Garima Pathak
Garima Pathak
Sun TV Network
Type : Private
Founded : 1992
Headquarters : Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Industry : DTH Pay TV
Product : Direct broadcast satellite
Sun TV Network is a Rs 16000-crore (4 Billion $) Indian cable television network based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1993, it offers a plethora of television channels in 4 languages covering the whole of southern India. It was the first fully privately owned Tamil channel in India when it emerged in 1993. Its serials and soaps have generated the maximum TRP for viewership all over India, making it the most popular network of channels in India. Till 2007 coupled with the DMK-backed Karunanidhi family, it was the largest political-media family in India till the split in November 2005.
All its channels occupy the top spots in their respective languages. Sun TV, in Tamil is the Network's flagship and most popular channel. Being the premier channel, Sun TV is often used to refer to the Sun TV Network in general.
Kalanithi Maran is the Chairman and Managing Director of media giant Sun Network and has been given various awards including the CNBC "Business Excellence Award" in 2005. Sun Network also offers FM Radio Stations ( 93.5 FM ) It has 45 FM Radio Stations and has recently forayed into the print business. In addition, it has also recently launched a DTH satellite television service entitled Sun Direct.
Sun TV and its sister channels have a dominating share of viewership in Tamil Nadu. Its radio network Suryan has a lion’s share of listenership; its magazine Kungumum and newspaper Dinakaran are leaders. Sun.com is the default page on computer screens across the state since it owns the leading ISP. More than 80 per cent of the state’s population decides on how to vote, where to shop, what to buy based on the news, information and entertainment coming from the Sun Group.".
History and Ownership
Its ownership lies in the hands of Kalanidhi Maran who is related to Karunanidhi, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and head of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). It was the first fully privately owned Tamil channel in India when it emerged in 1993.
Sun Network offers 20 television channels in four languages, generally targeting southern Indian viewers. Although its main presence is in Tamil, it has channels in other languages also. Various networks are also available abroad for international viewers.
The channel offerings are as follows:
Channel Type
Sun TV Tamil Entertainment Channel
KTV Tamil Movie Channel
Sun Music Tamil Music Channel
Sun News Tamil News Channel
Chutti TV Tamil Kids Channel
Comedy Thirai Tamil Comedy Channel
Udaya TV Kannada Entertainment Channel
Udaya Movies Kannada Movie Channel
U 2 Kannada Music Channel
Udaya Varthegalu Kannada Documentary Channel
Chintu TV Kannada Kids Channel
Haasya Tere Kannada Comedy Channel
Gemini TV Telugu Entertainment Channel
Teja TV Telugu Movie Channel
Gemini Music Telugu Music Channel
Gemini News Telugu News Channel
Gemini Kids Telugu Kids Channel
Navulla Tera Telugu Commedy Channel
Surya TV Malayalam Entertainment Channel
Kiran TV Malayalam Music Channel
Kochu TV Malayalam Kids Channel
Chiri Thirai Malayalam Comedy Channel
Film Production
Sun Network has also ventured into producing tamil films from September 2008. The production venture is named Sun Pictures Pvt. Ltd. It plans to produce at least 10 feature films each in three languages - Tamil, Telugu and Kannada annually through Sun Pictures. Sun TV Network has signed up with all leading players, including stars, directors and music directors in the Tamil film industry .The move to directly get into film production is a natural extension for Sun, which has acquired almost 80 per cent of all the movies in the southern regional markets for well over a decade. Films produced or in production under this banner are:
Year Film Cast Language Box-Office
2008 Kadhalil Vizhunthen
Nakul, Sunaina
Tamil Super Hit
2008 Thenavattu
Jeeva, Poonam Bajwa, Ganja Karuppu Tamil Hit
2008 Dindugal Sarathi
Karunas, Kaarthika
Tamil Super Hit
2009 Padikhadhavan
Dhanush, Tamana
Tamil
2009 Siva Manasula Sakthi
Jeeva, Anuya, Santhanam, Urvashi
Tamil
2009 Thee
Tamil
2009 Pookada Ravi
Tamil
2010 Endhiran
Rajinikanth, Aishwarya Rai
Tamil,Telugu
FM Radio Stations
Tamil FM Stations
Radio Station Area Frequency
Suryan FM
Chennai
93.5 MHz
Suryan FM
Coimbatore
93.5 MHz
Suryan FM
Madurai
93.5 MHz
Suryan FM
Pondicherry
93.5 MHz
Suryan FM
Tirunelveli
93.5 MHz
Suryan FM
Tuticorin
93.5 MHz
Suryan FM
Trichy
93.5 MHz
Malayalam FM Stations
Radio Station Area Frequency
S FM
Thiruvananthapuram
93.5 MHz
S FM
Trissur
93.5 MHz
S FM
Kannur
93.5 MHz
S FM
Kozhikode
93.5 MHz
S FM
Kochi
93.5 MHz
Telugu FM Station
Radio Station Area Frequency
S FM
Vishakapatnam
93.5 MHz
S FM
Hyderabad
93.5 MHz
S FM
Tirupati
93.5 MHz
S FM
Vijayawada
93.5 MHz
S FM
Rajamundry
93.5 MHz
S FM
Warangal
93.5 MHz
Kannada FM Station
Radio Station Area Frequency
S FM
Bangalore
93.5 MHz
S FM
Mangalore
93.5 MHz
S FM
Mysore
93.5 MHz
S FM
Gulbarga
93.5 MHz
Hindi / Other Language FM Station
Radio Station Area Frequency
S FM
Jaipur
93.5 MHz
S FM
Bhubaneshwar
93.5 MHz
S FM
Lucknow
93.5 MHz
S FM
Bhopal
93.5 MHz
S FM
Indore
93.5 MHz
S FM
Varanasi
93.5 MHz
S FM
Kanpur
93.5 MHz
S FM
Allahabad
93.5 MHz
S FM
Jabalpur
93.5 MHz
S FM
Guwahati
93.5 MHz
S FM
Jamshedpur
93.5 MHz
S FM
Vadodara
93.5 MHz
S FM
Nagpur
93.5 MHz
S FM
Nashik
93.5 MHz
S FM
Pune
93.5 MHz
S FM
Rajkot
93.5 MHz
S FM
Aurangabad
93.5 MHz
S FM
Ahmedabad
93.5 MHz
S FM
Asansol
93.5 MHz
Sun Network in DTH (Direct To Home)
The "SUN Direct", DTH service from the South Indian Media Giant, SUN Network, started on 7th December 2007. The Initial rollout was only in its home land "Tamil Nadu", where they face all hurdles. They were able to launch the product in all over south and have more 2 million subscribers in south India making it the largest and most popular DTH service provider in south India. Kicking off its drive to achieve a pan-India presence, Sun Direct TV Pvt Ltd launched its services in Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Haryana, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and other states of Hindi speaking belt would be targetted in the other phases of expansion.
Sun Direct - India's youngest and most exciting state of the art DTH Company. It is the fastest growing DTH Company in India. It predicts to cross 2 million subscribers within this year end.
Sun Direct uses the latest MPEG-4 based technology to increase broadcast capacity. Sun Direct confirms to provide next-generation services in fast-growing and emerging markets quickly and efficiently. Sun Direct will be supported by Irdeto conditional access solution to manage content and revenues in the satellite broadcasting venture.
As it stands, 120 standard-definition channels are currently available to subscribers, and it is planning to add an undisclosed amount of HD channels in the near future.
Sun Direct, will offer 75 TV channels and 15 radio channels. Both the dish and set-top box would be free, but the company will collect one-time installation charges of Rs999 with a monthly subscription of Rs75, excluding taxes.
Sun Direct is a 80:20 joint venture between Sun TV’s core promoters Kalanidhi Maran, his wife Kaveri Maran and Malaysia-based Astro Group.
Sun Direct selected Oracle based on its convergent multi-service capabilities and proven real-time scalability allowing it to consolidate billing operations, enables powerful new service offerings and improves visibility into customer information across services.
Sun Direct is also ready to offer High Definition Television (HDTV) and it is currently aggregating HDTV content. The DTH service provider hopes to come out with HDTV over next few months.
Product & Business Overview
PRODUCT OVERVIEW:
Owner: SUN group (India) & Astro (Malaysia)
Satellite: Insat 4B at 93.5E
Encryption: Irdeto
Encoding: MPEG-4
Channels: 110 TV, 3 Radio (Some TV/Radio channels from DD Direct+)
Advantages: First operator to use MPEG-4 encoding so can carry more channels, South Indian market targeted hence carry more south Indian channels then other operators, can receive some DD Direct Plus channels as both use same satellite
Disadvantages: No ESPN-STAR SPORTS, NEO channels, no interactive services, less presence in other parts of India
BUSINESS OVERVIEW:
The Kalanidhi Maran and Astro Malaysia backed DTH service launched first in Tamil Nadu at the end of December 2007. They spend close to Rs 7 crores for its marketing and promotions in eastern India. Pan-India, the company would spend Rs 150 crores for marketing.
