ajuravi007
Regulars
Amongst the chaos of the news channels and the cavalcade of their OB vans, is Dish TV's office in Film City Noida. Climbing up the stairs of the swanky building, it seems like just another day, but that's only till you make your way through the office.
There is an unusual air of urgency in the room. Sitting in one corner, one can almost 'clearly' hear an executive over the phone in the other corner. The row is over a print campaign that looks too much like their competitor's and could appeal to their competitor's potential customers. Not much different, perhaps, must be the scene in Tata Sky's Mahalaxmi office in Mumbai.
It all started in December, 2006; the roll out of CAS (Conditional Access System) was nearing and, unlike in 2003, there were no signs of a possible roll back from the government's end. Since then, both the DTH players (Zee group's Dish TV and Tata Sky, an 80:20 JV between the Tata group and Star) have been on their toes. Trying to lure in as many consumers as possible, it's an all-out war between them and a collective crusade against CAS.
First were the advertisements in all possible forms of media – print, radio, television and of course, the billboards which are hard to miss. Next was the slashing of prices to almost 49%; and an offer of a free subscription up to six months, and god knows what not 2007 saw.
But the over-enthusiasm of the promotional campaigns of the DTH players has only led to further confusion in the minds of the consumer. Imagine traveling on S. V. Road from Bandra, a posh suburb of Mumbai, to Lower Parel, a few kilometers away. It won't be long before you come across an advertisement on the local FM channels, "In life, when you are not satisfied with lesser things, don't get stuck with just a Set Top Box, when you can have a world class TV Satellite Service." And the moment your car's turned the corner, would be a billboard screaming for your attention, "Don't settle for inferior technology. Wish Karo. Dish Karo."
And before you could have batted an eyelid, would be another billboard cajoling you, "Just a Set Top Box or a World Class Satellite TV service? An obvious choice, really!" Some forty minutes later, after you've reached office, and reach for the newspaper, out comes a promotions pamphlet pronouncing – "Special introductory offer: Rs 200 per month only.", and of course you are liable to see Shah Rukh Khan or Hrithik Roshan.
To your complete surprise, the next day, a similar pamphlet says: "You can enjoy watching TV now, for 'free'!" And by now, one could bet with almost all surety that there's no way you would have been able to tell that the first ad you heard on FM channels was of Tata Sky, and that the next one you saw on the billboard was of Dish TV, and that the next billboard was of Tata Sky, and so on so forth, you clearly wouldn't have been able to differentiate between the Tata Sky and Dish TV promotional campaigns.
It offers about 200 channels and some 40 radio channels. With the offerings (the price, channels and the interactive services) of both the players almost similar, it is not very surprising that their communication is on parallel lines too.
"Budgets for marketing have increased three folds. We want to push as much visibility as possible. There is major advertising happening on all mediums, and on the ground level there are kiosks set at several points in the city," says Arun Kapoor, CEO, Dish TV.
The going for Dish TV was pretty easy till Tata Sky barged into the DTH space in August, 2006. Doordarshan's DTH offering Direct Plus has so far remained dormant maintaining its focus on the heartlands. Since its launch three and a half years back, Dish TV, which has leveraged the first mover advantage has now made regional content as the key differentiator to garner eyeballs. Dish TV is said to be controlling at least 55 per cent of the growing market and by 2011, Dish expects to have over eight million subscribers, up from the current level of 2.7 million.
On the other hand, "Currently Tata Sky has crossed a subscription base of 1 million," says an optimistic Vikram Kaushik, CEO of Tata Sky. Backed by two powerhouses Tatas and Star, Tata-Sky launched itself into an aggressive marketing drive since the very beginning, to take on Dish TV.
Star and Zee have come a long way together, from being one time partners to arch-rivals in the last seven years. For both the media behemoths, the DTH space is another territory to slug it out with each other. Just look at the way they are 'at it' already, trying to corner maximum market share through both CAS and DTH!
While Zee's Dish TV is a dominant player in the DTH space, its WWIL is currently also offering CAS. The operator already has reached out to 11 million households across the country. Zee has also recently launched another digital cable service 'GalaxZee'. On the other hand, Star too has a cable arm Hathway. As the industry goes from analogue to digital, who will clock-in the maximum numbers? And who'll ultimately win in the long run – CAS or DTH?, 2008 year seems to provide an answer to it.
