WHY DTH WITH CHART

Abhi / Reji / Rajeev

Why DTH ?

See enclosed newsreport & tabulation.

It is useful to understand DD's gameplan. Why is DD in such a great hurry to launch 100 FREE TV channels?

It is like "obsoleting" yourself before competitors make you obsolete ("Marketing Myopia" by Theodore Levitt).

If and when DD comes out with 100 DTH channels, 5000 TV towers will need to be sold as scrap! (Unless DD gets into Mobile telephony itself, in order to give a new lease of life to those towers OR DD leases out those towers to Airtel / Reliance / BSNL / Hutch etc.).

But, if DD does NOT make itself obsolete, then Zee / Star-TATA DTH will certainly do that ! In 1 year.

So, we can understand why DD is in such a great hurry.

But why give away all 100 channels

FREE? - especially when Zee DTH is charging Rs. 300 / 400 per month? ( now waived for 1 year to compete with DD !)

And, there is no doubt that Star TATA and Ambani DTH and Maran's DTH ( brother of Dayanidhi - the Minister), will, all, charge a subscriber, anywhere between Rs. $250 /-$ Rs. $400$ p.m. This monthly rental is apart from a one time lump sum of Rs. $3500 / 4000$ for installing set top box & dish antenna.

( And I believe these set-top boxes & dish antenna are NOT Standardized. So, if I go in for Zee DTH first and then after 6 months, want to switch-over to Star / TATA, I have to scrap my old box / antenna and once again buy a new set from Star for similar amount ! No refund ! So, I am locked-in for ever or until I can afford to invest again !)

I would not be surprised if DD decide to give box & dish also FREE- to lock in Villagers.

What do DD care to throw away a few thousand crores, every year ? After all, for DD, this is a SOCIAL OBLIGATION !

Next question:

Why should sun / sony / MTV / BAU / Vijayal HBO / Discovery / AXN etc. etc. want to give their valuable "content" to DD / DTH "free" ?, when they will give this same "content" to:

• Star / Tata DTH
• Zee "
• Ambani "
• Maran "

they will charge a hefty fee !

Given an option, of course, they would not want to give-away FREE content. But their only current options are:

(1) Zee DTH (making slow progress)

(2) DD DTH (getting very aggressive).

(Ambani / Maran DTH are beyond horizon).

(3) Star DTH - is waiting & watching DD's next move before committing millions of dollars.

DD knows that,

Today, these channels do make

"some" money / revenue from Cable operators (to whom they supply their content)

But, major portion of their revenue comes from advertisements

So, DD will tell them,

"LOOK, when we cover the entire India by our FREE DTH - and 100 channels (bluff, at this stage); Cable operators WILL die! Who will want to pay his cable operator, Rs. $250$ p.m, when he can get the same content FREE from me?

from what he pays by way of monthly rental (Rs. $200$), his set-top box & Dishy cost, would be recovered in $6/12$ months ! After this period, the consumer actually SAVES those Rs. $250/-$ p.m !

So, millions are BOUND to switch over to DD-DTH - and remain LOCKED-IN, too !

and Cable operators WILL become HISTORY!

And your small revenue from those Cable operators will disappear, in any case- even if you decide NOT to give me your content for FREE.

But, worse,

If you will NOT give me content (because I ask for free) and there is no Cable Operator to whom you can give content (because he is dead)

then,

you have NO Viewers, (consequently)

you have NO advertisers either !

So, next,

YOU ARE DEAD, TOO !

On the other hand, if you join-up with me ($l$ by giving me free content), I deliver your content to 200 million homes - instead of current 60 million homes.

That is a huge Viewership.

Such a huge Viewership will help you

to convince your Corporate Advertisers to advertise on YOUR channel (instead of advertising on your competitor's channel which does NOT reach $200$ million homes).

So, you will make far more money by joining me (by giving me FREE content). Far more money than your competing TV Channel who decides NOT to join me / partner with me.

Hence your options are:

Join me & make far more money

OR

Opt-out and die !"

Yours faithfully

Doordarshan.

Now the bluff turns into reality (Self-fulfilling prophecy?).

DD-DTH's gameplan is to become THE ONLY AGGREGATOR OF CONTENT from all TV channels, using / leveraging its enormous REACH / DELIVERY CAPABILITY.

This is also our game plan in GLOBAL RECRUITER.

We must tell existing job-sites (would be partners),

"Thru our tie-up with mobile-service-providers, our reach covers all of India. Our (job's) delivery-capability is available to those who join us. The rests will get consigned to HISTORY!"

(Signature and Date: $15/09/05$)

TOI 15/09/05

DD's DTH to offer 100 channels free

By Bhaskar Roy/TNN

New Delhi: This could well spell the end of the cable-wallah's monopoly over the idiot box in your living room. The aam aadmi ka DTH - as its sarkari boss is fondly refer to Doordarshan's free-to-air platform - has quietly begun work on a project to expand its space to take on board at least a hundred channels.

