MPA: DTH sector set for scorching subscriber growth

The direct-to-home (DTH) sector is set for a scorching pace of growth in subscriber additions, on the back of aggressive growth strategies of new players such as Airtel digital TV, Reliance Big TV and the Videocon Group. Currently, the five private DTH operators - Dish TV, Tata Sky, Big TV, digital TV and Sun Direct - are expected to add over six million new subscribers by the end of December, to take the overall subscriber base to over 17 million, a 57 per cent growth over December 2008. Nearly half the additions will come from the two new players, who launched operations only a year earlier. The overall DTH subscriber base was under five million in December 2007, according to the projections made by Media Partners Asia (MPA), the international media research agency.

MPA says that almost a third of the new subscribers for DTH and digital cable in Asia will come from India by December this year. The projections are based on net subscriber additions between December 2008 and December 2009, the actual paying subscribers of DTH services as opposed to the gross subscriber numbers given by DTH operators. Investors in these companies will, however, remain concerned about the mounting economic challenges faced by the DTH industry. And, that the five service providers will still have only around 30 per cent market share by 2013, versus 70 per cent for the incumbent cable operators. Cable homes are currently expected to be around 90 million. According to the MPA report, Airtel digital TV is likely to add a net of 1.4 million new DTH subscribers till December 2009, the highest among the two new entrants, Big TV and digital TV.

Overall, Sun Direct will lead the pack, with expected net additions of 1.5 million new subscribers by end of 2009. The others are together expected to add at least a million net subscribers by the end of 2009. Dish TV, the country's largest and the oldest private DTH operator, is currently expected to hold the dominant position in the DTH market, with an overall base of 5.2 million net subscribers by December 2009. Recently, Tata Sky has achieved a milestone in reaching four million connections in under three years since launch. The latest one million subscribers were gained in just over seven months. Vikram Kaushik, managing director and chief executive officer, Tata Sky, says, "This milestone validates us as the preferred service provider in the rapidly growing Indian pay-TV market."

-Televisionpoint