DTH
STB availability key to Cas success
MUMBAI: Availability of set-top boxes (STBs) is one of the key concerns for the successful roll out of conditional access system, speakers at a workshop on “Cas and Digital CATV” said here today.
Cable operators should not only look at the price of the boxes but also the quality of features it offers as there is revenue to be earned from the consumers. “While what is being pushed now in India is basic boxes, there is need also to go in for middleware that enables enhanced facilities. The important question to be asked is what the boxes can do. Cable operators will be able to, after all, earn revenues from features like video-on-demand and gaming,” said Technosat managing director Irshad M Contractor.
The Dubai-based company is prepared to set up a manufacturing facility in India if the demand for STBs pick up. Technosat has boxes ranging from basic to premium features on MPEG-2 and is currently conducting trials on MPEG-4.
Though multi-system operators (MSOs) are currently importing boxes, several manufacturers in India are keen to come up with local production facilities. “We are introducing 4-5 flavours of STBs that are fully developed in India. The boxes will have personal video recorder (PVR) and digital video recorder (DVR). We are integrating the encryption system with Conax. We are also in talks with other Cas technology providers,” said Surbhi Broadband general manager sales P C Mishra.
The two-day workshop, which concluded today, was organised by Satellite & Cable TV (SCaT) magazine and attracted over 250 delegates. The focus was on facilitating cable operators to make the transition from analogue to digital cable. The issues covered ranged from digital headends to billing solutions for Cas.
Speaking on digital headends for simulcasting digital video broadcasting – cable (DVB-C), Peter Batt of Teleste said there was need to offer on demand TV and other value-added services. The third generation headends improved footprint and power consumption while offering unicast/multicast video services and triple play. But the fourth generation IP-centric headend for DVB-C and IPTV combined everything and offered “ultimate flexibility.”
Earlier SCaT editor and executive director Dinyar Contractor said Headend-In-The-Sky (HITS) would mean rapid digital and Cas roll out as it would reach out to the smallest and far flung last mile operators (LMOs). Even as Cas made it unviable for LMOs to set up a digital Cas headend and offer a large pay bouquet, HITS offered several advantages to them.
“The transmodulator cost is as low as Rs 2000 per channel and the LMOs can assemble their own, local basic tier. It is economically attractive if the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) permits nationwide Cas,” he said.
SCaT chairman Sudeep Malhotra spoke on uplink and downlink policies, elaborating on the regulatory framework prescribed for the different genres of channels such as news and sports. “There are 164 Indian channels licensed to be uplinked from India. The channels that are registered and allowed to be downlinked into India amount to a total of 54 channels,” he said.
DTH
DD Free Dish e-auction heats up with 26 MPEG-2 slots sold in two days
Hindi movies, GEC and news dominate; Star Utsav Movies tops Day 2 at Rs 213.45 crore
MUMBAI- The bidding war on DD Free Dish is turning into a blockbuster and the slots are selling faster than popcorn at interval. Prasar Bharati’s 8th annual MPEG-2 e-auction delivered another strong day on Tuesday, with 18 more channels securing spots across movies, regional music and news buckets, taking the two-day total to 26.
Day 2 belonged to the movies and news categories. In Bucket A (Hindi Movies), Star Utsav Movies led the pack at Rs 213.45 crore, pipped only narrowly by Zee Action at Rs 213.4 crore. Goldmines landed at Rs 13.35 crore and Zee Anmol at Rs 13.3 crore, showing razor-thin price bands and fierce competition. Bucket B saw Zee Bioscope top at Rs 10.6 crore, Bhojpuri Cinema Rs 10.5 crore, B4U Bhojpuri Rs 10.2 crore, while Showbox, Unique TV and B4U Music each closed at Rs 10.25 crore.
News channels in Bucket C stayed tightly bunched: NDTV, Aaj Bharat, Zee News and India TV all secured slots at Rs 8.6 crore, with News Nation and ABP News slightly higher at Rs 8.65 crore. Bucket D rounded out with Russia Today at Rs 9.75 crore and GTC Punjabi at Rs 7.92 crore.
Day 1 had already set a premium tone, with eight slots snapped up – six in Bucket A+ (Hindi/Urdu GEC, starting reserve Rs 15 crore) and two in Bucket A (Hindi/Urdu Movies, starting Rs 12 crore). Sony PAL topped Day 1 winners at Rs 16.55 crore, Star Utsav Rs 16.25 crore, Shemaroo TV Rs 16.35 crore, Zee Anmol, Colors Rishtey and Sun Neo at Rs 16.40 crore each. Sony WAH took a Bucket A slot at Rs 13.95 crore and Zee Anmol Cinema at Rs 13.45 crore.
The surge reflects broadcasters’ hunger for DD Free Dish’s estimated 43–45 million rural and semi-urban households, where Hindi GEC and movies remain advertising goldmines.
The auction runs under the revised E-auction Methodology 2025 (amended 9 January 2026), with escalating reserves – Round 2 Bucket A+ at Rs 16 crore, Round 3 Bucket A at Rs 13 crore – and stricter eligibility to weed out speculative bids. Channels must be operational, available in the relevant language, and already carried on at least one private DTH, DD Free Dish or registered MSO.
With premium genres flying off the shelf, the coming rounds will test how deep pockets really are as reserves climb and tactical down-bidding gets harder. In India’s largest free-to-air universe, these auctions aren’t just about slots – they’re about who gets to stay on the screen that reaches deepest into the heartland.
