For a couch potato, it would be like an orgy. Imagine sinking into a chair at the end of a long day and having 650 TV channels to choose from. That is the total number of channels likely to be available for transmission in India by the end of 2009.
(This story appears in the 09 October, 2009 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)
Despite a good number of DTH players in the market and their hard-sell, cable operators still serve 90% of the users. One reason I could cite is the lack of local content in the DTH services. As the country India has linguistically diverse population, demand for the entertainment content is equally diverse. Cable operators having evolved over the years have come to identify this well, whereas the DTH companies have still not been able to clearly see and understand this need. For instance, every cable operator in Karnataka air all the available Kannada entertainment channels. On the other hand the DTH companies operating in Karnataka are not airing all the Kannada channels. User of DTH is made to to shell out extra money to buy an add-on package to watch their favorite Kannada entertainment channels. This model of add-on package for extra money has had a negative impact on the companies. DTH companies have a long way to go before catchup.
on Oct 14, 2009