CASBAA India Satellite Forum: There’s room for everybody

In the panel discussion, all players agreed that there is room for all media platforms to grow in India

At the panel discussion entitled ‘Is it a win-win for all?’ at the CASBAA (Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia) India Satellite Forum organised in New Delhi on March 17, there was an evaluation of the various digital media platforms available in India – digital cable, broadband, DTH, IPTV, mobile TV and HITS – and whether they can all co-exist.

The discussion was moderated by Arvind Mohan, secretary, MSO Alliance, who started off by citing a KPMG research which says that there will be 149 million TV households in India by 2013 – 28 million of DTH, 90 million of cable (including 35 million of digital cable) and four million of IPTV. He asked the panellists for their views on the various technologies.

Prithipal Singh, vice-president, IPTV India Forum and former chairperson and managing director, BSNL, said, “The technologies are available for everybody to play their roles in. As segmentation takes place, different strategies will emerge for different platforms. As for IPTV, it has a long way to go. First, we need to create awareness about it.”

Vikram Mehra, chief marketing officer, Tata Sky, said, “The talk of competing technologies is relevant only in South East Asian countries where the populations are small. But in India, there is room for everybody. For instance, there is no other country except the US where they have more than two DTH operators.” He added that in India, it is a volume game, so DTH operators need to move out of urban India.

Amitabh Kumar, director, corporate, Zee Television, said, “Today in India, we are living in a policy vacuum. Despite the glory, we still don’t have a policy on HITS and mobile TV.”

Deepak Bajaj, senior vice-president, Digi cable, agreed, saying that since 1991, there has been no regulation in the cable industry. Talking about the challenges of digitisation, Bajaj said that local cable operators (LCOs) apprehend losing income because of under-declaration of subscribers. He added that it also takes a lot of effort on their end to digitise, so they depend on the multi service operator (MSO).

Next on the panel, Sujata Dev, chief executive officer and managing director, Time Broadband Services, said, “The DTH industry took eight years to get regulated. With IPTV, it has luckily taken two years.” She added that there is space for everybody. She also said that the services are not competitive in nature because customers use multiple devices in their homes.

The overall conclusion of the discussion was that the digitisation of cable is inevitable and that there should be a level playing field (in terms of regulation) for all players.