Marketing Management

Direct broadcast satellite

Name: Darshan Gosalia

Roll No. : 21
MMS A
Direct broadcast satellite (DBS) is a term used to refer to satellite television broadcasts intended
for home reception, also referred to more broadly as direct-to-home signals. In this field we find
mainly four players as follow:

1. Tata Sky

2. Dish TV

3. Airtel TV

4. Big TV

We will see each and every product one by one.

TATA SKY
Incorporated in 2004, Tata Sky is a JV between the TATA Group and STAR. Tata Sky
endeavors to offer Indian viewers a world-class television viewing experience through its
satellite television service. In this joint venture between the Tata Group, that owns 80% and
STAR Group that owns a 20% stake.

The TATA Group is one of India’s largest and most respected business conglomerates. It
comprises diversified businesses in sectors such as materials, engineering, services, energy,
information systems & communications, consumer products and chemicals.

The Group and its enterprises have been steadfast and distinctive in their adherence to business
ethics and their commitment to corporate social responsibility. This is a legacy that has earned
the Group the trust of many millions of stakeholders in measure few business houses anywhere
in the world can match.

TATA Sky’s target customers include various strata of the society, with different service
packages available to each one. To improve its performance in the competitive DTH market,
TATA Sky management should assess its brand positioning among its target segment by
establishing a distinctive image for the company compared to competing companies.

But these initiatives presents challenges, which TATA Sky is currently facing squeezed by rising
costs, sporadic nature of demand, and relentless downward pricing pressure due to competition.
Adding to it, slackening of demand, and higher interest rates are not welcome signs for it. With
this in mind, TATA Sky should try to be rapid-paced and highly competitive. To counter these
challenges and still be profitable, we have tried to suggest various strategies based on what will
suit demands in the Indian market and its consumer behavior to increase TATA Sky market
share.

Current situation:
• Tata Sky crossed the two million connections mark in a period of 20 months, thus
retaining its position as the fastest growing direct-to-home service provider across the
globe.
• The marketing budget that TATA Sky begun with was 15% of sales. This included
around 5% for advertisements, 7% discounts and promotions and 1% sponsorships.
• Currently TATA Sky has roped in Aamir Khan as its brand ambassador. Aamir Khan
would feature in all TATA Sky brand and product communication, including
advertisements in TV, print and radio.
• Further, tie ups with ITC E-Choupal and Godrej Aadhar give it wider rural reach. Also
for its
• Distribution, TATA Sky has a tie up with ITC International Business Division.
• The 24X7 guru.com has joined hands with TATA Sky to provide content for Active
Learning.
• Tata Sky has adopted a 360 degree marketing campaign approach that encapsulates
television, print, outdoor and radio along with on-ground activities and marketing on the
digital platform.
• Tata Sky plans tie-ups with Sony Pictures, Fox for content- Pay per View service for
exclusive events.

Product
Tata Sky launches itself as a DTH services requiring a Dish, A set top box and network access
card per television. Later variant like Community dish for entire building were launched. Latest
the Tata Sky Plus with Personal Video Recording technology has been launched.
Various services provided by TATA Sky include:
• Active Services
 Active Cooking
 Active Stories
 Active Newsroom
 Active Darshan
 Active WizKids
 Active Sports
 Active Learning
 Active Games
 Active Astrology
• Parental Control
 • Search and Scan Banner
• Guide (including Hindi Display)
• Customer Service- 24 x 7 help. Support in 11 languages

Price
Competition has increased may fold with completion providing freebies and slashing prices. The
following price related strategies could be adopted, which may lead to a short term loss but a
medium term break even and profit:

1. Free Set Top: Following the line of Dish TV, Set top Boxes can be given free while
ensuring lock in by providing base pack free for limited time duration, thus inducing
update to next level.
2. Lock in of 1 year: Ensure long term lock in is by providing incentives for pre payment
of long term charges. Continue with current strategy of providing 2 months free on
payment of 10 months services.
3. Multiple Connections: Provide discounts for consumers buying second Tata Sky
Connection (up to 50% off)
4. Encourage References: Provide discounts on Monthly charges if reference from existing
consumer becomes a new customer.
5. Regional Disparity: Provide free regional packs in local areas to ensure switch from
Cable TV to DTH service, i.e. provide free south Jumbo pack for customers in all
Southern States.
6. Community Dish: Provide Incentives in the form of Free Months charges for first 3-6
months and reduce the Installation charges per flat.
7. Payment Options: Allow multiple points of payment, ensuring timely payment and
convenience to the customer – Credit Card through Website (implemented), Pre Paid
cards from Retail shops to be activated using Telephone (Implemented) and Drop Boxes
at Societies.
8. Postpaid: Some clients depending upon few background check criteria can be given
Billing service i.e. Payment at end of Month.

