DTH Faces Slowdown

After the scorching pace of last three years, the six-horse race of India’s direct-to-home television business has finally run out of steam. Among 45 million gross subscribers in 2011 shared between Airtel Digital, Tata Sky, Dish TV, Sun Direct, Videocon D2H and Big TV, an embarrasingly high 15 million subscribers are inactive. Inactive subscribers are those who have DTH connections but have not renewed their subscriptions. What makes the numbers worse is a 50% jump in inactive DTH consumers over 2010 when their numbers stood at 10 million on a gross base of 33 million. Also, in terms of gross subscriber additions, 2011 saw only 36% growth over previous year whereas in 2010, the industry had recorded a 50% growth in gross additions over 2009 figures, indicating a slowdown.

The latest figures are part of an analysis by Media Partners Asia (MPA), a leading independent international media research agency. “The net additions (paying subscribers) in 2011 were around 8-9 million, taking overall net subscriber numbers to 29-30 million on a gross base of 44-45 million,” said Vivek Couto, executive director, MPA.

Time Warner Cable iPhone app brings live TV to smartphones

(CBS) - Time Warner Cable launched a new iPhone app today that allows customers to watch live TV, change channels and manage DVR settings from the smartphone. 

You can't take it with you, though. In order to access the features, you must be a cable subscriber and be connected to your home Wi-Fi. 

ALi Corp. (3041 TT) Cheering for Accumulated Shipments of STB ICs Breaking through 300 Million Units

ALi Corporation, a leading Set-Top Box (STB) system-on-chip (SoC) solution provider, announced that the company’s accumulated shipments of STB SoC have exceeded 300 million units, representing a CAGR of 43% since 2005 that far surpasses the industry average of 5%. 

“We are very pleased with our continuing success and the whole company is excited that we have climbed over another hill,” said Ben Lin, President of ALi Corp., “since our first shipment of STB SoC in 2005, we have been expanding our product portfolio from Satellite, Terrestrial, Cable to IP based STB. As of the end of 2011, more than 120 Pay-TV service providers worldwide, Chinese domestic operators included, had adopted our STB solutions and we are still progressively gaining market share in this segment. Furthermore, our first OTT (Over-the-top) SoC went into mass production in late 2011 and we are getting positive feedbacks from customers all over the world. We believe this is one of our major growth drivers in 2012.” 

ALi is known for its capabilities to develop best-of-breed total solutions which deliver unparalleled performance with optimised cost structure. These solutions have been widely deployed for analogue to digital signal broadcasting transition globally, as well as adopted by new digital TV services across emerging countries. Over the last couple of years, ALi identified and invested in three important industry trends, including Standard Definition to High Definition broadcasting migration, IP based STB emergence, and Pay-TV business model expansion. As a dedicated global leading STB SoC provider, ALi is always in sync with industry trends and quick in responding to customer needs. Looking forward, the company is well positioned to ride the wave with full throttle. 

“With our proven track records over the past seven years, we are confident and committed to delivering best values to customers and consumers” said Ben Lin, President of ALi Corp.

ALi Corp. (3041 TT) Cheering for Accumulated Shipments of STB ICs Breaking through 300 Million Units

ALi Corporation, a leading Set-Top Box (STB) system-on-chip (SoC) solution provider, announced that the company’s accumulated shipments of STB SoC have exceeded 300 million units, representing a CAGR of 43% since 2005 that far surpasses the industry average of 5%. 

“We are very pleased with our continuing success and the whole company is excited that we have climbed over another hill,” said Ben Lin, President of ALi Corp., “since our first shipment of STB SoC in 2005, we have been expanding our product portfolio from Satellite, Terrestrial, Cable to IP based STB. As of the end of 2011, more than 120 Pay-TV service providers worldwide, Chinese domestic operators included, had adopted our STB solutions and we are still progressively gaining market share in this segment. Furthermore, our first OTT (Over-the-top) SoC went into mass production in late 2011 and we are getting positive feedbacks from customers all over the world. We believe this is one of our major growth drivers in 2012.” 

SS TV @ S S Music Banned for 7 days

According to a press release from the I&B Ministry, SS Music channel renamed as SS TV from the South has been suspended for 7 days from 15th February to 22 February. Transmission or retransmission of the channel on any platform, including DTH, Cable TV, IPTV etc. throughout India is no permitted during these days.

The Central Government has passed this order in pursuance of the Order dt. 28.11.2011 passed by the Division of the Hon’ble High Court of Judicature at Madras in the W.A.No.481 of 2011 and M.P. No. 1 of 2011, validating the suspension of SS Music Channel (now christened “SS TV” Channel) and directing for a fresh period of suspension. Fresh dates for suspension of “SS TV” Channel have now been declared by the Ministry for 7 days from 12.00 midnight on 15th February, 2012 till 12.00 midnight on 22nd February, 2012.

TRAI releases pre-consultation paper on 2G Spectrum Allocation

After the Supreme Court direction for cancellation of 122 telecom licences held by eight parties for 2G and allowed them to return via e-auction, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) released a Pre-consultation Paper on "Allocation of Spectrum in 2G band in 22 Service Areas by auction" on 4 February 2012. 

Supreme court had directed Trai to make new recommendations for granting the licence and allocation of spectrum in 2G band in 22 Service Areas by auction, as was done for allocation of spectrum in 3G band. 

BBC come up with 4 new channels in Thailand

BBC Worldwide Channels Asia has launched 4 new channel named BBC Knowledge, BBC Lifestyle, BBC Entertainment and CBeebies on Thailand cable and satellite television operator. These 4 channels join BBC World News on TrueVisions.

These channels shows a mix version British TV across factual, entertainment, children's and lifestyle programming. BBC Knowledge showcases non-fiction and documentary based programs.

SC scraps 122 licences granted under Raja's tenure

In a major development today the Supreme Court cancelled the 122 2G spectrum licences granted by former telecom minister A Raja on the ground that they were issued in a "totally arbitrary and unconstitutional" manner.

Imposing a fine of Rs five crore each on three telecom companies, which offloaded their shares after getting the licenses, the court directed regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to make fresh recommendations on allocation of 2G licences. 

TV channel restrained

The Madras High Court Bench granted an interim injunction restraining Zee Tamil TV channel from telecasting a particular episode of a talk show ‘Solluvadhellam Unmai' pursuant to a writ petition filed by a retired public sector airlines employee who claimed that the programme, in which his wife had participated, amounted to interfering with his personal life.

Dish TV launches Dish truHD+ with unlimited recording capacity

Creating yet another benchmark in technological innovation in the DTH industry, Dish TV India, the country’s largest direct-to-home service provider, announced the launch of Dish truHD+ with an unlimited recording capacity, at an unmatched price of Rs. 2690 for the consumers. The unique feature of Dish truHD+ is its compatibility with any USB device enabling consumers to simply plug and play an existing USB stick/ HDD, and build an entire library of their favorite programmes.

Dish truHD+ will have dual advantage of all HD and DVR features, at the price of existing HD box only! The price of 2690 includes the new Dish truHD+ box along with one month Dish truHD Royale Pack. Further, as a promotional offer Dish TV is providing a 4 GB USB drive free to get the user accustomed to the concept of plugging an external device to use the recording features. The DVR features include Record, rewind, forward, pause live TV etc. What’s more, subscribers can also enable time based and event based recording on the box.