all customer problems.

Tata Sky will offer subscribers a wide range of interactive programming choices and interactive features. Channels on the platform will range from sports and general entertainment to news and lifestyle. The service has been designed to give subscribers a choice of all their favorite television channels in DVD quality picture and CD quality sound. In addition, subscribers can now control the way they watch television through a host of interactive services such as an on-screen program guide, Actve Sports, Actve STAR News, Actve Newsroom, and Actve Khabar. Such innovative applications are not available on other platforms.

Channels Offered

Prices

Tata Sky charges Rs. 4550 for the Set Top Box, plus installation, plus activation, plus one year comprehensive warranty, plus all the taxes. This amount also includes three months subscription charges. After that, the subscriber has to pay Rs. 200 per month for the subscription. DD Direct Plus

What is DD DIRECT+ ?

Doordarshan, the national broadcaster in India, at present has a network of more than 1400 transmitters spread throughout the country and its signals are available to about 90 %( DD1) and 43% (DD-News) population of country. The prime duty of any national public service broadcaster is to make the programmes of national importance available to all its people and nationals. It was estimated that the coverage of remaining 10 % population with terrestrial (single channel) broadcast would cost enormously. Besides that, setting up of terrestrial transmitters in the uncovered areas would have taken a number of years (10 to 15 years). Also, operation of terrestrial transmission would have required a huge manpower (a few thousand persons).

With the fast developments taking place in Satellite Broadcasting, it is but natural that Doordarshan has also come up with an alternative to get the required reach with an alternate technology option “Ku-band broadcasting” which is envisaged for the coverage of remaining population. This is a much cheaper and economical option as compared to the coverage through Terrestrial transmitters.

Ku-band transmission will provide coverage in all uncovered areas including remote, border, tribal, hilly and inaccessible areas in one go within a short time. With this coverage, the national broadcaster proposes to meet its obligation of covering the whole nation and its people not only with national channels, but also make available popular Doordarshan and some other free-to-air channels on its platform. In order to meet its obligations, it has also been decided that 10,000 receive systems (Dish and Set Top Box) would be provided free of cost at public institutions like Anganwadis, Schools, Public Health Centres, Panchayats, Youth Clubs, Cooperative Societies etc. in the uncovered areas.

Doordarshan has started DTH service with Ku band broadcasting as not only uncovered areas are covered with its commencement, but also the whole country gets multi-channel service in one stroke. The signal will be available at each home directly without the use of any cable etc. and one will be able to receive the programmes with the help of a small receive segment.

The DD DIRECT+ envisages telecast of 38 free-to-air channels (containing both Doordarshan and private channels) initially and is likely to include more channels later on. Satellite Earth Station for uplink of signals has been setup at Delhi. Test transmission has already commenced and the commissioning of the service would take place shortly. NSS 6 is the high power Ku-band satellite hosting the DD DTH services. The free distribution of the receive systems is also being expeditiously done.

The ‘DD Direct Plus’ launched on 16th December, 2004, India’s first Free DTH service offering 33 TV channels and 12 radio channels, continues to gain in strength. Its all India subscriber base is approximately 4.5 lakhs sets.
Action is underway to increase the number of TV channels in DD Direct Plus from 33 to 50.

List of Channels under DD Direct Plus Bouquet: DD Channels

DD National
DD News
DD Sports
DD Bharati
DD India
DD Lok Sabha
DD Rajya Sabha
DD Malayalam
DD Bengali
DD Oriya
DD Gujarati
DD Punjabi
DD North East
DD Podhigai (Tamil)
DD Saptagiri (Telugu)
DD Chandana (Kannada)
DD Sahyadri (Marathi)
DD Kashir (Kashmiri)
Educational Channel
Gyan Darshan Private Channel

Aaj Tak
Headlines Today
BBC World
Jain TV
STAR Utsav
Zee Music
Smile TV
Kairali TV
Akash Bangla
ETC Punjabi
MH-1
ETV-Marathi
TV-9
SUN TV Radio Channels

AIR Hindi
AIR Bengali
AIR Telugu
AIR Marathi
AIR Tamil
AIR Punjabi
AIR Gujarati
AIR Kannada
AIR North East Service
Vividh Bharati
FM Gold (Delhi)
FM Rainbow(Delhi)

How DD DIRECT+ is different from other DTH systems?

Most of the DTH Systems, operating all over the world, provide Paid Service. The encrypted TV signals are received from the satellite on the Dish Antenna and transmitted to the DIGITAL DECODER. The customer is provided with a Viewing Card, which is inserted into a slot in the DIGITAL DECODER. The Viewing Card decrypts the TV signals chosen & paid for by the customer. A Viewing Card is a credit card sized smart card, which contains information about the channels that the customer has subscribed to. When inserted in the Decoder it enables viewing of the channels chosen by the subscriber. The subscription charges for viewing these channels are collected by the DTH operator.

However, DD DIRECT+ is totally different, as Doordarshan is not charging any subscription fee from the viewers, making the system cheap and affordable for all.

Receive system of DD DIRECT+ is cheaper as compared to receive system of other DTH operators as all the channels proposed under Doordarshan project are Free-To-Air and therefore SMS and CAS are not envisaged. No smart card/conditional access system is required at the uplinking or downlinking site.

