Cable TV digital conversion passes 90% in India

India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has released minutes of the 14th Meeting of the country’s Task Force on Implementation of Digital Addressable System In Cable TV Network In Phase III and IV. The meeting was held on February 16th, 2016.

At the meeting, the Joint secretary gave an overview of progress on cable TV digitisation.

The percentage of homes converted has increased from 76.45% at the end of 2015 to 90.44% on February 15th. Over the same period, the number of deployed set-top boxes increased from 6.91 million to 12.43 million.

Nineteen cases have been filed in various courts in the country for the extension of the cut-off date for phase III. The Ministry is contesting all cases.

An Indian Conditional access system has been developed by DeitY. The CA sytem will be initially available to indigenous set-top box (STB) manufacturers for 3 years at a nominal fee of $0.5 per STB. Twelve MSOs have reportedly deployed it in their headends.

The minutes also contain reports on the availability and production of STBs across India.

Cable TV in India to be digital from January 1, 2016

Tuesday, December 8th, 2015 

Cable TV Services in Urban Areas will be digital from 1st January 2016

The cable TV is one of the most popular medium of mass entertainment & education. The country has more than 100 million cable TV subscribers. The digitization of cable TV services is under way in a phased manner in 4 phases.

The road map for digitalisation of Cable TV services is as under:

Phase	Areas	Sunset date for analog Cable TV
Phase –I	Four Metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai	31.10.2012
Phase –II	Cities with a population more than one million (38 cities)	31.03.2013
Phase –III	All Other Urban areas (Municipal Corporation/ Municipalities) except cities /towns/areas specified for corresponding Phase-I and Phase-II.	31.12.2015
Phase –IV	Rest of India	31.12.2016

The consumers of 4 metros & 38 cities who were covered under phase-I & II of digitalization are getting the benefits of Digital Cable TV services. As Mentioned above, the cut off date in respect of phase-III, which covers remaining urban areas, is 31st December 2015, after which no analog signal transmission or re-transmission of TV channels is permitted by the Law. The list of urban areas, covered under phase-III of digitalisation, is available on the website of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting.

The digital cable TV services (DAS) have distinct advantages over analog cable TV services as it can carry large number of TV channels with better picture quality and sound for all the channels. The consumer can choose channels of their choice and accordingly budget their expanses. For availing the Digital Cable TV Services, a consumer is required to install a set top box at his/her premises. The STBs can be availed on rental/hire-purchase/outright purchase basis. The consumer has an option to choose any scheme out of many offered by the service provider.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has been taking steps for creating awareness amongst consumers and stakeholders by holding workshops and Consumer outreach programmes, about the implementation of DAS. TRAI held a meeting with major stakeholders of the broadcasting and cable TV sector on 1st December 2015 to take the stock of the situation at the ground regarding implementation of DAS in phase III areas. TRAI noted that, progress of seeding STBs in DAS Phase-III notified areas is satisfactory and good numbers of customers are getting the benefits of Digitalisation. The Broadcasters, DTH operators and MSOs were asked to carryout exhaustive consumer awareness programmes about digitisation of cable TV services so that remaining urban areas customers are able to install STBs before cut off date i.e. 31st December 2015.. Broadcasters of TV channels have been asked to send advance intimation, by 7th December 2015, to the cable operators about non availability of TV channels for retransmission in analogue mode to the consumers from 1st January 2016.

Consumers of urban areas who are still receiving cable TV services without STB are advised to avail and install STBs before cut off date in order to receive uninterrupted TV services.

Polish cable: 10 key facts

The Polish cable industry is helping to develop the country’s economy in 10 key ways, according to the findings of a new report produced by PwC in cooperation with PIKE.

• The first is that 2.4 million people now access the internet via cable, or over double the number in 2009.
• The second is that cable now accounts for over 30% of fixed line connections. This is much higher than the European average of 18% and puts Poland in the 10th place in the EU.
• The third is that 96% of the technology used by cable operators fulfills the criteria of NGAs. Over 65% of cable subscribers in Poland can access internet services at speeds of over 30 Mbps.
• The fourth is that between 2009 and 2014 the percentage of cable subscribers opting for their internet offers increased from 31% to 43%.
  The fifth is that it can be concluded that cable operators have accounted for 4-5% of growth in Poland’s economy in recent years.
• The sixth is that the actual internet speeds offered by cable operators are 87% (download) and 103.6% (upload) of those on average available in Poland.
• The seventh is that cable operators is that invest intensively – typically 20% of their revenues, compared to an industry and ICT average of around 5%. Between 2009-2014 their investment amounted to around PLN5.3 billion (€1.25 billion).
• The eighth is that of cable operators’ revenues of PLN3.9 billion in 2014, added value accounted for PLN1.76 billion of the total.
• The ninth is that there are currently around 10,000 people employed in Poland’s cable industry, or 23% more than five years ago.
• Finally, it is estimated that public finances benefited to the tune of around PLN480 million thanks to the cable industry.

