Market Research On Potential Of DTH Technology in Nashik city.

PREFACE

India, with its booming economy, plus 8 digit growth, is witnessing a surge in the
income levels. This has led to increased demand for entertainment and luxury and
people now want to enhance their television viewing experience. Their increased
desire for superior video and audio quality has also been reflected in our research
findings. All this will sound music to the ears of all the DTH service providers
planning to increase their market share many fold.

The potential of DTH in Indian market is seemingly substantial. This has motivated
us to undertake a market research project to analyze and assess the future
prospects of its acceptability and growth in India. To make our project
comprehensive and to make our results conclusive, we have done a thorough
analysis in terms of in-depth primary and secondary research.

Scanning through articles pertaining to DTH in newspapers, magazines and internet;

interviewing dealers and marketers, sales executives; getting questionnaires filled by
100 respondents; we are confident that our findings present the facts as they are.

The whole project has been so designed that it not only meets the requirements of
our course curriculum, it also will be useful to existing and coming DTH service
providers.

Research Methodology

Our report is an integral part of my Market Research paper, 2nd Semester of our
Master in business applicationMBA. this project has been prepared under the
guidance of our Mentor teacher, Mr Pushkar cholker sir. The project aims to
understand the consumers’ perception about cable service providers and the
attributes they would like to associate with television entertainment. We also aim to
understand the perception of users of the DTH technology about the various DTH
service providers.

India, with its booming economy, plus 8 digit growth, is witnessing a surge in the
income levels. This has led to increased demand for entertainment and luxury and
people now want to enhance their television viewing experience. Their increased
desire for superior video and audio quality has also been reflected in our research
findings. All this will sound music to the ears of all the DTH service providers
planning to increase their market share many fold.
We have tried to cover various dimensions in the report and tried to make it as
comprehensive as possible.

The entire research methodology is summarized below-

Depth interviews of

 Dealers of DTH equipment

 Distributors and other marketers dealing with DTH
 Sales heads, sales executives and other company personnel of the DTH
service providers.
• Observing the consumers’ perception and purchase patterns while
visiting dealers and the kiosks of the service providers.
• Understanding the consumer’s perception through structured
questionnaires which were aimed to-
 Understand the attributes the consumers seek to associate with television
entertainment. (Common for all the respondents).
 Determine the initial investment per month charges people would be willing to
pay for a DTH connection(for non-DTH users)
 Understand the consumer’s perception of the competing service providers (for
DTH users)

The History of DTH

Watching television is no longer what it was a few years back. Today we have the
concepts of DTH and CAS in operation. . Bad transmission quality, blackouts,
disconnection of channels, high cable bills -- all these are history now. Direct-To-
Home (DTH) television service, more popularly known as direct broadcast
satellite service was first proposed in India in 1996. But it did not pass approval
because there were concerns over national security and a cultural invasion. In
1997, the government even imposed a ban when the Rupert Murdoch-owned
Indian Sky Broadcasting (ISkyB) was about to launch its DTH services in India.
Nearly, three years after well-heeled Indian Television Viewers were tantalised by
the prospect of unrestricted access to hundreds of global channels, the Union
Cabinet on 2nd November 2000, finally cleared Direct-to-Home (DTH)
broadcasting. The new policy required all operators to set up earth stations in
India within 12 months of getting a license. The companies offering DTH service
have to have an Indian chief and foreign equity has been capped at 49 per cent.
There is no limit on the number of companies that can apply for the DTH license.
Today DTH has become an alternative to traditional Cable TV in India.

WHAT IS DTH
Direct-to-Home is essentially a delivery system. A DTH subscriber can get all the
channels with a pizza-size dish antenna and a decoder box. He doesn't need a
cable connection or huge dishes that are required for C-band (the frequency on
which Star and other channels broadcasts). DTH is telecast on the KU-band. This
is merely a stronger signal, which is encrypted by the decoder and accessed by
the subscriber. Under C-band range the cable operators were already providing
DTH service. But the operators have to depend on a 12 feet diameter dish
antenna and they could receive only 20 channels. But when KU-band comes into
existence it can receive up to 200 channels with a tiny 12-inch dish antenna. The
opening up of the DTH television service is expected to lead to a technology war
between 'open architecture system' and 'proprietary system'. The Open
Architecture Technology enables a subscriber to access more than one DTH
service. One-time investment in the set-top box or integrated receiver decoder
required even if one wants to shift to another platform. Other service can be
accessed by changing an access card. The proprietary Technology enables the
customer to access only the service provided by one operator. Each time the
subscriber wants to shift to another service or platform it would be necessary to
make changes in the existing hardware. Other services cannot be accessed.

