International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics

Volume 119 No. 7 2018, 973-982

ISSN: 1311-8080 (printed version); ISSN: 1314-3395 (on-line version)
url: http://www.ijpam.eu
Special Issue
ijpam.eu

AN IMPACT OF SERVICE QUALITY, TRUST AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

ABOUT DTH SERVICESIN THANJAVUR DISTRICT-TAMILNADU

Dr.N.Manivannan,M.Com.,M.Phil.,Ph.D.,Assistant Professor, Department of Commerce, VELS

Institute of Science Technology and Advanced Studies (VISTAS), Pallavaram, Chennai.

Mr.R. Bharathi Rajan., M.Com,PGDBA.,(Ph.D), Assistant Professor, Department of Commerce,

VELS Institute of Science, Technology and Advanced Studies (VISTAS), Pallavaram, Chennai.

ABSTRACT
Thestudy is impact of service quality, trust and customer satisfaction about DTH services
that are offered by the DTH service providers to the customers and also to understand the
customer satisfaction. The research design used for the study is described research. The study is
conducted among both the user and non-users, with the help of structured interview scheduled
using questionnaire. Initially, a pilot study was conducted among few respondents and changes
were brought in the questionnaire. Analysis and interpretation is done using Chi-square method,
Cronbach‟s Alpha Test and Ranked Correlation. It was found out that people prefer a DTH
service to cable operator due to various factor such as quality of both video & audio, quality of
services etc. Based on the findings, appropriate suggestions have been made for increasing the
number of users.

INTRODUCTION
Overview of the Industry The history of Indian television dates back to the launch of
doordarshan, India‟s national TV network in 1959. The transmission was in black & white. The 9
the Asian games which were held in 1982 in the country‟s capital New Delhi heralded the mark
of color TV broadcasting in India. In 1991, Indian economy was liberalized from the License Raj
and major initiatives like inviting foreign direct investments, deregulation of domestic business
emerged. This lead to the influx of foreign channels like Star TV and creation of domestic
satellite channels like Sun TV and Zee TV. This virtually destroyed the monopoly held by
doordarshan. In 1992, the cable TV industry started which lead to revolution.Direct-to- Home
television is a method of receiving satellite television by means of signal transmitted from direct
broadcast satellites. The Government of India permitted the reception and distribution of satellite
television signals in November 2000. The first DTH service in the country was launched by Dish
TV on October 2003. DD free Dish, the first free DTH service in India was launched by public

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broadcaster Prasar Bharati in December 2004. ABSfree Dish is another free DTH service
operated by ABS group.
HISTORY

DTHservices were first proposed in India in 1996. The proposal was not approved to due
to concern over national security and negative cultural influence. In 1997 , the Government of
India banned DTH services when Rupert Murdoch- owned Indian Sky Broadcasting (ISKyB)was
about to launch its DTH service in the country. After deliberation among group of ministers,
DTH services were permitted by the NDA government in November 2000. The group of
ministers was headed by Home Minister L.K. Advani and included information & broadcasting
minister Arun Jaitley, Information Technology Ministers Pramod Mahajan, Finance Minister
Yaswhant Sinha, Defence Minister George Fernandez, Communication Minister Ram Vilas
Paswan and Law Minister Ram Jethmalani. On the DTH front, the United Front government had
issued a ban on use of Ku band transmission. After a change of government, the ban got lifted
finally in 2001 and TRAI issued the guidelines for operating DTH.

ABOUT MAJOR COMPANIES IN THE INDUSTRY

1. Dish TV - Zee group: Dish TV is a venture by the Essel Group and was launched in 2004.
Dish TV is India„s first private player in DTH industry with a presence in 19 states. It has a
subscriber base of 7.07 million (March2015). It has a bouquet of over 240 channels to choose
from. Dish TV has launched an entry-level subscription at Rs. 99 per month with the largest
offering of 110 channels.

2. TATA Sky: Tata Sky was incorporated in 2004. It is a Joint venture between Tata Group and
UK-based British Sky Broadcasting Group. TATA is one of India's largest and most respected
business conglomerates and the SKY brand, owned by the UK-based British Sky Broadcasting
Group has over 20 years of experience in satellite broadcasting. It launched its services pan-India
in August 2006. It has over 168 channels to choose from. Tata Sky has launched an entry-level
subscription plan called Super Hit Pack at Rs. 99 per month with a bouquet of 53 channels. Tata
Sky frequently comes with innovative product and services like Tata Sky 4K, Karaoke, Tata Sky
Plus (which use the personal video recording (PVR) technology that allows consumers to record

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live.) Tata Sky Multi TV etc. Tata Sky recently launched a service which allows a daily recharge
of Rs. 8

3. DD-Direct +: DD Direct Plus was launched in December 2004 by Doordarshan. It is owned

by parent company Doordarshan. It was India„s first DTH service offering about 59 TV channels
and 21 radio stations. DD DTH is a free service and has acquired a subscriber base of 60–70 lakh
connections (July 2014).

