Source: Business Standard | Vanita Kohli-Khandekar | New Delhi
March 10, 2014
At around Rs 134 cr in March 2014, DD's Freedish is the smallest entity by value, but has the best margins in the business
It doesn't have a brand name anyone remembers, neither a call centre nor an electronic programming guide and no fancy marketing campaign. Yet in its 10th year, DD Direct Plus, recently renamed DD's Freedish, has become India's largest direct-to-home, or DTH, service. At an estimated 18 million homes, it is bigger than Zee's Dish TV or Tata Sky.
The Rs 1,553-crore state-controlled Prasar Bharati Corporation, which owns the service, has now woken up to its potential. "We will launch 120 channels (an addition of 60 channels) from July 1, 2014, encrypt them and move to the MPEG4 format," says Ranjan Thakur, additional director general, Doordarshan, and the man running DD's Freedish. These changes will mean more capacity and the ability to track its subscribers, something that was not possible so far because the signal was unencrypted. The tracking will help push up the prices channels have to pay to be on board. At around Rs 134 crore in March 2014, DD's Freedish is the smallest entity by value, but has the best margins in the business. Every other DTH player makes a loss (see box). In the next two years, as the service shifts satellites, Thakur reckons DD's Freedish will offer over 250 channels.
DD's Freedish could end up becoming the biggest game-changer in the Rs 40,000-crore Indian television industry. That's because it is...............
March 10, 2014
At around Rs 134 cr in March 2014, DD's Freedish is the smallest entity by value, but has the best margins in the business
It doesn't have a brand name anyone remembers, neither a call centre nor an electronic programming guide and no fancy marketing campaign. Yet in its 10th year, DD Direct Plus, recently renamed DD's Freedish, has become India's largest direct-to-home, or DTH, service. At an estimated 18 million homes, it is bigger than Zee's Dish TV or Tata Sky.
The Rs 1,553-crore state-controlled Prasar Bharati Corporation, which owns the service, has now woken up to its potential. "We will launch 120 channels (an addition of 60 channels) from July 1, 2014, encrypt them and move to the MPEG4 format," says Ranjan Thakur, additional director general, Doordarshan, and the man running DD's Freedish. These changes will mean more capacity and the ability to track its subscribers, something that was not possible so far because the signal was unencrypted. The tracking will help push up the prices channels have to pay to be on board. At around Rs 134 crore in March 2014, DD's Freedish is the smallest entity by value, but has the best margins in the business. Every other DTH player makes a loss (see box). In the next two years, as the service shifts satellites, Thakur reckons DD's Freedish will offer over 250 channels.
DD's Freedish could end up becoming the biggest game-changer in the Rs 40,000-crore Indian television industry. That's because it is...............
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