Prices

Investment on the part of subscriber for receiving DD-DIRECT signal is only one time on receive system and no recurring monthly expenditure will have to be incurred by the viewer. As compared to other DTH systems, where a huge activation fee and a monthly subscription fee is charged, the DD DIRECT+ can be received without payment of any activation fees. Price at which DD introduced the receive system was less than Rs 3000/-And since the technology has got induced and the demand for the receive systems has increased the prices have comedown. The current rates at which the receive system is available these days is Rs. 1500.

UPCOMING PLAYERS IN THE MARKET
The direct-to-home (DTH) space is getting hotter. The Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance ADA Group has got the letter of intent (LoI) from the government for starting DTH broadcasting service in the country.
The company is expected to roll out the service within six to eight months. Of late, there have been industry concerns over lack of space on satellites for starting DTH services. For instance, Reliance group’s DTH is expected to start with six transponders and increase to 18 over a period of time. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has plans to add around 36 Ku-band transponders, which are essential for DTH.
Although the Reliance group is calling its DTH service ‘Blue Magic’ now, its earlier name had triggered a controversy. The group had earlier named the DTH project ‘Sky Magic’, reacting to which UK’s BSkyB had sent a notice to Reliance. BSkyB claimed all rights to the trademark ‘Sky’. The Rupert Murdoch-run BSkyB has a successful DTH operation in the UK. Subsequently, Reliance changed the name of its DTH venture. Meanwhile, Reliance-ADAG's entry into DTH is seen as the group's strategy to include the entire range of delivery systems through which content can be delivered to customers.
The Chennai-based Sun TV also has strong DTH plans. Sun, too, is expected to start its service over the next few months. Very little information is available on Sun’s proposed DTH service, though it is estimated that Kalanithi Maran might come up with a DTH platform that is looking at bunching all the South Indian language channels together.

PRESS RELEASES
Reliance Gets Go Ahead for DTH
12 sep 06

Anil Ambani's Reliance-ADAG has reportedly received the letter of intent (LoI) from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) to foray into the direct-to-home (DTH) broadcasting service in the country.

Reliance Communications, however, declined to comment on this development. The government has reportedly asked the company to complete formalities, including bank guarantee and license fee.

The company will now submit fees for the license, which it expects to procure within four to six weeks. Subsequently, the service will be launched within six to eight months. Reliance-ADAG had applied for license to enter DTH services about a year ago when the two Ambani brothers reached a settlement on the issue of ownership of the Reliance Group.

The service will be called "Reliance Blue Magic," and Reliance will be the fifth operator to enter the DTH arena after Zee Group's Dish TV, Star TV and Tatas' Tata Sky, Prasar Bharati's DD Direct Plus, and Kalanidhi Maran-promoted Sun TV. Meanwhile, Reliance-ADAG's entry into DTH is seen as the group's strategy to include the entire range of delivery systems through which content can be delivered to customers.

Reddy briefs parliamentary committee on DD Direct Plus

(21 December 2004 9:30 pm) NEW DELHI: Some Indian policy makers today took note of the modern technology involved in broadcasting and suggested set-top boxes should be cost-effective for Doordarshan's KU-band DTH television service to be successful. Members of Parliament of the Consultative Committee attached to the information and broadcasting ministry today were briefed by minister Jaipal Reddy on DD Direct Plus.

While assuring the panel members that all precautions would be taken in terms of content as DD Direct Plus is not an encrypted DTH service, Reddy said they would be provided all related information so the subject can be studied thoroughly by them. The members were informed that satellite earth station for uplinking the KU-band service has been set up at Todapur in Delhi and that DD has leased four transponders on NSS-6 satellite for beaming this service to those areas especially where cable and terrestrial TV have failed to make an impact. According to the minister, DD has already installed 5,700 dish antennas in the identified states, including the hilly terrain of northeastern part of the country.

On the occasion, Prasar Bharati made a presentation before the consultative committee members on the DTH service.

Those who attended the meeting included cine star-turned-politician Dharmendra, Usha Verma, Kirip Chaliha, Sudhakar Reddy, media baron Vijay Darda, Nirmala Deshpande and Hannan Mollah.

Can Star power say Tata to Zee's Dish, DD?
By ANJAN MITRA
(Posted on 10 March 2004)
The Rupert Murdoch-controlled Star Group has always been bullish on DTH in India. In 1997, the bullishness had got them into trouble as the then government had banned reception of KU-band signals (over 4800 MHz) just to spite Star India that was bombarding the media with information on its DTH plans.
The situation has undergone a change in the sense that this time round. Star has kept a low profile on its proposed DTH venture. Rather, the media has almost been blocked off on information on its DTH forays or prospective Indian partners. But the business eagerness still remains. It is apparent in what Star Group's new CEO Michelle Guthrie, who took over from James Murdoch last November, feels about the potential of DTH in India.