Despite everything going for or against the players in the market due to the current roll-out, the consumers are all set to rejoice. According to a report titled 'CAS on the anvil, a comparison with DTH' by CARE Research, a division of Credit Analysis & Research Limited (CARE), "the fight will boil down to value added features provided by the respective service providers."
The report further adds, "Cable TV/CAS will not lose significant market share due to DTH in bigger cities. The main reason being the first mover advantage. Cable TV entered the market long before DTH and has achieved significant penetration."
And true, if developments in India run parallel to what happened in the US or Europe, Cable TV/CAS will emerge as the ultimate winner as the report cites, "in USA, Cable TV/CAS rules the roost while in Europe it is DTH, the only deciding factor being who entered the market first."
Sample this: A blackout of the channels in mid-2007 had happened in the metros, the call-centres of both Tata Sky and Dish TV have been receiving 3,000-5,000 calls each day.
The addition in the subscriber base of both, according to industry sources, is being pegged at 4 lakh new users from the CAS notified areas. According to the TAM Media Research's estimates, 1.6 million C&S homes across the 3 metros of Mumbai, Delhi & Calcutta will be affected by the change, which accounts for 20% of C&S homes in these metros.
Also, the industry estimates that till date, only 30% of the homes have added a Set Top Box to their drawing rooms. While some are content with Free to Air channels, others are getting used to DTH. But, a major part of the population is still confused about CAS. Coming to the rescue of such souls are the dealers of Dish TV and Tata Sky in every nook and cranny of the cities.
While Dish TV has a network of 11,000 dealers and has a presence in 4,300 towns, Tata Sky surely commands a greater footprint. "We are already retailing from more than 3,900 towns with a network of more than 22,000 dealers. Our hardware and prepaid recharge vouchers are available through popular consumer electronic stores and recharge vouchers are also available at neighbourhood grocery stores and mobile phone outlets," says Kaushik of Tata Sky.
If the DTH players are not leaving any stone unturned in wooing the discernable crowd, then the cable operators and Multi-System Operators too are ready with their enticing offers. TDSAT had set a MRP of Rs 5 on every channel, however, cable operators are offering channels in bouquets at prices as low as Rs 2 per channel.
Year Ender 2007: Year of Dish TV and Tata Sky | Televisionpoint.com News
There is an unusual air of urgency in the room. Sitting in one corner, one can almost 'clearly' hear an executive over the phone in the other corner. The row is over a print campaign that looks too much like their competitor's and could appeal to their competitor's potential customers. Not much different, perhaps, must be the scene in Tata Sky's Mahalaxmi office in Mumbai.
It all started in December, 2006; the roll out of CAS (Conditional Access System) was nearing and, unlike in 2003, there were no signs of a possible roll back from the government's end. Since then, both the DTH players (Zee group's Dish TV and Tata Sky, an 80:20 JV between the Tata group and Star) have been on their toes. Trying to lure in as many consumers as possible, it's an all-out war between them and a collective crusade against CAS.
First were the advertisements in all possible forms of media – print, radio, television and of course, the billboards which are hard to miss. Next was the slashing of prices to almost 49%; and an offer of a free subscription up to six months, and god knows what not 2007 saw.
But the over-enthusiasm of the promotional campaigns of the DTH players has only led to further confusion in the minds of the consumer. Imagine traveling on S. V. Road from Bandra, a posh suburb of Mumbai, to Lower Parel, a few kilometers away. It won't be long before you come across an advertisement on the local FM channels, "In life, when you are not satisfied with lesser things, don't get stuck with just a Set Top Box, when you can have a world class TV Satellite Service." And the moment your car's turned the corner, would be a billboard screaming for your attention, "Don't settle for inferior technology. Wish Karo. Dish Karo."
And before you could have batted an eyelid, would be another billboard cajoling you, "Just a Set Top Box or a World Class Satellite TV service? An obvious choice, really!" Some forty minutes later, after you've reached office, and reach for the newspaper, out comes a promotions pamphlet pronouncing – "Special introductory offer: Rs 200 per month only.", and of course you are liable to see Shah Rukh Khan or Hrithik Roshan.
