`A countervailing force'

Interview with K.S. Sarma, CEO, Prasar Bharati.

Close on the heels of Zee TV, the public broadcaster, Prasar Bharati, is set to launch the direct-to-home (DTH) service of Doordarshan with a bouquet of 30 free-to-air channels in a couple of months. What prompted it to opt for this and what role does it propose to play in the DTH market? The Chief Executive Officer of Prasar Bharati, K.S. Sarma, explains these in an interview to B.S. Padmanabhan. Excerpts:

What are the factors that had prompted you to go in for DTH?

There are many areas in our country where no television signal is available. There are two options. One is to give a transmitter and offer only one channel, DD National. The other is to provide DTH facility so that there is no need for a cable operator, and at one go, 30 channels are made available to a group of people who do not have access even to one channel. This I will be able to do in six months, whereas if I want to provide one transmitter each to all the remote areas in the country it will take another 15 years and it will cost hundreds of crores of rupees. This is the basic reason for Doordarshan opting for DTH. It would help us reach the unreachable and remote areas all over the country on free-to-air basis. All other DTH services are for a payment, whereas in this case you buy the dish, the television set and the set-top-box (STB). That is it. For all time to come you can receive without any payment 30 channels, which will be increased to 60 in due course.

The second most important factor is that this will be a countervailing power in favour of the public if the private operators try to exploit them. You have already seen in the telecom sector that the presence of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. (MTNL) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) has balanced the functioning of the private sector. Imagine, if MTNL and BSNL were not there, what would have happened in the telecom sector? The same role we will play.

Thirdly, it is a technology, which we cannot ignore, and we cannot be left out of it. Increasingly, the viewers want to have direct access to channels and programmes they would like to see, instead of being dependent on the cable operator. Most people would like to avoid the cable operator, if they can, and still get the channels. We would not be able to avoid completely the cable operator because we can offer through our DTH system only free-to-air channels and for the pay channels the viewers have to go to either the cable operator or subscribe to other DTH systems as well.

When do you propose to launch the DTH service and what will be the bouquet you would offer through it?

We propose to launch DTH in April. Initially, we plan to offer 30 channels. Of these 15 will be of Doordarshan and the rest will be private free-to-air channels. Already, Ashtha, Zee TV, Eenadu TV, ETC and Sun TV have agreed to offer their free-to-air channels through our DTH system. Some of them wanted to have further dialogue. The process is on. More than 15 private channels have agreed and now we have to choose because we can accommodate only 15.

How much clientele do you expect for your DTH service?

We are giving 20,000 dishes and STBs free for demonstration purpose to public institutions such as anganwadis and government schools all over the country. This means 1 million viewers at the rate of at least 50 viewers per dish. Later, we expect the people to buy these boxes and dishes, which would cost Rs.3,000-Rs.4,000. By spending Rs.3,000-Rs.4,000 you can get 30 channels for ever to come without any charge.

Are the dishes and STBs manufactured locally or should these be imported?

As of now, these have to be imported. Zee TV, which is already in the game, is supplying dishes for Rs.300 a piece. They seem to have located a manufacturer outside India who could supply at this price. In fact, this supplier is also going to quote for our tender to supply dishes. The STB will cost around Rs.3,000.

What sort of competition do you expect from the private players in the DTH market?

So far only Zee TV has launched DTH service. But not many have noticed it yet. STAR is in the pipeline and is expected to launch in December. We cannot strictly call this a competition because we are comparing apples with oranges. Ours is free-to-air whereas the other two are pay channels. If at all there is any competition it will be between Zee and STAR and not between any of them and us. Cost-wise we will be definitely competitive because in our case the viewer has to invest once only. After that he need not pay anything. But in the case of others the viewer has to invest on the dish and the STB, and, in addition, pay every month for each channel he wants.

Will the launch of DTH service affect in any way the existing arrangement through cable operators?

No. The DTH will be an additional facility. All over the world, barring the U.K., DTH came after cable. Therefore, cable has never been replaced by DTH. Both are sharing the market. In the U.S., DTH and cable share the market equally. In the U.K., DTH has 90 per cent share and the cable 10 per cent because there DTH came first and cable later. In India, I expect both to coexist. DTH would help expand TV coverage to every nook and corner of the country, while the cable would meet the requirements of those who can afford to pay for the channel of their choice.