Contents

Page No. Objective...2

Industry Profile Introduction To DTH....3 History of DTH in India5

Company profile Introduction to Tata sky9 Vision12 Area of business...13 Entertainment....15 Achievement..16 Milestone...17 Current players in market share....18 Financial analysis.....20

Product And Services...22 Comparative Analysis of different players in DTH Industry Research Methology..28 SWOT Analysis of the Data..30 Conclusion and suggestions.....32

OBJECTIVE The objective of our project is To analyze the Indian DTH industry. The project is also aimed at studying the different strategies followed by Tata Sky How Tata Sky is increasing its customer base, especially at a time when there is tough competition in the Indian DTH industry? We would be studying the challenges and opportunities present before Tata Sky in Indian DTH industry. The project also gives us the scope to study the extent of dominance of Tata Sky in the market . We would be analyzing the cost structure of Tata Sky, and would be comparing it across different other players in the market.

Comparative Analysis of different players in DTH Industry

INDUSTRY PROFILE
DTH Industry
Introduction With the Indian economy booming at a GDP growth rate of 8.7%, there is sense of growth prevailing everywhere. The average Indians disposable income and purchasing power has risen to never before levels. The Indian Entertainment & Media industry is also not far behind. It is currently estimated at a worth of Rs. 450 billion with a CAGR of 18% over next 5 years. Terms which were alien to Indians like DTH, Digital Cable, and IPTV are suddenly finding presence of countrys journals. India would overtake Japan as Asias largest DTH by next year and be Asias leading cable market by 2010 and the most-profitable Pay-TV market by 2015. This growth presents a lot of interesting scenarios.

With the 'CAS' issue not yet resolved, there's 'DTH' coming up to muddle things up for you and me. Doordarshan will launch its Direct-To-Home telecast from April 1. Broadcasters like Star and Zee are pushing hard for DTH services in India too.

So what is this DTH all about? How, if at all, does it help the customer? Is it good? Let's show some detail for DTH service.

What is DTH? DTH stands for Direct-To-Home television. DTH is defined as the reception of satellite programmers with a personal dish in an individual home. DTH does away with the need for the local cable operator and puts the broadcaster directly in touch with the consumer. Only cable operators can receive satellite programmers and they then distribute them to individual homes. How does DTH work? DTH network consists of a broadcasting centre, satellites, encoders, multiplexers, modulators and DTH receivers. DTH service provider has to lease Ku-band transponders from the satellite. The encoder converts the audio, video and data signals into the digital format and the multiplexer mixes these signals. At the user end, there will be a small dish antenna and set-top boxes to decode and view numerous channels. On the user's end, receiving dishes can be as small as 45 cm in diameter. DTH is an encrypted transmission that travels to the consumer directly through a satellite. DTH transmission is received directly by the consumer at his end through the small dish antenna. A set-top box, unlike the regular cable connection, decodes the encrypted transmission. Tata Sky uplinks channels to its satellite that transmits digital

signals directly to a minidish fixed on the subscriber's balcony, Terrace or outside the window. The minidish relays the signals to Digicomp that decrypts and relays them to the television. A large

building with multiple inhabitants can use a single minidish with individual digicomp at each home. The history of DTH in India DTH services were first proposed in India in 1996. But they did not pass approval because there were concerns over national security and a cultural invasion. In 1997, the government even imposed a ban when the Rupert Murdoch-owned Indian Sky Broadcasting (ISkyB) was about to launch its DTH services in India. Finally in 2000, DTH was allowed. The new policy requires all operators to set up earth stations in India within 12 months of getting a license. DTH licenses in India will cost $2.14 million and will be valid for 10 years. The companies offering DTH service will have to have an Indian chief and foreign equity has been capped at 49 per cent. There is no limit on the number of companies that can apply for the DTH license.

How does DTH really differ from cable TV? The way DTH reaches a consumer's home is different from the way cable TV does. In DTH, TV channels would be transmitted from the satellite to a small dish antenna mounted on the window or rooftop of the subscriber's home. So the broadcaster directly connects to the user. The middlemen like local cable operators are not there in the picture. DTH can also reach the remotest of areas since it does away with the intermediate step of a cable operator and the wires (cables) that come from the cable operator to your house. As we explained above, in DTH signals directly come from the satellite to your DTH dish. Also, with DTH, a user can scan nearly 700 channels! Why DTH is is being discussed now? Doordarshan plans to launch its DTH telecast from April 1. The government has said it will provide 10,000 dishes free across eight states for increased community viewing of the DTH

service. The government is estimated to be investing over Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion) in this DTH venture. There are four serious contenders for DTH services in India: Doordarshan, Star, Zee, and Data Access. Is DTH superior to cable TV? Yes. DTH offers better quality picture than cable TV. This is because cable TV in India is analog. Despite digital transmission and reception, the cable transmission is still analog. DTH offers stereophonic sound effects. It can also reach remote areas where terrestrial transmission and cable TV have failed to penetrate. Apart from enhanced picture quality, DTH has also allows for interactive TV services such as movie-on-demand, Internet access, video conferencing and e-mail. But the thing that DTH has going for it is that the powerful broadcasting companies like Star, Zee, etc are pushing for it. So why are broadcasters pushing for DTH? In DTH, the payments will be made directly by the subscriber to the satellite company offering the service. A big problem that broadcasters face in India is the issue of under-reporting of subscribers by cable operators. Consider the cable operators pyramid. Right at the top is the broadcaster. Next comes the Multi Service Cable Operator (MSOs) like Siticable, In Cable, etc. Below them are the Access Cable Operators (ACOs) or your local cable guy who actually lays the wires to your house. The local cable operators or the ACOs then allegedly under-report the number of subscribers they have bagged because they have to pay the MSOs something like Rs 30-45 per household. Showing a lesser number of households benefits ACOs. With no way to actually cross check, the MSOs and the broadcasters lose a lot. Broadcasters do not earn much in subscription fees and are mostly dependent on advertisement revenue to cover their costs, which is not sustainable and does not offer high growth in revenues for broadcasters.

