Dish Networks India

Viacom18 is launching its sixth channel ‘Comedy Central’ on January 23, 2012 in India. The channel is designed as India’s first 24-hour offering dedicated to English language comedy content.

The channel has roped in BBH as its creative agency. Vizeum would be the media AoR for this Viacom18 channel too.

On choosing BBH as the creative agency, Ferzad Palia, Senior Vice President and General Manager, English Entertainment, Viacom18, explained, “BBH was able to articulate the ‘Laugh It Off’ campaign in a way that we really needed it to in terms of execution. The campaign will be launched in the first week of February.”

Speaking on the channel’s content, Palia said, “Comedy is the broadest of all genres and what we have is 24 hours of comedy. I don’t think it can be called ‘niche’ in any form. Comedy resonates across age groups.” He further said, “The whole genre is predominantly male-dominated with a 60:40, and in some cases 65:35, male-female TG divide. We have crafted this channel for different types of audience for different times in a day. Comedy resonates across age groups, so our TG would be 15 years and above.”

The channel would air award winning shows like ‘The Daily Show’ with Jon Stewart and ‘South Park’, along with global hit shows like ‘Saturday Night Live’, ‘30 Rock’, ‘The Office’ and so on. Comedy Central will have a mix of all genres within comedy, ranging from sitcoms to sketch comedy, British comedy and stand-up comedy, among others.

Palia added, “We would be premiering a lot of shows during the weekend, because most of our shows cater to a mature audience. These shows include ‘Halo Halo’s, ‘Goodness Gracious Me’, ‘Faulty Tasks’ and so on. We will also have shows for the younger audience. There are shows like ‘Punkt’ and a lot of reality gags, besides a South Park and Cinderella block at mid-night.”

He further said that in India, Comedy Central would follow its international format of having 15-20 per cent of own content such as ‘South Park’ and ‘Reno 911’, while the rest of the content would be acquired. The channel would also look at original Indian content in English.

Popularity: unranked [?]

In a bid to differentiate in a highly cluttered DTH market, Dish TV has repositioned itself as a player that meets the requirements of consumers obsessed with their entertainment. As a step to move forward in the ever-evolving market dynamics where the name of the game for any brand is to continue to reinvent itself, Dish TV aims to target a younger audience through its new approach.

In its latest strategy, Dish TV has shed its two-year-old tagline ‘Ghar Aayi Zindagi’ and replaced it with ‘Dish Sawar hai’. It has also launched a new campaign designed by McCann Erickson, its longstanding agency.

The DTH player that has a current subscriber base of 11 million has embarked on this repositioning after undergoing a research on the television viewing habits of audiences wherein TV is considered as a ‘sit back’ medium as opposed to a computer. People lean as they work on a computer while they sit back when they watch television.

Talking to BestMediaInfo.com about the new brand avatar and the insight behind it, Anjali Nanda, Vice-President – Marketing, Dish TV, said, “What we realised is that people interact with television differently. There is a set of audiences for whom TV is just a source of education. But most of India still depends upon TV as a source of entertainment and a lot of them are passionately involved in it. And they will go to any length to ensure that nothing comes between them and their TV.”

Commenting about the transformation to a new philosophy for the brand, Nanda added, “’Ghar aye zindagi’ meant that life is a lot more active in a household with Dish TV. The tone is far softer and emotional. But the current idea takes into account the needs of people who are extremely passionate about their entertainment. That’s how the expression ‘DishSawar hai’ came along.”

Popularity: unranked [?]

Revenues of INR 736.1 million (US$14.26 million) have been raised by India’s public television network Doordarshan (DD) from the e-auction to private broadcasters of 29 satellite slots on its free to air direct-to-home (DTH) service, DD Direct Plus.

The broadcaster is reportedly to auction another 87 slots during the next few months, to help it increase its own DTH offering from 59 to 150 channels, in line with government plans.

Prasar Bharati, which runs Doordarshan, says 45 private media companies participated in the auction, which was conducted in two parts last year.

In each of the sales, the lowest successful bids were between 42% and 44% over the minimum reserve price (of INR 15 million in the first sale and INR 21.7 million in the second sale), and the highest bids reached between 50% and 55% above the minimum reserve price (INR 22.5 million in the first sale and INR 35 million in the second sale).

Online trading firm NCDEX Spot, based in Mumbai, conducted the e-auctions.

This mechanism was adopted after a Court directed Prasar Bharati to adopt a transparent system for allocating slots on DD Direct Plus. Private broadcasters had previously complained of being dropped from the state’s DTH platform without explanation or valid reason.

Following the e-auction success, Doordarshan is now reportedly considering whether to adopt the system for allocating TV programming on its channels.

Popularity: 1% [?]

India’s competitive DTH industry is moving towards more customised offerings such as video-on-demand, Catch UP TV and cheaper channel packs in regional languages. DTH players are realising that in future the “customer will be king” and “what you want to see and when you want to see” is the new mantra.

“We feel that DTH needs to adjust according to preferences of viewer and not the other way round,” said Vikram Mehra, chief marketing officer, Tata Sky.

While Tata Sky has introduced video-on-demand and “Catch Up TV” that allows a subscriber to watch television shows after broadcast, Airtel digital TV introduced its programme guide in Tamil apart from English and Hindi. Videocon d2h is also offering exclusive 3-D content.

Popularity: 1% [?]

The price increases in certain sub-segments of direct to home (DTH) television, telecom and automobile sectors indicates demand continues to remain healthy.

Last month, the country’s largest DTH company, Dish TV, and largest passenger vehicle maker, Maruti Suzuki, raised prices by one to six per cent. Telecom major Bharti Airtel has raised rates by 18-20 per cent in recent months.

All these are price-sensitive sectors, marked by fierce competition. Hitesh Shah, analyst at CARE Research, believes the increases were affected to protect margins.

“Despite the expectations of a slowdown, companies having an advantage in market share in some of the key sectors have recently increased their prices. This is not on account of an expectation of robust demand outlook, but rather a strategic call to protect margins and increase sustainability against future uncertainties.”

In DTH, for example, after years of competitive pricing aimed at acquiring subscribers, there have been price increases. With DTH operators adding a million subscribers per month, a price rise will absorb cost pressures (set top box imports have turned costlier due to the rupee’s depreciation), improve average revenue per user and help the sector maintain margins, say analysts.

Says Jehil Thakkar, sector head, media and entertainment, at KPMG, “A bit of pricing power has come back to the business and price hikes will help protect margins.”

Consumers, as of now, are not complaining. Says Salil Kapoor, COO, Dish TV, “Demand is strong and the consumer is able to absorb the hike.”

The price increase in the base pack is expected to help the company achieve average revenue per user (Arpu) per month of Rs 160-162 by the March 2012 quarter from the current 152. DTH companies will try to increase Arpu and margins by increasing the share of high-definition subscribers, which command an Arpu upwards of Rs 450.

Popularity: unranked [?]