The company is also targeting close to 40 per cent market share in DTH space in Bengal alone by the end of this fiscal.
Sun Direct has introduced a lot of affordable packages after extensively studying consumer viewing preferences. So this packages has been so design that there is something for everyone to pick.
Sun Direct services are currently available in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and the NCR. The services available in rest of the states from December 8, 2008 onwards. Sun Direct claims to have currently attained a subscriber base of 1.9 million, and intends to reach a subscriber base of 3 million pan-India by March 2009.
Goals and Objectives
MARKETING OBJECTIVES:-
There is no stopping sun direct which is on an expansion spree. Having covered South India and Delhi and the national capital region, the DTH operator is moving to fresh turf. Its pan India rollout has begun and the company hopes to increase its subscriber base to three million by the end of the financial year, from the current two million.
In another three months, the brand was launched in other three south Indian states. The market has witnessed the entry of two DTH players- Airtel and Big-in the last six months.
In the south, sun direct commands 65% of the DTH market. It aims to grab 30-40% of the Mumbai market within a year. It will promote its offering through a television commercial and print ads in all the leading dailies along with merchandising. The core benefit of our product is you only pay for what you watch. The premise is that the DTH is not rich man’s product, it is for everybody.
SALES OBJECTIVES:-
According to Sun Direct estimates, 70 per cent of the viewers watch 10-15 main channels, and then view the regional channels. They expect the sale of 'My Pack' and add-on packages to boost our ARPU significantly.
Sun Direct today expects its average revenue per user (ARPU) to rise to Rs 125-130 in six months as customers buy more add-on packages. Currently, the ARPU is Rs 90.
At the current ARPU (average revenue per user) of Rs 90, and if the rupee-dollar stabilises at current levels, then they can expect to break-even in five to five and half years.
Today, they take pride in saying that they have changed the pricing dynamics of DTH industry and have set new benchmarks. Sun Direct packages are customized in such a way that the subscriber pays only for what they see. Sun network vision is to make DTH truly a common mans product, services and bouquet of packages are value for money
Market Review
Of the 120 million TV homes in India at present, 80 million are cable and satellite (C&S) homes. Out of these, 14 million homes have DTH connections,(At present, there are five DTH players in the Indian market, with the four private operators having a combined subscriber base of about 7.5 million) of that, DD Direct+ takes 50 per cent (seven million homes) market share. DishTV is at No. 2 with 3.6 million connections, Tata Sky at No. 3 with 2.3 million, followed by the eight month old Sun Direct at No. 4.
Analysis reports on the media and entertainment industry predict that by 2012, India will have about 30 million DTH connections. But as of now, the segment is characterised by high customer acquisition and marketing costs.
DTH is perhaps the fastest-growing consumer segment after mobile phones, defying the slowdown by adding nearly a million subscribers in October and then again in November. That's nearly twice the number added in May-June. Even if the addition rate falls a trifle, the DTH subscription base, about 9.5 million now, could cross 20 million by the end of 2009. Of the current market, Dish claims to have 4.7 million, which translates into a share of nearly 50 per cent, Tata Sky 3 million, Sun Direct 2 million and Big TV a million.
The growth potential remains huge. Of the 220 million households in India, 125 million have a television set. Of those, only 85 million have cable connections and 9.5 million have DTH. "We are an alternative to the cable operator. The growth will come from the cable-dry areas as well as from the cable-frustrated consumers," says Kapoor, whose group also has a cable operator in Wire & Wireless India Ltd.
However, the industry is creaking under a loss burden; the total figure may cross Rs 2,000 crore this financial year, double of what it was in 2007-08, when the market was serviced by only Dish and Tata Sky. Hong Kong-based international media research agency Media Partners Asia says these two and Sun Direct will have combined losses of $350 million, while Big TV and Airtel DTH will have $100 million.
Also, in all the other markets, companies are able to offer something unique. Here, DTH players are competing not just with themselves, but also with the 14,000 cable operators.
Given that the increased competition has halved the initial cost to the consumer to Rs 2,000 and under, the average revenue per user, or ARPU, languishes at an industry average of about Rs 180. The industry is ridden with service tax, value-added tax, licence fee per subscriber, and entertainment tax, which together take away 40 per cent of the price paid by the consumer.
The direct-to-home (DTH) industry believes its losses will double if the government fails to provide sops, like reduction in licence fee and relief from multiple taxation.
Most DTH players import their set-top boxes (STB) and sell their products at a discounted price to consumers in a bid to grab larger volumes. A MPEG2 STB could cost a company between $32-50 and its consumer acquisition cost is around Rs 2,600-5,000 per STB for the DTH players.
Similarly, MPEG4 STB could cost a firm between $50-62 taking the subscriber acquisition cost for a DTH player up to Rs 5,600 per set top box.
Segmenting, Targeting & Positioning (STP)
Segmentation of the markets is done as follows:
DEMOGRAPHICS:
• Age: 22 onwards
• Gender: M & F
• Socio Economic Class (SEC): middle class onwards.
• Occupation : working class
• Education : no bar
PSYCHOGRAHICS:
“VALUE FOR MONEY “- the target market wants total satisfaction for the investment and the add on benefits are like icing on the cake……
Geographic:
SUN DIRECT DTH initially launched in Tamil Nadu –southern part of India. They slowly moved ahead in the various southern states and now are trying to capture the whole India state by state.
Positioning:-
The positioning statement of sun direct DTH service is as follows:
“You only pay for what you watch.”
Competitive Overview
Dish TV and Tata Sky, the country’s two direct-to-home (DTH) companies are expected to post losses in excess of Rs 1,400 Crores for 2007-08 in their quest to expand the market by offering set-top boxes at subsidised rates. The companies have over five million subscriber homes across the country collectively.
Tata Sky will soon cross the 2-million DTH subscriber mark, while its rival Dish TV recently went past the 3 million user mark. For 2008-09, analysts project a DTH customer base in access of 8 million.
Apart from Sun Direct, Two big players all set to enter the DTH sector this year (with new technology offerings), the companies expect losses to go up further this financial year. Big TV (Reliance ADAG) and Bharti Airtel also plan the similar type MPEG 4 set-top boxes, which provide higher quality pictures.
Both Big TV and Bharti are expected to bundle a number of value-added services such as Movie-on-Demand, Games, Internet and Telephone Service.
Recently Consumer Durables heavyweight, Videocon is making a pitch for the direct-to-home (DTH) market through its media arm Bharat Business Channel.
The industry expects the DTH market to hit the 10 million subscriber base mark by the end of this financial year. According to experts, DTH players will take five to six years to break even.
DISH TV
Owner: Essel Group by ZEE
Encoding: MPEG-2
Channels: 140 TV, 4 Radio including 6 PPV MOD channels (50 TV & 21 Radio receivable from DD Direct Plus) + Interactive Channels
Advantages: First private operator to launch DTH service in India, user-friendly affordable packages based on regional languages, Carries DD Direct Plus channel in its EPG
Disadvantages: Slow in adding newly launched channels, NEO sports channels not available, not at par in customer service (as per various forums), delay in updating website
Dish started its service in 2002, though the official launch happened the following year. At that time, it showed mainly the Zee bouquet, Doodarshan's channels, Stat Plus, Sony and some regional ones. This limited its appeal and Dish focused mainly on areas that did not have cable connections, which in industry jargon are called cable-dry areas. Dish TV is raising funds through a rights issue and has fixed the price at Rs 22 per equity share.
These included some of the remotest parts, including Drass in the Himalayan range. Since DTH needs limited infrastructure — if any one have a source of power, a television and a set up box, they can connected — Dish became an alternative for viewers whose options were otherwise limited to Doordarshan's terrestrial service.
With time, some popular non-Zee channels, like HBO, came on the Dish platform, by 2006 it still had no more than a million subscribers. That was when Tata Sky was forced by regulation to make its channels available to Dish.
Dish TV has launched a premiere channel on its 'Movie on Demand' service. The direct-to-home operator will broadcast Hollywood and Bollywood movies on this channel within weeks of their theatrical release. As part of this plan, Dish TV premiered the latest Bollywood blockbuster – Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye within 26 days of its theatrical release.
