A Research report to determine the

reasons for low popularity of Airtel Digital

TV vis-à-vis the competitors by carrying
out an in-depth research of consumer
perception.

Submitted By:

Puneet Acharya

32102

Marketing A
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the internship report titled “To

determine the reasons for low popularity of Airtel Digital

TV vis-à-vis the competitors by carrying out an in-depth

research of consumer perception” is a bonafide record of

work done by Mr. Puneet Acharya under my guidance in partial

fulfillment of the requirements for the training programme at

Airtel (Modern Trade) .

Prof. Rajesh
Panda

Marketing Dept.
SIBM, Pune

2| Page 2/23/2010
 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this internship report titled “T o d e t e r m i n e t h e r e a s o n s

for low popularity of Airtel Digital TV vis-à-vis the
competitors by carrying out an in-depth research of
c o n s u m e r p e r c e p t i o n ”, which is being submitted in partial fulfillment of the
Tr a i n i n g P r o g r a m m e a t A i r t e l is the result of the work carried out by me, under
the guidance of Prof. Rajesh Panda (Faculty, Marketing Dept, SIBM, Pune) further submit
that this work has not been submitted before to anyone for any other purpose.

Puneet Acharya

3| Page 2/23/2010
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I take immense pleasure in thanking Dr. Arun Mudbidri, Director, SIBM,

Pune and

for having permitted me to carry out this project work.

I wish to express my deep sense of gratitude to my Internal Guide, Prof.

Rajesh Panda, Faculty, Marketing Dept, SIBM, Pune for his able
guidance and useful suggestions, which helped me in completing the project
work, in time.

Finally, yet importantly, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to my

beloved parents for their blessings, my friends/classmates for their help and
wishes for the successful completion of this project.

4| Page 2/23/2010
 Contents
Executive Summary............................................................6
Brief profile of players in the industry........................................8
GROWTH OF THE INDUSTRY............................................10
Strategies and Competition in the Industry......................................................10
Porter’s five force model...................................................12
Management problem & influencing factors........................................................14
Management problem......................................................................................14
Influencing factors............................................................................................14
Research Objectives............................................................................................14
Primary Research Objective.............................................................................14
Secondary research objectives.........................................................................14
Objectives.....................................................................................................15
Research Approach......................................................................................16
Sample Collection...........................................................................................17
Analysis Techniques used.............................................................................17
Findings: .......................................................................................................20
Recommendations: .......................................................................................27
Perceptual Mapping..................................................................................28
Annexure 1................................................................30
............................................................................................................32
........................................................................................32
Annexure 2...........................................................32
Annexure 3............................................................33
Major competitors.....................................................................36

5| Page 2/23/2010
 Executive Summary

History: The history of Indian Television dates back to the launch of

Doordarshan, the country‟s national television network in 1959 when the
transmission was in black & white. The 9th Asian games which were held in 1982
in the country‟s capital New Delhi heralded the mark of colour television
broadcast in India. In 1991, Indian economy was liberalised from the license raj
and major initiatives like inviting FDI, deregulation of domestic businesses
emerged. This led to the influx of foreign channels like Star TV and creation of
domestic satellite channels like Sun TV and Zee TV. This virtually destroyed the
monopoly held by Doordarshan. In 1992, the cable TV industry started which
changed the way the average Indian watches the television. Every city in India
had a new breed of entrepreneurs called as cablewallahs or Local Cable
Operators (LCO) taking in charge of distribution. Since this was a disorganized
sector carrying new channels on the existing infrastructure required new
investments which the operators were reluctant to make. This led to the
emergence of a new breed of firms called as Multi System Operators (MSO) who
had heavy financial muscles to make capital investments and liaised between
the cable operators and the channels. MSOs provide the feed to the local
operators for a fee.