"If things go as per the plan, most of the news and entertainment channels will have no choice but to go on to the platform."

According to the I&B ministry's projection, the number of DTH homes in the country will swell to 20 million from an estimated four million at present.

If the hush-hush manner and frenetic pace at which the usually sleepy DD is going about implementing the project indicate anything, it is a serious attempt to wrest control of the television industry from the errant cable operators.

The intentions are clear. Of the 100-odd channels of the free bouquet, as many as 75 will be offered to private broadcasters restricting DD's own channels to just about 20. Currently, the platform airs 33 TV channels, 14 of them being from private broadcasters.

With a hundred channels available free for viewing for a one-time investment of a set-top box and dish, the ordinary TV viewers... [rest of the word obscured] ... private broadcasters' strategy is to ultimately, will switch over to the DD mode snapping ties with the cable operator.

The box and dish cost between Rs 1,500 and Rs 3,500.

What is expected to drive the DTH platform a cutting edge over the cable networks is its superior digital picture quality.

Asked about the challenge being posed to the cable business, I&B minister S Jaipal Reddy said, "Let the consumer make his right choice." He confirmed that the capacity of the DD DTH platform was being expanded and with the induction of new technology.

The emerging scenario projects an intense turf battle between the DD platform and those being floated by Zee, Tata-Star, Sun TV and the Anil Ambani group. The private operators are threatening to up end of the market by providing interactive services.

"Let the private DTH service providers also flourish," Reddy told TOI, but has moved to point out that the DD platform was the only one in the world offering the bouquet free.

By making it free, the I&B bosses are actually forcing more and more channels to climb on to its platform for the huge viewership it commands, Reddy admits as much.

WHY DTH? (Date: 15/09/05)

Reach	Entire Country (Metros & Major Cities - Maybe 500)	Small Towns & Villages (600,000)
Method
DTH (DD/Zee/Star)	4 million homes	DTH wants to reach/cover entire India (thru satellite & no cable). These Villagers are "NON-CONSUMERS" for PAID/PAY Channels like Zee/Star/Sony/Sun/E&U/MTV/HBO/AXN/CNN/ etc.
CABLE (39,000 Cable Operators)	60 million Cable TV Homes	Cablewallahs will not venture in this segment of market, because of: * Huge investment in laying cables * Poor returns (poor villagers cannot afford Rs. 250/- rental/month)
TERRESTRIAL RELAY/ TRANSMISSION TOWERS (May be 5000 Towers)		Currently, DD has absolute monopoly in this sector (thru its 8000 transmission towers) * Cable operators are NOT interested to lay millions of km of cables to remote villages/small towns having 100/200 homes of poor people, who cannot afford a monthly rental of Rs. 250/300.
		Close to 200 million homes
		Cable operators do not consider it worthwhile to make huge investments where "returns/revenues" are poor. So, they don't look upon these 200 million homes as their "market".
		This is why DD/Zee/STAR want to capture this market with their DTH offering (No need for cables)
		If DD comes out with 100 FREE channels, it will capture entire market because it can afford ZERO revenue! (DD is NOT a commercial venture!). DD is already "well-known" amongst villagers (BRAND)

 

E-Recruitment Industry

- The Paradigm Shift (Date: 26-08-05)

$$\text{STRUCTURE} \rightarrow \text{Video Interviews, Hiring Alert, Job Alert, TV}$$

Level/Timeframe	Left (NETWORK)	Center (STRUCTURE)	Right (TECHNOLOGY)
Top		TV
Upper Middle		Hiring Alert, Resume Alert, Job Alert (Mobile)
Middle		Online Advr, Online Apply (PC)	PC
Lower Middle		(Package Advt.)	(Package Apply)
1995	Newspaper/Service	Print	Printing Press, Typewriter, E-mail
2005	ISP, Job Sites	Monster - Naukri	Internet
2006	MSP, Job Sites, World-wide - Jobs / Global Recruiter	World-wide - Jobs / Global Recruiter	Internet, SMS/MMS
2008	Broadcasting VEE	Recruit-Guru	Interactive TV, Broadband

 

Graph: Medium/Technology vs. Time

The image is a scatter plot showing different communication/recruitment mediums plotted against time (1995 to 2008) and a vertical axis representing the technology/medium complexity (Paper to Interactive TV).

Technology/Medium (Y-axis)	Year (X-axis)	Entities/Brands
TV (Interactive), Broadband	2008	Recruit-Guru
MMS	2007	WWJ / GR
Mobile (SMS), Internet	2006	World-Wide - Jobs & Global Recruiter
PC, Internet, E-mail	2005	Monster - Naukri
Paper, Printing Press, Typewriter	1995	Times of India, Hindu, Statesman