Were users can pay a small amount, which is smaller than the rental for a DVD, and catch the movie at any of the six or so slots during the day, or every time if they so desire. These films are shown without a break for commercials. That will continue. The change Dish has planned is to take sponsorship for these movies; sponsors' advertisements can be aired before the film begins and after it ends. It has already started charging a carriage fee from channels, just like cable operators do, which ranges between Rs 3 crore and Rs 6 crore a year.
Bereft of conventional first-mover advantages, Dish TV is striving to stay ahead with depth and width. It is time to monetise both, and then some.
Dish still considers itself in an advantageous position vis-à-vis the rivals. As on March 31, 2008, Dish had a loss of Rs 600 crore but other DTH services suffered three times as much. Their advantage was that they grew their infrastructure as well as in volume. The others came in with huge investments in infrastructure and technology. Their technology and set top boxes are more expensive but not necessarily better. Some of them made huge losses as they had chosen expensive vendors.
Dish TV has an edge over its competitors in that it has 14 transponders (transmission hardware) – other competitors have about seven to eight only – which give it the capability to carry more channels. It is in the process of launching its own satellite, too, and claims that it will be in a position to beam more than 400 channels in the next 12 months.
Also, Dish TV has tied up with Shaadi.com to provide a matrimonial channel to its users.
DD Direct Plus
Owner: Prasarbharti (Public Broadcaster)
Encoding: MPEG-2
Channels: 50 TV, 21 Radio
Advantages: Completely Free (Free to Air), Good Audio/Video quality, Can be received any parts on India and neighboring countries, Users can also enjoy local AIR audio channels in part of country, Carries many popular Hindi music channels
Disadvantages: Mostly DD channels and less popular Hindi private channels, appears monotonous as mostly carrying music & news channels, very slow in adding new channels, no EPG, no interactive services
State-owned Prasar Bharati's DTH service DD Direct Plus is the only free-to-air service, where consumers do not pay any monthly subscription fees.According to sources, DD Direct Plus has a subscriber base of about 3-4 million subscribers, mostly in the remote corners of the country not connected by terrestrial or cable television.
BIG TV
Owner: Reliance ADA group
Encoding: MPEG-4
Channels: 186 TV including 30 PPV MOD channels, 10 Radio + Interactive Channels
Advantages: Uses MPEG-4 encoding, carries more number of channels then any other operator, Carries more number on PPV channels, Carries most of popular GEC, Movies & Sports channels
Disadvantages: Confusing channel packaging for beginner users, may end up costlier if channel package not selected wisely
The ADAG group company Reliance Communications officially announced the launch of “Big TV DTH” service across India in 6,500 towns on 19th of August 2008. It used the slogan “TV HO TOH BIG TV HO” for its launch. Big TV will offer around 200 channels in the initial days and will increase them to around 250 channels. Big TV offer 20 dedicated movie channels and 10 interactive channels and gaming channels. Also provided around 32 Pay per View Cinema Channels through the service. Also offered are the various Radio channels. In the near future the company plans to increase the number of channels to 400. It is also thinking of bringing HD technology for television transmission to India. Out of all the DTH services in India it was launched at the 5th number.
Big TV set a target of 40% market share within 1 year for its launch. Dish TV is the current market leader with 3.5 million subscribers. Sun Direct and Big TV are the only platforms that are now available on high quality MPEG-4 technology.
AIRTEL TV
With the launch of Airtel's 'Digital TV' ,October, 2008, the new direct-to-home (DTH) service from the telecom operator has become the sixth DTH service provider and the second to launch its service this year behind Reliance ADA group's Big TV. Others in the category include Dish TV, Tata Sky, Sun Direct and DD Direct Plus.
Airtel's Digital TV has been available to the consumers across 62 towns initially.
Airtel's DTH services offer 175 channels and are distributed to its potential customers through 21,000 retail points including Airtel’s relationship centres.
Initially, the company had introduced three different packages for the North and Southern markets. For the Northern market, the package starts from Rs 2,499 and for the South, the package would start from Rs 1,499. Depending on the language and genre of channels, the monthly tariffs would range from Rs 125 to Rs 424, the company said.
Airtel digital TV uses the latest MPEG4 standard with DVB S2 technology for exceptional picture clarity and high quality audio, and High Definition ready interactive content. They also claim a 20% larger dish antenna ensures better performance during rain. In addition Airtel digital TV introduces some great new features that will encourage DTH users of other services to switch.
• Universal remote - that works for both Set Top Box and TV
• Highest Set Top Box memory - meaning more interactive applications
• World space Radio - integrated satellite radio for music fans
• Interactive applications - iMatinee (Book cinema tickets), Travel (book travel packages), iShop (Shop on TV), iCity (Get city information)
• High quality games - refreshed every 6 weeks
• Audio gain control - ensures uniform audio levels across all channels
• On screen account meter - keep track of monthly expenses
• Last viewed channel - restored after power disruption/switch off
• Low battery indicator - Time to recharge.
Bharti Airtel, India's leading integrated telecom services provider, has also announced that it has entered into an innovation and technology partnership with Infosys Technologies Limited (Infosys), to deliver superior customer experience to the customers of Airtel digital TV, its Direct To Home (DTH) TV service. As part of its Digital Convergence Platform, Infosys will provide a suite of products including devices, application servers and interactive applications that will focus on providing an enhanced digital lifestyle to Airtel digital TV customers.
TATA SKY DTH SERVICE
Owner: TATA (80%) and SKY (20%)
Encoding: MPEG-2
Channels: 147 TV including 6 PPV MOD channels, 0 Radio + Interactive Channels
Advantages: Good Audio/Video quality, fast package activation & account recharge, aggressive in adding newly launched channels, EPG in Hindi
Disadvantages: Costlier compared to other service providers, Lack of language based channel packaging, missing few ZEE channels & ZEE SPORTS, Missing popular music channels, No Audio channels
The company is the result of a joint venture agreement between India’s Tata Group and STAR TV. The Tata group holds an 80% stake in the company whereas the STAR TV network owns a 20% stake in the company.
Tata Sky–which launched its national satellite TV service on 15th August, 2006 and now claims to have over 2.7 million subscribers (it projects that it will have 8 million by 2012. The company various from other ITV infrastructure technologies like PVR's recording and playback features will allow the subscribers to time-shift their TV viewing, and, thanks to the pause and rewind features, viewers can be sure that they won't miss any of their favorite shows any more, and that they can catch all the action in live TV broadcasts.
Direct to home (DTH) service company Tata Sky has planned to launch a region-specific advertising model, in order to develop alternative revenue sources. The model will allow brands to focus tele-advertising on consumers in target localities rather than use a one-ad-fits-all option. Tata Sky is already in talks with consumer durable makers, car companies and mutual funds for this .There can be state-specific ads or even locality-specific promos.
For Tata Sky, the movie on demand service has not been a great revenue generator. According to them people are content watching a pirated movie on the cable system, even though half the screen is covered with an ad strip. And in any case people believe that the movie will premiere on television after six months. To change this perception, Tata Sky has been working on two fronts. One, to approach the producers and release movies simultaneously on Tata Sky, and two, to educate the customer about the ad free movie experience. Most of Tata Sky’s advertising was about its interactive services. Recently, it took on film actor Aamir Khan, who stands for exclusivity and perfection, as its brand ambassador. The focus of the campaign with Khan is to establish the pedigree of Tata Sky.
Company provides around 140 channels which can easily be acquired from Tata sky. There are some local channels and some international channels as well. It’s actually the combination of the channels that is one of the reasons behind the popularity of Tata sky
In the last quarter of the present Year, 2008 the company also announced its new service, the Tata sky Plus. This new service makes it possible to record almost 45 hours of STB which is fully MPEG-4 compatible. It has a remote with complete playback controls to playback the recorded footage. The company recently tied up with BharatMatrimony.com to provide a matrimonial channel to its users.
Strengths, Weakness, opportunity & Threat (SWOT)
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunity
Threats
1. Company/product reputation MPEG 4 ENCODING TECHNOLOGY DISTRIBUTION THEY CAN OFFER ON CREDIT,MOVIES ON DEMAND COULD BE USED TATA SKY, BIG TV, DIGITAL TV,DISH TV
2. Market share 65% CAPTURE IN SOUTHERN INDIA NEW PLAYER IN THE MARKET THEIR PRICING STRATEGY GIVES THEM A CHANCE TO GROW LANGUIDITY IN DISTRIBUTION
3. Product's ability to meet market needs ”YOU ONLY PAY FOR WHAT YOU WATCH”- POSITIONING STATEMENT NO MOVIES ARE PROVIDED ON DEMAND THEY CAN IMPROVE ON ENTERTAINMENT PACKAGES ENTERTAINMENT PACKAGES PROVIDED BY OTHER DTH SERVICES
4. Product's ability to meet market trends WIRELESS AND MPEG-4 ENCODING TECHNOLOGY NO CHILD LOCK FACILITY AND LIVE TELECAST OF PILGRIMAGE ENTERTAINMENT IS THE NEED OF THE MARKET AND SO THEY CAN USE THIS STRATEGY BIG DTH SERVICE PROVIDES MOVIES ON RENTS,TATA SKY GIVES GAMING SESSIONS AND ALSO CHILD LEARNING SESSIONS.
