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| India’s pay-TV industry agrees to speed up digitisation |
| Posted: January 2011 | ||||||
 NEW DELHI – Industry leaders at last month’s Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia’s (CASBAA) Addressable India 2010
meeting agreed to urge the Indian government to move rapidly towards the addressable digitisation of the country’s pay-TV industry. The initiative was spearheaded by seven pay-TV associations, Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), MSO Alliance, News Broadcasters Association (NBA), DTH Operators Association of India, IPTV India Forum, Cable Operators Federation of India (COFI) and CASBAA, who concurred on the need to create an environment that will stimulate investment — beneficial not only for industry stakeholders but for the government and consumers as well. “This is the first time the industry has genuinely come together on a public platform and openly debated the most urgent issues facing our industry,” said Simon Twiston Davies, CEO of CASBAA. The conference, which was opened by J S Sarma, chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), and Raghu Menon, Secretary of the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry, became an opportunity for the industry leaders to express their varied views, particularly on revenue flows. Sarma said the TRAI had noticed that each level of the industry — content suppliers, MSOs, last-mile operators — believed it was being “robbed of its fair share”, and suggested that transparency brought by digitisation would help reconcile what he called “competing and therefore conflicting interests”. I&B Ministry’s Menon, on the other hand, seemed more cautious. He observed that the government is planning to complete digitisation of the Prasar Bharati terrestrial network by 2017 and suggested that that might be a more reasonable time frame for full cable digitisation as well. “This is a complex exercise and we need to be practical,” said Menon, who added that his ministry would consider other reforms, including pressing for changes in foreign investment caps, as proposed by the TRAI. However, the most encouraging aspect of the meeting was the degree of consensus. Said Twiston Davies: “Speakers from all sectors concurred that full digitisation needs to come to India — and quickly. Where there is a real divergence of views, [it is] on the role of government — whether it needs to provide a guiding hand, or just reduce controls and get out of the way.” All participants agreed that addressable digitisation, including broadband deployments, will enhance transparency, ensuring revenue flows, providing the basis for greater consumer choice, increasing the attractiveness of TV to advertisers, and enhancing the government’s ability to collect taxes. TRAI’s Sarma declared himself to be “a man in a hurry” and urged action in a “not very long” time frame. “If we decide what is good for us, we should do it,” he said. Sarma also announced a proposed government investment in a Rp60,000-crore (US$13.1-billion) nationwide fibre-optic network, which could provide a backbone for digitisation by 2013. Noting that the private sector should continue to provide “last-mile” consumer service, he called for tax incentives to help the industry make the huge investments necessary. Panel discussions were lively, with speakers suggesting measures to drive urgently needed investment in digital communications infrastructure that should include the rationalisation of business-negative entertainment and import taxes and licensing fees. The participants also called on India’s Ministry of Finance to play a proactive role in reducing the financial burden on the industry. Several urged the government to reduce its regulatory controls and “let consumers decide” now that growth of the DTH industry had brought real competition to the vast majority of Indian cable-TV homes. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites       
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