The way out of this is to use a set-top box so that it will be clear how many households are actually using cable or going for DTH where broadcasters directly connect to consumers and can actually grow revenues with a growth in the subscriber base.

Why do Doordarshan, Zee, Star think DTH will work in India? Today, broadcasters believe that the market is ripe for DTH. The prices of the dish and the settop box have come down significantly. Overall investments required in putting up a DTH infrastructure has dropped and customers are also reaping the benefits of more attractive tariffs. The major thing that DTH operators are betting on is that the service is coming at a time when the government is pushing for CAS (conditional access system), which will make cable television more expensive, narrowing the tariff gap between DTH and cable. Will DTH be cheaper than cable or more expensive? DTH will be definitely more expensive than cable as it exists today. A set-top box is a must for DTH. Earlier, when CAS made set-top box mandatory for households, the costs between DTH and cable would not have been too wide. But CAS on the backburner now -- which means no set-top box (a must for DTH), the price gap between DTH and cable, will be wide. In Oct 2002, Siticable, which is owned by Zee, said that the cost of the installation equipment, which includes the receiver dish and the set-top box, would be priced at around Rs 3,900. Siticable is looking to rope in 1 million subscribers in 15 months. Other estimates say that digital cable set-top box may cost Rs 4,000, a DTH decoder dish is unlikely to cost less than Rs 7,000. DTH's minimum subscription could be priced around Rs 500 per month.Some reports say that an entry level DTH STB will cost about Rs 7,000 (including taxes and installation cost at consumers end). A more advanced STB with value added features like PVR (Personal Video

Recorder), PSTN connectivity, Gamming console, channel management system, etc. may cost as much as Rs 15,000. So, what's the buzz? Will DTH finally be the one that rules? The cable system is well entrenched in India and is showing quite rapid growth. If DTH had come to India in 1996-97 (like Star had originally attempted), then it could have made a significant breakthrough. Europe is an example of this. DTH developed there before cable and now controls nearly 80 per cent of the total satellite television subscriber base. But in US, cable rules because it came before DTH. DTH will definitely cut into the existing cable user base. It will make the local cable operator less important and take business away from him. It will give consumers greater choice. But it is likely to be an up market premium product and most middle class households will stick to cable.

India - DTH Potential DTH to grow from 3.2 mn in 2007 to 43 mn by 2015, with 30% share of Pay TV

TV Households 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 2009 2011 18 29 136 105 148 123

Pay TV HHs 155

Pay DTH HHs 161 136 145

38

43

2013

2015

COMPANY PROFILE
TATA SKY
Profile

Tata Sky Type Joint venture between Tata Group (80% stake) and STAR TV (20% stake)

Founded Headquarters

2004 Kirloskar Business Park, Bangalore, India

Industry Products Slogan Website

DTH Pay TV Direct broadcast satellite Isko laga daala, toh life jingalala www.TataSky.com

Tata Sky is a DTH satellite television provider in India. It is a joint venture between the Tata Group, that owns 80% and STAR TV that owns a 20% stake. Tata Sky was incorporated in 2004 but 'Tata Sky was launched' in 8th August, 2006. It currently offers close to 110 channels and some interactive ones. Its current tagline is "Isko laga daala, toh life jingalala! Tata Sky is a DTH satellite television provider in India, using MPEG-2 digital compression technology, transmitting using INSAT 4A at 83.0 It is a joint venture between the Tata Group, that owns 80% and STAR Group that owns a 20% stake. Tata Sky was incorporated in 2004 but was launched only in 2006. It currently offers close to 200 channels (As of August 2010) and some interactive ones; this count includes some numbers off HD channels offered by Tata Sky (as Tata Sky - HD) and interactive services also.

The company uses the Sky brand owned by British Sky Broadcasting. In October 2008, Tata Sky announced launching of DVR service Tata Sky+ which allowed 90 hours of recording in a MPEG-4 compatible Set Top Box. The remote is provided with playback control keys and is being sold with special offers for existing suscribers. In 2008, Singapore-based Temasek Holdings picked up 10% stake in Tata Sky from the Tata Group. This has diluted Tata's stake in the venture to 75%. STARs parent company, News Corporation, owns an International group of DTH businesses that include Sky Italia in Italy and Foxtel in Australia.

Tata Sky+ Tata Sky+ is a premium set-top box-cum-Personal Video Recorder or even known as DVR Digital Video Recorder that allows recording up to 130 hours of live TV, recording one programme while watching another, pause, fast-forward and rewind a live telecast and review a TV programme. Also Tata Sky+ provides service using MPEG-4 digital compression technology.

Tata Sky HD Tata Sky HD was launched on June 14, 2010, and has channels in their native resolution of 1080i or 720p. The STB is compatible with 5.1 CH surround sound as well. The service currently offers four HD channels - National Geographic Channel HD, Discovery HD, Showcase HD (Pay Per View) & Star Plus HD. More channels such as Star Movies HD and other popular sports channels in HD format are expected to be added soon.