In 1995, government felt the need of regulation in Cable TV and passed the
Cable TV network (Regulation) Act. This was also the time when the state owned
Doordarshan and All India Radio came under a new holding called as Prasar
Bharti to give them enough autonomy. The LCOs reported a lower number of
connections where as the broadcasters demanded a higher rate. MSOs were
finding it difficult to operate under these conditions. This led to an amendment
of the Cable TV networks (Regulation) Act in 2002 to provide Conditional Access
System (CAS). With CAS, the last mile distribution could be addressable with
accuracy and digitalization of 2 broadcasts was also possible. CAS was rolled out
in 2003 staring from Chennai and later to parts of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. On
the DTH front, TRAI issued the guidelines for operating DTH. Country’s first DTH
license was awarded to Dish TV in 2003 which started operations in 2004. Prasar
Bharti also started its product DD-Direct+

In 2007, TRAI proposed a new initiative by name “Headend-In-The-Sky (HITS)”

model as an alternative to the existing cable distribution. Instead of the MSOs
providing the bundle, there will be a single HITS operator who will prepare the
bundle of channels and beam it to the Headend in the satellite. With the average
Indian getting younger, and hence more likely to spend on nonessentials, the

6| Page 2/23/2010
entertainment industry has the potential to grow explosively in the future. Now
the industry is ready to enter a second stage of growth powered by the twin
engines of technology (availability of quality infrastructure and the accelerated
penetration of digital connectivity) and an enabling regulatory environment.

DTH Digital TV system receives signals directly from satellite through the dish,
decodes it with the Set-Top Box and then sends stunningly clear picture and
sound to TV which is the business under taken by some companies by observing
the rate of growth and scope for business & opportunity in the Indian market
which has 120 million viewers of TV.

With the Indian economy growing at a GDP growth rate of 7.4%, there is a sense
of growth prevailing everywhere. The average Indian’s disposable income and
purchasing has risen to never before levels. The Indian entertainment and
media industry is not far behind. It is currently estimated at a worth of Rs.450
billion with a CAGR of 18% over the next 5 years. Terms which were alien to
Indian’s like capital DTH, digital cables, IPTV are suddenly finding presence in the
country’s journals.

List of players in the industry

• Doordarshan – (DD-Direct +) of Prasar Bharti

• Dish TV of ZEE group.

7| Page 2/23/2010
 • Tata Sky joined venture between Tata and Rupert Murdoch’s Sky TV.
• Sun direct of Sun Network.
• BIG TV of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group.
• Airtel digital TV of Bharti telemedia
• Videocon d2h of Videocon industries
Categorization of players in the industry:

Government owned player: DD Direct+

Private players: Dish TV, Tata Sky, Sun direct, Big TV, Airtel digital TV,
Videocon d2h

Brief profile of players in the industry

DD DIRECT+

Doordarshan is the public television broadcaster of India and a division of Prasar

Bharti, a public service broadcaster nominated by the Government of India. DD
Direct+ is a free Direct to Home (DTH) service that provides satellite
television and audio programming to households and businesses in the Indian
subcontinent. Owned by parent company Doordarshan, DD Direct Plus was
launched on December 16, 2004. Now chairman of DD plus+ is Shri Arun
Bhatnagar and CEO is B S Lalli under the ministry of information and
broadcasting.

Dish TV

Dish TV is the first private DTH satellite television provider in India, using MPEG-
2 digital compression technology, transmitting using NSS Satellite at 95.0. Dish
TV is a division of Zee Network Enterprise (Essel Group Venture). DTH service
was launched back in 2004 by launching of Dish TV by Essel Group's Enterprises

Tata Sky

Tata Sky is a DTH satellite television provider in India, using MPEG-2 digital
compression technology. Tata sky is incorporated in 2004; Tata Sky is a JV
between the TATA Group and STAR. Tata Sky DTH endeavours to offer Indian
8| Page 2/23/2010
viewers a world-class television viewing experience through its satellite
television service.

Sun Direct
Sun Direct is a DTH satellite television provider in India, using MPEG-4 digital
compression technology. It is the country's first MPEG 4 technology DTH service
provider. The service was finally launched on December 2007. Because of the
lowest pricing of any DTH in India Sun Direct spread rapidly all over the country.
By 2009 it became leading DTH provider with 3 million subscribers. This makes it
4th largest DTH service provider of India.

BIG TV

Reliance BIG TV is a DTH satellite television provider in India based in Navi

Mumbai, using MPEG-4 digital compression technology. It is the 5th DTH service
launched in India. Reliance BIG TV limited is a part of Reliance Communications
Ltd., a subsidiary of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. BIG TV started
operations from 19 August 2008 with the slogan "TV ho To BIG Ho"

Airtel digital TV

Airtel Digital TV is a DTH (Direct to Home) service from Bharti Airtel. It uses
MPEG-4 digital compression. Airtel digital launched on 8 October, 2008 with a
360 degree mega campaign 'Come Home to the Magic. Since then it has
launched 2 other campaigns: ‘Stars come home’ (March 2009) and ‘DTH Picture
Clarity (August 2009) has increased its channel base to 183+ channels.

