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MUMBAI:
On the occasion of India being the country of honour at next
month's television trade event Mipcom Indiantelevision.com
is doing a series of pieces on what the leading figures
in India's television and entertainment industry feel about
the media scene.
The
first one in this series is Reliance Entertainment president
Rajesh Sawhney. He offers his views on regulation, as too
the potential of the new digital distribution platforms.
Indian
TV Industry overview: The stature of the Indian television
industry will continue to grow in coming years. The Indian
economy will grow at 9 to 10 per cent per annum. Conusumerism
is on meteoric rise, which is fuelling advertising growth
in general and on TV advertising in particular.
Digitalisation of cable, DTH and IPTV induction will see multiple
growth in declared subsrcribers and subscription revenues.
Revenue from advertising and TV subscriptions grew 17 per
cent in 2006 to $4.2 billion; this figure is likely to more
than double to $10 billion by 2011.
Regulation: Regulation will continue to be a challenge
in India. While there are plenty of bullish figures for India’s
pay-TV market, yet there are regulatory hurdles such as non-exclusivity
of content on DTH or the price capping of pay-TV channels
in the case of conditional access (Cas).
I advocate self regulation as far as content is concerned.
The pricing of TV channels and bouquets is a tricky issue
and the regulator has to see that there are no monopolistic
or restrictive behaviour. The interest of the consumer needs
to be balanced with the health of broadcasters as well as
platform owners.
The digitisation of media: India is on the cusp of
change. A digital revolution. DTH, digital cable and IPTV
are realities today. These changes bring with them new level
of technical sophistication and content production. It is
being projected that India (which had 116-120 million television
homes in 2006, of which 61 per cent have pay TV) will have
90 per cent penetration from an estimated 185 million television
homes in 2015.
DTH,
Digital cable and IPTV are three forces that are backed by
capital, coporate horse power and regulatory will power. However,
transition to digital technology will face trendous challenges
from entrenched trade, consumer apathy, but also intensive
competition.
On
the IPTV front: The State-owned incumbents have a incumbency
advantage, which they are frittering away. They own 50 m subs
copper factory, but so far they have not shown much enterprise
in making the copper factory evolve to provide triple play
services. I feel that the private sector participation is
key to growth of IPTV in India which is around the corner.
I
feel that IPTV has a great future in India in long term. However
in the short term, it will be DTH that will be key to driving
consumer penetration.
DTH: DTH is an exciting market in India. It will also
be a tough market with 6 serious players in the battle. The
DTH satellite market is set to grow from 2.6 million subscribers
in 2006 to 38 million by 2015. I also expect DTH to provide
a new platform for new and innovative content to flourish
in India. Content has been key to the success of DTH platforms
in other markets. We will see how this plays a role in the
evolution of DTH in Indian market.
Digital Cable: The introduction of Cas was scheduled
to be done in a phased manner at least in three metros this
year. But there seems to be a delay. Given the regulatory
structure for cable industry, delays are inevitable.
Even the mom and pop nature of Indian cable industry is a
hindrance in the roll out of efficient and effective digital
cable networks.
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