Place
There is a lot of scope of increase in the number of customers across all the states. Including the
local cable operators as distributors would be an extremely useful way of reaching out to the
target market:
• Staff of cable operators be made the distributors for Tata Sky (familiarity with people)
• All distributors be given a status of Tata Sky employees
• Attractive options be given to them to become distributors
Another focus could be the rural market. A snapshot of the rural market:
• 199 million total household in India
 • 119 million (60% of total households) TV households
• 50 million are having Cable
• 55 million TV sets in rural area
• Rural TV households growing by 3-4 million each year.
• Only 2-3 % of rural household have access to Cable
• Growing focus towards more satellite channels

Promotion
Tata sky does not leave any chance in promotion. For the promotion of Tata sky they have
endorse very well known actors like Amir Khan and asin. Tata sky has always highlighted their
picture and sound clarity, their few functions like one can save any live program on the Tata sky
and can letter on retrieve that.

SWOT Analysis
Strengths
1. Leveraging on brand TATA and High brand recall
2. Technological expertise with Newscorp’s DTH arm Sky
3. Superior Picture quality
4. Leads in introducing new packages & Services
5. Customer service
6. Rural penetration through ITC E-Choupal and Godrej Aadhar
7. Interactive channels and program guides
8. Innovative Product offering Tata Sky Plus

Weaknesses
1. Second Mover after Dish TV who captured Market Share
2. Cannot match free service like DD
3. Currently does not offer free Set Top Box like Dish TV
4. Litigation due to issues related to sports channels which it lost
5. Dependency on broadcaster and had issues with Sun TV

Opportunities
1. Larger disposable incomes with India
2. Tapping niche markets with better service and Product offering
3. Expansion of distribution network through exclusive stores
4. Interactive advertising – Tie up of with Samsung
5. Increase in number of TVs sold
6. Increase in the geographical boundaries with Rural Market untapped
7. Growing demand for quality of service in the form of DTH over Cable
8. CAS being made Compulsory would encourage switch.
9. Value Added Services are gaining steam.
Threats
1. IPTV provides superior technology if implemented
2. Cable Set top Boxes provide easy switching due to negligible switching costs
3. Increasing Competition internally
4. Dependency on CPE suppliers to some extent
5. High dependence for transponders on ISRO
6. Dependency on broadcasters for their channel content and thus increase in cost
7. Videocon may enter DTH by building its own set top boxes.
8. No Exclusivity in Content and Rule of ‘Must Carry’
9. Cap on Investment (20%)
10. Interoperability Regulations
11. Cap on foreign Investment (49%)

Dish TV
DTH service was launched back in 2004 by launching of Dish TV by Essel Group's Zee
Entertainment Enterprises. Dish TV is on the same satellite where DD Direct+ is. Dish TV
started its service in Pakistan with the collaboration of Budget Communication. Dish TV is also
in Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh.

Dish TV is India’s first direct to home entertainment service that has digitalized Indian
entertainment to bring to your home the best in television viewing through the latest in digital
technology. It not only broadcasts high quality programs straight from the satellite to home, but
also gives absolute and complete control of what one watch and pay for. It is almost like having
one’s own satellite up in the sky.

With Dish TV one can unleash the true potential of ones high-end television set and complete
ones TV viewing experience with true DVD quality. If one is a connoisseur of good sound then
make sure to experience true stereophonic sound effects, which only Dish TV can bring home.

Product

Dish TV promotes their qualities as follow

Digital Picture Quality: The exceptional digital and direct-to-home transmission ensures true
DVD quality.

Stereophonic Sound: The Direct-to-Home satellite transmission treats ears to a true theatre
experience by providing awesome stereophonic sound.
Geographic Mobility: No matter which part of the country is or moving to, Dish TV with its all
India coverage ensures direct signals wherever one is.

Price

Dish TV prices vary between 113 to 283 per month which includes channels from the ranges of
135 to 188 including free to air channels also. It has also options of choosing south Indian
channels as well as other children and movies channels.

Place

Dish TV can be obtain in number of ways. It can be obtain through retailer or vendors. It can
also be subscribed through Internet.

