'Digital television platforms gaining ground'
By siliconindia   |   Friday, 28 March 2008, 01:08 IST
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Pune: Over 28 percent of an estimated 10 crore cable television households would migrate to digital television platforms such as DTH and IPTV by 2010, says a study by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham). Players like Tata and Zee have already started focusing on this area and many more corporate houses such as Reliance and Bharti are also set to launch their services in the domestic market. David Godfrey, Director (Operations), NDS, Asia Pacific, said that there is massive growth happening in the DTH sector with the launch of new platforms offering attractive services to the television consumer. He said that mobile TV and IPTV are in their infancy and offer a different set of issues. "The Indian market has the right mechanics for multiple methods of delivery, including digital media such as broadband and mobile. However, the infrastructure is immature when compared to the coverage of DTH and cable in terms of sheer volume, plus the capacity required. This is particularly so with mobile TV where delivery, standardization and enabling technologies are yet to be made available." On whether the Indian market was ready for such technology and gadgets, Godfrey said that the Indian market is a major consumer of television already. NDS XTV DVR, soon to be launched by Hathway, would allow consumers to take control of their television viewing experience - pausing live TV, recording live programs to disk, rewinding, fast forwarding and much more, he added. Commenting on the developed market acceptance, Godfrey said NDS would not discriminate between developed and under developed markets. "Certainly in terms of the consumption of content in the home, India is a huge market with its own huge content industry. Content is still the main driver for digital pay television," he said.

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