Applications
DTH ops seek scale amid losses
NEW DELHI: The DTH industry has invested Rs 250 billion to build scale into their business model, but it is badly hurting their pockets. Dragged down by low ARPUs (average revenue per user), high customer acquisition costs and exorbitant taxation, DTH companies are bleeding profusely. “The DTH sector has piled up a subscriber base of 17.5 million over the first five years. The total investment stands at Rs 250 billion and all of us are bleeding,” said Tata Sky managing director and chief executive officer Vikram Kaushik. |
Taking a dig at the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Kaushik urged the need for a broadcast regulator. “Trai has an overhang of the telecom sector as that was the first thing they regulated. We desperately need a broadcast regulator who can understand our requirements,” he said, while speaking at the India Digital Networks Summit 2009 here today. The under-reporting by the cable TV operators is keeping ARPUs artifically low and hurting everybody. “This is the crux of the problem and Trai has not understood this,” said Kaushik, who heads a DTH service that has the “best” and the “healthiest” ARPU among all the operators in the country. The fierce competition over pricing is also being led by Sun Direct, the DTH company promoted by Kalanithi Maran. “Disruptive pricing is hurting not just the DTH companies but also negatively impacting the entire process of digitisation in India. This is unsustainable,” said Kaushik. Sun Direct, which has the fastest run in subscriber growth, has an ARPU of under Rs 100 as against Tata Sky‘s Rs 200. “We have to compete with the cable TV operators and build a business case around it. We have already reached 4.3 million subscribers,” said Sun Direct COO Tony D‘Silva. Emphasizing the need for equity in pricing, taxation and a level Speaking about low ARPUs, high content cost and taxes, Airtel Digital TV CEO Ajai Puri said, “DTH is a scale business in India and has a great potential to grow. But the business model is still a big question mark.” NDS Asia-Pacific SVP Sue Taylor said the government should encourage the sector and do away with such a high level of taxation. |
Applications
Canva acquires animation and AI startups Cavalry and MangoAI
The deals strengthen Canva’s push into enterprise and AI-led design workflows
AUSTRALIA: Global visual communication platform Canva has stepped up its acquisition drive, buying UK-based 2D animation platform Cavalry and US-based AI startup MangoAI to deepen its AI-powered creative stack.
Cavalry, whose tools are used by brands including Amazon, Meta, Google and Netflix, will strengthen Canva’s motion design capabilities. The deal builds on Canva’s 2024 acquisition of Affinity, which has crossed four million downloads since launch. With Cavalry, Canva now counts seven Europe-based acquisitions, underscoring its global expansion strategy.
MangoAI, an early-stage startup focused on video advertising optimisation, will integrate its reinforcement learning systems into Canva AI. The move aims to enable brands to generate personalised marketing content in real time, cutting production cycles while improving campaign performance. MangoAI co-founder Vinith Misra will join Canva as reinforcement learning lead in its research lab.
Canva co-founder and chief operating officer Cliff Obrecht said the acquisitions reflect the company’s ambition to make professional-grade creative tools more accessible without sidelining human creativity. The goal, he said, is to bring everything from vector to motion design into a single, integrated suite.
The company now reports 265 million active users, including 31 million paid subscribers, and $4 billion in annualised revenue, up 36 per cent year on year. The latest buys further position Canva against rivals such as Adobe and Apple’s Creator Studio as it pushes deeper into enterprise workflows.
Canva head of pro design marketing Liam Fisher, said AI is intended to act as a creative assistant rather than a replacement, reinforcing the primacy of craft and individual design judgement.
