<div><em>Digital Cable will create additional 6 Trillion in revenue platform for Indian Film and TV Industry, says <strong>Ashish Kaul</strong></em><br><br>Pay-Per-View ( PPV) on digital cable will be the biggest wave to hit India entertainment Industry. The in-market revenue for C&S market is likely to cross Rs 6 trillion crores by the end of 2016-17. For the first time post Gulf War over 20 years ago,the revenue landscape has radically changed and will continue to do so at least for next 24 months amidst serious challenges from rival DTH brethren. <br><br>The Industry is undergoing a metamorphosis on various fronts. First step is to accept that the business has shifted to consumer domain and driven entirely by consumer marketing benchmarks. The digitisation has opened a whole new world of revenue opportunities that didn't exist before thus creating a win-win situation for LCO’s , MSO and Broadcasters together. Industry is on a precipice and it can either emerge as the largest consumer services and VAS driven as the largest VAS revenue aggregator in the world or lose out to DTH. With Industry size expected to touch 120 Million C&S consumers by the end of 2015-16 significant revenues will be driven by Value Added Services (VAS) which will push the revenue over Rs.6 Trillion Crores with PPV, exclusive server based content, events and broadband among other peripheral streams contributing over Rs. 52 billion in the DAS areas alone. Digitisation has opened a whole new world of advertising opportunities for FMCG industry which will benefit tremendously from C&S reach into the hinterland. Digitisation empowers MSOs and LCOs together to offer services to advertising industry region and language wise. Nearly Rs 1000 crores will be contributed by PPV from Bollywood considering 80 per cent of the releases do not cross 7 days ( and over 400 movies languish unreleased annually) and largely are removed between two major releases. Digitisation offers the single largest revenue opportunity for Bollywood premiers for Tier 2 & 3 movies and specially the regional movies. Digitisation will pave way for creation of of a whole new regional and niche content Industry in Mumbai which traditionally has been a bastion for Hindi content. Digital cable will bring unparalled value in comparison to TRP laced TV environment and will emerge as the most credible and value based advertising platform poised to garner a significant share of over $1.2 Billion TV advertising opportunity.</div><div> </div><div>Nearly Rs 1,000 crore will be contributed by PPV alone by end of 2016-17 from Bollywood considering 80 per cent of the releases do not cross seven days and largely are removed between two major releases. Digitisation offers the single largest revenue opportunity for Bollywood premieres in Tier 2 & 3 towns, especially regional movies. Over 400 movies languish unreleased every year, and an equal number of movies don’t see more than two days in the box office. Between the two Fridays regional cinema has been lying dead and now with digitization creating channel capacities in excess of 500, will create opportunities for regional movies and content to debut and earn money. Digitisation will pave way for creation of a whole new regional and niche content industry in Mumbai which traditionally has been a bastion for Hindi content</div><div> </div><div>Broadcasting Industry in India can not survive without LCO’s as an integral backbone and invaluable business partners. As a matter of fact the role of LCO will undergo a radical transformation and aid in introducing multiple products & services and generating revenues. Branded content, niche server based channels and city events will usher in the real DAS for the Industry and consumers alike. National / Local ISP services with VAS will be an game changer to move ARPU from Rs. 150 approx ARPU to Rs. 500 and beyond. I believe the entire Industry realizes the importance of ISP push which off course will need investments for strengthening ground infrastructure, however, with LCO MSO combine partnerships ISP capabilities will bring in the required thrust.</div><div> </div><div>Over a period of time DTH will find it difficult to compete with digital cable on multiple accounts. Technologically, digital cable is a far superior variant of digital in-bound entertainment; DTH can not offer even remotely the far higher no of channels, VAS, ISP among many other features. Digital cable marginally defeats DTH in a highrise metro environment, torrential / costal weathers and unmatched HD quality due to bandwith advantage. Where a DTH operator will struggle to offer channels in two digits a digital cable operator can offer almost all channels in true HD. Furthermore, Digital cable offers uninterrupted entertainment as against DTH due loss of signal in agitated whether conditions. ‘Aandhi Baarish ya Toofan Digital cable hamesha aapke saath !”. Industry is on a precipice and it can either emerge as the largest consumer services and VAS driven as the largest VAS revenue aggregator in the world or lose out to DTH. It is not only the revenue from traditional VAS elements but also innovative peripheral revenue streams like SMS, barker channels and exclusive network specific channels that will contribute to enhanced ARPU and importantly act as brand flankers for the discerning consumer. Broadband services have been on a back-burner and now is the time to bring these services on. The Digital cable Industry is entering into the era of 'household acquisition' and deploying the magic of triple play / bundled solutions. The rainbow has emerged and now it is for the Industry to paint it black or blue.</div><div> </div><div>(<em>The writer is a media and entertainment professional with over 20 years of experience in managing global media & entertainment businesses. He is currently Business Head of a transnational conglomerate. The views are personal</em>.)</div><div> </div>
