Head-end In The Sky cleared with 74% FDI
One-time entry fee Rs10 crore; no annual charges except spectrum fee.
The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved guidelines for Headend In The Sky (HITS) broadcasting service. The approval comes several months after the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry had first sent the HITS policy draft to the Cabinet.
HITS players have been allowed a foreign direct investment (FDI) of up to 74%, on par with the telecom sector. They can operate on either C band or Ku Band (till now reserved for direct-to-home).
The government has imposed a cross-media restriction of 20% of the total paid up equity for various segments of broadcasting services to avoid vertical integration and promote competition.
While the one-time entry fee is Rs10 crore, there are no annual charges for HITS players except the spectrum fee. The annual fee has been waived to incentivise digitisation, according to I&B officials.
The licence is valid for 10 years. The investment required to set up a HITS platform has been pegged at Rs100 crore to Rs120 crore. An entity must start HITS operation within one year of getting the approval.
The Essel group, existing permission holder for offering HITS, will get three months to restructure itself and comply with the policy guidelines, according to an I&B ministry official. Other HITS applicants include Den Network, CTV and Digicable.
After the Cabinet meeting on Thursday, I&B minister Ambika Soni said the policy does not mandate cable operators to obtain signals from a HITS operator. “It’s just an enabling provision for digitalisation,” the minister said.
Cable operators will have the choice to continue with the existing system or switch over to HITS. This is unlike the government stand when conditional access system (CAS) was being introduced in the country during the NDA regime.
Analysts maintain that CAS failed to take off in the country because it was made mandatory by the government.
A HITS operator transmits channels to the cable operators using a satellite, after which the cable operator delivers the digital signal to the subscriber’s home through a set-top box. A HITS operator can’t transmit channels directly to a subscriber, as against a direct-to-home (DTH) player sending the signal to the TV home without the via media of a cable operator.
Executive vice-president of the Essel group A Mohan said he expects a high level of interest from media companies for HITS. He has projected three to five HITS players in the country.
While welcoming the HITS policy, he said the government or the regulator should formulate a tariff policy for the sector. Also, he pointed out that there should be a clear roadmap for digitalisation to boost investor confidence.
Reliance Big TV CEO Sanjay Behl said, “HITS is a progressive step towards digital and addressable system of TV content distribution in India and will enhance the overall customer experience from this medium.”
HITS is expected to be a much cheaper option for cable operators to roll out networks, especially in the rural and remote areas. Against an estimated cost of Rs 10 lakh to 15 lakh in setting up analog cable network, a cable operator would need around Rs 2 lakh to get on to the HITS platform.
In India, there are a total of 125 million TV homes, out of which cable homes are around 75 million and DTH 15 million. Around 90% of the TV viewers are on the analog system at present.
HITS players have been allowed a foreign direct investment (FDI) of up to 74%, on par with the telecom sector. They can operate on either C band or Ku Band (till now reserved for direct-to-home).
The government has imposed a cross-media restriction of 20% of the total paid up equity for various segments of broadcasting services to avoid vertical integration and promote competition.
While the one-time entry fee is Rs10 crore, there are no annual charges for HITS players except the spectrum fee. The annual fee has been waived to incentivise digitisation, according to I&B officials.
The licence is valid for 10 years. The investment required to set up a HITS platform has been pegged at Rs100 crore to Rs120 crore. An entity must start HITS operation within one year of getting the approval.
The Essel group, existing permission holder for offering HITS, will get three months to restructure itself and comply with the policy guidelines, according to an I&B ministry official. Other HITS applicants include Den Network, CTV and Digicable.
After the Cabinet meeting on Thursday, I&B minister Ambika Soni said the policy does not mandate cable operators to obtain signals from a HITS operator. “It’s just an enabling provision for digitalisation,” the minister said.
Cable operators will have the choice to continue with the existing system or switch over to HITS. This is unlike the government stand when conditional access system (CAS) was being introduced in the country during the NDA regime.
Analysts maintain that CAS failed to take off in the country because it was made mandatory by the government.
A HITS operator transmits channels to the cable operators using a satellite, after which the cable operator delivers the digital signal to the subscriber’s home through a set-top box. A HITS operator can’t transmit channels directly to a subscriber, as against a direct-to-home (DTH) player sending the signal to the TV home without the via media of a cable operator.
Executive vice-president of the Essel group A Mohan said he expects a high level of interest from media companies for HITS. He has projected three to five HITS players in the country.
While welcoming the HITS policy, he said the government or the regulator should formulate a tariff policy for the sector. Also, he pointed out that there should be a clear roadmap for digitalisation to boost investor confidence.
Reliance Big TV CEO Sanjay Behl said, “HITS is a progressive step towards digital and addressable system of TV content distribution in India and will enhance the overall customer experience from this medium.”
HITS is expected to be a much cheaper option for cable operators to roll out networks, especially in the rural and remote areas. Against an estimated cost of Rs 10 lakh to 15 lakh in setting up analog cable network, a cable operator would need around Rs 2 lakh to get on to the HITS platform.
In India, there are a total of 125 million TV homes, out of which cable homes are around 75 million and DTH 15 million. Around 90% of the TV viewers are on the analog system at present.