4. Sun Direct: Sun Direct is a DTH service in India headquartered in Chennai, Tamil. Sun
Direct is an 80:20 joint venture between the Maran family and Astro Group of Malaysia. With
170+ TV channels and 31 Radio channels, Sun Direct has a subscriber base of 5 million (April
2014) (www.topnews.in/sun-direct-launcheshd- services-crosses- 5-million- activesubscriber-
base-mark-2149664). Sun Direct has a basic pack of Rs 75 monthly subscription which is the
lowest price-point compared to the other service providers.

5. Reliance BIG TV Limited: Reliance BIG TV Limited is a part of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai
Ambani Group. Reliance Communication in the DTH space has the brand name „Big TV‟. It has
aggressively priced packages as low as Rs. 1490 with an offering of 64 channels and a three
month free subscription in addition to 20 video-on-demand movie channels. Within a short span
of time it garnered a subscriber base of nearly 2.8 million (Aug 2014)

6. Airtel DTH - Bharti Airtel Limited: The well known and much talked about player in the
market is Bharti- Airtel. A teaser campaign „See you at home„ was followed up by a multi-starrer
campaign with celebrities like Saif Ali Khan and Kareena, Vidya Balan and Madhavan and
Indian cricketers Gautam Gambhir etc. Airtel Digital has a basic pack of Rs 99 monthly for
South and Rs 125 monthly for north.

7. Videocon D2H :Videocon – the big Indian consumer durable player launched itself in the
DTH market in June 2009 through its media arm Bharat Business Channel (BBCL). Right now it
has offered services in Punjab, J&K, Chandigarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and many other
cities with packages as low as 150 per month. Advantage over other players is that Videocon
already makes analog set top box hence they are likely to manufacture Set Top Box for their
DTH service as well.

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OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY PRIMARY OBJECTIVE:

To compare the services offered by various DTH service providers in Thanjavur District.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

1. To find out the reach of DTH service among customers.

2. To study the customer preferences for DTH services.

3. To study customer perceptions of the different DTH services.

4. To find out the extent of satisfaction of customers.

Research Design: Descriptive Research Design

Sampling Methods:Since the population is large in number, the researcher undertook a sample
survey. Convenient sampling method has been adopted to collect data from customers who avails
DTH services in their homes and had cable television earlier.

Sample Size: 220

Method of Data collection:Surveys questionnaire method and Personal Discussion.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

1. All the respondents of these surveys are based from Thanjavur District only.

2. Sample size is limited to220.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

1. Non response errors, due to refusals in filling up certain question leads to the unavailability
of data.

2. Some of the respondents were time pressed. This might have introduced small bias in the
study.

3. Customers remain so busy in their daily routine that they are not able to give proper times
regarding the discussions of my data collection.

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FRAMEWORK OF ANALYSIS AND ANALYTICAL TOOLS

Chi-Square Test

Cronbach's Alpha Test

Ranked Correlation

(1) Results of Chi-Square Test (Product Features)

Null Hypothesis
(H0)Level of Calculatedχ2 TableValue
DegreesofFreedom Inference
Satisfaction isNot Value of χ2
influenced by
H0 –
Gender 1 1.90 5.99
accepted
H0 –
Age 6 17.81 12.59
rejected
H0 –
Marital Status 2 2.74 5.99
accepted
H0 –
EducationalQualification 8 16.05 15.51
rejected
H0 –
Occupation 8 15.89 15.51
rejected
H0 –
Monthly Income 8 11.95 15.51
accepted
H0 –
Family Size 4 11.08 9.49
rejected
Nature of H0 –
4 16.21 9.49
ResidentialHouse rejected
H0 –
Place of Residence 2 0.53 5.99
accepted
Source: Primary DataSignificant at 5 per cent level

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It is clear that from Table that gender, marital status, monthlyincome and place of
residence have not influenced the level of satisfaction ofthe respondents towards product features
of DTH services. But age,educational qualification, occupation, family size and nature of
residentialhouse have influenced the level of satisfaction of the respondents towardsproduct
features of the DTH services.
(2)Cronbach's Alpha Test

To test the reliability of the set of items forming the scale, a measure ofconstruct
reliability (Cronbach‟s alpha) was computed. The ReliabilityStatistics is given in thisTable
Reliability Statistics
Cronbach’s Alpha Based
Cronbach’s Alpha No. of Items
on Standardized Items

.929 .929 32
Source: Calculated Data
The above shows that, how well a set of variables or items measure asingle, one-
dimensional latent construct by using reliability test Cronbach‟salpha. The alpha values of 0.70
or greater represent satisfactory reliability ofthe items measuring the construct (dimension). The
alpha coefficients werefound to be 0.929, making the items measuring the dimensions
satisfactorilyreliable.

