Even as DTH continues to take away consumers, many cable operators have been resisting digitisation
Vanita Kohli-Khandekar / Mar 13, 2012
Cable operators are fighting, multi-system operators (MSOs) are lobbying, broadcasters are worrying and direct-to-home (DTH) operators are rubbing their hands in glee. So far the whole mandatory digitisation story in India is playing to script. With just under 90 days to go, how ready are we?
The answer: it is going to be a last-minute dash but we might just make it, at least in Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. Delhi is a problem. Chances are all the four metros will be digital by June 30 this year, thanks to aggressive DTH operators rushing in to fill the gap.
A quick background. The 142-million home TV market in India is one of the largest in the world along with China and Brazil. However, in top line ($7 billion, or Rs 35,000 crore) or margins, it is way behind either of those countries. One big reason is that just about 15 to 20 per cent of the money cable operators collect comes back to broadcasters, against 70 per cent globally. This leads to revenue leakage and tax loss.
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