Star Group's CEO Michelle Guthrie
In an interview given to the Hong Kong-based Television Asia magazine, Gutherie said that Star's Indian DTH platform is a priority, as is "getting paid for the subs (subscribers) we aren't getting paid for."
Attempts by indiantelevision.com to elicit an official response from either majority partner (80 per cent) the Tata Group or Star itself as to what is being served up on the DTH plate have drawn a blank thus far. However, informed sources have provided some details as to just what's cooking.
DIFFERENT PRICING FOR DIFFERENT REGIONS
Pricing is what can make or break a service provider in a market as sensitive as India and this is an issue that is getting a lot of attention.
A customer who takes the full DTH offering of 80 channels is likely to end up paying Rs 400 on an average. As far as the total hardware for installing DTH is concerned, it would be just under Rs 5,000, the sources say. This includes installation costs as well. There is no indication, as of now, that the box is going to be given away free, which was the route Murdoch took for BSkyB in the UK.
Current indications are also that the Star-Tata DTH packages will not be uniformly priced but will vary from region to region. While in South India, the basic tier is expected to cost around Rs 200, this may not be the price a customer pays for the same tier in another region. This is because Tata-Star expect different levels of penetration in different areas.
In Mumbai for instance, even though demand is expected to be high, there are technical problems that are likely inhibit penetration. The biggest stumbling block being the highly congested layout of Mumbai. With most buildings and colonies in the metropolis stacked up "cheek-by-jowl", it is no straightforward task to position a potential customer's DTH dish antenna where it can receive signals without obstruction. Except for the really upmarket localities in the city, most areas are likely to face such difficulties.
One point indiantelevision.com is still unclear about, is whether the proposed DTH service would be launched under the brand name of Space TV, the company that had earlier applied for a license and had also managed to obtain a letter of intent from the Indian government, despite several question marks against the company's shareholding pattern that flouted the guidelines.
There is also no official communication available whether the new 80:20 joint venture has paid the Rs 100 million bank guarantee, as stipulated in the DTH guidelines, to the government though the buzz in the information and broadcasting ministry indicates that this has been done. All that was forthcoming from the Tatas, the majority shareholder in the DTH venture, was that "when there is something to be communicated officially, the media would be intimated about it." Similar is the stand that Star is taking as well.
5 MILLION SUBSCRIBERS WITHIN 10 YEARS
According to Star's projections, when a business proposal was made over 18 months back, the target would be to acquire about five million subscribers in about a decade's time.
This plan may undergo some change considering that some in the company now believe that the growth in the number of DTH subscribers in India may be faster than other places where DTH is a fairly established service.
Why? A DTH service in India may outstrip conservative estimates because of the lack of digital terrestrial service in India and seemingly plateauing off of cable TV's growth in Asia-pacific, including India.
Though MPA estimates that in India a DTH service would manage to acquire approximately seven million subscribers in 10 years' time, a senior Star executive, on condition of anonymity, hinted that if properly marketed, a subscriber base of 10 million could be targeted in five years time. Do the Tatas agree? The group is said to be still firming up its numbers on DTH.
A typical DTH operation is estimated to cost between $ 400-500 million, but, according to information available, the Indian DTH project has been calculated to cost between $250-$300 million by Star. The project's business angles are said to have been vetted by Ernst & Young for the Tatas.
Again, according to information available, the debt-equity ratio of the DTH venture is likely to be 1:1, which may change a little when the project actually gets off the ground. The paid-up capital of the DTH joint venture would be approximately Rs 8 billion.
The service was slated to be launched by Christmas time by the Tata-Star combine. But now with CAS being put off by the government, on recommendations from the broadcast and cable regulator, Trai, the duo look to be thinking of advancing the launch date. To even before Diwali, some say.
It would help Star to tap additional subscription revenue and also take advantage of the part conditioning of people in the metros at least for paying for watching TV channels.
Where Star-Tata combine has an advantage is that the DTH project can draw on the experience of BSkyB to go in for unique and more effective marketing of the service like subsidizing of set-top boxes heavily.
Dwelling on the drivers for a DTH service, MPA's Couto points out that aggressive subscriber acquisition is driven by STB subsidies (partial or in BSkyB's case full subsidy); premium and differentiated content (sometimes exclusive such as Premier League Soccer on Sky in the UK), intelligent packaging and tiering (simple but gives people a lot of choice and makes it affordable); customer service and marketing and, of course, deep pockets and the ability to absorb long term cash flow losses. "Two billion pounds were invested in BSkyB, for instance," he adds.
Yes, it's the financial muscle of Murdoch and the Tatas that can give a tough time to Chandra and his Dish TV. But it would be interesting to see which of the three players manage to beam more direct and easily into Indian consumers' homes.

PRIMARY RESEARCH

QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS

DEPTH INTERVIEWS

We went to various authorized dealers and retailers in different parts of the city and with varying years of experience in the business of mobile phones. Slight variations were visible in the inputs we received from them, but in general we could identify certain major trends in the quality demand, features and other factors related to mobile phones. In all, we interviewed 10 dealers. They were:

• Mr. Deepak Gupta, Director Sales, H.R. Electronics, Lajpat Rai Market, Chandni Chowk, Delhi
• Mr. Gaurav, Gujral Electronics, Lajpat Rai Market, Chandni Chowk, Delhi
• Mr. Anand Mohan, Jagdamba Electronics, Lajpat Rai Market, Chandni Chowk, Delhi
• Mr. Sumit Gupta, Vinky Electronics, Lajpat Rai Market, Chandni Chowk, Delhi
• Mr. Sarvajeet Kohli, Eveready House, Lajpat Rai Market, Chandni Chowk, Delhi
• Mr. N.L Nagdev, DTH World, Bhagirath Palace, Delhi
• Mr. Hari, C-net Communications, Mayapuri Industrial Area, Delhi
• Mr. Khushinder, Modern Electronics Industries, Naraina Industrial Area, Phase-1, delhi
• Mr. Rajesh Agarwal , Parko Eletronics, , Lajpat Rai Market, Chandni Chowk, Delhi
• Mr. Sanjay Mehta, Auto Voice India Pvt Ltd., , Lajpat Rai Market, Chandni Chowk, Delhi

Following are the summarized findings from the interviews-

Q1. Who all are the major DTH service providers?
Ans. In all, there are 3 DTH providers now- Dish TV, DD Direct Plus and Tata SKY. However, we can expect to see new players in the market like Reliance, MTNL in the near future.