To your complete surprise, the next day, a similar pamphlet says: "You can enjoy watching TV now, for 'free'!" And by now, one could bet with almost all surety that there's no way you would have been able to tell that the first ad you heard on FM channels was of Tata Sky, and that the next one you saw on the billboard was of Dish TV, and that the next billboard was of Tata Sky, and so on so forth, you clearly wouldn't have been able to differentiate between the Tata Sky and Dish TV promotional campaigns.
It offers about 200 channels and some 40 radio channels. With the offerings (the price, channels and the interactive services) of both the players almost similar, it is not very surprising that their communication is on parallel lines too.
"Budgets for marketing have increased three folds. We want to push as much visibility as possible. There is major advertising happening on all mediums, and on the ground level there are kiosks set at several points in the city," says Arun Kapoor, CEO, Dish TV.
The going for Dish TV was pretty easy till Tata Sky barged into the DTH space in August, 2006. Doordarshan's DTH offering Direct Plus has so far remained dormant maintaining its focus on the heartlands. Since its launch three and a half years back, Dish TV, which has leveraged the first mover advantage has now made regional content as the key differentiator to garner eyeballs. Dish TV is said to be controlling at least 55 per cent of the growing market and by 2011, Dish expects to have over eight million subscribers, up from the current level of 2.7 million.
On the other hand, "Currently Tata Sky has crossed a subscription base of 1 million," says an optimistic Vikram Kaushik, CEO of Tata Sky. Backed by two powerhouses Tatas and Star, Tata-Sky launched itself into an aggressive marketing drive since the very beginning, to take on Dish TV.
Star and Zee have come a long way together, from being one time partners to arch-rivals in the last seven years. For both the media behemoths, the DTH space is another territory to slug it out with each other. Just look at the way they are 'at it' already, trying to corner maximum market share through both CAS and DTH!
While Zee's Dish TV is a dominant player in the DTH space, its WWIL is currently also offering CAS. The operator already has reached out to 11 million households across the country. Zee has also recently launched another digital cable service 'GalaxZee'. On the other hand, Star too has a cable arm Hathway. As the industry goes from analogue to digital, who will clock-in the maximum numbers? And who'll ultimately win in the long run – CAS or DTH?, 2008 year seems to provide an answer to it.
Despite everything going for or against the players in the market due to the current roll-out, the consumers are all set to rejoice. According to a report titled 'CAS on the anvil, a comparison with DTH' by CARE Research, a division of Credit Analysis & Research Limited (CARE), "the fight will boil down to value added features provided by the respective service providers."
The report further adds, "Cable TV/CAS will not lose significant market share due to DTH in bigger cities. The main reason being the first mover advantage. Cable TV entered the market long before DTH and has achieved significant penetration."
And true, if developments in India run parallel to what happened in the US or Europe, Cable TV/CAS will emerge as the ultimate winner as the report cites, "in USA, Cable TV/CAS rules the roost while in Europe it is DTH, the only deciding factor being who entered the market first."
Sample this: A blackout of the channels in mid-2007 had happened in the metros, the call-centres of both Tata Sky and Dish TV have been receiving 3,000-5,000 calls each day.
The addition in the subscriber base of both, according to industry sources, is being pegged at 4 lakh new users from the CAS notified areas. According to the TAM Media Research's estimates, 1.6 million C&S homes across the 3 metros of Mumbai, Delhi & Calcutta will be affected by the change, which accounts for 20% of C&S homes in these metros.
Also, the industry estimates that till date, only 30% of the homes have added a Set Top Box to their drawing rooms. While some are content with Free to Air channels, others are getting used to DTH. But, a major part of the population is still confused about CAS. Coming to the rescue of such souls are the dealers of Dish TV and Tata Sky in every nook and cranny of the cities.
While Dish TV has a network of 11,000 dealers and has a presence in 4,300 towns, Tata Sky surely commands a greater footprint. "We are already retailing from more than 3,900 towns with a network of more than 22,000 dealers. Our hardware and prepaid recharge vouchers are available through popular consumer electronic stores and recharge vouchers are also available at neighbourhood grocery stores and mobile phone outlets," says Kaushik of Tata Sky.
If the DTH players are not leaving any stone unturned in wooing the discernable crowd, then the cable operators and Multi-System Operators too are ready with their enticing offers. TDSAT had set a MRP of Rs 5 on every channel, however, cable operators are offering channels in bouquets at prices as low as Rs 2 per channel.
Year Ender 2007: Year of Dish TV and Tata Sky | Televisionpoint.com News