The open architecture system means technology similar to the cellular phones
currently in vogue in the country. In this case, DTH subscribers would have to
make a one-time investment in the hardware. The consumer's preference on the
service would depend on the access card (akin to a SIM card), that will be
provided by the operator.

On the other hand, proprietary technology implies that hardware for DTH is made
to the specification of one particular operator, which can only accept the access
card provided by the particular party. If the subscriber wishes to shift to the
similar service he would have to invest in new hardware again.

Now, when DTH is allowed with proprietary technology then it means either
blocking of entry of competitors or, making it imperative for the government to
issue licence to the operators providing the service at a later stage.

Keeping the subscribers in mind the government at a later stage would not be in
a position to deny the subscriber a licence under the Broadcasting Act. Though it
is not a good idea to block any form of technology from entering the country, it
may be desirable on the part of the government to spell out clear-cut policy
guideline on DTH. This may prevent the possibility of a monopoly in DTH
services.
 The proprietary technology versus open architecture technology debate still
remaining a major bane of contention, some DTH operators favour a receiver
which will allow the consumer to use only its signal. The open method allows the
consumer to buy a receiver, a very expensive piece of equipment, form a DTH
provider and have the option of receiving signals from any DTH provider later.
The proprietary option will benefit consumers who subscribe to one-DTH
provider.

THE POLICY

The policy on DTH includes the following clauses:

• Companies to beam from India,

• Separate licenses for internet, fax services on DTH,

• Company's CEO and majority of directors to be resident Indians,

• Recordings of programmes to be preserved for 90 days,

• Rs. 50 crore penalty for serious violations of programming code,

• Only 20 per cent foreign direct investment.

• Rs 10 crore initial deposit for 10-year license.

• Rs 40 crore bank guarantee

• 10 per cent Government shares in annual profits.

DTH service obviates the need for the friendly neighbourhood cable operator. What
you get is what you pay for. For an investment of around Rs. 12,000 on a decoder
and a pizza-sized dish antenna, a DTH subscriber will be able to receive global
channels.

The Centre has, however, built in safeguards against the creation of broadcasting
monopolies, compromise of national security and distortion of public taste.

There is to be a 49 per cent cap on foreign equity in DTH service providers. Of this,
up to 20 per cent is to be foreign direct investment and the rest is to be foreign
institutional investors, overseas corporate bodies and non-resident Indian
investments.

DTH is the first major step towards convergence but extra caution had been taken to
ensure that no vertical monopolies were created.
For security reasons, DTH players will have to beam from the home soil through
earth stations within the country. They will also have to adhere strictly to the
advertisement and programme codes lay down by the Ministry of Information &
Broadcasting.

For similar reasons, the chief executive officer and a majority of directors of DTH
companies would have to be resident Indian citizens.

To obviate creation of monopolies, the share of existing broadcasting companies and

cable network owners would be restricted to 20 per cent in the DTH ventures. The
new companies will also have to keep the I&B Ministry informed about any changes
in the equity pattern.

There will be no restriction on the number of DTH licences to be issued by the I&B
Ministry for a 10-year period.

While companies will have to furnish an initial deposit of Rs 10 crore, they will have
to pay Rs. 40 crore as bank guarantee for the 10 year license period. At least 10 per
cent of the total revenue generated will have to be shared with the Government.

In case of violation of rules, apart from the threat of revocation of the licence, the
errant companies will have to shell out penalty to the tune of Rs. 50 crore. They will
be required to preserve for at least 90 days, recordings of all programmes to be able
to make those available for Government scrutiny.

The Concept of CAS

CAS stands for conditional access system, which is a digital mode of transmitting TV
channels trough a set-top box (STB). The transmission signals are encrypted and
viewers need to buy a set-top box to receive and decrypt the signal. The STB is
required to watch only pay channels, not free-to-air channels, like Doordarshan. The
best thing about it is that you need to pay for only those channels you would like to
watch.

In the new system, Indian broadcasting companies will decide which channels would
be 'non-pay' (free-to-air) and which would be 'pay'. The viewer will now be able to
select the pay channels he wishes to watch and pay for only these. Each
broadcasting channel will determine the rates for buying the channel.