Q2. What are the additional services provided in DTH over Cable TV and who all are providing those services?
Ans. There are various additional services provided in DTH over Cable TV. DTH provides superior Audio and Video Quality. There are various other services like large no. of channels, on demand movies, wide variety of games, parental lock and messages about balance and other schemes by the service providers. Dish TV and Tata Sky provide all these services. However, DD Direct doesn’t provide features like paid channels, on-demand movies.

Q3. What are the prices and initial investment for accessing the services of different service providers?
Ans. The initial investment required for DD Direct Plus is about Rs.1300 and since it provides all free-to-air channels, there is no monthly rental for accessing the services. The initial investments for a Dish TV connection and a Tata Sky are Rs 3600 and Rs. 4550 respectively which include the cost of the set-top box and the antenna, the installation charges and a three month rental. The monthly rental for all the free-to air and most common paid channels for Dish TV is Rs. 225(incl. taxes). The package for additional paid channels is Rs, 374/ month. In Tata Sky, there is only one package which costs Rs. 200 (incl taxes) for free-to air and paid channels.

Q4. How has been the customer reaction to DTH so far? Has been there any interest shown by customers towards DTH?
Ans. The interest shown by customers towards DTH has been increasing over the past month. Earlier, when there were only Dish TV and DD Direct Plus, the customers weren’t very enthusiastic about this new concept. But due to the entry of Tata into this market has lead to heavy advertisements and promotional activities by the service providers. So, we have seen a definite increase in the no. of queries flooding in for DTH.

Q5. Which Provider has evoked a more enthusiastic response from consumers so far?
Ans. The response to DD Direct has been lukewarm in urban market. On a whole, in terms of queries and general consumer feedback, the response to Tata Sky has been far more positive.

Q6. Have been there any problems from customers vis-à-vis quality or signaling feedback?
Ans. No, except two-three cases of some problems in set-top boxes there haven’t been any major objections from customers.

Q7. How has been the customer’s feedback with regards to after-sales services provided by these services?
Ans. Customer Care services by Tata Sky have been more speedier and effective, as told by customers, with a time lag of 12-24 hours. However, for Dish TV, the time lag is on an average 48 hours.

Q8. How well are the customers informed about the different brands and features available in the market?
Ans. We have had totally diverse kinds of customers visiting us. Some of them aren’t at all aware of the concept and ask for very general queries. On the other hand, we also get customers who are very informed and seek details of any new schemes on offer by the service providers. On the whole, the customers generally look for guidance in choosing a service provider due to very little differences between the rival packages on offer.

We interviewed the following Sales Executives and other company personnel of various DTH providers:

• Mr. Abhishek Bhattacharya, Sales Head, NCR, Dish TV
• Mr. Gaurav Khanna, Sales Executive, East Delhi, Dish TV
• Ms. Smiley, Sales Executive, North Delhi, Tata Sky
• Mr. Vijay Nayyar, Overall Distributor, Dish TV, North Delhi.

From the above interviews, we found that both Dish TV and Tata Sky are very optimistic about the growing business opportunity in India. Both felt that the increasing competition in this sector has lead to an increase in consumer interest about DTH and both the service providers expressed their confidence on being the market leader in the coming 12 months. Both the service providers claimed that despite being a new technology, this model is likely to succeed in India at a rapid speed because of numerous benefits on offer.

While Dish TV said that it was looking for television and print media to carry forward its promotional activities, Tata Sky said that it had been focusing on strengthening its distribution network through strategic alliances with major distributors and other big players nationwide like ITC’s e-choupal and Reliance Retail.

Both the companies claimed that they were not perturbed by the possible entry of Reliance in the market and were keen to take on the latter, which is known for its aggressive marketing and pricing strategies

Both the players said that they are very keen on strengthening the distribution channel and are working very intensely towards it. They are focusing on giving reasonable margins to dealers, focusing on advertisement and promotional support via hoardings and circulating brochures and other promotional material among the dealers
.

OBSERVATION METHOD

Apart from depth interviews from the dealers, we also used the observation method to understand the consumer’s perception and purchase behavior about DTH when they visited the dealers for purchase/queries.

The customers showed particularly keen interest towards Dish TV and Tata Sky, and weren’t too enthusiastic about DD Direct Plus. Most of the customer queries were pertaining to comparison on parameters like video and audio transmission and charges and were shown the different brochures1 and other materials of the service providers. The customers were also keen to enquire about after sales services by the DTH providers. Due to very less differentiation being offered in the services and prices charged by the rivals, Dish TV and Tata Sky, the customers often asked for guidance and other information from the dealers.

Although the dealers were marketing the equipment of all the three DTH providers, we could easily see a bend towards Tata Sky as the dealers went on with their comparison to the customers. This could be attributed to the fact that Tata Sky may be offering higher margins and other promotional support to the intermediaries.

The dealers were answering to every customer query in great depth and often showed product demos and other demonstrations. Since DTH is a new revolution in the ever growing Indian television industry, the role of the intermediaries in this segment is very significant. All the service providers must take this factor into account and focus on strengthening the distribution network, apart from continuing on other promotional avenues.

QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS

SAMPLE DESCRIPTION
The following is a general description of our sample of 250 respondents that were surveyed by us.

OWNERSHIP COMPOSITION

TRANSMISSION SERVICE NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE
CABLE 206 82
DTH 23 10
BOTH 13 5
NONE 8 3 250 100

From the survey undertaken we analyze that around 85-90% of the Indian population owns CABLE TV. Although most of the people are CABLE TV users but now people are preferring DTH over CABLE TV due to its additional features and affordable cost.

As a result the percentage of DTH users has become around 15% in a short span of 2 years even when it is rivaled against the well-established CABLE TV.

RESULTS AND FINDINGS

SATISFACTION FROM CABLE SERVICE PROVIDERS WITH RESPECT TO THE FOLLOWING ASPECTS:

TRANSMISSION PERCENTAGE
VS 46 18
SS 145 58
CS 19 8
SD 25 10
VD 15 6 250 100

We had surveyed a sample of 250 units. From the survey we found out that there are only 75% of the respondents who are CABLE TV users are satisfied with its transmission quality. Cable service is not as smooth as that of DTH. The transmission gets disconnected in between quite a number of times as compared to DTH which provides an interrupted, clear and 24*7 transmission.

VIDEO QUALITY PERCENTAGE
VS 56 22
SS 132 53
CS 22 9
SD 26 10
VD 14 6 250 100

From the sample undertaken for our market research study only 75% of the respondents who are CABLE TV users, are satisfied with its video quality.

Since dealers have lesser margins in providing CABLE service thus, they divide channels in the maximum possible denominations to capture the maximum market possible but this in turn leads to degradation of the video quality of the service.

However, DTH has proved that it provides incomparably better quality than CABLE TV.

AUDIO QUALITY PERCENTAGE
VS 73 29
SS 112 45
CS 31 12
SD 27 11
VD 7 7 250 100

Out of all the respondents we tracked around 75% of them who are CABLE TV users are satisfied with its audio quality.

However, many a times the sound service is not up to the mark as it starts breaking or become distorted.
Also, at times there is cross linking of channels due to which dialogues of one channel are audible at the others too.

CHARGES PERCENTAGE
VS 46 18
SS 71 29
CS 49 20
SD 56 22
VD 28 11 250 100

from the bunch of 250 respondents who were asked to fill the questionnaires only half of them that is i.e.45-50% of the CABLE TV users are satisfied with the amount they are charged for the service whereas, 30-35% are not happy paying the current prevalent price.

When asked the reason they pointed out that it is not worth it as many a times distortion creeps in and digital quality of all the channels is not uniform i.e. the digital quality of channels except of the popular and most sought out channels is not standard.

CHANNELS PROVIDED PERCENTAGE
VS 55 22
SS 93 36
CS 29 12
SD 44 18
VD 29 12 250 100

Out of the sample surveyed only 60% of the respondents who are using CABLE TV currently are satisfied with the number of channels it provides.
Whereas 30% of the respondents who are currently CABLE TV users are not comfortable with the number of channels provided.

DTH provides various channel packages which are customized in every brand. For e.g. TATA SKY provides around 110 channels and has only 1 package. Similarly DISH TV also provides most of the pay channels. However, DD DIRECT PLUS has a package of only the free to air that is 38 channels.

CUSTOMER CARE PERCENTAGE
VS 31 12
SS 54 22
CS 46 18
SD 61 25
VD 58 23 250 100

We surveyed 250 people and out of those only 40% of the respondents who are currently CABLE TV users are satisfied with its customer service.
Whereas around 50% are not appreciative about its handling of the customer care services.

DTH users are happier in this aspect as the customer care services provided with these are very efficient and easily available. Out of all the DTH service providers TATA SKY is said to have the most efficient customer care services, which are also free of cost for the warranty period.

UNAIDED RECALL OF THE VARIOUS DTH PROVIDERS BY THE RESPONDENTS

TRANSMISSION SERVICES NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE
DD DIRECT PLUS 45 70
DISH TV 175 55
TATA SKY 138 18
RELIANCE 10 4

Out of 250 people who contributed to conduct this market research study, maximum number of people constituting 70% of the population are aware about TATA SKY DTH provider, around 55% of the respondents could recall DISH TV, 18% were aware about DD DIRECT PLUS and only 4% knew about the RELIANCE DTH service.

TATA SKY and DISH TV conduct marketing on extensive level and thus most of the people are aware about these two brands whereas DD DIRECT PLUS lags behind due to negligible marketing.

SOURCE OF AWARENESS OF DTH SERVICE PROVIDERS

SOURCE OF AWARENESS NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE
TELEVISION 132 53
NEWSPAPER 56 22
FRIENDS 29 12
HOARDINGS 13 5
INTERNET 10 4
ANY OTHER 10 4 250 100

From the study we can say that maximum number of people came to know about DTH service through television, secondly through newspapers, thirdly by friends, then by hoardings and lastly internet.
RANKING OF ATTRIBUTES ASSOCIATED WITH TELEVISION ENTERTAINMENT

Attributes Points Rank
Digital Quality Service 633 1
Number of Channels 675 2
Charges 738 3
Movies on Demand 802 4
Multi Language Interface 1197 5
Gaming 1200 6

In terms of preference of attributes associated with Television Entertainment, Digital quality service is clearly the most preffered one closely followed by Number of channels on offer.
Charges of the connection are ranked 3rd overall.
The customers prefer Movies on Demand to Gaming & Multi Language Interface which are raked 5th and sixth respectively.
So, DTH service providers must emphasize on Digital Quality Service & Number of Channels offered while positioning their brands in a highly promising market for them.
WILL DTH TV REPLACE CABLE TV?

