Reliance Jio Media on track for Phase 1 of cable TV rollout between Jan - Mar 2016

30 Oct, 2015 - 08:42 PM IST | By indiantelevision.com Team

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MUMBAI: Reliance Jio Media, which acquired a pan-India multi system operator (MSO) licence from the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) in June this year, is on track for the roll out of its cable television business across digital addressable system (DAS) in Phase 3 areas.

Calling a recent report published as “misleading,” which stated that the company is going to focus more on 4G and broadband, as compared to digital television and distribution, a senior Reliance Jio official tells Indiantelevision.com, “MSO business is an integral part of our services and we are as focussed on it as we were from the very beginning.”

Reliance Jio Media has already shortlisted the cities for the first round of MSO rollout. “We will start with 15 cities initially and eventually will reach out to more than 100 cities over the next three years. The first round of launch will take place anytime between January to March 2016,” the official informs.

The MSO will offer both standard definiion (SD) and high definition (HD - incluing Ultra HD) services to garner high average revenue per user (ARPU). “We will follow a model, which is sustainable in the long run. Having all the viewing experiences for consumers is an important factor and we won’t compromise with that,” added the official.

“Headends, technological partnerships and other infrastructure deals have already been sealed with a few vendors and we will have everything sorted out before 31 December. We are in conversation with several LCOs for both broadband and cable partnerships. Post Diwali we will have the final round of discussion with LCOs for digital cable business,” said the official.

Reliance Jio CEO K Jayaraman leads the company’s MSO business.

A source from the industry opined, “The team that they’ve got in place has the muscle power to deal with any situation. I don’t think there is any lacklustre attitude towards the MSO business from the conglomerate.”

Another senior official from a technological giant, on condition of anonymity said, “We have been working closely with Reliance Jio creating different products for them. We are actively pursuing our partnerships and have no information of a slow down or postponement of launch of distribution of cable TV.”