Currently, there is no segregation and subscribers pay a blanket rate for the entire
service. There will soon be two levels of segregation. The first will be a broad
differential according to lower, middle and upper classes of society across cable
households.
The second differential will be amongst pay channels, like premium channels, which
will include focused news, entertainment, sports, music channels and niche channels
like nature, health and fashion.

Advantages of CAS

For viewers: Under, CAS viewers can watch only what they would like to watch, than
what the cable operator has on offer. Subscribers save money they now spend on
unnecessary channels. They will get better transmission (because of the use of optic
fibre instead of metal cables). The cable operators will no longer have any control
over the pricing of channels.

For broadcasters: It benefits broadcasters as they always had to grapple with the
issue of cable operators not declaring the actual number of subscribers, and hence
suffering losses. With CAS, they can find out the exact number of subscribers with a
cable operator.

For cable TV operators: They need to pay a part of the subscription fees to the
broadcasters only for the actual number of end users who opt for the channel. This
allows operators to price their channels according to their popularity.

For advertisers: It gives a far more accurate indicator of programme popularity with
only the actual subscribers of each channel being accounted for.

So why has there been opposition to CAS?

Consumer activists were essentially opposed to the high cost of the STB. If more
people subscribe to CAS nationwide, the prices would come down. There were also
apprehensions about fees being charged for the bouquet of channels instead of
individual channels. The latest ruling from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
has struck down bouquet-wise pricing.

In simple terms, a person who wants to want only watch Star News, for example, will
no longer have to buy the Star bouquet, comprising, Star Movies, Star World, Star
One etc.

Activists are also seeking a limit on the duration of advertising on air. Cable
operators are opposed to CAS because they become redundant and even if that
didn't happen, they can no longer understate the real number of subscribers and
cheat the government of entertainment tax.
Service providers are opposed because they have to set up new digital machinery
for CAS and may even have to share the price of the STBs, to avert competition from
direct-to-home transmission.

DTH versus CAS

DTH does not compete with CAS. Cable TV and DTH are two methods of delivery of
television content. CAS is integral to both the systems in delivering pay channels.

Cable TV is through cable networks and DTH is wireless, reaching direct to the
consumer through a small dish and a set-top box. Although the government has
ensured that free-to-air channels on cable are delivered to the consumer without a
set-top box, DTH signals cannot be received without the set-top box.

Besides, the monthly subscription cost for DTH and CAS on cable will vary. While
you can opt for a number of channels in CAS, under DTH you have a limited choice
depending on the package you opt for. The quality of the broadcast will be of high
quality with big players in the fray.

DTH versus cable TV

In DTH, TV channels would be transmitted from the satellite to a small dish antenna
mounted on the window or rooftop of the subscriber's home. So the broadcaster
directly connects to the user.

DTH can also reach the remotest of areas since it does away with the intermediate
step of a cable operator and the wires (cables) that come from the cable operator to
your house.

DTH offers better quality picture than cable TV. This is because cable TV in India is
analog. Despite digital transmission and reception, the cable transmission is still
analog. DTH offers stereophonic sound effects.

Apart from enhanced picture quality, DTH has also allows for interactive TV services
such as movie-on-demand, Internet access, video conferencing and e-mail. DTH will
not be able to be an alternative to cable if the initial investment is more than that for
cable. DTH requires initial investment for both a dish antenna and a TV-top box.

Present Players in the DTH Market

• Dish TV
• Tata Sky
• DD Direct Plus
• Big TV
• Airtel

Dish TV

Dishtv is India’s first direct to home entertainment service that has digitalized
Indian entertainment to bring to your home the best in television viewing through
the latest in digital technology. It not only broadcasts high quality programmes
straight from the satellite to your home, but also gives you absolute and complete
control of what you watch and what you pay for. It is almost like having your own
satellite up in the sky.

The Story So Far

Dish TV added sony package to their aervices around mid of 2006 and also
increase their subscription price too . That really improved Dish TV customer
numbers and services too. On 14 July 2006, the Telecom Disputes Settlement
and Appellate Tribunal gave a favourable judgement for Dish TV by ordering
STAR TV to allow Dish to broadcast all the channels in its boutique at 50% cost
within 15 days of the decision.

After that Dish TV started test signals for the star bouquet and ended them at
midnight, 18th of aug and started to broadcast them as pay channels in Dish TV
services . After the launch of TATA Sky dth services in India, Dish TV also began
to expand its value added services like Active channels, E.P.G. (electronic
program guide).For this, Dish TV is giving a S.T.B. software upgrade which will
change their menu options and support new services . The upgrade is currently
provided to customers free of cost and will finish at the end of the sep. 2006 .
Dish TV currently has more than 165 T.V. channels and 35 audio channels
counting sony and star bouquet .