Digital cable on the rise in Germany

The share of digital households among cable customers in Germany has risen by 15% to 72.5% in the past 12 months – a considerably stronger increase than in previous years.

4.5 million households still solely use analogue cable television, the only remaining analogue TV reception method, according to the media authorities’ newdigitalisation report 2015.

The share of digital cable households has now almost reached the same level as digital DTH satellite reception in 2009, three years ahead of analogue switch-off. The termination of analogue cable television at the end of 2018 proposed by cable operator association ANGA therefore seems to be a realistic target.

However, still lots of information and communication seems to be necessary in the meantime as 75% of analogue cable households don’t plan a transition to digital reception.

Regarding TV reception methods, not much has changed since last year: With 46% each, cable and satellite are leading, followed by DTT (9.7%) and IPTV (4.8%).

With 48.1%, almost half of the TV households receive HD channels – an increase by almost 10% in the past 12 months. However, only 18.8% of TV households (7.3 million households) have opted to watch the commercial channels in high resolution. The reluctance is probably based on the monthly fee the commercial broadcasters charge for reception of the HD versions of their advertising-funded free-to-air TV channels.

20% of households own a smart TV set, but only 11.8% have actually connected it to the internet. If Blu-ray players, HDMI sticks and other internet-capable devices are added, 19.1% of TV screens have internet access.

Cable operators in Delhi set up an industry association

Cable operators in Delhi have joined hands to establish the Cable Operators Welfare Federation. At present, over 16 registered associations of Delhi cable operators are part of the Federation.   

The association aims to protect the interest of the smaller last mile cable operators (LMO). It also intends to ensure that government does not ignore LMOs while implementing digital addressable system. AS Kohli from west Delhi is the Chairman and Surjeet Singh is the President of the newly formed association.

The federation is likely to send a memorandum to information and broadcasting minister, Arun Jaitley, seeking a common tariff by the multi-system operators in Delhi, as per a media report. Furthermore, the memorandum is expected to point out that while the MSOs receive carriage fee, the LCOs should also get a share of this. It would also emphasis that LCOs should also be paid a share by broadcasters of pay channels who are earning huge revenue through advertisements.

India re-schedules Phase III and IV cable TV switch over dates

NEW DELHI — India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) has officially announced new dates for the phasing out of analogue cable TV in the country.

The digitization of India’s cable TV sector has been taking place in 4 phases with the first two already complete. Phase III has now been moved form 30th September 2014 to 31st December 2015, and Phase IV from 31st December 2014 to 31st December 2016.

Migration to Digital Addressable Cable TV Systems:

                                                                       Sunset date for
Phase      Areas                                                       Analog Cable TV
---------  ----------------------------------------------------------  ---------------
Phase I    Four Metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai                   31.10.2012
Phase II   Cities with a population more than one million (38 cities)       31.03.2013
Phase III  All Urban areas (Municipal Corporation/Municipalities)           31.12.2015
Phase IV   Rest of India                                                    31.12.2016

Analogue TV caught up in German cable

More than one third (37%) of cable customers in Germany still solely watch analogue television, resembling 6.2 million households, according to the digitalisation report 2014 released by the German media authorities.

In particular older citizens and low-income households are among the analogue TV users. 11.2 million of the 17.9 million cable households now use digital TV, corresponding with a share of 63% (2013: 56%). More than 3 million cable customers have signed up for the HD versions of the commercial free-to-air channels which are offered for an additional monthly subscription fee.

In total, the digital TV share among the German TV households now amounts to 84% (2013: 81%). All of the analogue households are cable subscribers as that’s the last infrastructure still offering analogue television.

The reach of the different distribution infrastructures remains almost unchanged. Each holding a share of slightly over 46% of the TV households, cable and satellite remain in the top positions. DTT slightly dropped from 11% to 10% of the TV households. In total, 3.9 million households receive DTT of which 2 million use DTT as their sole TV reception method.

DTT is particularly popular in regions in which both public and commercial TV channels are offered with the reach climbing to 17% of the TV households in these areas. If DTT reception via PCs, laptops, smartphones, tablets and TV receivers in cars is included, the reach rises to 26%.

IPTV remains unchanged at 5% of the TV households, corresponding with 1.9 million households.

45% of the German population now watches video content through the internet. 22% do this using a connected TV set hooked up to the internet (Smart TV). 23% of the TV households have an internet-capable TV set, an increase by 46% compared with last year.

15% of the households have connected their TV set directly or indirectly – for example through a set-top-box or a games console – to the internet, corresponding with 5.7 million households. Video consumption through the internet is on the rise mainly on Smart TV sets (+61%) and on tablets (+88%).

