With an already good consumer base on the DTH platform, players spice it up further with value-added services.
The IPTV or the much-touted internet protocol TV, was expected to arouse enough interest among consumers who wanted interactive services like videos on demand, online movie ticket booking, ability to record, pause and schedule recordings of TV shows. However, consumers like Kaustubh Deshpande from Mumbai are getting impatient. Even six months after using the much-hyped IPTV service in Mumbai, he isn’t too kicked about it — part of his angst arose from the teething troubles he had to endure when he got an IPTV connection.
Meanwhile, his friends alerted him to Bharti-Airtel’s launch of interactive services like ordering a pizza via a set-top-box. The service, which has been launched in New Delhi and will be soon replicated countrywide, adds a new chapter to interactive services on the DTH platform. Kaustubh is now sold on this service.
Indeed! Players like Airtel are not relying solely on IPTV for interactivity any longer. Not willing to take chances, they are directing some of the value-added services (VAS) to Direct-to-home (DTH) users too.
Ajay Puri, director & CEO (DTH), Bharti Airtel believes that interactivity on DTH can be game-changing for the service providers. He describes the latest interactive service from Bharti Airtel which allows users to “browse through various pizzas on offer, and place your orders as well. All you have to do is select what you want to eat and send an SMS to the nearest Pizza Hut contact centre.”
Dominant DTH provider Dish TV, too, is luring consumers with its 25 feature film collection for children. Movies like Ghatotkacha, Aladdin Ka Chirag, Krishna, Prahlad, Prithviraj Chauhan, Taare Zameen Par and The Pied Piper of Hamlin, will be available on the movie-on-demand (MoD) platform by Dish TV. The films are priced at just Rs.25 per movie.
MoD, which was the most-touted feature of the IPTV platform, is being replicated by DTH players too. Salil Kapoor, COO, Dish TV says, “Globally, niche content acts as the core differentiator but in India the regulator has ruled out content differentiation, so value-added services (VAS) become the differentiator.” Families spend up to 20 per cent of their TV viewing time on such interactive services on Dish TV, says Kapoor.
The gaming segment on the DTH platform is yet another area that has adopted interactivity. Recently, Microsoft launched an advertising campaign for its gaming console Microsoft Xbox 360 Arcade on the gaming portal of Dish TV in order to reach out to 25 million potential gamers across India.
Alok Shende, principal analyst, Ascendia Consulting, opines that “DTH as a platform allows building business models around it. Almost the similar way as IPTV. It’s just that in IPTV you have triple play — voice, broadband and entertainment.”