Dish TV is the direct compititor from TATA sky and have huge base of more than
12,000,00 customers across India.

The Lineage

Dish TV is an Essel Group venture. Essel Group has a vast range of national and
global business interests that include media programming, broadcasting &
distribution, packaging, entertainment, online gaming and telecom, in close
synergies with ventures active in the areas of content, distribution and
infrastructure.
 Essel Group has always been a pioneer - Zee TV the first Indian satellite
channel, Siticable the first MSO, Esselworld the first theme park, Playwin the first
online lottery, Essel Propack, which is the world’s No. 1 in packaging - were all
revolutionary concepts in their respective fields.

Continuing with the same path-breaking tradition, the group brought a new era of
digital quality TV viewing.

The Satellite Link

Dish TV uses NSS-6 to broadcast its programmes. NSS-6 was launched on 17th
December, 2002 by European-based satellite provider, New Skies (one of the
only four fixed satellite communications companies with truly global satellite
coverage)

Dish TV - India's first KU-band DTH entertainment service, hopped on to NSS-6

at from an INSAT satellite in July 2004. The change in the satellite was to
increase the channel offering as NSS 6 offered more transponder capacity.

Tata Sky

Tata Sky has revolutionised television viewing in India through its superior digital
quality picture and sound. The service aims to empower the Indian viewer with
Choice, Control and Convenience through its wide array of programming and
interactive features. Tata Sky offers viewers a variety of channels ranging from
entertainment, sports, movies and music to news and documentaries in DVD picture
quality and CD quality sound.

Vision of Tata Sky

Tata Sky launched its Satellite Television service with top-of-the-line infrastructure. It
aims to revolutionise Indian entertainment by offering superior DVD quality picture
and CD quality sound. The service’s vision is to:

Inception and Heritage

Incorporated in 2004, Tata Sky is an 80:20 JV between TATA and STAR. Tata Sky
endeavors to offer Indian viewers a world-class television viewing experience
through its Satellite Television service.

The Sky Brand

The SKY brand, owned by the UK-based British Sky Broadcasting Group, brings to
Tata Sky the reputation of more than 20 years experience of satellite broadcasting.
SKY is well known for the innovative products and services launched by BSkyB,
such as DTH broadcasting in 1989, digital satellite broadcasting in 1998, interactive
television services in 1999 and the SKY+ personal video recorder in 2001. Tata Sky
joins an international group of DTH businesses that includes platforms as far apart
as the UK and Italy in Europe, and Mexico and Brazil in Latin America.

The Tata Brand

The Tata Group is one of India's largest and most respected business
conglomerates. It comprises 93 operating companies in seven business sectors:
information systems and communications; engineering; materials; services; energy;
consumer products; and chemicals. The Tata Group has operations in more than 40
countries across six continents, and its companies export products and services to
140 nations. The Group and its enterprises have been steadfast and distinctive in
their adherence to business ethics and their commitment to corporate social
responsibility. This is a legacy that has earned the Group the trust of many millions
of stakeholders in a measure few business houses anywhere in the world can match.

Extensive Service Network

Tata Sky has established an extensive customer service network across the country.
It has engaged a field force of approximately 3000 service engineers, who are
complemented by high-end 24x7 call centers, manned by multi-lingual customer
service associates, trained to solve all customer problems.

Tata Sky takes direct responsibility for hardware installation at subscribers’ homes,
as well as for providing after-sales service.

Tata Sky also retails its hardware and prepaid recharge vouchers through popular
consumer electronic stores to enhance customer convenience.

Business Partners

Tata Sky has invested in state-of-the-art digital infrastructure and has partnered with
global leaders in digital technology for the pay television market.

DD Direct Plus

What is DD DIRECT+ ?

Doordarshan, the national broadcaster in India, at present has a network of more

than 1400 transmitters spread throughout the country and its signals are available to
about 90 %( DD1) and 43% (DD-News) population of country. The prime duty of any
national public service broadcaster is to make the programmes of national
importance available to all its people and nationals. It was estimated that the
coverage of remaining 10 % population with terrestrial (single channel) broadcast
would cost enormously. Besides that, setting up of terrestrial transmitters in the
uncovered areas would have taken a number of years (10 to 15 years). Also,
operation of terrestrial transmission would have required a huge manpower (a few
thousand persons).