Videocon d2h

Videocon d2h is a DTH satellite television provider in India based in Mumbai,

using MPEG-4 with DVB S2 digital compression technology. Videocon d2h
launched May 1, 2009. It came with a very good strategy for selling both of its
electronic products like TV’s DVD’s along with the new set top box. This is
offering direct to TV without any set top box also. Only the antenna is enough, it
also came with DVD which is connected directly to the TV or antenna is
connected to DVD which gives a best quality of output.

9| Page 2/23/2010
 GROWTH OF THE INDUSTRY

The DTH service market in India has emerged as one of the most lucrative
markets which have successfully resisted the impacts of the current economic
slowdown. The slowdown has certainly proved a boon for the Indian DTH
industry as people have now started to cut on their entertainment expenditure
and instead of viewing movies at theatres, they are preferring to stay at home
with their television sets.

With the Indian economy growing at a GDP growth rate of 7.4%, there is a sense
of growth prevailing everywhere. The average Indian’s disposable income and
purchasing has risen to never before levels. The industry is anticipated to add
nearly 5 Lakh subscribers per month during 2010 and the numbers are
forecasted to surge further at a CAGR of around 30% through 2012, "Indian DTH
Market Forecast to 2012". 20% annual growth is being witnessed in the DTH
sector in India with over 8.5 million households having digital pay-TV.

A report attributes that the anticipated growth to the efforts of DTH industry
players who are all trying to lure viewers by cutting down prices as well as
offering perks even though it translates into loss of Rs 1,600-2,000 on each new
subscriber acquired by them. They have started to offer a number of value-
added services such as 'movie on demand', live recording of TV content,
matrimonial match-making, etc.

Strategies and Competition in the Industry

The generic strategies are: 1. Cost leadership, 2. Differentiation, and 3. Focus

10 | P a g e 2/23/2010
1. Cost leadership

In the case of media products, means they should be offered at a price lower
than their competitors’ but with as good benefits, or, the unique benefits the
media products offer can over-offset the premium.

2. Differentiation

Differentiation in DTH refers to when an organization provides unique benefits to

the users through product innovation. This is to increase the probability of the
media users to choose the product. A media organization with a target user
loyalty can concentrate more on how to fully meet the target user’s needs rather
than on product cost saving.

3. Focus

Focus strategy is also known as a 'niche' strategy. The clutter of ads has now
spilled out on the number of channel availability due to which people are spoilt
for choice. Thus Niche channels are the only way to maintain viewer loyalty.
TATA Photon plus is more niche oriented.

11 | P a g e 2/23/2010
 Porter’s five force model

Threat of substitutes

DTH gives stiff competition from the terrestrial, cable & IPTV. As per the industry
estimates, there are 130 million TV homes of which 71 million are served by
cable and around 6 million served by DTH with the remaining taken by terrestrial
transmission. As IPTV is a new entrant there is not much data on its subscriber
base.

Bargaining power of suppliers

DTH industry relies on three major suppliers. Customer premise equipment (CPE)
Comparing of the satellite Dish, Set Top Box with the necessary Access Card, the
Ku band transponders are obtaining satellites and content. With India set to
overtake Japan as Asia’s largest DTH by next year, the bargaining power of India
DTH operators with CPE suppliers have been steadily increasing.

Bargaining power of buyers

With enough operations to choose both from the point of alternate mediums like
cable, IPTV and terrestrial broadcast and from the point of increasing DTH
operators, the consumer is at his will to decide. Customers will continue to have
12 | P a g e 2/23/2010
a high bargaining power until DTH platforms try to differentiate them as superior
players with better content and clarity.

Rivalry among existing firms

With 3 operational players and 4 players in the queue, inter firm rivalry is quite
high. The competition from state owned DD-Direct to private players in
negligible from the content point of view as the number of channels offered by
DD-Direct is very limited. However, DD-Direct does not change any monthly
subscription charges. Between Dish TV is Tata Sky there is an intense rivalry
exhibited by price war and discount schemes offered to new connections. Being
the first mover, dish TV had price advantage in both the STB offers superiors
DVD quality Video to its advanced STB.While Dish TV is planning to spend Rs.
850crs over the next 3 years, the rival Tata Sky is willing to spend Rr.2000crs
over the medium term. The companies have also set ambitious targets with Dish
TV aiming to reach 5 million subscribers in the next 18 to 20 months while Tata
sky aiming to reach 8million subscribers in the next 18 to 20 months while Tata
sky aiming for 8 million subscribers by 2012.

