MAM
C&S penetration grows 53% to 61 million homes in 3 years: NRS 2005
MUMBAI: Cable and Satellite penetration has increased by 53 per cent to 61 million homes in 2005, up from 40 million homes in 2002, according to the findings of the National Readership Study (NRS) 2005.
Television now reaches 108 million homes, which means it has crossed the 50 per cent mark of all homes for the first time, thus reflecting a growth of 32 per cent since 2002. Additionally, 56 per cent of all TV homes in India have C&S subscription.
The study revealed that the reach of satellite television has grown by leaps and bounds from 134 million individuals watching TV in an average week in 2002 to as many as 190 million individuals in 2005.
Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have the highest C&S penetration (55 per cent each), followed by Karnataka (45 per cent).
Tamil Nadu has the highest TV reach of 77 per cent, whereas Andhra Pradesh has a 74 per cent reach. Karnataka, on the other hand, has a TV reach of 68 per cent.
Interestingly, two-thirds (70 per cent) of C&S homes have colour TV today. In 2002, only a little over half the C&S homes had colour TV. The growth of colour televisions have outstripped even the rapid C&S growth. Homes with colour TV have doubled to 58 million in 2005.
Internet reach has now exceeded the 10 million mark. The number of individuals aged 12 years and above who accessed the Internet in the last three months increased to 11 million in 2005. While 8 million of these are in urban India, close to 3 million Internet users reside in rural India.
Radio’s reach has stagnated at 23 per cent of the population listening to any station in the average week. It has improved its performance in urban India (23 per cent listen to radio as compared to 20 per cent three years ago) primarily due to FM. In rural areas, the reach has dropped from 25 per cent three years ago to 23 per cent this year.
Among the 183 million adults who listened to radio in the last three months, 43 per cent or 96.8 million, now tune on to any FM station, thus leading to an increase of more than 100 per cent over 2002. Also notable is the fact that FM has a larger audience base than Vividh Bharati (15.7 per cent compared to 11.3 per cent) in urban India.
Mobile phones have also emerged as a new medium. Almost 13.9 per cent mobile phone owners access value added features like downloads, accessing news and cricket scores, SMS etc. In the 35 metros that the survey covered, this figure stands higher at 24.7 per cent.
The NRS 2005 survey covered 261,212 respondents in India. NRSC research professional Kedernath Sharma, technical advisor Dr Shridhar and audit firm Ernst & Young were instrumental in the efforts behind the study. AC Nielsen was appointed as the research agency and significant improvements in design and methodology were made in order to yield robust readership estimates.
MAM
Gurpreet Singh named President of DishTV Alumni Network
Former Dish TV executive to lead community building and collaboration.
MUMBAI: Back to the dish, but this time it’s about connections, not channels Gurpreet Singh is returning to familiar territory with a new mandate that swaps subscribers for relationships. Singh has been appointed President of the DishTV Alumni Network, a move aimed at strengthening ties among former employees and building a more engaged professional community around the Dish TV ecosystem. The initiative reflects a growing trend among large organisations to formalise alumni networks as platforms for collaboration, mentorship and business opportunities.
The appointment draws on Singh’s deep-rooted history with Dish TV, where he held multiple leadership roles over nearly a decade. As National Business Head between June 2019 and September 2020, he oversaw profit and loss as well as operations, managing revenues of Rs 6,000 crore and leading a team of around 1,250 employees across the country. His tenure included working alongside two regional business heads and 16 circle heads, underscoring the scale of operations he handled.
Prior to that, Singh served as Executive Vice President and National Head for Sales and Revenue from 2016 to 2019, and earlier as Senior Vice President and National Head for Sales and Revenue. He also briefly led international operations as Country Head for Sri Lanka, further expanding his exposure across markets.
His broader career spans leadership roles across telecom and consumer businesses, including a stint as Chief Operating Officer at Bharti Airtel’s Malawi operations, senior leadership roles at Reliance Communications, and earlier positions at Hindustan Sanitaryware and Kodak India, where he spent over a decade.
In his new role, Singh is expected to focus on reconnecting former employees, fostering collaboration, and building a structured alumni ecosystem that leverages shared experience and industry networks. As companies increasingly recognise the long-term value of their extended workforce, the DishTV Alumni Network appears set to turn nostalgia into a strategic asset, one connection at a time.