(3)Ranked Correlation

Factors that Influence the Selection of ParticularDTH Service Providers

Total
Factors I II III IV V MeanScore Rank
Score

Reputation of brand 490 339 219 92 81 1218 3.19 II

Better service 230 352 357 110 74 1123 2.94 III

Lower installation
640 316 192 116 53 1317 3.45 I
andactivation cost

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Product
180 228 228 228 99 963 2.52 V
differentiation

Variety of packages 370 296 150 218 75 1109 2.09 IV

Source: Primary Data

The above table clearly shows that Lower installation and activation costis the first
influencing factor with a mean score of 3.45, Reputation of brandwith a mean score of 3.19 ranks
second and the third important factor is Betterservice with an average score of 2.94. The fourth
place goes to Variety ofpackages and the fifth influencing factor is Product differentiation with
anaverage score of 2.90 and 2.52 respectively.

IMPLICATION:

A few things are assured in the DTH industry even in the face of paradigm shifts. First,
the value of transponders is likely to fall as compression allows more and more content to go
through the same satellite, and as more satellite are launched. Obscure sports and the like will
become more valuable; conversely, much of the content that is currently valuable will face
downward pricing pressure. Niche content providers will emerge. The industry is likely to be
characterized first by a period of fragmentation and then by an increasing concentration of global
consortis as unprofitable participants fold.

FINDINGS:

 Most of the customers are satisfied with their DTH service providers.
 There is association between reasons for going for DTH & its factors (More
channels, more transparent payments, interactive services, superior video quality, and
living in a CAS notified area, due to bad service from cable operators). ·
 There are some common features which are provided by all the DTH service
providers.These are parental control, EPG etc.
 All DTH companies provide customer care service. Most of them provide this service
in more than one language.

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SUGGESTIONS:

More promotions can be done by all DTH service providers to convert non-users into
users. · It can be achieved only if customers are offered better service than cable operators both
in terms of price & quality. · In spite of offering better service than Sun Direct (which has the
largest customer base), Videocon D2H has less number of customers because its extent of
promotions are not effective. If it concentrates more on promotional activities, it can increase its
customer base rapidly. · DTH service providers should always stand on offering the best quality
of service. · Dish TV & TATA Sky can offer their services at a slightly lesser price in order to
attract new customers. · DD Direct shall offer better quality audio & video to attract new
customers. · The DTH service providers shall concentrate on reducing the price & providing
continued services during rain.

HINTS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

The researchfeels that any number of micro-level studies can be undertaken to study the
performance of DTH sectors. The problems covered in this research work in order to obtain
greater insights into these problems and suggest more effective and result-oriented programme.
This exercise can be undertaken by further researchers – each researcher concentrating on
specific problems such as implications of trust and commitment in other DTH services. Apart
from these, feasibilities of customer clubs with trust and commitment, how trust and related
variables affect the length of the customer service provider relationship? And how the
relationship commitment can be improved and what are its outcomes? Can also undertake.

CONCLUSION:

An Impact of Service Quality, Trust and Customer Satisfaction about DTH Services in
Thanjavur District, conducted among both the customers & non-customers in order to understand
the reach of DTH among the consumers, their preference, their perception & also their extent of
satisfaction. This would help the DTH service providers as a part of their market research.By the
end of this study, it is understood that the reach of DTH is more among the general public. T\he

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DTH services are ranked below on the basis of their customer base: 1. Sun Direct 2. Dish TV 3.
TATA Sky 4. Airtel Digital TV 5. Big TV 6. Videocon D2H 7. DD Direct It has been observed
that DD Direct has only a negligible number of customers & it is not competitive enough. Dish
TV, TATA Sky, Airtel Digital TV, Big TV & Videocon D2H offer a better service than Sun
Direct although they have less number of customers than the later. Based on the findings,
suggestions have been provided.

REFERENCES

[1] http://www.tatasky.com/wps/portal/TataSky/footerp ages/abouttatasky

[2] www.Mib.Nic.In

[3] www.Dishtv.In

[4] www.Sundirect.InWWW

[5] www.Airtel.In/Digitaltv

[6] www.Bigtv.Co.In

[7] www.Videocond2h.Com

[8] Sheth, Jagdish N. and Rajendra S. Sisodia (1995), “Improving Marketing Productivity”, in
Encyclopedia of Marketing in the year 2000. J. Heilbrunn, Ed., Chicago, IL: American
Marketing Association/NTC Publishing.
[9] Narindar K Chhiber (2008) “Fast growth of mobile communication in India: lesson for
emerging markets” excel books, New Delhi.
[10]Jain and Chhokar (1993), “Reorganization of telecom sector, Past and Future”, Vikas
Publication, New Delhi.

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