Threat of new entrants

With already 7 player’s space in the DTH space, threat of new entrants is low.
There is already enough competition which will discourage new firms to enter
this business. While getting a licensee is relatively easy, the barriers to entry are
high when it comes to pricing of CPE and getting the required transponder.
There is a definite, first mover advantage.

Critical success factors:

13 | P a g e 2/23/2010
Management problem & influencing factors
Management problem
The management of Airtel is that it wants to know the reasons for low popularity
of Airtel Digital TV vis-à-vis the competitors and the factors that influence its
buying behaviour. The management also wants to carry out a feasibility study
for expansion of Digital TV service targeting semi-urban and rural areas.

An extensive research would be carried out to determine the reasons for low
popularity and success of Airtel Digital TV compared to competitors. This would
bring to light the problems associated with the current service such as user
friendliness, customer service, value voucher problems, channel availability
amongst many. The population for the research would include existing Airtel
Digital TV users and population that has subscribed to some other DTH service.

It also wants to carry out the feasibility study to venture into semi-urban and
rural areas which are being looked at the ‘next big thing’ by almost all
companies across the country because of growing purchasing power of the
consumers in these areas and changing attitudes and lifestyles.

Influencing factors
The factors as per management could be many-

• Factors related to the product quality, price point and availability

• Increasing competition

• Higher benefits offered by competitor ( Points of Differences)

• Factors related to technology associated with the product

Research Objectives
Primary Research Objective
To determine the reasons for low popularity of Airtel Digital TV vis-à-vis the
competitors by carrying out an in-depth research to find out consumer
perception in state of Maharashtra.

Secondary research objectives

14 | P a g e 2/23/2010
• To determine the role of price points influencing brand perception and buying
decision in the DTH market.

• To do perceptual mapping of DTH players

• To determine the role of advertisements/Promotional activities in influencing

the brand perception and buying decision in the DTH market.

• To determine the attribute combinations affecting consumer preference in

DTH market.

• To determine the standings by doing a comparative study of the various DTH

players on their interactive services.

Objectives

Data the research will generate

The research is aimed at providing data to perform a comparative analysis of

Brand perception of the different players in the DTH segment. The data from
the research will help us identify the factors and their relative importance
influencing the buying behaviour of consumers in case of DTH digital
services.

Relevance of data to the marketing problem

The data obtained will be crucial in analysing the differences in brand

perception for the different DTH service providers and also help us in
analysing the factors influencing the buying behaviour of customers.

It will also give us information as to which attributes are more important and
the contribution of which of the variables is the highest in determining who
the market leader is. It will also help us in finding out the PODs (points of
differences) that the consumers strongly associate with Airtel Digital TV.

The data collected from Market research will also help us to find out if the
positioning of Airtel Digital TV need to be changed. Repositioning might
come out as a solution from the research.

15 | P a g e 2/23/2010
 Value of information

The information collected from this research can help us in gaining crucial
insights on consumer buying behaviour in case of digital TV services.

It will also help us in doing a gap analysis between brand positioning

preferred and the positioning perceived by the consumers.

Research Approach

Data collection method/Primary research

Initial data (Exploratory Research) was collected by conducting focussed

group studies among well informed people who have been using Digital TV
for more than a year. Similar group discussions were also carried out with
retailers.

Focussed group discussions were also conducted amongst individuals who

had never subscribed to Digital TV service and had been using the traditional
cable TV service to find out what they thought about it.

This helped us identify and select major attributes that the customers seek
which affect their buying preference and behaviour.

Secondary research

Secondary research was carried out through the use of resources available on
the internet. It was also done through online consumer forums and through
opinion sites.

Questionnaires

Questionnaires method was used for Primary Data collection for Definitive
research. An online questionnaire was also prepared for people who prefer
the online mode.

16 | P a g e 2/23/2010
 Measurement Instruments

Rating scale was used for doing the comparisons between brands. A need
semantic differential scale was also used to decide the relative importance of
the various attributes for purchasing a Ready to Eat food.

A 5 point Likert scale was used to find out the choice of specific brands, if
any.