Certifications and Honors ISO 27001:2005 accreditation In March 2009, Tata Sky, became the first Indian direct-to-home (DTH) service provider to be awarded the ISO 27001:2005 accreditation, the benchmark for information security ISO

27001:2005 is an international standard that provides specifications and guidance for the

establishment and proper maintenance of an Information Security Management System (ISMS). The assessment for the certification was conducted by Intertek Systems Certification, the management systems business unit of Intertek Group. This certification confirms that every transaction carried out through Tata Skys IT systems are highly secure.

Super brand 2009 2010 Tata Sky was selected as a SUPER BRAND for the year 2009-2010 by an independent and voluntary council of experts known as Super brands Council. It is the only Indian DTH to have won this distinction.

What is Tata Sky? Imagine a world where a roar in Corbett National Park can be heard in pristine CD quality sound. A flower blossoming can be appreciated in digital detail. And a sunset in Hawaii viewed in all the 84,612 shades of orange. A world where the mere push of a button gives you courtside seats at the Wimbledon or balcony seats to the latest blockbuster movie. Imagine a world where audio CDs will be outdated, and DVD libraries, frankly, unnecessary. In this world, wires will be redundant and handheld gaming consoles a thing of the past. Information will travel through space, and the mighty remote will give you access to your personal choice of channels.

TATA Sky is a direct broadcast satellite television provider in India, using MPEG-2 digital compression technology, transmitting using INSAT 4A at 83.0E.

This is the future. This is DTH from TATA and STAR. The next wave of technology that will revolutionize home entertainment in India. This is Tata Sky.

KEY FACTORS OF GROWTH FOR TATA SKY:

The 3 major reasons for growth of Tata Sky that can be explored are:

a) SUPERIOR PICTURE QUALITY

Unlike analog cable, Tata Sky subscribers can view TV through superior digital DVD quality picture and CD quality sound

b) WIDE ARRAY OF INTERACTIVE APPLICATIONS

In order to empower the Indian viewer with choice, control and convenience Tata Sky has a wide array of programming choices and interactive services like Active Cooking, Active Wizkids etc. that can be ordered with any of the basic packages. This service is being provided in association with 24 X7 guru.com. The customer is not going to stay forever with the package he subscribed to initially, he should be encouraged to subscribe to other packages and value added services quickly to increase revenues. These applications are expected to do well given that in India TV viewing in India is done as a family.

c) UNPARALLELED CUSTOMER SERVICE

Tata Sky has established an extensive customer service network across the country. It has engaged a field force of approximately 3000 service engineers who are complemented by highend 24x7 call centres, manned by multi-lingual customer service associates, trained to solve all customer problems. Tata Sky takes direct responsibility for installing and servicing the hardware for periodic problems that exist at every subscriber's home, thereby ensuring the highest levels of customer service. Tata Sky retails its hardware and prepaid recharge vouchers through popular consumer electronic stores to enhance customer convenience

Vision

Tata Sky plans to launch its DTH service with top-of-the-line infrastructure and revolutionize Indian entertainment through its superior DVD quality picture and CD quality sound. The service envisions to: Connect every television home Empower every television viewer Revolutionize home entertainment

Area of business
Tata Sky offers viewers a variety of popular channels in categories ranging from entertainment, sports, movies and music to news and documentaries in DVD-quality picture and CD-quality sound. The service further aims to empower television viewers with choice, control and convenience through a wide range of programming and interactive features, thus becoming a one-stop shop for all the television entertainment needs of customers. With state-of-the-art digital infrastructure and partners that include global leaders in digital technology, Tata Sky provides for hardware installation at subscribers' homes, as well as after-sales service through an extensive customer service network that provides complete customer care. Tata Sky also retails its hardware and prepaid recharge vouchers through popular consumer electronic stores to facilitate consumer access.

Business partners
Tata Sky has invested in state-of-the-art digital infrastructure and has partnered with global leaders in digital technology. Indian Space Research Organization: The Company has on lease all 12 KU-Band transponders on ISRO's Indian satellite, INSAT 4A, and the most advanced and high-powered

KU-Band communication satellite in the region. The satellite enables Tata Sky to offer superior picture and sound quality with a wider range of channels. NDS: Tata Sky has partnered with NDS, a provider of technology solutions for pay television. The NDS Video Guard conditional access solution provides superior broadcast security, and enables Tata Sky to offer multiple programming and pricing packages. Siebel: Tata Sky has partnered with Siebel, leaders in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, to support operations through call centres and field service operations, customer order management and product configuration. Comverse: COM verses Kenan FX billing software supports billing for all residential, institutional and commercial customers. The software has been enhanced specifically for Tata Sky to support a new industry pre-paid billing service that allows customers 'to pay as you go'. SAP: SAP's Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) application suite supports the company's materials management, sales and distribution, finance and control, and human resources requirements. Sun Microsystems: The company provides world-class technology infrastructure to Tata Sky, which helps in delivering high levels of service standards that ensure maximum up-time, fault recovery and load management. Sun has also provided Tata Sky with installation, engineering expertise and support. Thomson and Humax: The Company provides top-of-the-line digicomps, customized specifically for the Indian markets. The technology allows Tata Sky to deliver multiple programming, pricing packages, and interactive services to its customers.