5. Customer service and support quality - POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE OUTLETS AND SERVICE CENTERS IN THE CITY ALL OTHER COMPETITORS HAVE STRONG CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP.
Marketing Mix
1. Price :
SUN DIRECT DTH is an economical product and can be afforded by middle class onwards in the SEC category. The product is worth Rs.499 and Rs.999 is the installation charges. User of SUN DIRECT DTH pays Rs.99 as a monthly rental. It is less than other DTH services and cable operators. They also have packages starting from Rs.99
2. Product :
The product is DTH (Direct to Home), newly launched service in India.
This segment is pre-occupied by many well known brands. It includes Tata, Reliance,
Airtel and Zee network. Now, sun Network has entered this category with SUN DIRECT
DTH. Sun Direct DTH has come with the most updated and innovative technology
named MPEG-4 and to top it all it is wireless which is the latest trend of the market.
3. Place :
The distribution network of Sun Direct DTH has slowly grown from Tamil Nadu to the other south Indian states. After six months of launch it decided to expand all over the country. In North, Delhi was the first state were Sun Direct DTH aimed to launch and then spread all over the country. Now it is easily available throughout the country.
4. Promotion :
Sun direct uses above the line promotion strategy where it includes Television as main advertising tool then Magazine, news paper and outdoor hoardings, radio jingles as below the line promotions.
Communication Strategy
1. Positioning system: It positioned itself as “You only pay, for what you watch”
2. USP(Unique selling proposition):-
Sun Direct claims itself as the most innovative and updated dth service by
providing ‘MPEG-4and wireless technology
30% Action
Role of Advertising and Implementation
Advertising is the most vital tool used by Sun Direct DTH for promotion. Their print ad speaks loud on the different packages offered ranging from Rs.10 to Rs.150.The print ad pattern is the same throughout except the language. The TVC is quiet dominant on the pricing strategy. The AD budget is 120 crores and is quiet a huge amount to be invested by a new player in the market. They have used different media mix for promotions like the electronic, print, interactive, direct marketing etc.
The mad scramble for eyeballs has already resulted in some high decibel advertising and a promotional blitzkrieg. Prasoon Joshi, executive chairman, McCann Erickson India, the agency handling the Sun Direct account, acknowledges the competition in the DTH arena. It’s a cut throat business as it’s an emerging category and all players want top-of-mind recall.
Mean while the TVC created by McCann Erickson, is expected to raise eyebrows because of its ‘direct’ resemblance to the Bajaj XCD DTS-Si TVC, created by O&M.The Bajaj TVC featured two men on motorbikes at a traffic signal, discussing the attributes of their respective bikes. The Sun Direct TVC has one of the men fixing a dish on the terrace of his building, when another man comes and asks him if he has got a new dish. The two start discussing DTH features, such as the number of channels, kinds of channels, and so on. In the end, it emerges that the one fixing the dish has got a much better deal because he has paid less than half the price for more features. A spokesperson from McCann Erickson, Chennai doesn’t deny the resemblance. The Bajaj ad is extremely easy to relate and has been loved by Indian Audiences. The market presented with an Opportunity with the Bajaj ad and they built up on it. Company believes that it’s a kind of spoof which conveys the message aptly in a humorous manner.
TVC storyboards
Agency: McCann Erickson
We see a man standing on his roof installing a Dish antennae while his neighbour starts a conversation with him. The neighbour asks the man about the new Dish and says he also got a new one which shows 65 channels. The man replies, "Arre ye to mera zyada hai, 130".
The neighbour is a little taken aback and asks if he receives Zee, Star Plus & Colors and the man says he gets more channels than that. The man asks how much he bought it for and the neighbour says he took it for Rs. 2490. The man says he bought it for Rs. 499 only, while his neighbour has a shocked expression.
VO: "Sun Direct DTH....sirf 499 mein 5 mahine ka subscription...set top box aur dish bhi free.." The ad ends with the Super: Ghar ghar mein sun, tan tana tan.
Print Ad (Tamil)
Print Ad (Offer Notice)
Print Ad (English)
SUN DIRECT DTH
MEDIA PLANNING CHART
Media Planning
Television
Genre Channel # Spots
Genre
Mass Hindi Star Plus Mass Hindi 196
Zee TV Mass Hindi 143
Sahara One Mass Hindi 108
DD National DD1 DD National 32
Lifestyle Zoom Lifestyle 210
Hindi Movies Zee Cinema Hindi Movies 261
Filmy Hindi Movies 170
Star Gold Hindi Movies 265
Hindi News Aaj Tak Hindi News 618
Tez Hindi News 280
Dilli Aaj Tak Delhi Regional News 280
Star News Hindi News 441
Zee News Hindi News 364
NDTV India Hindi News 203
English News Times Now English News 488
UTV I Business News 274
NDTV 24x7 English News 493
Headlines Today English News 280
Business News NDTV Profit Business News 422
Zee Business Business News 307
Music MTV Music 216
Music India Music 273
Eng Movies Star Movies English Movies 235
Zee Studio English Movies 118
Infotainment Nat Geo 341
Discovery Nature/Infotainment 327
Regional Zee Marathi Maharashtra Regional 54
Etv Marathi Maharashtra Regional 33
Etv Gujrati 147
OTV Orissa Regional 80
ETV Bangla Bengali Regional 173
Aakash Bangla 164
Zee Bangla Bengali Regional 135
DD 7 Bangla 54
Star Ananda Bengali Regional 160
24 Ghante TV 104
PTC News Punjabi Regional 138
DD Lucknow 37
South Regional Gemini TV AP Regional 56
Eenadu TV AP Regional 146
Etv 2 News AP Regional 105
TV9 Telugu AP Regional 180
Zee Telugu AP Regional 140
Teja TV AP Regional 64
ETV Kannada Karnataka Regional 185
Udaya TV Karnataka Regional 59
TV9 Karnataka Karnataka Regional 138
Sun TV TN Regional 101
KTV TN Regional 136
Kalaignar TV TN Regional 114
Mega TV TN Regional 87
Vijay TV TN Regional 85
Asianet Kerala Regional 93
Surya TV Kerala Regional 81
Asianet Plus Kerala Regional 126
DD4 Malayalam DD Regional 20
Grand Total 10540
Media plan (Hoarding-Outdoor)
Hording Area/ Location Time period for which the hoarding will be placed Total cost of the hoarding for that period
1 lower Parel (Phoenix mills) Big Bazar Parking lot 2 months 1,25,000 Lac per month
2 Haji Ali Opposite Haji Ali juice centre 2 months 2,00,000 approximately
3 Bandra (west), 2 months 2,00,000 lac per month
4 Sion Signal above Gondlegar hospital 2 months 1,00,000 per month
5 MARINE DRIVE 2 months 2,00,000/PER MONTH
6 DADAR TT 2 months 1,20,000/PER MONTH
7 MAHIM {CAUSE WAY} 2 months 2,00,000/PER MONTH
8 PRABHADEVI 2 months 2,00,000/PER MONTH
9 WORLI 2 months 1,20,000/PER MONTH
10 ANDHERI 2 months 1,20,000/PER MONTH
11 CHEMBUR 2 months only on request
Media plan (News Paper)
Newspapers Section Ad size 1 mnth 2 mnth 3 mnth 4 mnth 5 mnth 6 mnth Total Ads
Hindustan Times Front page Quarter Page 6 8 7 8 9 8 47
Indian Express Political Quarter Page 15 21 23 20 20 20 119
Navbharat Times Main News Quarter Page 26 24 21 20 19 22 112
Rajasthan Patrika City Quarter Page 22 17 26 28 25 26 144
Dina thanti Sports Quarter Page 25 23 25 25 25 25 148
Deccan chronicle City Quarter Page 36 30 25 28 29 27 175
Mumbai Mirror Metro Quarter Page 8 9 6 3 7 10 43
Telegraph Politics Quarter Page 4 4 4 4 4 4 24
Gujrat samachar City Quarter Page 28 28 28 28 30 29 171
Lokmat Front page Quarter Page 45 30 24 28 15 30 172
Total 1055
Evaluation:
• Advertising evaluation is done by measuring the direct respone which happens through the toll free number.
• Sales evaluation: - 65% is the market capture in south India and is growing rapidly in other states. The sales figure is somewhere near 4 millions.