Yes 169 (68%)
No 81 (32%)

All the 250 respondents who were made to fill the questionnaire were asked to answer the last question, “Will DTH TV replace Cable TV?”

2/3rd of the respondents i.e. 68% respondents were confident that DTH TV can completely replace Cable TV. The various schemes offered by the DTH providers are now attracting cable TV owners, and in future, more such schemes may directly affect Cable TV.

1/3rd of respondents i.e. 32% of respondents said that no matter what happens, Cable TV has ruled for over 15 years, and completely replacing Cable TV with DTH TV is impossible because of various reasons. Some reasons can be convenience, perception, ignorance etc.

SECTION-A- FOR NON-DTH USERS

All the questions in this section were asked from the non-DTH users.

PEOPLE PLANNING TO BUY A DTH CONNECTION

Decision maker 0-15 15-25 25-40 above 40 Total
Respondent 0 33 9 5 47 spouse 0 0 5 4 9 father 2 32 3 1 38 mother 0 3 0 0 3 brother/sister 0 4 1 0 5 children 0 0 0 4 4
Total 2 72 18 14 106

Of all the 250 respondents from which we got the questionnaires filled, 216 didn’t have a DTH connection. Of these, 106 said that they were planning to buy a DTH connection in future. The 2 respondents from 0-15 age group who were keen on buying a DTH connection, said that the purchase decision would be taken by their father.
72 respondents from the 15-25 age group were keen on buying a DTH connection and the purchase decision in their families is reported to be dependent on either them or their father.
In the case of 25-40 and above 40 age group, the purchase decision is to be taken either by the respondents or their respective spouses.

WHAT INITIAL INVESTMENT ARE YOU WILLING TO MAKE FOR DTH CONNECTION?

Particulars Frequency Percentage
Less than 1000 84 39
2001-3000 108 50
3001-5000 21 10
5000 and above 3 1 216 100

Out of the 250 respondents who filled the questionnaire, 216 respondents did not own a DTH connection. These 216 respondents were asked about the Initial Investment they were comfortable making, for a DTH connection.
50 % of the correspondents were willing to shed Rs. 2000 to Rs. 3000 as the initial payment of the set top box and dish antenna.
39 % of the respondents preferred to pay an amount lesser than Rs. 1000 for the same.
10 % respondents did not mind paying an amount between Rs. 3000 and Rs. 5000 for the equipment.
1% of respondents said that if the DTH providers provided an uninterrupted service even during rains and other weather disturbances, even an amount exceeding Rs. 5000 was worth paying. These people were those who did not mind compromising on price but wanted quality.

WHAT PER MONTH CHARGES ARE YOU WILLING TO PAY FOR DTH CONNECTION?

Particulars Frequency Percentage
Less than 200 134 61
201-300 76 35
301-400 8 4
400 and above 0 0 216 100
The 216 respondents who did not own the DTH connection were also asked about the per month charges they were willing to pay for a DTH connection.
Analyzing the responses received, a majority of respondents, 60 %, would be happy paying less than Rs. 200 per month for DTH connection.
35 % respondents were comfortable paying charges between Rs. 200 and Rs. 300.
Only 4 % respondents said that id quality of service was high, they had no issues, paying a per month charge between Rs 300 and Rs. 400.
No respondent was willing to pay a charge in access of Rs. 400 under any circumstance.
They said that even if they could see an enormous number of channels for that amount, it was not worth paying anything above Rs. 400.

SECTION B- FOR DTH USERS

All questions in this section were asked from DTH users only

WHICH DTH CONNECTION DO YOU OWN?

Particulars Frequency Percentage
Dish TV 12 35
Tata Sky 18 53
DD Direct Plus 4 12 34 100

Out of the 250 respondents who were made to fill the questionnaires, only 34 respondents currently owned a DTH connection.
Out of these 34 respondents, 53 % own Tata Sky, 35 % own Dish TV, and 12 % own DD Direct Plus.
So we can make out that even if Dish TV has been a player in the market for over 2 years, and DD Direct Plus for over 1 and a half years, Tata has become popular in the market in a very small time.
This can be a result of heavy promotion, better dealer margins and better services that are offered by Tata Sky. SINCE HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN USING DTH?
Particulars Frequency Percentage
Less than 3 months 16 47
3 months - 1 year 12 35
1 year - 2 years 5 15
More than 2 years 1 3 34 100

These 34 owners of DTH connection were also asked to give the time period for which they had been using the DTH connection.
The responses were as follows:
47 % said that they bought a DTH connection less than 3 months ago. So they were relatively new customers of DTH.
35 % respondents were DTH owners for a time period between 3 months and 1 year.
15 % respondents purchased a DTH connection more than a year ago.
Only 3 % respondents had a DTH connection for more than 2 years.
So, in recent times, the purchase of DTH has increased, thanks to permanent implementation of CAS and heavy advertising by DTH players.

