DTH stocks fall up to 6 pc on announcement of Jio phone

Shares of broadcasting and cable TV companies on Friday slumped up to 6 per cent after Mukesh Ambani announced the launch of a 4G—enabled feature phone which would also have a cable to connect with TV as a special accessory to display the phone content on a bigger screen.

The scrip of Dish TV India plunged 5.85 per cent, Sun TV Network went down by 2.65 per cent, Hathway Cable & Datacom fell 2.58 per cent, GTPL Hathway (2.28 per cent) and Den Networks (0.13 per cent) on BSE.

“In addition to this, the announcements towards the JIO Phone — TV would also hurt the cable TV industry,” said Nitasha Shankar, Sr Vice President and Head of Research, YES Securities.

Mukesh Ambani today announced the launch of a 4G—enabled feature phone priced at “effective” zero that bundles life— long free voice calls with dirt cheap data in a bid to woo 50 crore low—income users to his 10—month old Jio.

Addressing the annual meeting of shareholders of RIL, the parent of Jio, Chairman Ambani said the handset, named JioPhone, will have “an effective price of Rs 0” as buyers will be able to get the device for a one—time refundable security deposit of Rs 1,500.

The deposit will be refunded after 36 months on return of the phone.

Voice calling will be free for life while unlimited data packs will cost Rs 153 a month on the device, he added.

Resource :http://www.thehindu.com/business/dth-stocks-fall-up-to-6-pc-on-announcement-of-jio-phone/article19326062.ece

Reliance JioFiber Preview Plan- Offers Free 100GB Data

Reliance JioFiber Preview Plan: Reliance Jio provides so many offers to the peoples. Now, they announce Reliance JioFiber Preview plan with attractive offers. The company website provided JioFiber Preview Plan that offers 100GB of data per month at 100Mbps of speed for three months for free. Users have to pay an installation charge (refundable security deposit) of Rs.4,500. After the 100GB FUP has been consumed, speeds drop to 1Mbps.

In their Twitter page, they tweeted as “The JioFiber Preview Offer has currently being launched in select areas of Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Ahmedabad.” Reliance Jio is expected to launch services such as DTH, smart-TV boxes, IoT solutions; alongside its 1GBps broadband. The Jio’s DTH TV services with more than 360 channels and a “seven-day catch-up option being given to users” as well.

The JioFiber preview plan was spotted by a Redditor who was able to disable the redirect page and using Google cache; we were able to confirm what was reported.

The website also revealed the cities where the JioFiber Preview Plan will be launching. The cities are Ahmedabad, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Surat, Vadodara, and Vishakhapatnam. Jio will also provide its custom router during installation, which is included in the cost of the installation charge. Notably, there is also an option that says “I am interested in enhancing Jio coverage in my building,” which could hint that Jio may install a network of routers to improve the coverage in a building.

By the report, Jio will test its JioFiber Service in Pune and Mumbai at speed between 70Mbps to 100Mbps. The preview plan will be offered for three months for free, like as “Welcome Offer.” Stay tuned for more updates.

Resource :  https://www.keralanews247.com/reliance-jiofiber-preview-plan-offers-free-100gb-data/

DD FreeDish a hit with advertisers, broadcasters; subscriber base reaches 40 mn mark

With a current subscriber base of 22 million, the government run DTH service provider DD FreeDish which telecasts free-to-air channels has turned out to be a favourite amongst broadcasters as well as advertisers.

According to the latest EY report titled, India’s FTA market – 2017, the subscriber base of DD FreeDish is projected to reach 40 million users in the next two–three years. (Representative Image: Reuters)

With a current subscriber base of 22 million, the government run direct-to-home (DTH) service provider DD FreeDish which telecasts free-to-air channels has turned out to be a favourite amongst broadcasters as well as advertisers. According to the latest EY report titled, India’s FTA market – 2017, the subscriber base of DD FreeDish is projected to reach 40 million users in the next two–three years. As a matter of fact, in the latest round of bidding for slots on FreeDish held on July 4, broadcasters paid R85 crore as carriage fee for 11 slots. “FTA market has become important, with the rise in subscriber base. However, these viewers are going through a transition, as FTA is the first step in TV viewing before they migrate to paid platforms,” said Rohit Gupta, president, network sales and international business, Sony Pictures Network.

The latest report on FTA market by ICICI Securities points out that the rise in FTA channels has been driven by Broadcast Association Research Council ‘s (BARC), measurement of ratings in rural India According to BARC ratings for week 26 (June 24-30, 2017), in the rural markets, Zee Anmol – the FTA channel from the house of Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) grabbed the top spot with 470,357,000 weekly impressions, followed by Colors Rishtey at 432,128,000 weekly impressions at number two position. This has whetted advertisers’ interest.