Type : Private
Founded : 1992
Headquarters : Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Industry : DTH Pay TV
Product : Direct broadcast satellite
Sun TV Network is a Rs 16000-crore (4 Billion $) Indian cable television network based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1993, it offers a plethora of television channels in 4 languages covering the whole of southern India. It was the first fully privately owned Tamil channel in India when it emerged in 1993. Its serials and soaps have generated the maximum TRP for viewership all over India, making it the most popular network of channels in India. Till 2007 coupled with the DMK-backed Karunanidhi family, it was the largest political-media family in India till the split in November 2005.
All its channels occupy the top spots in their respective languages. Sun TV, in Tamil is the Network's flagship and most popular channel. Being the premier channel, Sun TV is often used to refer to the Sun TV Network in general.
Kalanithi Maran is the Chairman and Managing Director of media giant Sun Network and has been given various awards including the CNBC "Business Excellence Award" in 2005. Sun Network also offers FM Radio Stations ( 93.5 FM ) It has 45 FM Radio Stations and has recently forayed into the print business. In addition, it has also recently launched a DTH satellite television service entitled Sun Direct.
Sun TV and its sister channels have a dominating share of viewership in Tamil Nadu. Its radio network Suryan has a lion’s share of listenership; its magazine Kungumum and newspaper Dinakaran are leaders. Sun.com is the default page on computer screens across the state since it owns the leading ISP. More than 80 per cent of the state’s population decides on how to vote, where to shop, what to buy based on the news, information and entertainment coming from the Sun Group.".
History and Ownership
Its ownership lies in the hands of Kalanidhi Maran who is related to Karunanidhi, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and head of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). It was the first fully privately owned Tamil channel in India when it emerged in 1993.
Sun Network offers 20 television channels in four languages, generally targeting southern Indian viewers. Although its main presence is in Tamil, it has channels in other languages also. Various networks are also available abroad for international viewers.
The channel offerings are as follows:
Channel Type
Sun TV Tamil Entertainment Channel
KTV Tamil Movie Channel
Sun Music Tamil Music Channel
Sun News Tamil News Channel
Chutti TV Tamil Kids Channel
Comedy Thirai Tamil Comedy Channel
Udaya TV Kannada Entertainment Channel
Udaya Movies Kannada Movie Channel
U 2 Kannada Music Channel
Udaya Varthegalu Kannada Documentary Channel
Chintu TV Kannada Kids Channel
Haasya Tere Kannada Comedy Channel
Gemini TV Telugu Entertainment Channel
Teja TV Telugu Movie Channel
Gemini Music Telugu Music Channel
Gemini News Telugu News Channel
Gemini Kids Telugu Kids Channel
Navulla Tera Telugu Commedy Channel
Surya TV Malayalam Entertainment Channel
Kiran TV Malayalam Music Channel
Kochu TV Malayalam Kids Channel
Chiri Thirai Malayalam Comedy Channel
Film Production
Sun Network has also ventured into producing tamil films from September 2008. The production venture is named Sun Pictures Pvt. Ltd. It plans to produce at least 10 feature films each in three languages - Tamil, Telugu and Kannada annually through Sun Pictures. Sun TV Network has signed up with all leading players, including stars, directors and music directors in the Tamil film industry .The move to directly get into film production is a natural extension for Sun, which has acquired almost 80 per cent of all the movies in the southern regional markets for well over a decade. Films produced or in production under this banner are:
Year Film Cast Language Box-Office
2008 Kadhalil Vizhunthen
Nakul, Sunaina
Tamil Super Hit
2008 Thenavattu
Jeeva, Poonam Bajwa, Ganja Karuppu Tamil Hit
2008 Dindugal Sarathi
Karunas, Kaarthika
Tamil Super Hit
2009 Padikhadhavan
Dhanush, Tamana
Tamil
2009 Siva Manasula Sakthi
Jeeva, Anuya, Santhanam, Urvashi
Tamil
2009 Thee
Tamil
2009 Pookada Ravi
Tamil
2010 Endhiran
Rajinikanth, Aishwarya Rai
Tamil,Telugu
FM Radio Stations
Tamil FM Stations
Radio Station Area Frequency
Suryan FM
Chennai
93.5 MHz
Suryan FM
Coimbatore
93.5 MHz
Suryan FM
Madurai
93.5 MHz
Suryan FM
Pondicherry
93.5 MHz
Suryan FM
Tirunelveli
93.5 MHz
Suryan FM
Tuticorin
93.5 MHz
Suryan FM
Trichy
93.5 MHz
Malayalam FM Stations
Radio Station Area Frequency
S FM
Thiruvananthapuram
93.5 MHz
S FM
Trissur
93.5 MHz
S FM
Kannur
93.5 MHz
S FM
Kozhikode
93.5 MHz
S FM
Kochi
93.5 MHz
Telugu FM Station
Radio Station Area Frequency
S FM
Vishakapatnam
93.5 MHz
S FM
Hyderabad
93.5 MHz
S FM
Tirupati
93.5 MHz
S FM
Vijayawada
93.5 MHz
S FM
Rajamundry
93.5 MHz
S FM
Warangal
93.5 MHz
Kannada FM Station
Radio Station Area Frequency
S FM
Bangalore
93.5 MHz
S FM
Mangalore
93.5 MHz
S FM
Mysore
93.5 MHz
S FM
Gulbarga
93.5 MHz
Hindi / Other Language FM Station
Radio Station Area Frequency
S FM
Jaipur
93.5 MHz
S FM
Bhubaneshwar
93.5 MHz
S FM
Lucknow
93.5 MHz
S FM
Bhopal
93.5 MHz
S FM
Indore
93.5 MHz
S FM
Varanasi
93.5 MHz
S FM
Kanpur
93.5 MHz
S FM
Allahabad
93.5 MHz
S FM
Jabalpur
93.5 MHz
S FM
Guwahati
93.5 MHz
S FM
Jamshedpur
93.5 MHz
S FM
Vadodara
93.5 MHz
S FM
Nagpur
93.5 MHz
S FM
Nashik
93.5 MHz
S FM
Pune
93.5 MHz
S FM
Rajkot
93.5 MHz
S FM
Aurangabad
93.5 MHz
S FM
Ahmedabad
93.5 MHz
S FM
Asansol
93.5 MHz
Sun Network in DTH (Direct To Home)
The "SUN Direct", DTH service from the South Indian Media Giant, SUN Network, started on 7th December 2007. The Initial rollout was only in its home land "Tamil Nadu", where they face all hurdles. They were able to launch the product in all over south and have more 2 million subscribers in south India making it the largest and most popular DTH service provider in south India. Kicking off its drive to achieve a pan-India presence, Sun Direct TV Pvt Ltd launched its services in Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Haryana, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and other states of Hindi speaking belt would be targetted in the other phases of expansion.
Sun Direct - India's youngest and most exciting state of the art DTH Company. It is the fastest growing DTH Company in India. It predicts to cross 2 million subscribers within this year end.
Sun Direct uses the latest MPEG-4 based technology to increase broadcast capacity. Sun Direct confirms to provide next-generation services in fast-growing and emerging markets quickly and efficiently. Sun Direct will be supported by Irdeto conditional access solution to manage content and revenues in the satellite broadcasting venture.
As it stands, 120 standard-definition channels are currently available to subscribers, and it is planning to add an undisclosed amount of HD channels in the near future.
Sun Direct, will offer 75 TV channels and 15 radio channels. Both the dish and set-top box would be free, but the company will collect one-time installation charges of Rs999 with a monthly subscription of Rs75, excluding taxes.
Sun Direct is a 80:20 joint venture between Sun TV’s core promoters Kalanidhi Maran, his wife Kaveri Maran and Malaysia-based Astro Group.
Sun Direct selected Oracle based on its convergent multi-service capabilities and proven real-time scalability allowing it to consolidate billing operations, enables powerful new service offerings and improves visibility into customer information across services.
Sun Direct is also ready to offer High Definition Television (HDTV) and it is currently aggregating HDTV content. The DTH service provider hopes to come out with HDTV over next few months.
Product & Business Overview
PRODUCT OVERVIEW:
Owner: SUN group (India) & Astro (Malaysia)
Satellite: Insat 4B at 93.5E
Encryption: Irdeto
Encoding: MPEG-4
Channels: 110 TV, 3 Radio (Some TV/Radio channels from DD Direct+)
Advantages: First operator to use MPEG-4 encoding so can carry more channels, South Indian market targeted hence carry more south Indian channels then other operators, can receive some DD Direct Plus channels as both use same satellite
Disadvantages: No ESPN-STAR SPORTS, NEO channels, no interactive services, less presence in other parts of India
BUSINESS OVERVIEW:
The Kalanidhi Maran and Astro Malaysia backed DTH service launched first in Tamil Nadu at the end of December 2007. They spend close to Rs 7 crores for its marketing and promotions in eastern India. Pan-India, the company would spend Rs 150 crores for marketing.