COMPARITIVE ANALYSIS OF THE DTH PROVIDERS ON VARIOUS ATTRIBUTES

Tata Sky Dish TV DD Direct +
No of Channels 6 7 3
Charges 6 5 5.5
Picture Quality 7 6.5 5.5
Audio Quality 7 7 6
Games 7 6 3.5 interactivity 6 6 3
Languages Offered 6 6 3 transmission 7 6.5 5 storage Capacity 5.5 6 3

We have positioned the three DTH providers on the basis of consumer perception in order to draw comparison between them on certain selected attributes.
In terms of No. of channels offered, consumers clearly give a vote of approval to the private players, Tata Sky and Dish TV. DD Direct Plus lags behind as it only offers the free-to-air channels.
In terms of Charges there is very close competition among the three. Despite their high charges, Dish TV and Tata Sky are giving DD Direct Plus a run for its money on account of superior television experience offered.
Although the three service providers run very close in terms of picture and audio quality, Tata Sky has done a commendable job of getting the highest ratings in these parameters. This can be attributed to the company’s access to superior technology accessible through strategic business partnership with the foreign players.
Although both Dish TV and Tata Sky are again fighting for the top spot in the Gaming slot, DD Direct Plus lags behind significantly on account of less innovation and variety. The same holds true with regards to Interactivity and Languages Offered.
In terms of Transmission, the private players are marginally ahead of the state owned DD Direct Plus. But in terms of Storage Capacity, DD Direct Plus once again lags behind.
On an overall basis with regards to consumer perception, Dish TV and Tata Sky are competing hard along all the attributes, but Tata Sky manages to secure a marginal lead over its closest competitor. The state owned DD Direct Plus has a lot of catching up to do and lags behind on almost all the parameters.
With the market likely to be flooded by the entry of new players, we can only expect to see the competition heating up further.

DTH PROVIDES BETTER TRANSMISSION THAN CABLE TV
Agreement Frequency Percentage
CA 23 67
SA 8 24
CS 2 6
SD 1 3
CD 0 0 34 100 The 34 respondents who are owners of DTH connection were asked to rate their agreement on the statement, “DTH TV provides better transmission than Cable TV.”
The responses were received under 5 headings, Completely Agree (CA), Somewhat Agree (SA), Can’t Say (CS), Somewhat Disagree (SD), and Completely Disagree (CD)
The responses were:
Completely Agree-67 %
Somewhat Agree-24 %
Can’t Say-6 %
Somewhat Disagree-3 %
Completely Disagree-0 %

DTH IS CHEAPER THAN CABLE TV
Agreement Frequency Percentage
CA 10 29
SA 12 35
CS 4 12
SD 2 6
CD 6 18 34 100

The 34 respondents who are owners of DTH connection were asked to rate their agreement on the statement, “DTH TV is cheaper than Cable TV.”

The responses were:
Completely Agree-29 %
Somewhat Agree-35 %
Can’t Say-12 %
Somewhat Disagree-6 %
Completely Disagree-18 %

DTH PROVIDES BETTER AUDIO QUALITY THAN CABLE TV

Agreement Frequency Percentage
CA 24 71
SA 8 24
CS 1 3
SD 0 0
CD 1 3 34 100

The 34 respondents who are owners of DTH connection were asked to rate their agreement on the statement, “DTH TV provides better audio quality than Cable TV.”

The responses were:
Completely Agree-70 %
Somewhat Agree-24 %
Can’t Say-3 %
Somewhat Disagree-3 %
Completely Disagree-0 %

DTH PROVIDES BETTER PICTURE QUALITY THAN CABLE TV

Agreement Frequency Percentage
CA 23 68
SA 5 15
CS 5 15
SD 0 0
CD 1 3 34 100

The 34 respondents who are owners of DTH connection were asked to rate their agreement on the statement, “DTH TV provides better picture quality than Cable TV.”

The responses were:
Completely Agree-67 %
Somewhat Agree-15 %
Can’t Say-15 %
Somewhat Disagree-0 %
Completely Disagree-3 %

DTH IS DESIGNED PRIMARILY FOR HIGH INCOME USERS
Agreement Frequency Percentage
CA 4 12
SA 7 21
CS 12 35
SD 4 12
CD 7 21 34 100

The 34 respondents who are owners of DTH connection were asked to rate their agreement on the statement, “DTH TV is designed primarily for high income users.”

The responses were:
Completely Agree-12 %
Somewhat Agree-21 %
Can’t Say-34 %
Somewhat Disagree-12 %
Completely Disagree-21 %

CUSTOMER CARE SERVICE OF DTH IS BETTER THAN CABLE TV
Agreement Frequency Percentage
CA 18 53
SA 8 24
CS 6 18
SD 2 6
CD 0 0 34 100

The 34 respondents who are owners of DTH connection were asked to rate their agreement on the statement, “Customer Care Service of DTH is better than Cable TV.”

The responses were:
Completely Agree-52 %
Somewhat Agree-24 %
Can’t Say-18 %
Somewhat Disagree-6 %
Completely Disagree-0 %

COMPULSORY IMPLEMENTATION OF CAS IS AGAINST GENERAL PUBLIC INTEREST
Agreement Frequency Percentage
CA 9 26
SA 12 35
CS 5 15
SD 7 21
CD 1 3 34 100

The 34 respondents who are owners of DTH connection were asked to rate their agreement on the statement, “Compulsory implementation of CAS is against general public interest.”

The responses were:
Completely Agree-26 %
Somewhat Agree-35 %
Can’t Say-15 %
Somewhat Disagree-21 %
Completely Disagree-3 %

Conclusion

After all the in-depth analysis, scanning through detailed secondary research, after undertaking a detailed and comprehensive primary research through depth interviews, observation method and getting structured questionnaires filled by over 250 respondents, we can at least claim to provide crucial data and figures pertaining to the people perception about television entertainment, about their readiness to welcome this new technology and about the perception of DTH users about various competing brands.

