Chrome Data Analytics & Media Study: Phase 2 implementation is at 55 per cent

With the industry entering the second phase, 38 cities (with more than 1 million population) were expected to be completely digitised by April 1. However, as with Phase 1, the results are not encouraging.

After several glitches in the completion of the first phase of digitisation, the Indian television industry has also crossed the sunset date for Phase 2 with similar disappointing results. According to a report released by Chrome Data Analytics & Media on the status of Phase 2 of digitisation, there is still a long way to go before complete digitisation is achieved in the 38 cities that came under Phase 2.

During the second phase, 38 cities (with more than 1 million population and targeting a total of 16 million households) were expected to be completely digitised by April 1, 2013. These include Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune, Surat, Kanpur, Jaipur, Lucknow, Nagpur, Patna, Indore, Bhopal, Thane, Ludhiana, Agra, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Nashik, Vadodara, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Rajkot, Meerut, Kalyan-Dombivali, Varanasi, Amritsar, Navi Mumbai, Aurangabad, Solapur, Allahabad, Jabalpur, Srinagar, Visakhapatnam, Ranchi, Howrah, Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Mysore and Jodhpur.

However, the current status, according to Chrome, remains at 55.2 per cent digitisation across these cities.

As per data collected on April 1, the analog composition in these 38 cities stays close to 45 per cent. As per the current status across these cities, Ludhiana and Howrah are the only cities to be 100 per cent digitised before March 31. Amritsar is about 70 per cent digitised whereas most of the other Phase 2 cities are only 30 per cent digitised as of now.

Many of the MSOs have supported the move towards digitisation and have discontinued the transmission of analog signals in these cities. On the morning of April 1, data collection across analog networks in these 38 cities reflected the switch off of analog signals in certain cities such as Pune, Nagpur, Solapur, Nashik and Hyderabad, to name a few.

It may be recalled that similar switch-offs happened in Kolkata and Chennai during Phase 1, too; however, a few days later, the analog signals were resumed in these cities. Pankaj Krishna, founder and CEO, Chrome Data Analytics and Media mentions that this is mainly because of the competition that the cable operators face from the fellow operators (since some of them keep beaming the analog signals). Jeffery Crasto, executive director, Chrome Data Analytics and Media adds that "A few local channels in Kolkata (including channels such as Kolkata TV, News Time and Channel 10) were still beaming on the analog signals till the end of February."

The significant changes expected post-digitisation include transparency in transactions (subscription and carriage), entry and existence of more niche channels (due to better placement), consolidation of cable networks, increase in retail/regional/geographical level advertising and marketing, increase in viewership of content in modes other than television (mobile/tablets) and increase in e-commerce/e-transactions (broadband connected homes will increase as a subset of digitisation).

However, there are challenges too. These include unfavorable regulations, shortage of set-top boxes, ARPUs (hike from Rs 100 to 300), state level political interference and the transition period - deficit of manpower required for seeding of boxes.

Commenting on mapping the changing times, Sunjit Singh, AVP, special projects and business operations, Chrome Data Analytics & Media, says, "Tracking the real on-ground scenario in these changing times is definitely an operational nightmare but at the same time, it is a must for the broadcasting industry."