“Companies such as Hindustan Unilever (HUL), Procter & Gamble (P&G) have a huge chunk of their target consumers residing in rural India. Thus FTA channels have become the perfect platform to advertise. In the last one year, these companies have increased their advertising spend by 50% on FTA channels,” said a senior media planner. As per the ICICI Securities report, the FTA advertising market which was pegged at Rs 400 crore –Rs 500 crore CY16, is expected to grow to Rs 800 crore- Rs 1,000 crore by end of CY17.

 Interestingly, advertising rates too have gone up in the last one year by 100%. Currently a ten second ad spot during prime-time on FTA channels costs anywhere in the range of Rs 10,000 – Rs 20,000 compared to the rate of Rs 5,000 – Rs 10,000, till December last year. Compared to this a ten second ad spot during prime-time on Star Plus, ZEE TV, costs between Rs 80,000 – Rs 1 lakh.

“FTA channels are growing at the expense of paid channels. The situation is similar to that of paid video over-the-top platforms (OTT) versus the free platforms. In India viewers are fine with the idea of watching content a bit late if it’s for free. Going forward broadcasters are expected to face a tough time converting these consumers into paid,” said Ashish Sehgal, COO, Zee Unimedia.

The ICICI Securities report estimates an annual revenue opportunity loss of Rs 1,800 crore for broadcasters from pay-TV, “assuming 300 million subscribers could have generated monthly content average revenue per user (ARPU) of Rs 50,” said analysts in the ICICI securities report.

Resource : http://www.financialexpress.com/industry/dd-freedish-a-hit-with-advertisers-broadcasters-subscriber-base-reaches-40-mn-mark/758045/

Alliance with Tata to help Bharti Airtel close gap with Vodafone-Idea

Bharti Enterprises and the Tata Group have held exploratory talks to evaluate a mega alliance involving their telecom, enterprise services, overseas cable and direct-to-home TV businesses

 Bharti Airtel will emerge stronger in the enterprise and undersea cable business and narrow the gap with the Vodafone-Idea combine in mobile service revenue market share (RMS) if the Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Enterprises and the Tatas form an alliance, analysts said.

However, Airtel will face some challenges from a merger: over Rs 30,000 crore in debt and a modest 48 million subscribers of Tata’s mobile service business, breach of market share cap in eight circles, and the need to spend $1.7 billion (over Rs 11,000 crore) to pay market rates for airwaves in the 1800 MHz band held by Tata Teleservices to use them for 4G, they said.

Bharti Enterprises and the Tata Group held exploratory talks to evaluate a mega alliance involving their telecom, enterprise services, overseas cable and direct-to-home TV businesses, ET reported last week. Both entities have not commented on the matter.

If a deal gets confirmed “and subsequently completed, Bharti Airtel would have an RMS of 40% on the cellular business front, closing the gap with the potential Idea-Vodafone merged entity (that will command a 44% RMS),” Bank of America-Merrill Lynch said in a note to clients. At present, Airtel’s RMS is 33%.

 Theoretically, this merger would also make Airtel stronger in the enterprise and undersea businesses, where the telco “is currently not in a dominant position,” the US bank said.

Analysts expect any potential Tata-Bharti mega alliance to unlock synergies in the direct-to-home TV industry.

BankAm-Merrill Lynch said the DTH industry would turn into a two-player market with a Airtel-Tata Sky combine commanding 43% of the subscribers and Dish-Videocon controlling 45%. Edelweiss backed the view and said such a potential merger would strengthen the bargaining power of DTH companies and help lower content cost.

Experts see strong business sense for Airtel to buy both the listed Tata Communications, a provider of network, cloud and security services, and Tata Sky.
“TataComm potentially brings a lot of value to the table by virtue of its sizeable intra-city fibre resources, its sub-sea cable system assets coupled with its strong enterprise business which would complement Airtel’s,” said an analyst at a Mumbai-based brokerage.

Brokerages also foresee minority/strategic stakeholder interests in Tata group outfits such as the listed Tata Communications and Tata Sky as a potential hurdle.

Edelweiss said minority stakeholders like the government – which owns 26% of Tata Communications – and Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox (owner of 30% in Tata Sky) “may not find their strategic stakes relevant in the combined (Tata-Bharti) entity and alignment of their interest could be a challenge.”

Among the challenges are Tata group’s mobility business assets, analysts said.