The company is also targeting close to 40 per cent market share in DTH space in Bengal alone by the end of this fiscal.
Sun Direct has introduced a lot of affordable packages after extensively studying consumer viewing preferences. So this packages has been so design that there is something for everyone to pick.
Sun Direct services are currently available in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and the NCR. The services available in rest of the states from December 8, 2008 onwards. Sun Direct claims to have currently attained a subscriber base of 1.9 million, and intends to reach a subscriber base of 3 million pan-India by March 2009.
Goals and Objectives
MARKETING OBJECTIVES:-
There is no stopping sun direct which is on an expansion spree. Having covered South India and Delhi and the national capital region, the DTH operator is moving to fresh turf. Its pan India rollout has begun and the company hopes to increase its subscriber base to three million by the end of the financial year, from the current two million.
In another three months, the brand was launched in other three south Indian states. The market has witnessed the entry of two DTH players- Airtel and Big-in the last six months.
In the south, sun direct commands 65% of the DTH market. It aims to grab 30-40% of the Mumbai market within a year. It will promote its offering through a television commercial and print ads in all the leading dailies along with merchandising. The core benefit of our product is you only pay for what you watch. The premise is that the DTH is not rich man’s product, it is for everybody.
SALES OBJECTIVES:-
According to Sun Direct estimates, 70 per cent of the viewers watch 10-15 main channels, and then view the regional channels. They expect the sale of 'My Pack' and add-on packages to boost our ARPU significantly.
Sun Direct today expects its average revenue per user (ARPU) to rise to Rs 125-130 in six months as customers buy more add-on packages. Currently, the ARPU is Rs 90.
At the current ARPU (average revenue per user) of Rs 90, and if the rupee-dollar stabilises at current levels, then they can expect to break-even in five to five and half years.
Today, they take pride in saying that they have changed the pricing dynamics of DTH industry and have set new benchmarks. Sun Direct packages are customized in such a way that the subscriber pays only for what they see. Sun network vision is to make DTH truly a common mans product, services and bouquet of packages are value for money
Market Review
Of the 120 million TV homes in India at present, 80 million are cable and satellite (C&S) homes. Out of these, 14 million homes have DTH connections,(At present, there are five DTH players in the Indian market, with the four private operators having a combined subscriber base of about 7.5 million) of that, DD Direct+ takes 50 per cent (seven million homes) market share. DishTV is at No. 2 with 3.6 million connections, Tata Sky at No. 3 with 2.3 million, followed by the eight month old Sun Direct at No. 4.
Analysis reports on the media and entertainment industry predict that by 2012, India will have about 30 million DTH connections. But as of now, the segment is characterised by high customer acquisition and marketing costs.
DTH is perhaps the fastest-growing consumer segment after mobile phones, defying the slowdown by adding nearly a million subscribers in October and then again in November. That's nearly twice the number added in May-June. Even if the addition rate falls a trifle, the DTH subscription base, about 9.5 million now, could cross 20 million by the end of 2009. Of the current market, Dish claims to have 4.7 million, which translates into a share of nearly 50 per cent, Tata Sky 3 million, Sun Direct 2 million and Big TV a million.
The growth potential remains huge. Of the 220 million households in India, 125 million have a television set. Of those, only 85 million have cable connections and 9.5 million have DTH. "We are an alternative to the cable operator. The growth will come from the cable-dry areas as well as from the cable-frustrated consumers," says Kapoor, whose group also has a cable operator in Wire & Wireless India Ltd.
However, the industry is creaking under a loss burden; the total figure may cross Rs 2,000 crore this financial year, double of what it was in 2007-08, when the market was serviced by only Dish and Tata Sky. Hong Kong-based international media research agency Media Partners Asia says these two and Sun Direct will have combined losses of $350 million, while Big TV and Airtel DTH will have $100 million.
Also, in all the other markets, companies are able to offer something unique. Here, DTH players are competing not just with themselves, but also with the 14,000 cable operators.
Given that the increased competition has halved the initial cost to the consumer to Rs 2,000 and under, the average revenue per user, or ARPU, languishes at an industry average of about Rs 180. The industry is ridden with service tax, value-added tax, licence fee per subscriber, and entertainment tax, which together take away 40 per cent of the price paid by the consumer.
The direct-to-home (DTH) industry believes its losses will double if the government fails to provide sops, like reduction in licence fee and relief from multiple taxation.
Most DTH players import their set-top boxes (STB) and sell their products at a discounted price to consumers in a bid to grab larger volumes. A MPEG2 STB could cost a company between $32-50 and its consumer acquisition cost is around Rs 2,600-5,000 per STB for the DTH players.
Similarly, MPEG4 STB could cost a firm between $50-62 taking the subscriber acquisition cost for a DTH player up to Rs 5,600 per set top box.
Segmenting, Targeting & Positioning (STP)
Segmentation of the markets is done as follows:
DEMOGRAPHICS:
• Age: 22 onwards
• Gender: M & F
• Socio Economic Class (SEC): middle class onwards.
• Occupation : working class
• Education : no bar
PSYCHOGRAHICS:
“VALUE FOR MONEY “- the target market wants total satisfaction for the investment and the add on benefits are like icing on the cake……
Geographic:
SUN DIRECT DTH initially launched in Tamil Nadu –southern part of India. They slowly moved ahead in the various southern states and now are trying to capture the whole India state by state.
Positioning:-
The positioning statement of sun direct DTH service is as follows:
“You only pay for what you watch.”
Competitive Overview
Dish TV and Tata Sky, the country’s two direct-to-home (DTH) companies are expected to post losses in excess of Rs 1,400 Crores for 2007-08 in their quest to expand the market by offering set-top boxes at subsidised rates. The companies have over five million subscriber homes across the country collectively.
Tata Sky will soon cross the 2-million DTH subscriber mark, while its rival Dish TV recently went past the 3 million user mark. For 2008-09, analysts project a DTH customer base in access of 8 million.
Apart from Sun Direct, Two big players all set to enter the DTH sector this year (with new technology offerings), the companies expect losses to go up further this financial year. Big TV (Reliance ADAG) and Bharti Airtel also plan the similar type MPEG 4 set-top boxes, which provide higher quality pictures.
Both Big TV and Bharti are expected to bundle a number of value-added services such as Movie-on-Demand, Games, Internet and Telephone Service.
Recently Consumer Durables heavyweight, Videocon is making a pitch for the direct-to-home (DTH) market through its media arm Bharat Business Channel.
The industry expects the DTH market to hit the 10 million subscriber base mark by the end of this financial year. According to experts, DTH players will take five to six years to break even.
DISH TV
Owner: Essel Group by ZEE
Encoding: MPEG-2
Channels: 140 TV, 4 Radio including 6 PPV MOD channels (50 TV & 21 Radio receivable from DD Direct Plus) + Interactive Channels
Advantages: First private operator to launch DTH service in India, user-friendly affordable packages based on regional languages, Carries DD Direct Plus channel in its EPG
Disadvantages: Slow in adding newly launched channels, NEO sports channels not available, not at par in customer service (as per various forums), delay in updating website
Dish started its service in 2002, though the official launch happened the following year. At that time, it showed mainly the Zee bouquet, Doodarshan's channels, Stat Plus, Sony and some regional ones. This limited its appeal and Dish focused mainly on areas that did not have cable connections, which in industry jargon are called cable-dry areas. Dish TV is raising funds through a rights issue and has fixed the price at Rs 22 per equity share.
These included some of the remotest parts, including Drass in the Himalayan range. Since DTH needs limited infrastructure — if any one have a source of power, a television and a set up box, they can connected — Dish became an alternative for viewers whose options were otherwise limited to Doordarshan's terrestrial service.
With time, some popular non-Zee channels, like HBO, came on the Dish platform, by 2006 it still had no more than a million subscribers. That was when Tata Sky was forced by regulation to make its channels available to Dish.
Dish TV has launched a premiere channel on its 'Movie on Demand' service. The direct-to-home operator will broadcast Hollywood and Bollywood movies on this channel within weeks of their theatrical release. As part of this plan, Dish TV premiered the latest Bollywood blockbuster – Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye within 26 days of its theatrical release.
Were users can pay a small amount, which is smaller than the rental for a DVD, and catch the movie at any of the six or so slots during the day, or every time if they so desire. These films are shown without a break for commercials. That will continue. The change Dish has planned is to take sponsorship for these movies; sponsors' advertisements can be aired before the film begins and after it ends. It has already started charging a carriage fee from channels, just like cable operators do, which ranges between Rs 3 crore and Rs 6 crore a year.
