|
March 17 2008
India TV revenues to rise, but with some casualties
Reuters News
(c) 2008 Reuters Limited
Revenues for India's television industry will more than double over the next four years, but price controls and higher costs of production and distribution will weigh, research firm Media Partners Asia said on Monday.
Annual revenue for India's TV segment, which is seeing an explosion of new channel launches, will hit $11.6 billion by 2012 from $5.5 billion now, it said in a statement ahead of the release of a report on the Asia-Pacific television market.
Increased penetration of new digital pay TV systems and direct-to-home satellite networks will help boost subscription revenues to $7.8 billion by 2012 from $3.8 billion, it said, while advertising revenue will rise on strong economic growth.
But price controls and intense competition will slow the growth of average revenue per user, while the cost of production, distribution, marketing, content and technology will also rise.
"India is quickly becoming a very expensive place to do business in," said Vivek Couto, executive director of the Hong Kong-based firm.
"Everyone wants to be here for the growth, but only those with strong balance sheets, deep pockets and sensible business plans will survive the high costs and intense competition."
India will become Asia's leading pay TV market by 2012, although broadcasters' revenues will fragment with the launch of "hundreds of new TV channels", Couto said.
Digital pay TV subscribers, who will number 38 million by 2012, will generate average monthly revenue of $4.9 by 2012, up from $4.1, still among the lowest in the Asia-Pacific region.
Reliance Communications and Bharti Airtel plan on entering the DTH space, which already features Dish TV , Sun TV and a venture of Tata and News Corp's Star, besides state-owned Prasar Bharti.
The DTH subscriber base will grow to 25 million by 2012 from 3.2 million, helped by aggressive subsidies, but the market will consolidate to three operators in the long term, Couto said.
"There will be casualties and consolidation in DTH, in cable, and on the general entertainment side," he said.
Star and Zee Entertainment lead the general entertainment segment, but competition is growing from local ventures of foreign firms including Walt Disney Co , NBC Universal, Viacom and Turner International.
India's pay TV market will expand to 137 million households by 2012, or about 82 percent of all TV-owning homes, from 82 million now, making it "the largest accessible pay TV market for media owners, distributors and investors" in Asia, Couto said. (Reporting by Rina Chandran; Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan)
|
recent stories 