Most video-on-demand (VOD) consumers (58%) use the public and commercial broadcasters’ catch-up TV portals (Mediatheken) followed by video portals (25%) and online video stores (21%) such as maxdome, Watchever and Amazon Instant Video.

43% of the TV viewers use a second screen in parallel to TV consumption, for example a smartphone, laptop or tablet. E-Mail and instant messaging (72%) are most used during TV consumption, followed by current news and information (59%) and social networks (51%). Only 27% of the second screen users access content accompanying the TV programme they are currently watching.

For many users, the second screen is in fact already the first screen. Asked which screen they devote most of their attention to during parallel usage, 38% say it’s their smartphone, tablet or laptop. 35% still mainly follow the happenings on the TV screen.

For the digitalisation report 2014, market research company TNS Infratest interviewed more than 6,000 people representing the characteristics of the German population. The study can be downloaded in both German and English-language free of charge in PDF format on the media authorities’ website.

Cable TV subscribers in Switzerland continue to decline

According to figures from Swisscable, the sectoral association for cable TV companies in Switzerland, the number of cable TV subscribers in the country at the end of June 2014 was 2.677 million, down 29.8 thousand, or 1.1%, versus the 2.707 million recorded at the end of June 2013.

Cable TV subscribers:

30.06.2013  30.06.2014           Change
----------  ----------  ---------------
 2,706,800   2,677,000  -29,800 (-1.1%)

Cable remains a growth business

The value of the European cable industry grew more than 5% in 2012 and future growth potential remains robust, according to a new report from IHS, produced in collaboration with Cable Europe.

European Broadband Cable 2013 shows that the investment thesis for cable remains strong, a fact highlighted by recent deal activity such as the agreement for Vodafone to buy Germany’s Kabel Deutschland (KD).

The European cable industry generated revenues of €22.4bn in 2012, serving 61.3m homes. Central to the growth story of cable is the increasing importance of telecoms services. Cable has traditionally been a television provider, but telecoms services now account for 46% of all cable revenue across Europe and in ten markets, telecoms services have now become more important that television in terms of revenue generation for cable.

Bundled TV and telecoms services are not just the key to revenue and ARPU growth, but also represent cable’s trump card in positioning for the future of television delivery.

Controlling the IP last-mile infrastructure into the home as well as in-home devices is important. When combined with investments in Wi-Fi networks, a key area of focus for today’s cable providers, cable infrastructure becomes well positioned for delivery of Over-the-Top (OTT) content to multiple devices.

Analysis of the investment case for Vodafone to purchase cable infrastructure has focused on savings access to fixed-line infrastructure will give it, but we believe Vodafone’s interest in cable is a vote of confidence in the cable business model. And more than that, it is a vote of confidence in the way that cable has positioned for the future of entertainment.

A future at which television remains centre stage, but in which broadband (and increasingly mobile) take near equal billing, both for data access and entertainment delivery. When this is considered, the combination of Vodafone with KD looks more like the beginning of a prolonged strategic trend than a one-off purchase.

Key findings of the report include: the European cable industry was worth €22.4bn in 2012. Cable operators in Europe provide television services to 61.3m homes with cable infrastructure passing 116m homes.

Cable operators account for 112.9m RGUs, each representing a separate service contract (for TV, or telephony or internet).

Cable serves 28.7m broadband Internet subscribers in Europe. Digitisation of cable in Europe continues to progress with the majority of European Union cable homes now digital.

Average cable ARPU hit €26.60 a month in the European Union. Telecoms services now account for 46% of cable revenue across the European Union.

Cable is increasingly addressing multi-screen opportunities and out-of-home access with recent merger activity in the industry heavily focused on the provision of next generation services and the future of television service provision.

The cable industry maintained positive revenue growth throughout the economic downturn and revenues overall across Europe grew by 5.2%.

Cable TV viewership in Pakistan reaches 64%

Cable TV viewership in Pakistan has reached 64% which is up from 55% reported in the year 2010. Cable TV viewership is much higher (85%) in urban areas, while rural regions hold 50% viewership. Though urban TV viewers are dominant, the overall viewership growth is contributed by 17% increase in rural spectators when compared to that registered in the year 2010. Overall, 51% of households in Pakistan possess a cable connection, which accounts to 13 million cable TV subscribers in the country.

There are 7.74 million cable TV connections in urban Pakistan and rural has about 5.4 million cable TV connections. It is evident that 16% of viewers do not have a direct access to cable TV in their home. These viewers either visit friend´s house, restaurant or any other place for watching cable channels.

Over the past two years, access to cable TV connection at household level in rural areas has increased from 19% to 30% with a 11% growth. As the rural TV audience base is growing, TV channels focusing on increasing their audience size will have to concentrate on this target segment. Urban TV viewership is not only stagnant but also heavily cluttered, reports Gallup Media Survey.