BankAm-Merrill Lynch said the Tatas’ holding of spectrum in the 850 MHz band may prove inadequate for Bharti Airtel to launch full-scale 4G LTE. Since the Tatas have 2.5 MHz of airwaves in the 850 MHz band, which are expiring in a few years, such spectrum can be used only for narrow-band LTE, the US brokerage said.

Edelweiss said the synergy benefits “are not meaningful” because a significant chunk of Tata’s spectrum holdings are unliberalised, for which market prices haven’t been paid.

BankAm-Merrill Lynch estimates Bharti would need to invest $1.7 billion to liberalise Tata Tele’s 1800 MHz spectrum and would also cross the revenue cap in eight circles.

India’s telecom M&A norms require a single entity’s revenue and subscriber market share to be below 50% and spectrum holding to be below specified caps. 

Resource : http://brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/business-of-brands/alliance-with-tata-to-help-bharti-airtel-close-gap-with-vodafone-idea/59538589

HRD gifts 32 DTH channels to students, announces ‘guru dakshina’ for President

The government has also decided to adopt a 17-point action plan for this year, including building digital campuses.

 Students across the country will now be able to access high-quality educational programmes as the HRD ministry launched 32 DTH channels on Sunday, along with a number of other digital initiatives in the field of education.

At the inauguration of three digital initiatives— Swayam, Swayam Prabha and National Academic Depository — human resource development (HRD) minister Prakash Javadekar said convocation addresses delivered by President Pranab Mukherjee will be compiled and published as ‘guru dakshina’ to him.

Felicitating Mukherjee — who was a teacher before he plunged into politics in 1969 — on the occasion of Guru Purnima, Javadekar said his life was an “exemplary” record of calibre, capacity and conduct, adding that Mukherjee represented all teachers in India.

“Since I called him a teacher, there will be ‘guru dakshina’ as well. We will publish compilation of his convocation addresses to various universities so that students can enlighten themselves from his valuable observations,” he said. Talking about the initiatives, he said Swayam aims at taking the best teaching-learning resources to all. Under Swayam Prabha, the government plans to telecast high-quality educational programmes through 32 DTH channels, whereas National Academic Depository will facilitate online verification of certificates.

The government has also decided to adopt a 17-point action plan for this year, including building digital campuses. The plan covers measures such as universal adoption of digital education and digital financial transactions in campuses from the current academic year. Javadekar added that the government would come up with integrated B.Ed courses so that students can decide on becoming teachers after Class 12. They can take such integrated courses with graduation in a subject of their choice.

 Resource :http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/hrd-gifts-32-dth-channels-to-students-announces-guru-dakshina-for-president/story-7QyoLQL4vgvCZ032sFi67H.html

Free TV viewership to touch 46 million households by 2020: EY

The number of free TV viewership households in India is estimated to touch 46 million by 2020, a growth of over 50 per cent, mainly due to the rise of state- run DTH operator DD Free Dish, said a report by global consultancy EY.

The number of free TV viewership households in India is estimated to touch 46 million by 2020, a growth of over 50 per cent, mainly due to the rise of state- run DTH operator DD Free Dish, said a report by global consultancy EY.

There were 30 million free TV households in the country in 2016.

The growth in free TV viewership will be in addition to consumption of content on mobile digital terrestrial television (DTT) handsets, the report said.

"The free TV market in India is poised to grow primarily due to the rise of DD Free Dish, which has now become the largest DTH operator in the country," said the EY report, titled India's Free TV – a game changing opportunity.

DD Free Dish, the state-run DTH provider, is the largest TV distribution company in the country with over 20 million subscribers, more than national pay TV companies, which average 8 million to 16 million each.

With over 80 channels currently, DD Free Dish plans to add 104 more by 2017-end and eventually take the count to 256 by 2020. The subscriber base of DD Free Dish is projected to reach around 40 million in the next 2–3 years.

"The implementation of the tariff order of 2017 could further push the free TV viewer base to 46 million by 2020," the report said.

It observed that with the new tariff order, customers would have to choose between paying more to receive pay channels of their choice or opt for free television, which will help further drive subscriptions from price-conscious consumers.

"Free television is increasingly becoming a viable option for channels looking to capture the base-of-pyramid audiences in urban and non-urban areas.

"With a large subscriber base, it also opens up new avenues of advertising for marketers looking to tap some of the fastest-growing markets in the country," said EY Partner – Advisory, Media and Entertainment, Ashish Pherwani.
"The change in customer behaviour will also have a significant impact on FTA (free to air) and pay TV channel uptake, and corresponding spends on subscription income," he added. 

Resource : http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/markets-business/free-tv-viewership-to-touch-46-million-households-by-2020-ey-2319411.html