In India, the seeds of the cable TV wave were sown when CNN broadcasted the Gulf War. Later, in early 90s, some other broadcasters such as Zee TV initiated the growth of cable TV services. The cable industry is moving towards consolidation in favour of triple play operators or Multi service operators. Indian cable TV industry has witnessed many ups and downs since its inception but has managed to maintain a firm foothold in the country's TV viewing homes. Screen Digest currently estimates that out of 111 mn cable and satellite TV households in India, almost 86 mn, or over 77%, have cable TV. Cable TV forms the backbone of the distribution industry.

Riddled with rampant under-reporting and limitations of carriage under analogue distribution, the cable TV industry, though large, remains unprofitable. Most of the large MSOs are relying more on ‘carriage fee’ revenues than the regular subscription revenue. With more than 500 channels vying to be carried and a carriage capacity of only 100 channels, ‘carriage fee’ is becoming an attractive revenue stream. It is here to stay in the foreseeable future until the cable infrastructure shifts to digital format completely. Introduction of mandatory digitization of cable TV in India would improve business profile of MSOs over the medium-to long term, driven by improved transparency through accurate reporting of subscribes base.

Expect television viewing to change forever in the next six months with the government ushering in digitization of cable services. This will translate into wider choice of TV channels, better quality of transmission, increased value added services and paying for what you view. For the industry, it will bring in greater consolidation, reduced dependence on viewership ratings and drop in carriage fees.

Digitalisation of cable networks, entry of FDI, as well as professional cable TV companies, competition from HITS and DTH and broadband penetration in consumer homes, are said to be the growth drivers for the Indian cable industry. Despite this heady growth, the C&S penetration in India is still much lower than some of the other developed nations. The size of the market is expected to increase many fold, due to the incremental number of subscribers and improvement in service fee in value terms.

Digitization of cable services is inevitability and we all should look at it realistically, while weighing the pros and cons. The next 12 to 15 months will be interesting times for the industry. Along with continued consolidation of LCO's we would likely observe mergers and acquisitions at the MSO level. Hopefully with eased out FDI rules, the industry stands to gain an impetus in the short term, resulting in faster rollouts of digital upgradation.

Thank you.


Vijay B. Mansukhani
Publisher & M.D.                                                             
                                                                      
 E-mail :  vijaymansukhani@satii.tv
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