With the fast developments taking place in Satellite Broadcasting, it is but natural
that Doordarshan has also come up with an alternative to get the required reach with
an alternate technology option “Ku-band broadcasting” which is envisaged for the
coverage of remaining population. This is a much cheaper and economical option as
compared to the coverage through Terrestrial transmitters.

Ku-band transmission will provide coverage in all uncovered areas including remote,
border, tribal, hilly and inaccessible areas in one go within a short time. With this
coverage, the national broadcaster proposes to meet its obligation of covering the
whole nation and its people not only with national channels, but also make available
popular Doordarshan and some other free-to-air channels on its platform. In order to
meet its obligations, it has also been decided that 10,000 receive systems (Dish and
Set Top Box) would be provided free of cost at public institutions like Anganwadis,
Schools, Public Health Centres, Panchayats, Youth Clubs, Cooperative Societies
etc. in the uncovered areas.

Doordarshan has started DTH service with Ku band broadcasting as not only
uncovered areas are covered with its commencement, but also the whole country
gets multi-channel service in one stroke. The signal will be available at each home
directly without the use of any cable etc. and one will be able to receive the
programmes with the help of a small receive segment.

The DD DIRECT+ envisages telecast of 38 free-to-air channels (containing both

Doordarshan and private channels) initially and is likely to include more channels
later on. Satellite Earth Station for uplink of signals has been setup at Delhi. Test
transmission has already commenced and the commissioning of the service would
take place shortly. NSS 6 is the high power Ku-band satellite hosting the DD DTH
services. The free distribution of the receive systems is also being expeditiously
done.

PRIMARY RESEARCH

QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS
DEPTH INTERVIEWS

We went to various authorized dealers and retailers in different parts of the city and
with varying years of experience in the business of mobile phones. Slight variations
were visible in the inputs we received from them, but in general we could identify
certain major trends in the quality demand, features and other factors related to
mobile phones. In all, we interviewed 10 dealers

Q1. Who all are the major DTH service providers?

Ans. In all, there are 3 DTH providers now- Dish TV, DD Direct Plus and Tata SKY.
However, we can expect to see new players in the market like Reliance, MTNL in the
near future.

Q2. What are the additional services provided in DTH over Cable TV and who all are
providing those services?

Ans. There are various additional services provided in DTH over Cable TV. DTH
provides superior Audio and Video Quality. There are various other services like
large no. of channels, on demand movies, wide variety of games, parental lock and
messages about balance and other schemes by the service providers. Dish TV and
Tata Sky provide all these services. However, DD Direct doesn’t provide features like
paid channels, on-demand movies.

Q3. What are the prices and initial investment for accessing the services of different
service providers?

Ans. The initial investment required for DD Direct Plus is about Rs.1300 and since it
provides all free-to-air channels, there is no monthly rental for accessing the
services. The initial investments for a Dish TV connection and a Tata Sky are Rs
3600 and Rs. 4550 respectively which include the cost of the set-top box and the
antenna, the installation charges and a three month rental. The monthly rental for all
the free-to air and most common paid channels for Dish TV is Rs. 225(incl. taxes).
The package for additional paid channels is Rs, 374/ month. In Tata Sky, there is
only one package which costs Rs. 200 (incl taxes) for free-to air and paid channels.

Q4. How has been the customer reaction to DTH so far? Has been there any interest
shown by customers towards DTH?

Ans. The interest shown by customers towards DTH has been increasing over the
past month. Earlier, when there were only Dish TV and DD Direct Plus, the
customers weren’t very enthusiastic about this new concept. But due to the entry of
Tata into this market has lead to heavy advertisements and promotional activities by
the service providers. So, we have seen a definite increase in the no. of queries
flooding in for DTH.

Q5. Which Provider has evoked a more enthusiastic response from consumers so
far?

Ans. The response to DD Direct has been lukewarm in urban market. On a whole, in
terms of queries and general consumer feedback, the response to Tata Sky has
been far more positive.

Q6. Have been there any problems from customers vis-à-vis quality or signaling
feedback?

Ans. No, except two-three cases of some problems in set-top boxes there haven’t
been any major objections from customers.

Q7. How has been the customer’s feedback with regards to after-sales services
provided by these services?

