Tata Sky was the second major DTH platform to launch in India, debuting in the second half of 2006. Less than four years later, it already has more than 5 million customers, and Vikram Kaushik, CEO of the DTH platform, says he hopes the platform can reach 8 million subscribers by 2012. The operator also is preparing to launch HD services in India as it aims to continue on its growth curve. The CommunicAsia E-Daily caught up with Kaushik to find the operator’s latest plans to monetize the pay-TV market in India.

 
Kaushik: From a 0 to over 22 million in just 6 years … the growth of DTH in India has far exceeded expectations. With more than 5 million connections, Tata Sky has been at the forefront of this growth.This growth has come not because of, but in spite of Tata Sky being a premium service. Our focus has always been to give our subscribers a viewing experience that is a step change from analog cable and superior to that of other DTH platforms. Since our launch, we have introduced many pay-TV firsts in India. … This helped us drive subscriptions to our service, reaffirming our belief that today’s subscriber is not looking for just low cost but wants greater value from a quality DTH service. There is a strategic advantage in acquiring subscribers who take your service for the right reason (because you offer greater value than others) and not the wrong reason (because you are cheaper than others). They stick with you and don’t churn out easily, a factor that can eventually make or break a subscription-based company. Hence, we will continue to focus on offering superior value to Tata Sky subscribers in the days to come.
 

 
Kaushik: We did our first million in 11 months, the second million in nine months, the third in seven months, the fourth in eight months and recently crossed the five million milestone, all in less than four years. The growth has been frenetic and has picked up in the face of growing price competition. Our aim is to cross the 8 million mark by 2012.

 
Kaushik: Our plan is to launch HD later this year, however, in keeping with our track record, we will only offer meaningful and problem-free services, which bring better value to Indian consumers than what is currently available.
 

 
Kaushik: We continue to seek more capacity and welcome proposals from anyone who has anything on offer.

 
Kaushik: The DTH industry is driving the digitalization of the pay-TV market in India. The sector has experienced momentous growth in size and competition over the past two years. Between the existing six players, there are more than 22 million subscribers today, and the number is expected to rise to 45 million by 2015. The growth has been rapid simply because analog systems cannot deliver either the quantity or quality of an ever-growing list of channels across genres and languages in the country, and the DTH industry delivers quality customer service. Besides, only digitalization can remove the anomalies created by serious under-declaration in the pay-TV market. Unfortunately, the financial burden of generating this growth is extremely high. Government policy is not helping with no-level playing field vis-à-vis cable and a punitive tax regime that threatens the very viability of this fledgling sector.  Considering the tax regime, capacity augmentation and price competition, most businesses would need between six to eight years from commencement to become profitable, that is if they don’t break the bank in the first two to three years.