Bereft of conventional first-mover advantages, Dish TV is striving to stay ahead with depth and width. It is time to monetise both, and then some.
Dish still considers itself in an advantageous position vis-à-vis the rivals. As on March 31, 2008, Dish had a loss of Rs 600 crore but other DTH services suffered three times as much. Their advantage was that they grew their infrastructure as well as in volume. The others came in with huge investments in infrastructure and technology. Their technology and set top boxes are more expensive but not necessarily better. Some of them made huge losses as they had chosen expensive vendors.
Dish TV has an edge over its competitors in that it has 14 transponders (transmission hardware) – other competitors have about seven to eight only – which give it the capability to carry more channels. It is in the process of launching its own satellite, too, and claims that it will be in a position to beam more than 400 channels in the next 12 months.
Also, Dish TV has tied up with Shaadi.com to provide a matrimonial channel to its users.
DD Direct Plus
Owner: Prasarbharti (Public Broadcaster)
Encoding: MPEG-2
Channels: 50 TV, 21 Radio
Advantages: Completely Free (Free to Air), Good Audio/Video quality, Can be received any parts on India and neighboring countries, Users can also enjoy local AIR audio channels in part of country, Carries many popular Hindi music channels
Disadvantages: Mostly DD channels and less popular Hindi private channels, appears monotonous as mostly carrying music & news channels, very slow in adding new channels, no EPG, no interactive services
State-owned Prasar Bharati's DTH service DD Direct Plus is the only free-to-air service, where consumers do not pay any monthly subscription fees.According to sources, DD Direct Plus has a subscriber base of about 3-4 million subscribers, mostly in the remote corners of the country not connected by terrestrial or cable television.
BIG TV
Owner: Reliance ADA group
Encoding: MPEG-4
Channels: 186 TV including 30 PPV MOD channels, 10 Radio + Interactive Channels
Advantages: Uses MPEG-4 encoding, carries more number of channels then any other operator, Carries more number on PPV channels, Carries most of popular GEC, Movies & Sports channels
Disadvantages: Confusing channel packaging for beginner users, may end up costlier if channel package not selected wisely
The ADAG group company Reliance Communications officially announced the launch of “Big TV DTH” service across India in 6,500 towns on 19th of August 2008. It used the slogan “TV HO TOH BIG TV HO” for its launch. Big TV will offer around 200 channels in the initial days and will increase them to around 250 channels. Big TV offer 20 dedicated movie channels and 10 interactive channels and gaming channels. Also provided around 32 Pay per View Cinema Channels through the service. Also offered are the various Radio channels. In the near future the company plans to increase the number of channels to 400. It is also thinking of bringing HD technology for television transmission to India. Out of all the DTH services in India it was launched at the 5th number.
Big TV set a target of 40% market share within 1 year for its launch. Dish TV is the current market leader with 3.5 million subscribers. Sun Direct and Big TV are the only platforms that are now available on high quality MPEG-4 technology.
AIRTEL TV
With the launch of Airtel's 'Digital TV' ,October, 2008, the new direct-to-home (DTH) service from the telecom operator has become the sixth DTH service provider and the second to launch its service this year behind Reliance ADA group's Big TV. Others in the category include Dish TV, Tata Sky, Sun Direct and DD Direct Plus.
Airtel's Digital TV has been available to the consumers across 62 towns initially.
Airtel's DTH services offer 175 channels and are distributed to its potential customers through 21,000 retail points including Airtel’s relationship centres.
Initially, the company had introduced three different packages for the North and Southern markets. For the Northern market, the package starts from Rs 2,499 and for the South, the package would start from Rs 1,499. Depending on the language and genre of channels, the monthly tariffs would range from Rs 125 to Rs 424, the company said.
Airtel digital TV uses the latest MPEG4 standard with DVB S2 technology for exceptional picture clarity and high quality audio, and High Definition ready interactive content. They also claim a 20% larger dish antenna ensures better performance during rain. In addition Airtel digital TV introduces some great new features that will encourage DTH users of other services to switch.
• Universal remote - that works for both Set Top Box and TV
• Highest Set Top Box memory - meaning more interactive applications
• World space Radio - integrated satellite radio for music fans
• Interactive applications - iMatinee (Book cinema tickets), Travel (book travel packages), iShop (Shop on TV), iCity (Get city information)
• High quality games - refreshed every 6 weeks
• Audio gain control - ensures uniform audio levels across all channels
• On screen account meter - keep track of monthly expenses
• Last viewed channel - restored after power disruption/switch off
• Low battery indicator - Time to recharge.
Bharti Airtel, India's leading integrated telecom services provider, has also announced that it has entered into an innovation and technology partnership with Infosys Technologies Limited (Infosys), to deliver superior customer experience to the customers of Airtel digital TV, its Direct To Home (DTH) TV service. As part of its Digital Convergence Platform, Infosys will provide a suite of products including devices, application servers and interactive applications that will focus on providing an enhanced digital lifestyle to Airtel digital TV customers.
TATA SKY DTH SERVICE
Owner: TATA (80%) and SKY (20%)
Encoding: MPEG-2
Channels: 147 TV including 6 PPV MOD channels, 0 Radio + Interactive Channels
Advantages: Good Audio/Video quality, fast package activation & account recharge, aggressive in adding newly launched channels, EPG in Hindi
Disadvantages: Costlier compared to other service providers, Lack of language based channel packaging, missing few ZEE channels & ZEE SPORTS, Missing popular music channels, No Audio channels
The company is the result of a joint venture agreement between India’s Tata Group and STAR TV. The Tata group holds an 80% stake in the company whereas the STAR TV network owns a 20% stake in the company.
Tata Sky–which launched its national satellite TV service on 15th August, 2006 and now claims to have over 2.7 million subscribers (it projects that it will have 8 million by 2012. The company various from other ITV infrastructure technologies like PVR's recording and playback features will allow the subscribers to time-shift their TV viewing, and, thanks to the pause and rewind features, viewers can be sure that they won't miss any of their favorite shows any more, and that they can catch all the action in live TV broadcasts.
Direct to home (DTH) service company Tata Sky has planned to launch a region-specific advertising model, in order to develop alternative revenue sources. The model will allow brands to focus tele-advertising on consumers in target localities rather than use a one-ad-fits-all option. Tata Sky is already in talks with consumer durable makers, car companies and mutual funds for this .There can be state-specific ads or even locality-specific promos.
For Tata Sky, the movie on demand service has not been a great revenue generator. According to them people are content watching a pirated movie on the cable system, even though half the screen is covered with an ad strip. And in any case people believe that the movie will premiere on television after six months. To change this perception, Tata Sky has been working on two fronts. One, to approach the producers and release movies simultaneously on Tata Sky, and two, to educate the customer about the ad free movie experience. Most of Tata Sky’s advertising was about its interactive services. Recently, it took on film actor Aamir Khan, who stands for exclusivity and perfection, as its brand ambassador. The focus of the campaign with Khan is to establish the pedigree of Tata Sky.
Company provides around 140 channels which can easily be acquired from Tata sky. There are some local channels and some international channels as well. It’s actually the combination of the channels that is one of the reasons behind the popularity of Tata sky
In the last quarter of the present Year, 2008 the company also announced its new service, the Tata sky Plus. This new service makes it possible to record almost 45 hours of STB which is fully MPEG-4 compatible. It has a remote with complete playback controls to playback the recorded footage. The company recently tied up with BharatMatrimony.com to provide a matrimonial channel to its users.
Strengths, Weakness, opportunity & Threat (SWOT)
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunity
Threats
1. Company/product reputation MPEG 4 ENCODING TECHNOLOGY DISTRIBUTION THEY CAN OFFER ON CREDIT,MOVIES ON DEMAND COULD BE USED TATA SKY, BIG TV, DIGITAL TV,DISH TV
2. Market share 65% CAPTURE IN SOUTHERN INDIA NEW PLAYER IN THE MARKET THEIR PRICING STRATEGY GIVES THEM A CHANCE TO GROW LANGUIDITY IN DISTRIBUTION
3. Product's ability to meet market needs ”YOU ONLY PAY FOR WHAT YOU WATCH”- POSITIONING STATEMENT NO MOVIES ARE PROVIDED ON DEMAND THEY CAN IMPROVE ON ENTERTAINMENT PACKAGES ENTERTAINMENT PACKAGES PROVIDED BY OTHER DTH SERVICES
4. Product's ability to meet market trends WIRELESS AND MPEG-4 ENCODING TECHNOLOGY NO CHILD LOCK FACILITY AND LIVE TELECAST OF PILGRIMAGE ENTERTAINMENT IS THE NEED OF THE MARKET AND SO THEY CAN USE THIS STRATEGY BIG DTH SERVICE PROVIDES MOVIES ON RENTS,TATA SKY GIVES GAMING SESSIONS AND ALSO CHILD LEARNING SESSIONS.