Promotion

Dish TV not only talks about its picture clarity but it also talk about other value addition services
that it provides along with it. Its promotions are done mainly on TV and printing media with its
one liner as: WISH KARO. DISH KARO. Main Brand ambassador with Dish TV is very well
known Actor Shahrukh Khan.

SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTH
Dish TV was the first entrant in the DTH category and has thus become synonymous with the
satellite TV broadcasting business in India. Leveraging its lineage with the Zee group, Dish TV
has built a commendable brand and relevant product that answers the consumer needs’ for
quality entertainment. Some of the inherent strengths stem from a strong presence all across the
geography of India, consumer friendly and pocket friendly multi-tiered and customizable
regional packages, abundant transponder capacity to support its widest content basket, a very
strong and diversified content offering addressing consumers with diverse needs of genres and
languages, an extremely cost conscious structure and a superior technology for the entire gamut
of services. The technological edge and differentiation with respect to other brands stands
exemplified through its unique offerings of mobile dish with presence in aircrafts (Kingfisher),
navy war ships, mobile vans and selected railway saloons.

WEAKNESS
The subscriber acquisition cost is still very high. However, compared to the current industry
benchmarks, it stands at the lowest by far. The cost towards acquiring consumers is under
constant scrutiny in an endeavor to bring it down. In a market trend of consumers down sliding
on the packaging tiers, due to more value being packaged at the lowest packs, Dish TV has
exhibited a growth in ARPU. However, ARPU continues to be an area of concern with the
constant endeavor to monitor, upgrade and enhance the revenues.
OPPORTUNITIES
India’s 127 million television owning households, which define the potential depth for the DTH
category, will act as a low hanging fruit for adoption. The further roll out of CAS by the new
Government, into more towns will impact the growth rate of the DTH category and trigger
consumers to make a decision between digital cable and DTH, thereby aiding faster expansion of
the digital entertainment world. Enrichment of Value Added Services (VAS) basket with gaming
and a host of active services, some going pay, will continue to be opportunity areas for revenue
enhancement. An eventful sporting calendar with the ensuing Commonwealth games and a series
of Cricketing tournaments will act as a catalyst for this category too. The recent stabilization and
a revived hope for bouncing back of the economy as early as the second half of this year will
facilitate faster adoption of the category. Emergence and growth of traffic at the organized retail
chains like Big bazaar, Next, The mobile store, Reliance digital etc. will also add more visibility
leading to better acceptance of the product.

THREATS
DTH is currently a five player market. Price cuts and reduced margins, spurred by severe
competition, can pose a threat to revenue enhancement. Improved quality of services by digital
cable and IPTV players are potential threats. Churn management and retention costs can
negatively impact bottom-lines unless constant attention and strategy is deployed to manage and
control the subscribers’ base.

Big TV
Reliance’s Big TV launched its DTH service on August 15th 2008. BIG TV was Reliance-
ADAG's latest launch foraying into the booming Direct to home segment in the expanding
Indian television market. Big TV DTH was competing with already established players Dish TV
and Tata Sky. DTH operators in the country, Tata Sky, Dish TV and Sun are estimated to have a
user base of around 7-8 million.

The service Reliance BIG TV included was 32 cinema channels, and will be distributed via 700
distributors across the country. It is estimated that India has over 124 million TV households,
with roughly 80 million using the conventional cable delivery platform.

Following are some of the features that Big TV is promoting extensively in its advertisements:

1. Picture-in-Picture (PIP) that would enable viewers to watch twelve TV

channels at the same time on any TV set in the country.
2. Enabled by worlds most advanced MPEG4 technology Platform for DTH
services, BIG TV
 3. BIG TV DTH service is available at 1 Lakh retail outlets, including over
240 Reliance World and 2000 Reliance Mobile Stores, across 6500 towns in the
country.
4. First and only DTH operator to launch 32 Movie Channels and a
Subscription Video on Demand service.

BIG TV’s Fully Digital Home Entertainment Service is available at Rs. 1490 including three
months complimentary subscription. (1000/- Installation charges extra)

Reliance’s Big TV Strategy:

Reliance Big TV, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Communications is targeting a

40 per cent share of the DTH market in the next 12 months. Offering over 200 channels,
Reliance Big TV would initially be made available at 1 lakh outlets and across 6,500 towns. The
6 million DTH markets with four players today are expected to add another 10-11 million
subscribers with Reliance Big TV DTH joining the fray.

Reliance Big DTH would be tapping into the customer base of the ADA Group’s other
companies to build its subscriber base in the business. This would comprise the 50-million
customer base of Reliance Mobile, 5 million customers of Reliance Energy, the 4 million of
Reliance ADA Group shareholders and the 2 million partners of the Reliance PCO channel.