Entertainment
Tata Sky's satellite service brings home a whole new entertainment experience with its direct-to-home (DTH) television service. Subscribers can now choose from a variety of popular and new channels and enjoy interactive features. Some of the highlights of the service are: Entertainment and Media channels Tata Sky offers subscribers popular channels such as STAR group channels, Sony, Discovery, Disney, MTV, NDTV, ESPN STAR Sports, National Geographic, Eenadu, TV Today, Asianet and many more. Digital quality service The service provides viewers with DVD-quality picture and CD-quality sound, enhancing their viewing experience. Television goes interactive Ever thought of playing interactive games on your television? Or getting weekly channel schedules right on the TV screen with synopses of programmes? Interactive features on Tata Sky make all this and more possible. Features like Active STAR News, Active Newsroom and Active Khabar allow viewing multiple channels on a single screen. For kids there is a special Active Wiz kids learning service. With parental control functions it's also easy to lock channels with special PIN numbers. Customer service and infrastructure support Tata Sky has set up a pan-India distribution network of popular consumer electronic stores and mobile phone outlets that retail its hardware and prepaid recharge vouchers. The company has also tied up with LG, ITC International Business Division and Indian Oil Corporation to support its distribution network.

Tata Sky undertakes installation and servicing of hardware at subscribers' homes, ensuring high levels of customer service. The company has engaged a field force of qualified professionals complemented by multi-lingual customer service associates adequately trained to solve all customer problems.

Achievement
Within a span of one year, Tata Sky has:

Established itself as the fastest growing Pay TV platform in India Established Tata Sky as a trusted and premium brand: achieved 87% brand awareness within the first six months of launch

Expanded its product offering from 55 television channels at the time of launch to over 120 channels and interactive services (Active Games, Active Sports, Active STAR News, Active Khabar, Active Newsroom and Active Wiz kids)

Launched Active Wiz kids, the first-of-its-kind education based interactive service in the world that teaches children through learning games

Set up state-of-the-art digital infrastructure including an uplink centre in Gurgaon and three high-end 24x7 call centres in Hyderabad, Mohali and Pune supporting 11 languages (English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil, Telegu, Oriya and Bengali)

Expanded its distribution network from 300 towns and 10,000 dealers at the time of launch to 4,500 towns and 30,000 dealers across the country and operating through 245 exclusive distributors

Simultaneously trained 5000 people in a span of 6 months across 180 cities (the largest corporate training initiative in India)

Become the gold standard in customer service: achieved globally best-in-class (durable and telecom industries) customer satisfaction scores.

Introduced first-time ever interactive television promotions across popular television channels including Sony (Indian Idol highlights on-demand), STAR World & STAR One (Coffee with Karan Contest) and STAR Gold (Tata Sky Pure Gold Krrish Contest & Tata Sky Pure Gold Don Contest)

Milestone
2005 TATA - STAR DTH venture signs lease agreement with ISRO (Indian space research organization) TATA - STAR DTH Venture Receives Ministry's Clearance

2006 Tata Sky selects NDS systems to create India's most advanced digital and interactive DTH service Tata Sky launches ACTVE WIZKIDS - a unique edutainment service Tata Sky launches pay-per-view service - SHOWCASE Tata Sky Launches ACTVE SPORTS on ESPN STAR Sports Television finally becomes interactive with Tata Sky Tata Sky Satellite Television Service Launches Across the Country Tata Sky partners with Humax for set-top boxes Tata Sky selects Sun Microsystems to build state-of-the-art direct-to-home (DTH) television service in India Tata Sky selects Maxus as its media buying partner Tata Sky partners with Thomson for set-top boxes Zee-Turner channels now on Tata Sky

2007 Tata Sky introduces three new interactive services: Active Darsan, Active Learning and Active Stories Tata Sky expands offering to 140 channels Tata Sky crosses 1 million marks in record time Unparalleled World Cup cricket viewing experience on Tata Sky Tata Sky launches three new channel packages Watch ICC World Cup on Tata Sky with Hrithik Roshan

Tata Sky offers 5 months of free viewing

CURRENT SITUATION Tata sky crossed the 2 million connections in a period of 20 months, thus retaining its position of fastest growing DTH provider. Tata sky began with a marketing budget of 15% of sales. Currently film star Aamir Khan is its brand ambassador. Tie-ups with ITC E-Chaupal and Godrej Aadhar gave it wider rural reach. For its distribution, Tata sky has tie-ups with ITC international business division. Tie-ups with 24x7 guru.com to provide content for active learning. Tata sky has adopted a 360 degree marketing campaign approach that encapsulates TV, print, radio along with on- ground activities and marketing on the digital ground.

Current Players
Presently as on 2010, these are the main DTH service providers in India:

DD Direct - state owned free service provider

Dish TV

- owned by Essel Group, was the first commercial DTH service provider.

TATA Sky - owned by TATA group, largest DTH service provider presently in India.

Sun Direct - owned by Sun group, primary focus is on low income groups and regional viewers.

Reliance Big TV - Owned by Reliance group, new entrant into the market.

Airtel Digital TV - Owned by Bharti group, new entrant with aggressive marketing strategies.

Videocon D2H

- Videocon group, new entrant into the market

Market Share
AirtelDigitel, 6.42% Others, 4.50%

Dish Tv Big TV, 11.56% Sun Direct, 19.27% Dish Tv, 32% Tata Sky Sun Direct Big TV AirtelDigitel Others Tata Sky, 25%

Market Share With 7 operational players, the segment rivalry is quite high. The competition from state owned DD-Direct to private players is negligible from the content point of view as the number of channels offered by DD-Direct is very limited. However, DD-Direct does not charge any monthly subscription fee which poses a threat to the private players. Between Dish TV and Tata Sky there is an intense rivalry exhibited by price wars and discount schemes offered to new connections.

