Thread: Why are DTH services yet to find their market in India?

DTH stands for Direct To Home. DTH services are yet to capture the Indian market. DTH services have not grown in India as expected. The growth rate of cable TV services was much faster in India. If we have to analyze the reasons why DTH service providers are unable to capture the market in India, the first striking factor is the initial cost. Though many service providers say that the set top box is free, the initial cost is an obstacle for many. They expect the subscribers to pay a minimum of 6 months to 1 year in advance.

Whereas that was not the case with the cable TV operators. They happily brought multichannel entertainment to your home with as little deposit as Rs. 200 and the monthly subscriptions ranged from Rs.100 to Rs.200 depending on the place you are living. People did not have to plan their budget too much to have this pleasure. Almost every family was able to afford this facility. On the other hand when it comes to DTH services only big brands like Sun, Airtel, Big TV etc., provide DTH services. For many people in the middle class and lower middle class this is a luxury. They are ready to compromise on the quality of the TV signals rather than make a hole in their pockets.

They are happy with the average performance cable TV because cost is huge factor. Besides that with their cable TV they do not have to do too much of thinking because everyone gets the same channels. You do not have to rake your brain to find a package that had all the channels your family loved and yet keep the monthly subscription under control. This is too much to handle for the average family.

One of the most successful DTH services now in India is Sun DTH. The secret behind their quick success is that they tried to match their services very close to the cable TV operators not in terms of the quality of the channels but in terms of the way, it operated. They put together well thought out packages to suit the regional taste. When you go for Sun DTH you did not have to do too much of thinking. Moreover, they made their initial cost very low; it is the lowest in this segment. DTH services in India especially in the south it caught fire after the arrival of Sun DTH. Until then it was part of elite entertainment. Now even the middle class families can afford DTH services. However, the stigma of DTH services is still too strong to capture the millions of households that are still with cable TV. If the other DTH players too make their services more competitive and their packages more simple, we can find better growth in this area. Indian market for DTH is really huge and with proper strategies in place, they can capture the market.

The basic problem i see is the big installment fees applied..

ppl dont want to get attached to one DTH service, cause someone gives some channels others give others and like that(eg. sun gives more south channels, tata gives less)
so there are things like that, and at last they can talk to the cable wala for price lowering in private which is not possible for dth users...

here are few issues with DTH.
1. Climate: most of India receives heavy rain at some time of the year or another. DTH practically becomes disfuctional during that time.
2. Entry Cost: the cost of entry is too high
3. Exit restrictions: U can not use the STB of one DTH to access another. so effectively it creates a barrier for changing operator easily.
4. Pack issues: Most DTH lacks some channel or other whereas the cable TV provides access to all such popular channels.
5. Mobility: most people now do not have any fixed place of stay for long. every time they change residence, they have to pay additional installation fees for changing the DTH system.

I hate the Sun DTH ads with the fat guy and the thin guy.

Those two guys bug the hell out of me for some reason.

Here's the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4i8dJ33fLI

^^ nice one Mdosa...:lol:

Nowadays local cable operators are also digitalized their service. Hence they can also able to provide the same or better quality of service compared to DTH. DTH penetrated the places where cable service is poor or not available. I,ve the digital cable service of ( local cable services in collaboration with Hathway) getting 225 channels for Rs.150/-. In this stage I will not go for DTH.

^^^^

Ya thats right i too had hathways digital tv (CAS) they where providing quality service at low cost and what else if u want to add onn any channel it costed only Rs.5/- per channel which have marginally gone up but one day there was no service when enquired came to know that SUN with its political power slashed the cables of the latter to capture market share. thats bad.

atlast i too had to end up with the SUN Direct as no other option, and they where providing all the south reagional channels which no other DTH player was providing.

I am rather surprised to note that there is no setup cost for cable operators. I think that there is a setup cost of Rs. 1000/- or so. I remember paying that.

Hathway is charging for the STB also now that they have gone digital.

DTH has penetrated the market but people who are on cable are not willing to switch so easily. The age old axiom applies - why change something that is working?

But if you observe that most of the new connections are gobbled up by DTH.

Hathway charging only Rs 500/- for STB.

Originally Posted by just4kix

I am rather surprised to note that there is no setup cost for cable operators. I think that there is a setup cost of Rs. 1000/- or so. I remember paying that.

in my case it was 150 only

DTH is a hit in my province Uttarakhand,.,and basically there are 4 causes for it..
1st: Uttarakhand being a mountaineous state, people dont get terristerial DD1 etc..so DTH is giving them services...(problems occur at times of lightening and snowfall )
2nd: People have made good money so they can invest on this luxury..
3rd: People never were in touch from the outer world till some years back, mobile and DTH networking made this possible, so they are doing the things they always wanted..
4th: high DTH reception because of no cables, electric wires like cities and metrolpoles so the ppl are sticked to this..

Originally Posted by panchabhut

in my case it was 150 only

yeh tera zyada...

here in chennai hathway was even giving the set top box (cas) free of cost.

in metros they give such offers, they must do this with rest of India too,..

in markets where they have tight competition they introduce such schemes.

i think sun dth is capturing the market slowly