TV as the digital gateway: India’s telcos enter the market

India’s TV market is changing fast as new players and new technologies come on board. Direct-to-home (DTH) companies were the first to stake a claim and are aggressively building on their early success. In 2009 we have seen telcos (fixed and mobile) enter the fray. Low PC and fixed-line penetration combined with sluggish fixed broadband growth means the TV is becoming the main digital gateway into Indian homes, with suppliers developing interactive and T-commerce services on top. Mobile operators Bharti and Radiance are combining both DTH and IPTV platforms for their digital TV rollout, giving them a significant scale advantage over BSNL and MTNL. Their strong execution abilities and stronger mobile presence means they will leverage this advantage quickly.

Report Highlights

[Fade out the market survey infos]

Executive summary
In a nutshell
Ovum view
Key findings
TV as multimedia gateway: a prime opportunity
Growth scorecard: TV and mobile = good; broadband and PC = could do better
Digital cable: significant opportunities but growth will be slower
BSNL and MTNL: catching up with DTH will be a marathon, not a sprint
Bharti and Reliance: first-mover triple-play advantage
A pure-play IPTV strategy faces unfavourable odds
India’s TV and broadband market landscape
TV market overview
Cable: complexity and fragmentation holding back development
Terrestrial TV: a last mover
Changes to TV regulation
A better deal for consumers
2008: a watershed year for IPTV
Broadband: more wireless than wired
TV growth proves resilient as DTH drives the market
Market development
TV and mobile’s mass-market appeal
Using TV as a digital gateway
Early days for IPTV
IPTV players: competing on interactivity
DTH players are moving ahead with their own services
IPTV pricing: no land-grab, but matching the market
Pricing has stabilised but IPTV players must match the market
Smart mobile: platform-agnostic





[Fade out table of contents]

List of Tables
Table 1: Dish TV: subscriber growth and market share, 2007–09
Table 2: Sales of consumer desktops and notebooks 2007–09
Table 3: Example pricing from DTH/CATV/IPTV providers, September 2009







List of Figures
Figure 1: Key telecoms and TV indicators (000s), 1Q09
Figure 2: Broadband connections forecast (000s), 2010–14
Figure 3: Key DTH players, subscribers (000s) and market share, July 2009

[Fade out list of tables / figures]