Ans. Customer Care services by Tata Sky have been more speedier and effective,
as told by customers, with a time lag of 12-24 hours. However, for Dish TV, the time
lag is on an average 48 hours.

Q8. How well are the customers informed about the different brands and features
available in the market?

Ans. We have had totally diverse kinds of customers visiting us. Some of them aren’t
at all aware of the concept and ask for very general queries. On the other hand, we
also get customers who are very informed and seek details of any new schemes on
offer by the service providers. On the whole, the customers generally look for
guidance in choosing a service provider due to very little differences between the
rival packages on offer.

From the above interviews, we found that both Dish TV and Tata Sky are very optimistic about
the growing business opportunity in India. Both felt that the increasing competition in this sector
has lead to an increase in consumer interest about DTH

Apart from depth interviews from the dealers, we also used the observation method to
understand the consumer’s perception and purchase behavior about DTH when they visited the
dealers for purchase/queries.

The customers showed particularly keen interest towards Dish TV and Tata Sky, and weren’t too
enthusiastic about DD Direct Plus. Most of the customer queries were pertaining to comparison
on parameters like video and audio transmission and charges and were shown the different
brochures1 and other materials of the service providers. The customers were also keen to
enquire about after sales services by the DTH providers. Due to very less differentiation being
offered in the services and prices charged by the rivals, Dish TV and Tata Sky, the customers
often asked for guidance and other information from the dealers.

From the survey undertaken we analyze that around 65-70% of the Indian population owns
CABLE TV. Although most of the people are CABLE TV users but now people are preferring
DTH over CABLE TV due to its additional features and affordable cost.

We had surveyed a sample of 100 units. From the survey we found out that there are only 75%
of the respondents who are CABLE TV users are satisfied with its transmission quality.

Cable service is not as smooth as that of DTH. The transmission gets disconnected in between
quite a number of times as compared to DTH which provides an interrupted, clear and 24*7
transmission.

From the sample undertaken for our market research study only 75% of the respondents who are
CABLE TV users, are satisfied with its video quality.

Since dealers have lesser margins in providing CABLE service thus, they divide channels in the
maximum possible denominations to capture the maximum market possible but this in turn leads
to degradation of the video quality of the service.

However, DTH has proved that it provides incomparably better quality than CABLE TV.

from the bunch of 100 respondents who were asked to fill the questionnaires only half of them
that is i.e.45-50% of the CABLE TV users are satisfied with the amount they are charged for the
service whereas, 30-35% are not happy paying the current prevalent price.

When asked the reason they pointed out that it is not worth it as many a times distortion creeps
in and digital quality of all the channels is not uniform i.e. the digital quality of channels except of
the popular and most sought out channels is not standard.

Out of the sample surveyed only 60% of the respondents who are using CABLE TV currently are
satisfied with the number of channels it provides.

Whereas 30% of the respondents who are currently CABLE TV users are not comfortable with
the number of channels provided.

DTH provides various channel packages which are customized in every brand. For e.g. TATA
SKY provides around 110 channels and has only and has various schemes and packages.
Similarly DISH TV also provides most of the pay channels. However, DD DIRECT PLUS has a
package of only the free to air that is 38 channels.

We surveyed 100 people and out of those only 40% of the respondents who are currently CABLE
TV users are satisfied with its customer service.

Whereas around 50% are not appreciative about its handling of the customer care services.

DTH users are happier in this aspect as the customer care services provided with these are very
efficient and easily available. Out of all the DTH service providers TATA SKY is said to have the
most efficient customer care services, which are also free of cost for the warranty period.

Out of 100 people who contributed to conduct this market research study, maximum number of
people constituting 70% of the population are aware about TATA SKY DTH provider, around
55% of the respondents could recall DISH TV, 18% were aware about DD DIRECT PLUS and
only 4% knew about the RELIANCE DTH service 3% knew about the AIRTEL DTH services.

TATA SKY and DISH TV conduct marketing on extensive level and thus most of the people are
aware about these two brands whereas DD DIRECT PLUS lags behind due to negligible
marketing and whereas the others are still lacking in it.

SOURCE OF AWARENESS OF DTH SERVICE PROVIDERS

SOURCE OF AWARENESS NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

TELEVISION

NEWSPAPER

FRIENDS

HOARDINGS

INTERNET

ANY OTHER

From the study we can say that maximum number of people came to know about DTH service
through television, secondly through newspapers, thirdly by friends, then by hoardings and lastly
internet.

In terms of preference of attributes associated with Television Entertainment, Digital quality

service is clearly the most preffered one closely followed by Number of channels on offer.