5. Customer service and support quality - POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE OUTLETS AND SERVICE CENTERS IN THE CITY ALL OTHER COMPETITORS HAVE STRONG CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP.
Marketing Mix
1. Price :
SUN DIRECT DTH is an economical product and can be afforded by middle class onwards in the SEC category. The product is worth Rs.499 and Rs.999 is the installation charges. User of SUN DIRECT DTH pays Rs.99 as a monthly rental. It is less than other DTH services and cable operators. They also have packages starting from Rs.99
2. Product :
The product is DTH (Direct to Home), newly launched service in India.
This segment is pre-occupied by many well known brands. It includes Tata, Reliance,
Airtel and Zee network. Now, sun Network has entered this category with SUN DIRECT
DTH. Sun Direct DTH has come with the most updated and innovative technology
named MPEG-4 and to top it all it is wireless which is the latest trend of the market.
3. Place :
The distribution network of Sun Direct DTH has slowly grown from Tamil Nadu to the other south Indian states. After six months of launch it decided to expand all over the country. In North, Delhi was the first state were Sun Direct DTH aimed to launch and then spread all over the country. Now it is easily available throughout the country.
4. Promotion :
Sun direct uses above the line promotion strategy where it includes Television as main advertising tool then Magazine, news paper and outdoor hoardings, radio jingles as below the line promotions.
Communication Strategy
1. Positioning system: It positioned itself as “You only pay, for what you watch”
2. USP(Unique selling proposition):-
Sun Direct claims itself as the most innovative and updated dth service by
providing ‘MPEG-4and wireless technology
30% Action
Role of Advertising and Implementation
Advertising is the most vital tool used by Sun Direct DTH for promotion. Their print ad speaks loud on the different packages offered ranging from Rs.10 to Rs.150.The print ad pattern is the same throughout except the language. The TVC is quiet dominant on the pricing strategy. The AD budget is 120 crores and is quiet a huge amount to be invested by a new player in the market. They have used different media mix for promotions like the electronic, print, interactive, direct marketing etc.
The mad scramble for eyeballs has already resulted in some high decibel advertising and a promotional blitzkrieg. Prasoon Joshi, executive chairman, McCann Erickson India, the agency handling the Sun Direct account, acknowledges the competition in the DTH arena. It’s a cut throat business as it’s an emerging category and all players want top-of-mind recall.
Mean while the TVC created by McCann Erickson, is expected to raise eyebrows because of its ‘direct’ resemblance to the Bajaj XCD DTS-Si TVC, created by O&M.The Bajaj TVC featured two men on motorbikes at a traffic signal, discussing the attributes of their respective bikes. The Sun Direct TVC has one of the men fixing a dish on the terrace of his building, when another man comes and asks him if he has got a new dish. The two start discussing DTH features, such as the number of channels, kinds of channels, and so on. In the end, it emerges that the one fixing the dish has got a much better deal because he has paid less than half the price for more features. A spokesperson from McCann Erickson, Chennai doesn’t deny the resemblance. The Bajaj ad is extremely easy to relate and has been loved by Indian Audiences. The market presented with an Opportunity with the Bajaj ad and they built up on it. Company believes that it’s a kind of spoof which conveys the message aptly in a humorous manner.
TVC storyboards
Agency: McCann Erickson
We see a man standing on his roof installing a Dish antennae while his neighbour starts a conversation with him. The neighbour asks the man about the new Dish and says he also got a new one which shows 65 channels. The man replies, "Arre ye to mera zyada hai, 130".
The neighbour is a little taken aback and asks if he receives Zee, Star Plus & Colors and the man says he gets more channels than that. The man asks how much he bought it for and the neighbour says he took it for Rs. 2490. The man says he bought it for Rs. 499 only, while his neighbour has a shocked expression.
VO: "Sun Direct DTH....sirf 499 mein 5 mahine ka subscription...set top box aur dish bhi free.." The ad ends with the Super: Ghar ghar mein sun, tan tana tan.
Print Ad (Tamil)
Print Ad (Offer Notice)
Print Ad (English)
SUN DIRECT DTH
MEDIA PLANNING CHART
Media Planning
Television
Genre Channel # Spots
Genre
Mass Hindi Star Plus Mass Hindi 196
Zee TV Mass Hindi 143
Sahara One Mass Hindi 108
DD National DD1 DD National 32
Lifestyle Zoom Lifestyle 210
Hindi Movies Zee Cinema Hindi Movies 261
Filmy Hindi Movies 170
Star Gold Hindi Movies 265
Hindi News Aaj Tak Hindi News 618
Tez Hindi News 280
Dilli Aaj Tak Delhi Regional News 280
Star News Hindi News 441
Zee News Hindi News 364
NDTV India Hindi News 203
English News Times Now English News 488
UTV I Business News 274
NDTV 24x7 English News 493
Headlines Today English News 280
Business News NDTV Profit Business News 422
Zee Business Business News 307
Music MTV Music 216
Music India Music 273
Eng Movies Star Movies English Movies 235
Zee Studio English Movies 118
Infotainment Nat Geo 341
Discovery Nature/Infotainment 327
Regional Zee Marathi Maharashtra Regional 54
Etv Marathi Maharashtra Regional 33
Etv Gujrati 147
OTV Orissa Regional 80
ETV Bangla Bengali Regional 173
Aakash Bangla 164
Zee Bangla Bengali Regional 135
DD 7 Bangla 54
Star Ananda Bengali Regional 160
24 Ghante TV 104
PTC News Punjabi Regional 138
DD Lucknow 37
South Regional Gemini TV AP Regional 56
Eenadu TV AP Regional 146
Etv 2 News AP Regional 105
TV9 Telugu AP Regional 180
Zee Telugu AP Regional 140
Teja TV AP Regional 64
ETV Kannada Karnataka Regional 185
Udaya TV Karnataka Regional 59
TV9 Karnataka Karnataka Regional 138
Sun TV TN Regional 101
KTV TN Regional 136
Kalaignar TV TN Regional 114
Mega TV TN Regional 87
Vijay TV TN Regional 85
Asianet Kerala Regional 93
Surya TV Kerala Regional 81
Asianet Plus Kerala Regional 126
DD4 Malayalam DD Regional 20
Grand Total 10540
Media plan (Hoarding-Outdoor)
Hording Area/ Location Time period for which the hoarding will be placed Total cost of the hoarding for that period
1 lower Parel (Phoenix mills) Big Bazar Parking lot 2 months 1,25,000 Lac per month
2 Haji Ali Opposite Haji Ali juice centre 2 months 2,00,000 approximately
3 Bandra (west), 2 months 2,00,000 lac per month
4 Sion Signal above Gondlegar hospital 2 months 1,00,000 per month
5 MARINE DRIVE 2 months 2,00,000/PER MONTH
6 DADAR TT 2 months 1,20,000/PER MONTH
7 MAHIM {CAUSE WAY} 2 months 2,00,000/PER MONTH
8 PRABHADEVI 2 months 2,00,000/PER MONTH
9 WORLI 2 months 1,20,000/PER MONTH
10 ANDHERI 2 months 1,20,000/PER MONTH
11 CHEMBUR 2 months only on request
Media plan (News Paper)
Newspapers Section Ad size 1 mnth 2 mnth 3 mnth 4 mnth 5 mnth 6 mnth Total Ads
Hindustan Times Front page Quarter Page 6 8 7 8 9 8 47
Indian Express Political Quarter Page 15 21 23 20 20 20 119
Navbharat Times Main News Quarter Page 26 24 21 20 19 22 112
Rajasthan Patrika City Quarter Page 22 17 26 28 25 26 144
Dina thanti Sports Quarter Page 25 23 25 25 25 25 148
Deccan chronicle City Quarter Page 36 30 25 28 29 27 175
Mumbai Mirror Metro Quarter Page 8 9 6 3 7 10 43
Telegraph Politics Quarter Page 4 4 4 4 4 4 24
Gujrat samachar City Quarter Page 28 28 28 28 30 29 171
Lokmat Front page Quarter Page 45 30 24 28 15 30 172
Total 1055
Evaluation:
• Advertising evaluation is done by measuring the direct respone which happens through the toll free number.
• Sales evaluation: - 65% is the market capture in south India and is growing rapidly in other states. The sales figure is somewhere near 4 millions.