Brand Marketing -

The new DTH brand is planning to tap into every type of media — ranging from the net,
hoardings, radio, print, and television along with special experience zones to demo kiosks at TV
outlets. There would be new features, including subscription video on demand and a 32 cinema
hall to play movies according to the customers’ convenience.

Reliance Big TV would also use the ICC Champions Trophy beginning in September to
showcase its new DTH services as Reliance ADA Group is already one of the sponsors of these
matches. Besides, once Reliance Big Broadcasting starts its own channels, it would offer the
same on its DTH platform as well. At the same time, Reliance ADA Group is also ready with its
IPTV services.

Current Position:

1. Reliance Big TV claims to have surpassed 1 million subscriber marks within 3 months of
its launch, with this Big TV holds 15 percent of the market share. This announcement
comes a month after Big TV touched five lakh subscribers.
 2. Recently Dish TV reached 4.5 million customers, thereby capturing 53 percent of the
market share. So this segment, which is expected to grow upto 10-12 million customers
by November 2009, is certainly gathering momentum.
3. Catering to the masses, Reliance Big TV has expanded its retail network to around
75,000 outlets across 10,000 towns which will provide recharge vouchers (RCVs) for its
DTH service.

BIG TV, India’s first fully digital and fastest growing DTH service, achieved the 1 million
subscriber mark, within 90 days of its launch. Following this achievement, BIG TV has achieved
a market share of 15 per cent in just 3 months in the fast-evolving Indian DTH sector, which is
nearly 60 months old in India.

Airtel Digital TV
Airtel digital launched on 8th October, 2008 with a 360 degree mega campaign "Come Home to
the Magic". Since that it has launched 2 other campaigns ‘Stars come home’ (March 2009) and
‘DTH Picture Clarity’ (August 2009) has increased its channel base to 183+ channels. Airtel
digital TV is now amongst the fastest growing DTH brands in the country and is available across
5000+ towns in India. It has also been ranked as the best DTH service by “Living Digital”
magazine.

Features

• Universal remote: Unique to Airtel. Allows customers to enjoy the convenience of one
remote for both TV & DTH.

• iTV Services (Interactive Services): iTV is a unique and interactive service that allows a
viewer to shop, plan holidays, see horoscope forecasts, book movie tickets, order a pizza,
watch news, sports with on-demand facts and analysis and much more, all at the press of
a button. The viewer can choose from the variety of applications based upon individual
needs.

These services include- iLearn, iNews, iShop, iMatinee, iTravel, iNet, iCity, iAstro, and iSports,
iPizza. Recently Airtel launched a new service called iPizza that allows customers to order pizza
via digital TV.

• Widgets: This helps the customer to get information like Weather, Stock news while
watching TV with a single click without moving away from the TV programme being
watched.
 • PPV (PAY PER VIEW) movies: With Pay per View movies on Aitel Live , customers
can watch the latest blockbusters in Hindi, English and other regional languages. The
blockbuster show, ‘Hannah Montana’ was also featured there.

Product

134 channels , customized packages

Prices : Rs 2000 to Rs 3,500 as initial installation charges. Packages differ from Rs 150 to Rs
350, per month.

USP: Interactive services, eg. iMatinee, iCity, iTravel, World Space Radio etc.

Pricing

• No. of channels in the packages and value added services.

• Competitor’s prices in the market.
• Technology used in the digital TV service.
• As per the current policy, the total foreign equity including FDI/NRI/OCB/FII cannot
exceed 49% and within this FDI component not more than 20%,so price has to be kept
high for overcoming cost of expansion and thus price.
• Usage based.
• ARPU is increasing unlike the telecom sectors.

Placement
Dish TV can be obtain in number of ways. It can be obtain through retailer or vendors. It can
also be subscribed through Internet.

Promotion
• ‘See You At Home Soon’ -with a dozen celebrities, the ad has been reported to be
amongst the most watched ads on youtube.com, recently.
• Teasers: Animated characters, viz. Masai (infotainment), Cowboy (movies), Band
(music) and Meercats (kids).
• DTH Services –costliest product category, these days. Estimated expenditure: Rs 8 –10
crore per month, with a total of over Rs 40 crore spent on DTH advertising by the
prominent players in the market.
• The three biggest players claim that they are not competing with each other.
• Marketing penetration is only 3 %, with a total of 7.5 million DTH users.
Market Share of Various Players: