Need to Bridge the Digital Divide

When the Government approved HITS (Head-End In The Sky) policy on November 12, last year, WWIL shares gained by 20% a day after, since it was the only license-holder to carry-out HITS operations in the country. But the cheers could not stay for long. Four months on, and WWIL decides to with-hold its HITS operations disappointing many cable operators who had started using their services making huge investments. Government must take the blame once again for making hurried decision in allowing HITS without putting distribution and interconnection policy in place. There were no guidelines for the broadcasters for giving content to the HITS operators. 

I personally feel if the government announced the policy to introduce HITS, they should have supported it wholeheartedly like they did in case of IPTV. It could be a major setback to the Government’s plan to improve the connectivity in rural India with HITS. 

April 2010

1/4/10 -- Tru TV enters Asia, launched in Singapore.

Time to budget

Industry has been waiting desperately for the Budget 2010 that was announced on February 26. India is out of the grip of the global recession and many priority activities must start this year like digitization of cable networks, adopting newer technologies of broadcasting before the Commonwealth Games kick-off, spreading broadband in the rural areas etc. The budget rode on the economy which has done well in 2009-10 with an increased industrial output and the confidence coming back into the consumer market. Expectations of achieving 9% growth in GDP and fiscal deficit down to 5.5% in the next year has brought cheers to the industry. However, common man is still facing the brunt of rising prices. Consumption levels going down will affect the industry adversely.

March 2010

2/3/10 -- A South Indian news channel Sun News airs visuals claiming them to be of Swami Nithyanand in compromising position with a film actor – Ranjitha. The enraged public attack Sami ji’s Ashrams in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, a day after.

Hey - days begin

India Inc. has started registering profits in third quarter of the current fiscal year, posting new hopes for the next financial year. Media Companies that were running in huge losses have started recovering on the back of increasing revenues. 

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has decided to put a cap on the number of channels that can be permitted for uplinking/ downlinking from the Indian soil. Zee Group and many teleport operators have come out in the open to oppose the issue. 

February 2010

1/2/10 -- DQE announces a deal for exclusive free-to-air TV rights with MediaCorp Pte Ltd for three of its Animation TV properties.

The Way Forward

Broadband penetration in India is the biggest worry of the Government now. But the way, we are going ahead with all wireless technologies neglecting the wireline connectivity is not the right way, comments Col. K. K. Sharma. Cable TV networks could play important role if given the right impetus, he feels. 

On December 04, 2009, while addressing a telecom conference organized by FICCI our Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh said that 25 lakh village panchayats would be connected with broadband by the end of 2012. At present India has a total teledensity of 20%. While towns and cities have over 100% tele density rural areas have less than 10%. Dr Singh said “We expect that access to broadband in rural areas will have multiple long term positive effects.”