Being the first mover, Dish TV has price advantage in both the STB as well as procuring the transponders. On the other hand, Tata Sky claims its STB having superior DVD quality video. There is also a competition at acquiring the content.

TATA SKY FINANCIAL ANALYSIS:

Assumptions:
ARPU increases from Rs 190 to Rs 470 in 2010-11 Revenues increases @ CAGR of 112% till 2010-11 Expenditure reduces from 180% to 75% till 2010-11 Debt : Equity reduces from 2:1 to 1:2 till 2010-11

From the above table the following interpretations can be made:

The total revenues of Tata Sky have been continuously increasing from 0.19 million in FY 2007 to .845 million in FY 2009.

The company is expected to generate revenues of 3.838 million in FY 2011.

PRODUCT AND SERVICES TYPES OF TATA SKY : Tata Sky + : Tata Sky+ is a premium set-top box-cum-Personal Video Recorder or even known as DVR Digital Video Recorder in HD that allows recording up to 130 hours of live TV, recording one programme while watching another, pause, fastforward and rewind a live telecast and review a TV programme. Tata Sky HD: Tata Sky HD was launched on June 14, 2010, and has channels in their native resolution of 1080i or 720p. The STB is compatible with 5.1 CH surround sound as well. The service currently offers Seven HD channels - National Geographic Channel HD, Discovery HD, Star MoviesHD, Star plus HD, Star Cricket HD, Star World HD, STAR Gold HD. Tata Sky + HD: Tata Sky has launched their HD DVR Set Top Box. Tata sky plus HD comes with a 500 GB hard-disk allowing 625 hours of SDTV recording.

Interactive services

Get your favorite recipes when you want On Active Cooking you can get your favorite recipe when you want at the press of a button. The service features four new and easy-to-cook recipes daily, from master chefs across the country along with handy kitchen tips.

Make your child a genius Designed specifically for preschoolers, Actve Wizkids is a television based service that aims to continue a childs learning process at home through a host of fun-filled games covering Mathematics, the English language and General Knowledge.

Take daily quizzes covering Maths, GK and Science on your TV A quiz based educational service covering Maths, GK and Science for children in the age group of 7-11 years. The content for this service is provided by 24x7guru.com.

Enjoy

your

favorite

story

books

on

TV

A TV based story book that children can read and listen to at their own pace. The service features new stories in English and Hindi everyday from the likes of Panchatantra, Jataka tales and Hitopadesh.

Turn

your

home

into

mini

stadium

Watch cricket the way you want with exclusive features like: Highlights on-demand Choice of commentary language Multiple camera angles

Interactive

games

for

all

ages

Choose from six games on your TV that can be played with the Tata Sky remote. The games are refreshed

periodically so that your excitement levels never wane.

Catch

news

story

as

it

breaks;

simultaneously

on

fourchannels

watch four different English news channels like Headlines Today, Times Now, CNN IBN and NDTV 24x7 all on a single screen. Choose the audio of the desired channel.

Go directly to your favorite news section Control how and when you want to watch the news. Go directly to: Headlines Top stories Features

Get

daily

astrology

predictions,

at

the

press

of

button

Find out what each day has in store for you with daily predictions from Bejan Daruwallas Ganesha Speaks.

24x7 darshan of the ISKCON temple, Juhu and the Shirdi Sai Baba temple

Get darshan of the ISKCON temple, Juhu and the Shirdi Sai Baba temple on your TV, throughout the day. This new service is brought to you in partnership with STAR News.

Your private multiplex at home Watch the latest blockbusters from the comfort of your home on Tata Sky's pay-per-view service, Showcase. All movies come with just a single ad-break and in original print. The movies can be ordered once and enjoyed multiple times through the day.

With guide you can: Find out whats playing on any channel up to 7 days in advance Set reminders for up to 50 programmes you wish to watch Get synopses of programmes

If you cannot decide which serial or movie to watch, switch to home

Home provides a list of channels based on categories. You can get a preview of movies/ serials/shows playing across all channels on the same screen. Deciding what to watch was never this easy

SEARCH & SCAN BANNER This feature allows you to find out whats playing on another channel without changing the channel you are watching. The banner appears at the base of the TV screen without interfering with what you are watching and disappears automatically after giving you the schedule of programmes across all channels.

SETTING FAVOURITE CHANNELS

Select up to 20 channels and position them in the order of your preference. Press fav on your Tata Sky remote to go directly to any of the selected channels.

PACKAGES Tata Sky as a product provides to its customers a large bouquet of channels at different pricing packages. These packages are formed according to ensure user convenience. Customers can select any of the various attractive packages of channels available.

Comparative Analysis of different players in DTH Industry :

India has a total television population of close to 135 million, out of which 80% have access to cable and satellite (i.e. 108 million). The total DTH subscribers are close to 22 million. Thus the DTH has a market share of approximately 20%. The subscriber base for DTH in 2006 was meagre 1 million. Now for an industry which is just 5 years old, it is a great achievement.

Lets have a look at how the DTH industry has grown in these 5 years. In 2005 Dish TV was the only player in the DTH industry and was registering subscriber growth mainly in the areas where cable TV was not available. The subscribers were not ready for the cost of set top box. In 2007 CAS mandate was introduced in selected metro cities, where users had to invest in a set top box.