Charges of the connection are ranked 3rd overall.

The customers prefer Movies on Demand to Gaming & Multi Language Interface which are raked
5th and sixth respectively.

So, DTH service providers must emphasize on Digital Quality Service & Number of Channels
offered while positioning their brands in a highly promising market for them.

WILL DTH TV REPLACE CABLE TV?

Yes 68 (68%)

No 32 (32%)

All the 100 respondents who were made to fill the questionnaire were asked to answer the last
question, “Will DTH TV replace Cable TV?”

2/3rd of the respondents i.e. 68% respondents were confident that DTH TV can completely
replace Cable TV. The various schemes offered by the DTH providers are now attracting cable
TV owners, and in future, more such schemes may directly affect Cable TV.

1/3rd of respondents i.e. 32% of respondents said that no matter what happens, Cable TV has
ruled for over 20 years, and completely replacing Cable TV with DTH TV is impossible because
of various reasons. Some reasons can be convenience, perception, ignorance etc.

SECTION-A- FOR NON-DTH USERS

All the questions in this section were asked from the non-DTH users.

PEOPLE PLANNING TO BUY A DTH CONNECTION

Of all the 1000 respondents from which we got the questionnaires filled, 32 didn’t have a DTH
connection. Of these, 19 said that they were planning to buy a DTH connection in future. The 1
respondents from 0-15 age group who were keen on buying a DTH connection, said that the
purchase decision would be taken by their father.

72 respondents from the 15-25 age group were keen on buying a DTH connection and the
purchase decision in their families is reported to be dependent on either them or their father.

In the case of 25-40 and above 40 age group, the purchase decision is to be taken either by the
respondents or their respective spouses.

WHAT INITIAL INVESTMENT ARE YOU WILLING TO MAKE FOR DTH CONNECTION?

Out of the 100 respondents who filled the questionnaire, 32 respondents did not own a DTH
connection. These 32 respondents were asked about the Initial Investment they were
comfortable making, for a DTH connection.
50 % of the correspondents were willing to shed Rs. 2000 to Rs. 3000 as the initial payment of
the set top box and dish antenna.

39 % of the respondents preferred to pay an amount lesser than Rs. 1000 for the same.

10 % respondents did not mind paying an amount between Rs. 3000 and Rs. 5000 for the
equipment.

1% of respondents said that if the DTH providers provided an uninterrupted service even during
rains and other weather disturbances, even an amount exceeding Rs. 5000 was worth paying.
These people were those who did not mind compromising on price but wanted quality.

WHAT PER MONTH CHARGES ARE YOU WILLING TO PAY FOR DTH CONNECTION?

The 32 respondents who did not own the DTH connection were also asked about the per month
charges they were willing to pay for a DTH connection.

Analyzing the responses received, a majority of respondents, 60 %, would be happy paying less
than Rs. 200 per month for DTH connection.

35 % respondents were comfortable paying charges between Rs. 200 and Rs. 300.

Only 4 % respondents said that id quality of service was high, they had no issues, paying a per
month charge between Rs 300 and Rs. 400.

No respondent was willing to pay a charge in access of Rs. 400 under any circumstance.

SECTION B- FOR DTH USERS

All questions in this section were asked from DTH users only

WHICH DTH CONNECTION DO YOU OWN?

Out of the 100 respondents who were made to fill the questionnaires, only 68 respondents
currently owned a DTH connection.

Out of these 68 respondents, 53 % own Tata Sky, 35 % own Dish TV, and 12 % own other dth
connections.

So we can make out that even if Dish TV has been a player in the market for over 3 years, and
DD Direct Plus for over 1 and a half years, Tata has become popular in the market in a very
small time.

This can be a result of heavy promotion, better dealer margins and better services that are
offered by Tata Sky.
SINCE HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN USING DTH?

These 68 owners of DTH connection were also asked to give the time period for which they had
been using the DTH connection.

The responses were as follows:

47 % said that they bought a DTH connection less than 3 months ago. So they were relatively
new customers of DTH.

35 % respondents were DTH owners for a time period between 3 months and 1 year.

15 % respondents purchased a DTH connection more than a year ago.

Only 3 % respondents had a DTH connection for more than 2 years.

So, in recent times, the purchase of DTH has increased, thanks to permanent implementation of
CAS and heavy advertising by DTH players.

