Focus on Consumers in Phase III & IV

The year 2014 has started with great hopes. There have been positive signals from all sides. The I&B Minister, Manish Tewari in his address in the CII's CEO roundtable said that the industry must focus on the consumers most in the Phase-3  and 4 of digitization. 

The Minister also stated that he is very much concerned about various issues and hurdles experienced by stakeholders, particularly the cable operators and assured that the Ministry is in the process of resolving these issues after a dialogue with the industry very soon. In fact, he showed great concern on the reports from the market that none of the stakeholders including broadcasters, MSOs or the LCOs were happy with the way digitisation was progressing. In that case he was ready to postpone the deadline for Phase-3 and 4 to 2020, but on the insistence of the industry he kept the old deadline of 31 Dec 2014 intact. However, he asked the stakeholders to resolve their intra-industry issues among themselves without bringing government in the picture.

In the TDSAT seminar held in Jaipur last month, more than 100 cable operators had attended and voiced their concern on the lackadaisical approach of TRAI to resolve their issue of revenue share and cartelization by the large MSOs. TRAI representative, Mr Wasi Ahmed was at their receiving end and gave them a patient hearing without any assurances. These concerns were also presented strongly before the panel of judges of TDSAT in the question hour. 

The Ad cap issue has now gone to the High Court and we hope to hear a judgment soon, so that uncertainty of ad cap duration in TV channels ends on a positive note. Television rating Guidelines that were released last month have also been taken to the High Court by Kantar Media, one of the partner in TAM, the only rating agency in India ruling till date. Let us hope BARC gets their rating system activated soon to bring more transparency and credibility to the rating system.

January also saw the biggest industry event Convergence India 2014, held in New Delhi. After a long time there was a rush of Cable Operators and MSOs in the event as large number of players from domestic as well as international markets had participated in the event. One could see many vendors of digital cable hardware and software wooing the operators. However, telecom part of the event was disappointing with many big players not exhibiting this year. 

An encouraging part of the event was that many Indian Manufacturers of STBs and headend and distribution equipment had showcased their products which were at par with international market and at much lower cost.

Our annual industry guide and directory for 2014 is already out in the market. The only yearbook of the industry has plenty of useful information for everyone, both concerning technologies and regulations. Also it has well revised directory of the industry with much more information than last year.  This is the first time that we have separated this industry guide from our January issue and presenting it as Industry Year Book so as to include more information. 

We welcome comments and suggestions on the Annual Year Book.

—— Lt. Col. (Retd.) K K Sharma

Editor

Source:

The year 2014 has started with great hopes. There have been positive signals from all sides. The I&B Minister, Manish Tewari in his address in the CII's CEO roundtable said that the industry must focus on the consumers most in the Phase-3  and 4 of digitization. 

The Minister also stated that he is very much concerned about various issues and hurdles experienced by stakeholders, particularly the cable operators and assured that the Ministry is in the process of resolving these issues after a dialogue with the industry very soon. In fact, he showed great concern on the reports from the market that none of the stakeholders including broadcasters, MSOs or the LCOs were happy with the way digitisation was progressing. In that case he was ready to postpone the deadline for Phase-3 and 4 to 2020, but on the insistence of the industry he kept the old deadline of 31 Dec 2014 intact. However, he asked the stakeholders to resolve their intra-industry issues among themselves without bringing government in the picture. 

In the TDSAT seminar held in Jaipur last month, more than 100 cable operators had attended and voiced their concern on the lackadaisical approach of TRAI to resolve their issue of revenue share and cartelization by the large MSOs. TRAI representative, Mr Wasi Ahmed was at their receiving end and gave them a patient hearing without any assurances. These concerns were also presented strongly before the panel of judges of TDSAT in the question hour. 

The Ad cap issue has now gone to the High Court and we hope to hear a judgment soon, so that uncertainty of ad cap duration in TV channels ends on a positive note. Television rating Guidelines that were released last month have also been taken to the High Court by Kantar Media, one of the partner in TAM, the only rating agency in India ruling till date. Let us hope BARC gets their rating system activated soon to bring more transparency and credibility to the rating system.

January also saw the biggest industry event Convergence India 2014, held in New Delhi. After a long time there was a rush of Cable Operators and MSOs in the event as large number of players from domestic as well as international markets had participated in the event. One could see many vendors of digital cable hardware and software wooing the operators. However, telecom part of the event was disappointing with many big players not exhibiting this year. 

An encouraging part of the event was that many Indian Manufacturers of STBs and headend and distribution equipment had showcased their products which were at par with international market and at much lower cost.

Our annual industry guide and directory for 2014 is already out in the market. The only yearbook of the industry has plenty of useful information for everyone, both concerning technologies and regulations. Also it has well revised directory of the industry with much more information than last year.  This is the first time that we have separated this industry guide from our January issue and presenting it as Industry Year Book so as to include more information. 

We welcome comments and suggestions on the Annual Year Book.

—— Lt. Col. (Retd.) K K Sharma

Editor

Source: http://cablequest.org/articles/editorials/item/4244-focus-on-consumers-in-phase-iii-iv.html
Source: http://cablequest.org/articles/editorials/item/4244-focus-on-consumers-in-phase-iii-iv.html

Source: http://cablequest.org/articles/editorials/item/4244-focus-on-consumers-in-phase-iii-iv.html