Though the initiative was not very successful, it gave a wider acceptance to the DTH and consumer became ready to pay for the set top box. Spotting the opportunity Sun Direct launched its services in 2007 with a drastically low one time cost involved for DTH subscriber. Followed by this Reliance, Big TV and Air-Tel and Videocon launched their services. The market became competitive. Every player came with innovative offerings, Dish TV offered Movie on Demand free worth the cost of set top box, Air-Tel and Big TV offered free subscription for first few months etc. All these things were coupled with aggressive marketing campaigns. Tata Sky gained the maximum subscribers during this period.

So where is the real growth happening for the DTH industry. Is it the urban areas or rural? Though DTH is comparatively expensive than cable service, the growth is coming from the rural area. If we see statistics the growth for the digital segment in rural areas were 34%, 49% and 64% in the past three years.(source:- TAM Annual Universe Update 2010). The growth in the rural segment can be attributed to frequent power cuts in the rural areas. DTH platform gives the rural consumer access to their favorite programs, with the help of generator/ invertors, which is not possible with the cable service in most of the areas.

Though DTH has certain advantages such as better picture/ sound quality, better customer service. It also has a disadvantage of price. The DTH player have to pay various taxes such as Adjusted gross receipts @ 10%, service tax @ 12.36%,VAT @ 12.5%,CST@3%,corporate tax, Excise duty@ 16%, Customs duty, CVD ,customs duty etc. Whereas the local cable operators easily get away with government taxes by underreporting the subscriber base. Thus gaining a clear cost advantage. The regulator should take a note for the same and provide regulations for the same.

At the same time in Indian market One size fits all strategy doesnt work for long. So, the DTH players have to design packages suitable for rural consumer enable them to enjoy the digital content (For eg. Levis jeans had enabled consumers to buy their jeans with an EMI scheme).

The DTH industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of close to 24% .The future of DTH industry will largely depend on innovative marketing tactics adopted by the DTH players.

Government owned player: DD Direct+.

Private players:
Dish TV, Tata Sky, Sun direct, Big TV, Airtel digital TV, Videocon dth.

Lets give a quick glance again about the market share of this industry :

Market Share
AirtelDigitel, 6.42% Others, 4.50%

Dish Tv Big TV, 11.56% Dish Tv, 32% Tata Sky Sun Direct Big TV Sun Direct, 19.27% Tata Sky, 25% AirtelDigitel Others

Compatative Profile Matrix and its Explanation are as follows :

Key factors

success

Weight

Dish TV

Score

Tata sky

Score

Sun TV

Score

Big TV

Score

Airtel TV

Score

Market share

0.21

4.00

0.84

3.00

0.63

2.00

0.42

2.00

0.42

1.00

0.21

Financial resources

0.17

3.00

0.51

4.00

0.68

3.00

0.51

2.00

0.34

2.00

0.34

Brand reputation

0.11

4.00

0.44

3.00

0.33

3.00

0.33

2.00

0.22

2.00

0.22

Distribution capacity

0.07

4.00

0.28

3.00

0.21

2.00

0.14

2.00

0.14

2.00

0.14

Advertising capabilities

0.11

4.00

0.44

4.00

0.44

2.00

0.22

3.00

0.33

3.00

0.33

Pricing

0.09

4.00

0.36

3.00

0.27

3.00

0.27

2.00

0.18

3.00

0.27

Quality

of

0.10

3.00

0.30

4.00

0.40

3.00

0.30

3.00

0.30

3.00

0.30

customer services

Technology

0.14

3.00

0.42

4.00

0.56

3.00

0.42

3.00

0.42

3.00

0.42

Total

1.00

3.59

3.52

2.45

2.35

2.23

EXPLANATION OF COMPETITIVE PROFILE MATRIX :

Market Share:
Market Share Decides Which Company Has Good Positions In Industry and It Is Very Much Needed While Evaluating Any Company. Market share depicts the correct position of the industry. It gives out the percentage of the share contributed in the market by the industry. Thus this industry carries 0.21 Weights to This Factor.

Financial Resources:
Financial Resources Help To Develop Any Company Which Is Very Much Needed In This Industry. We Can See That Mostly All The Companies Has the Good Background. More resources lead to the faster growth of the industry. Thus industry carries 0.17 Weights to This Factor.

Brand Reputation:
It Is Always A Good Factor For Any Company. As In This Industry All Companies Have Their Own Brand Image. Good brand name builds a good place in the market. Like all other key success factors this is also of great importance. Thus industry carries 0.11 Weights to this factor .

Distribution Capacity:
As This Is Service Industry and Customers Purchase Not Frequently This Service But Almost Every Month They Have To Do Recharge. So, Company Has To Provide It In Good Quantity. Facility of sitting at home and getting recharge being done is provided to customers Thus 0.07 weights to this factor are given.

Advertising Capabilities:
As This Is Emerging Industry and There Is Very Huge Untapped Market in Various Segments. So, Company Has To Spend Much Budget behind Advertising. Thus industry carries 0.11 Weights to This Factor.

Pricing
Pricing is one of the factor which results in the profits of the industry. Right ratio of the prices set of the product along with the cost incurred in acquiring services is very necessary. Once customer satisfied with the prices results in the growth of industry. Prices should be set in such a manner so that the industry also not suffers any type of losses and customers are also attracted. Dth industry is said to be the expensive company, prices should be brought down. This key success factor carries 0.09 weights

Quality of Customer Service:

As The Industrys Attractiveness of DTH Service Industry Is Very Good. And Dish TV Is the Leader of This Industry Followed By TATA Sky, Sun Direct TV, Reliance Big TV, and then Airtel Digital TV. The Competition Between All This Companies Is Very Hard. Tata Sky and DISH TV have a tough competition with each other. Sun TV, Airtel & Reliance Compete With Each Other. Dish TV Is Ahead Of All These Companies.