DTH PROVIDES BETTER TRANSMISSION THAN CABLE TV

The 68 respondents who are owners of DTH connection were asked to rate their agreement on
the statement, “DTH TV provides better transmission than Cable TV.”

The responses were received under 5 headings, Completely Agree (CA), Somewhat Agree (SA),
Can’t Say (CS), Somewhat Disagree (SD), and Completely Disagree (CD)

The responses were:

Completely Agree-67 %

Somewhat Agree-24 %

Can’t Say-6 %

Somewhat Disagree-3 %

Completely Disagree-0 %

DTH IS CHEAPER THAN CABLE TV

The 34 respondents who are owners of DTH connection were asked to rate their agreement on
the statement, “DTH TV is cheaper than Cable TV.”

The responses were:

Completely Agree-29 %

Somewhat Agree-35 %

Can’t Say-12 %

Somewhat Disagree-6 %

Completely Disagree-18 %

DTH PROVIDES BETTER AUDIO QUALITY THAN CABLE TV

The 68 respondents who are owners of DTH connection were asked to rate their agreement on
the statement, “DTH TV provides better audio quality than Cable TV.”

The responses were:

Completely Agree-70 %

Somewhat Agree-24 %

Can’t Say-3 %

Somewhat Disagree-3 %

Completely Disagree-0 %

DTH PROVIDES BETTER PICTURE QUALITY THAN CABLE TV

The 68 respondents who are owners of DTH connection were asked to rate their agreement on
the statement, “DTH TV provides better picture quality than Cable TV.”

The responses were:

Completely Agree-67 %

Somewhat Agree-15 %

Can’t Say-15 %

Somewhat Disagree-0 %

Completely Disagree-3 %

DTH IS DESIGNED PRIMARILY FOR HIGH INCOME USERS

The 68 respondents who are owners of DTH connection were asked to rate their agreement on
the statement, “DTH TV is designed primarily for high income users.”

The responses were:

Completely Agree-12 %

Somewhat Agree-21 %

Can’t Say-34 %

Somewhat Disagree-12 %

Completely Disagree-21 %

CUSTOMER CARE SERVICE OF DTH IS BETTER THAN CABLE TV

The 68 respondents who are owners of DTH connection were asked to rate their agreement on
the statement, “Customer Care Service of DTH is better than Cable TV.”

The responses were:

Completely Agree-52 %

Somewhat Agree-24 %

Can’t Say-18 %

Somewhat Disagree-6 %

Completely Disagree-0 %

After all the in-depth analysis, scanning through detailed secondary research, after undertaking a
detailed and comprehensive primary research through depth interviews, observation method and
getting structured questionnaires filled by over 100 respondents, we can at least claim to provide
crucial data and figures pertaining to the people perception about television entertainment, about
their readiness to welcome this new technology and about the perception of DTH users about
various competing brands.

There are certain key aspects of our findings that we would like to mention here-

• Although most of the respondents were somewhat satisfied with their traditional cable operators
with regards to the transmission, video and audio quality, there has been a sense of
dissatisfaction that is evident with regards to the features like Customer Care Service and
reasonability of charges. Perhaps, a wake up call for the cable-wallas to look into the modern
consumer’s needs and follow it up with extensive customer care service.

• On being asked to rank the most preferred attributes associated with television entertainment,
Digital quality service was the most preferred attribute, ahead of charges and no. of channels
offered, a clear sign of the increasing desire of Indian consumers to enhance their television
experience.

• The penetration of DTH is slowly, but surely on the rise. 10% of our respondents had a DTH
connection at home. These are encouraging signs for the providers.

• A possible constraint for the rapid adoption process of this technology could be the high
investment that is associated with it. 89% of respondents said they would not like to pay an initial
investment of more than Rs. 3000 for a DTH connection. So, there is a case in point for the DTH
providers to slash the prices below the psychological barrier of Rs.3000. A very staggeringly high
no. of respondents (96%) said they won’t be willing to pay beyond Rs. 300 as monthly charges.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

1) Sample size was small i.e. 250 respondents. Most of the surveys are conducted on
representative samples because it is usually impossible to include the entire population. Findings
of sample are extrapolated on to entire population.

2) The sample chosen was a combination of convenience sampling and judgment sampling. Both
these methods of sampling have an inherent element of bias.

3) Biases may creep in the information given by the respondents.

4) Main root of this research study was questionnaire & interview, which has its own limitations,
for example we can’t measure the reliability, enthusiasm dissonance etc.

REFERENCES

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