Source: Indiantelevision.com
MUMBAI: After mobilising close to two million direct-to-home (DTH) subscribers from the four southern states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala, Kalanithi Maran is ready to do battle outside his home turf.
Sun Direct, owned by the Maran family and 20 per cent by Malaysia-based Astro, today announced launch of its DTH service in Mumbai.
Plans are also afoot to take it to other parts of the country within a week as Maran sets himself the ambitious target of pocketing three million subscribers by the end of this fiscal.
"We will be able to mop up over one million subscribers during the final four months of the fiscal. While 99 per cent of our current subscriber base comes from the south, we have an aggressive pricing policy which will help us garner subscribers from the other pockets of the country. We have also recently created a Hindi bouquet," says Sun Direct COO Tony D'Silva.
Sun Direct has already pumped in Rs 20 billion and expects to break even in six years. The advertising budget for this fiscal is Rs 1.5 billion.
Sun Direct's current ARPUs are at Rs 85-90, the lowest among all the DTH operators. "Our plan is to have high volumes. This will help us in reaching a break even stage as our costs are not as high as the others," says D'Silva.
Adding Hindi and sports channels in the bouquet took time and the launch in Mumbai was delayed by a shortage of supply in set-top boxes.
"There has been heavy snowfall in China and Beijing Olympics delayed supply of boxes. So during the festival season of Diwali, we did not have set top boxes to sell. Now the supply is comfortable and we are in a position to launch in other parts of the country," said D'Silva.
Sun has added Samsung in its list of vendors for set-top boxes. The other two STB suppliers are China-based Coship and Korean firm Homecast.
"The economic meltdown is driving down the prices of STBs. Our STBs currently cost around $45," says D'Silva.
Locked in a long round of negotiations and legal disputes, Sun Direct has just added the three ESPN Star Sports channels. Available on a la carte rates from late last week, ESPN and Star Sports are priced at Rs 38 each per month while Star Cricket costs Rs 32.
"We are in talks with Neo. The other sports channels are available on our platform," says D'Silva.
D'Silva believes Sun Direct's regional package, "My Pack," will be highly attractive for consumers. “Our services and bouquet of packages are value for money as we have custom designed packages for every state and region. We spent considerable amount of time since our launch last December, understanding the customer appetite for entertainment and how best we can cater to their entertainment requirements and also by putting our distribution and post sales services in place,” he says.
The regional package ‘My Pack’ is at Rs 299, which is available in markets with strong regional affinity for four months in Punjab, Gujarat , West Bengal, Orissa and Maharashtra. The Hindi package ‘Shine Pack’ is at Rs 499 and Rs 999 which is available for five and 10 months respectively.
Sun Direct offers more than 200 channels including 23 radio channels and video-on-demand. It offers a basic package of over 130 channels for an introductory offer of Rs 499 which includes five months subscription, along with free dish and set top box and Rs 1000 towards installation charges. The add-on channels will offer 36 channels ranging from Rs 6 to Rs 195 per month.
South packs are available in Rs 499 and Rs 999 in Tamil Basic, Telugu Basic, Kannada Basic and Telugu Basic (available all India). The ‘Jumbo Pack’ for South and North is for Rs 300 per month. The content will vary according to the region.
Sun Direct has space for five HD channels. "This will be for the top-end of the market and give us higher ARPUs (average revenue per user)," says D'Silva.
MUMBAI: After mobilising close to two million direct-to-home (DTH) subscribers from the four southern states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala, Kalanithi Maran is ready to do battle outside his home turf.
Sun Direct, owned by the Maran family and 20 per cent by Malaysia-based Astro, today announced launch of its DTH service in Mumbai.
Plans are also afoot to take it to other parts of the country within a week as Maran sets himself the ambitious target of pocketing three million subscribers by the end of this fiscal.
"We will be able to mop up over one million subscribers during the final four months of the fiscal. While 99 per cent of our current subscriber base comes from the south, we have an aggressive pricing policy which will help us garner subscribers from the other pockets of the country. We have also recently created a Hindi bouquet," says Sun Direct COO Tony D'Silva.
Sun Direct has already pumped in Rs 20 billion and expects to break even in six years. The advertising budget for this fiscal is Rs 1.5 billion.
Sun Direct's current ARPUs are at Rs 85-90, the lowest among all the DTH operators. "Our plan is to have high volumes. This will help us in reaching a break even stage as our costs are not as high as the others," says D'Silva.
Adding Hindi and sports channels in the bouquet took time and the launch in Mumbai was delayed by a shortage of supply in set-top boxes.
"There has been heavy snowfall in China and Beijing Olympics delayed supply of boxes. So during the festival season of Diwali, we did not have set top boxes to sell. Now the supply is comfortable and we are in a position to launch in other parts of the country," said D'Silva.
Sun has added Samsung in its list of vendors for set-top boxes. The other two STB suppliers are China-based Coship and Korean firm Homecast.
"The economic meltdown is driving down the prices of STBs. Our STBs currently cost around $45," says D'Silva.
Locked in a long round of negotiations and legal disputes, Sun Direct has just added the three ESPN Star Sports channels. Available on a la carte rates from late last week, ESPN and Star Sports are priced at Rs 38 each per month while Star Cricket costs Rs 32.
"We are in talks with Neo. The other sports channels are available on our platform," says D'Silva.
D'Silva believes Sun Direct's regional package, "My Pack," will be highly attractive for consumers. “Our services and bouquet of packages are value for money as we have custom designed packages for every state and region. We spent considerable amount of time since our launch last December, understanding the customer appetite for entertainment and how best we can cater to their entertainment requirements and also by putting our distribution and post sales services in place,” he says.
The regional package ‘My Pack’ is at Rs 299, which is available in markets with strong regional affinity for four months in Punjab, Gujarat , West Bengal, Orissa and Maharashtra. The Hindi package ‘Shine Pack’ is at Rs 499 and Rs 999 which is available for five and 10 months respectively.
Sun Direct offers more than 200 channels including 23 radio channels and video-on-demand. It offers a basic package of over 130 channels for an introductory offer of Rs 499 which includes five months subscription, along with free dish and set top box and Rs 1000 towards installation charges. The add-on channels will offer 36 channels ranging from Rs 6 to Rs 195 per month.
South packs are available in Rs 499 and Rs 999 in Tamil Basic, Telugu Basic, Kannada Basic and Telugu Basic (available all India). The ‘Jumbo Pack’ for South and North is for Rs 300 per month. The content will vary according to the region.
Sun Direct has space for five HD channels. "This will be for the top-end of the market and give us higher ARPUs (average revenue per user)," says D'Silva.
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