Lets Look at the two Major Players in Detail:

DISH TV
MARKET SHARE
Dish TV has good hold on the market share of the industry. 32% of the market is taped by Dish TV. Dish TV was the first private player to enter the DTH industry. Dish TV has are a strong presence all across the geography of India with consumer and pocket friendly gamut of services. Dish TV has main advantage as 70% of DTH users are in rural and small towns. These rural and semi-urban towns are expected to contribute bulk of sales in the industry.

BRAND REPUTATION
As it is a business unit of the Zee group, Dish TV has built itself as a commendable brand in the market. Dish TV Is Leader Of The Industry. It Comes With Most Successful Slogan

Dish Karo Wish Karo Through Brand Ambassador Shahrukh Khan, This Provide Them Most Successful To Grab Subscriber Base. They Are Also Come With New 360 Dergee Approach in Marketing with Slogan Ghar Ayi Jindgi To Compete With Tata Sky and Big TV.

PRICING
Pricing strategy of dish TV is to be appreciated. With the wide range of channels, good picture and sound quality it is cheaper comparatively. This is also one force helpful in acquiring highest market share.

CUSTOMER SERVICES
Its unique offerings of mobile dish with presence in all Kingfisher Airlines, navy war ships, mobile vans and selected railway stations in India shows the technological edge and differentiation it having with respect to other brands, stands exemplified. But the subscriber acquisition cost is still very high. Confusing channel packaging for beginner users.

TECHNOLOGY
Dish TV Is a Satellite Provider in India, Using MPEG-2 Digital Compression Technology, Transmitting Using NSS Satellite At 95.0. Whereas others firms are using better technology.

TATA SKY

MARKET SHARE
Tata sky is holding largest share in the dth market after DISH TV. It is giving very close competition to the leader of the market.

BRAND REPUTATION
Leveraging on brand TATA and High brand recall. Tata Sky was selected as a SUPERBRAND for the year 2009-2010 by an independent and voluntary council of experts known as Super brands Council. It is the only Indian DTH to have won this distinction.

PRICING Pricing of TATA SKY is comparatively higher than the other emerging firms. But still it is acceptable due to the superior sound and picture quality.

TECHNOLOGY
TATA sky updated itself with the changing technology. Tata sky launched TATA SKY + in the year 2006 to cope up with the changing technology and to provide better services to customers.

Strategies to sustain in competitive growth market :

Advertising & Promotion:

Indian TV channel broadcast 15.7-mn advertisement every year, which totals to 362-mn seconds of TV advertisement every year. India currently has over 400 channels.TV viewer ship has declined by 5% since 2001. TV broadcasters are expected to increase advertisement rate this year by 16-18%

DTH industry uses different marketing strategies for promotion and sales of its products. It gives advertisements with their brand ambassadors which attract customers, door to door selling, on the phone selling, discount and offer sales, packages, etc. Marketing practices is a continuous process as the competition keeps increasing among the players in the industry. Each player is investing lot of money in promoting there brands. Many players are making advertisement with movie actor and actress as brand ambassadors for their products because DTH is mainly considered with entertainment. Some of the companies like Tata sky are having Super Star Aamir khan as brand ambassador and Airtel is having many film stars like Kareena Kapoor, A.R. Raman, Safi Ali khan, etc. Dish TV is also having Super Star Shahrukh khan as the brand ambassador. Sun direct also use southern actress frothier brand promotion. Marketing practices are the decisions taken by the manufacturing company to increase sales, expand themselves into many areas etc. Successful marketing practices bring sale up, while unsuccessful marketing practices have no impact on sale or negatively impact sale. Marketing concepts specific to the industry is primarily targeted at a niche segment who buys the TV sets from the electronic retail chains.

Product Innovation
The concept of innovation in DTH industry is INCREMENTAL innovation; everything that is done is due to constant research of many marketing and analysts to bring many innovations to the existing products in the DTH industry. Incremental innovation is the apt innovation which is suitable and all the DTH players are concentrating up on. This innovation makes the business to grow continuously and brings advantages to the customers using the products and the service. There are many sources of innovation for this industry as mentioned in the above, the technology and the people are the main sources for the innovation. Customers opinions and their needs can be served by providing a service which is matching to their needs and requirements. Digital TV, the DTH service from Airtel, has announced Indias first skin integration innovation on its EPG screen in partnership with Yahoo. Yahoo takes forward its latest brand campaign YOU in this first of its kind partnership where an online portal will use DTH as a medium to promote itself. The Electronic Programming Guide screen on Airtel digital TV is now completely integrated with Yahoo Indias homepage. Customers will find a message Fill your home page with all the things that make YOU when they log onto to the EPG screen. A prompting Red Button will take them to a dedicated landing page that elaborates the offerings on Yahoo Indias new home page. The YOU campaign enables users to customize the home page as per their liking and empowers them with the choice to integrate social applications such as Facebook with their Yahoo homepage. This whole idea was conceived by Network Play, right from design elements to execution and thanks to Mindshare for buying into the idea and flawlessly helping people execute it. Tata Teleservices Limited has announced a technological breakthrough a first-of-its-kind innovation in India with the launch of TATA Photon TV, a new application that allows Tata Photon Plus subscribers to watch live television channels on their laptops while on the move and on their personal computers at home and in the office. The Photon TV service is