There are certain key aspects of our findings that we would like to mention here-

• Although most of the respondents were somewhat satisfied with their traditional cable operators with regards to the transmission, video and audio quality, there has been a sense of dissatisfaction that is evident with regards to the features like Customer Care Service and reasonability of charges. Perhaps, a wake up call for the cable-wallas to look into the modern consumer’s needs and follow it up with extensive customer care service.
• On being asked to rank the most preferred attributes associated with television entertainment, Digital quality service was the most preferred attribute, ahead of charges and no. of channels offered, a clear sign of the increasing desire of Indian consumers to enhance their television experience.
• The penetration of DTH is slowly, but surely on the rise. 10% of our respondents had a DTH connection at home. These are encouraging signs for the providers.
• A possible constraint for the rapid adoption process of this technology could be the high investment that is associated with it. 89% of respondents said they would not like to pay an initial investment of more than Rs. 3000 for a DTH connection. So, there is a case in point for the DTH providers to slash the prices below the psychological barrier of Rs.3000. A very staggeringly high no. of respondents (96%) said they won’t be willing to pay beyond Rs. 300 as monthly charges.

• However, despite these constraints, the future for DTH is bright. With 8% GDP growth, booming economy, and fuelling consumption patterns, there is a rise in desires of a man traveling in a Karol Bagh bus. The dissatisfaction with Cable Service providers may not send alarm bells ringing, the wall of the Cable Raj may not be crumbling, but there are enough signs to show that a change of guard may be in the offing. 68% of respondents felt that DTH will replace Cable TV. While these may be subjective estimates, industry experts feel a new era in Indian Television Entertainment has already begun.

• Comparison between the DTH service providers o While the state owned DD Direct Plus comes close to the Private players like Dish TV and Tata Sky in terms of transmission, audio and video quality, it clearly lags behind when it comes to interactivity, no. of channels provided, on demand-movies and games offered. So, clearly it remains a decisive war between Dish TV and Tata Sky while DD looks for a niche market for itself.

o Tata Sky Vs Dish TV

 Availability and dealer experience: DishTV has many dealers hence good availability.But, dealers claim to be trained by DishTV ‘s approach is rather complacent.. TataSky people were said to be very systematic and skilled by the customers.
 Attributes: Dish TV and Tata Sky run neck-to-neck in terms of various attributes. However, Tata Sky is marginally ahead if one takes a purview of all the attributes into account. In terms of games, picture quality and charges, Tata Sky crawls to the top position, just marginally beating Dish TV.
 Dealer support: On observation at various dealer shops, we could sense a bias of most of the dealers towards Tata Sky when they were asked by customers for the former’s advice. This may be due to better margins or other promotional support that Tata Sky may be offering.
One can surely say that DTH has enormous potential for growth in Indian Market and there are enormous opportunities for both the existing and upcoming players.

Is this the beginning of the end of the Cable Raj?

-No not yet, but a new technology is on the rise and would surely be something to watch out for in times to come. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

1) Sample size was small i.e. 250 respondents, 12 dealers and 4 company personnel. Most of the surveys are conducted on representative samples because it is usually impossible to include the entire population. Findings of sample are extrapolated on to entire population.

2) The sample chosen was a combination of convenience sampling and judgment sampling. Both these methods of sampling have an inherent element of bias.

3) Biases may creep in the information given by the respondents.

4) Main root of this research study was questionnaire & interview, which has its own limitations, for example we can’t measure the reliability, enthusiasm dissonance etc. REFERENCES

WEBSITES
• http://www.dishtvindia.in/
• http://www.ddinews.gov.in/DTH
• http://www.tatasky.com/
• http://www.rediff.com//money/2006/sep/05iycu.htm
• http://in.rediff.com/money/2006/sep/05iycu.htm
• http://www.comverse.com/products/cable_satellite_iptv
• http://us.indiantelevision.com/perspectives/y2k4/dth_dish.htm
• http://us.indiantelevision.com/perspectives/y2k4/dth_int.htm
• http://us.indiantelevision.com/perspectives/y2k4/dth_faqs.htm
• http://us.indiantelevision.com/perspectives/y2k4/dth_star.htm
• http://us.indiantelevision.com/perspectives/y2k4/dth_dd.htm
• http://www.iptv-industry.com/ar/3m.htm
• http://www.quentind.com/quantum/products/set_top_box.htm
• http://www.quentind.com/quantum/products/set_top_boxes.htm
• http://www.quentind.com/quantum/products/cas_elements.htm
• http://www.quentind.com/quantum/products/cas_glossary.htm
• http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=113275
• http://www.indianexpress.com/story/12505.html
• http://www.indiantelevision.com/special/y2k6/zee_dish.htm
• http://www.hclinfosystems.com/news49.htm
• http://inhome.rediff.com/money/2006/sep/05iycu.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Sky
• http://www.mouthshut.com/review/Tata_Sky_TV-111803-1.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dish_TV_India
• http://www.mouthshut.com/review/Dish_TV-70171-1.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DD_Direct_Plus
• http://www.televisionpoint.com/news2006/newsfullstory.php?id=114198334

MAGAZINES
• Business Today, October 22, 2006, Page 217, “Dish TV Vs Tata Sky: How They Stack Up

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