exclusively available to Photon Plus users. With its growing popularity, Photon Plus has caught the admiration of millions of users across the country, with its high-speed data access capabilities and the ease of mobility. TATA Photon TV is a personal computer- and laptopbased video-streaming application, which allows Tata Photon Plus users to view live TV feed from various sports, news, entertainment and regional channels, and to watch recorded TV shows from the library (viz Coffee with Karan, Zoom, Pogo, etc), movies, music and videos on demand. Internet Browsing charges will be charged as per your Photon+ tariff plan and it would be applicable while viewing Photon TV. These charges would be over and above the subscription charges for the Photon TV. (Approximate data usage is 1-2MB per Min).Rate of innovation in this sector is growing at a faster rate in the recent years where as it is not very impressive before this period. The reason for this is the fair competition between the all players in this DTH industry. It led to the development of new products in this sector which also led to the diversification of products as there is abolition of entry of foreign industries into Indian industries initially. It also made the industries in this sector to establish their own R&D departments for successful product innovations like Airtel Live, Videocon DTH.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH Research is process of a systematic enquiry into facts and in depth study of probing into a particular topic or subject, backed by the collection, complication, presentation and interpretation of relevant data. It is an intelligent and scientific work, which is an Endeavour to discover valuable facts. RESEARCH METHOLODOLY A Research methodology is the framework or plan for a study which is used as a guide in collecting and analyzing the data collected. It is the blue print that is followed in completing the study. Tshe basic objective of research cannot be attained without a proper research design. It specifies the methods and procedures for acquiring the information needed to conduct the research effectively. It is the overall operational pattern of the project that stipulates what information needs to be collected, from which sources and by what methods.

Research must be based on the facts. Observable data forms a sound basis for research. Inductive investigation leads greater support to research findings, for analyzing facts, a scientific methodology of analysis must be developed and result interpreted logically.

Following steps are undertaken to conduct this research:1. Selection of the subject. 2. Objectives of the study. 3. Collection of data. 4. Analyzing the data. 5. Title of the project.

TYPE OF DATA COLLECTED:There are two types of data used. They are primary and secondary data.

Primary data:It is defined as data that is collected from original sources for a specific purpose. Secondary data is data collected from indirect sources. These include books, the internet, company brochures, product brochures, the company website, competitors websites etc, newspaper articles etc. The data is like heart of all types of research. This collection of data depends upon the purpose for which the data is required .it is considered to be very important steps as it is the basis of foundation of investigation. .

Secondary data:It is the data which is collected by some other person or the organization itself for their own use, but, this type of data/information can also be used by the researchers for his use as second hand information. Sources through which secondary data for this project report are collected are journals, magazines and internet.

After gathering all the required information I decided to go in for this project as this project would give me the practical experience and also provide me with an opportunity to work on a subject of my interest.

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY Since the study was undertaken for a short period so time was the biggest constraint. Since subject taken is vast so there are always possibilities that something maynt be forgotten to be mentioned. Data collected may not be 100 % reliable and accurate or dependable, since the data collection source was secondary.

Analysis

SWOT ANALYSIS FOR TATA SKY:

STRENGTHS

1. Leveraging on brand TATA and High brand recall 2. Technological expertise with Newscorps DTH arm Sky

3. Superior Picture quality

4. Leads in introducing new packages & Services

5. Customer service

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

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. No Exclusivity in Content and Rule of Must Carry

8. Cap on Investment (20%)

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS

CONCLUSION:

This study has to enabled to understand the different intricacies that are involved in the buyer behavior to purchase a consumer durable products. The study throws light upon the different DTH systems in the market, vying with each other to get the attention of buyers. Customers to day are bombarded with advertisements in order to catch the attention of buyers. Major systems in DTH system are also involved in durable products to make their brands a success, such as TATA. Brand extensions seem to have worked extremely well for MNCs such as TATA and DISH T.V in getting the attention of buyers. The marketers huge potential with only 12% penetration in the population and in deed a sign for many DTH systems to enter the market. The competition hammered the profits to these companies and lot of money has to be pumped initially, since the market is huge to capture in days to come.

Tata sky is the only DTH sky which provides uniform level across channels. For every selective people. Tata sky is the best fit as it has lots of small packages and add on packages so that you can customize as per your need. Tata sky is better choice for rainy areas because of bigger antenna size. Tata sky doesnt come with MPEG-4 technology. This technology helps in carrying more channels in same band space but doesnt affect the picture quality.

SUGGESTIONS :

The following price related strategies could be adopted, which may lead to a short term loss but a medium term break even and profit. 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. Provide discounts for consumers buying second Tata Sky Connection (up to 50% off). Provide discounts on Monthly charges if a reference from existing consumer becomes a new customer. Allow multiple points of payment, ensuring timely payment and convenience to the customer Credit Card through Website, Pre Paid cards from Retail shops to be activated using Telephone and Drop Boxes at Societies. In this competitive environment with many DTH systems using the strategy of discounts and other promotional offers like: DISH T.V,DD DIRECT PLUS and SUN DIRECT giving complementary every purchase of the DTH system is also advisable for the company. It is in the interest of the company to come with such activities of mass promotion through hoardings. The company should differentiate their product from their competitors keeping its strong attributes aesthetics and technology in promoting the brand. The study throws light upon the performance, durability and price as main features beside the brands that determine the product that the customer will purchase. The company should focus on these buying attributes in order to make TATAs brand a successs.