The data was then extracted and put in MS Excel. All the further analysis was
then carried out using SPSS. The measurement was designed to get a fair
idea about the various attributes and conducted factorial analysis of the
important attributes.

Sample Collection

We collected 30 samples for our analysis. The samples chosen were such that
they had adequate awareness about Digital TV service or Using Cable TV but
still having awareness about Digital TV service. The main demographics
targeted were affluent people and double income families. Also we tried to
focus more on the newly married professionals and technology loving
youngsters as they would be more interested in buying Digital TV Service
owing to their variety seeking behaviour and also because they were more
aware.

The samples were taken under the assumption that respondents who already
have DTH service will be better able to answer the questions regarding the
influencing factors and the reasons for their purchase. The samples collected
from internet were also very valuable in the research.

Analysis Techniques used

The analysis techniques were used on SPSS and various tests were performed
to ascertain the factors influencing the consumer decision while subscribing
for DTH services.

The analytical technique that we have used is Attribute based Perceptual

Mapping using Discriminant Analysis. This technique helps us to find out
17 | P a g e 2/23/2010
 how a particular brand is perceived in relation to other competing brands.
The Discriminant analysis output gives us the Eigen value of each function
and the amount of variance it explains from the original data. The percentage
of variance explained by discriminant functions can be used to decide how
many discriminant functions we use.

Number of discriminant functions determines the number of axes of

perceptual maps. The discriminant functions represent the axes on which the
brands are first located, and then the attributes are also located.

A study was done on comparison of interactive services of DTH players

Interactiv Tata Sky Airtel digital Dish TV Big TV

e TV
Services

Shopping Active Mall iShop

Children Active Wiz iLearn by Active Feature

learning kids, Active 24x7guru.com
Learning,
Active topper
in association
with
24x7guru.com

Stories Active Stories

Games Active Games Game Zone Games iGames

Travel Active iTravel Bhakti Acitve

Darshan (Mytho)
(Mythology) in
partnership
with Star
News

Sports Active Sports iSports Active Feature

with camera
angle, match
highlights,
player statistics,
multiple
languages
commentary

18 | P a g e 2/23/2010
 Matrimony Active
Matrimony
(bharat
matrimony.co
m)

Cooking Active iCooking

Cooking
(masters
chefs)

Astrology Active iAstro Astroactive with iAstro

Astrology Pandit Ajay
(Bejan Bhambi
News Daruwala) iNet, iNews iNews
Active Feature
Active Star
News

Movies Showcase Airtel live iCinema

City iCity
Informatio
n

Book iMatinee
Movie
Tickets

Banking ICICI ACTIVE

Reminders Alert Reminders

Child lock Available Available

Extras Widgets, Electronic Electronic

Quick View, Programming Programmin
iPizza Guide g Guide

19 | P a g e 2/23/2010
 Findings:

 Tata Sky is in the numero uno position with respect to provision of

interactive services as compared to other players like Airtel Digital TV,
Dish TV and Big TV.
 Airtel Digital TV is in the second position only after Tata Sky with respect
to the variety of interactive services been provided.
 Dish TV is the only DTH player among the above players that does not
provide gaming option. Rest all the players are well equipped with the
gaming feature.
 Astrology and news are the only features which are provided by all the
DTH players.
 One of the distinguishing features of Dish TV is the banking facility known
as ICICI ACTIVE which no other players provide in any format.
 Some of the common services which are found in most of the DTH players
are children learning programmes, games, travel, cooking, astrology and
movies.

 In the survey it was found that Tata Sky had the maximum share of
subscribers among the five prominent DTH players. This is attributed to
the fact of better service provision with prompt reply and wide variety of
interactive services.
 Dish TV and Airtel Digital TV are the next players after Tata Sky to grab
the subscribers market. Dish TV being the oldest player in the DTH sector

20 | P a g e 2/23/2010
 has gradually lost its grip to Tata Sky, Airtel Digital TV being new in the
sector has readily caught the market in a fast pace.
 Big TV and Sun Direct have low market share. Sun direct is not catching
up with other players due to lack of attractive features and high
concentration of south Indian channels.

 The survey indicated that the customers preferred the Gaming feature
more than any other interactive service which indicates that children
interest too play significant part in selecting the DTH.
 The Movie was the second preferred segment of the customers.
 It was not surprising to see Astrology catching the customer’s interest
with famous astrologers like Bejan Daruwala, Pandit Ajay Bhambi hosting
the shows in the channel.
 Travel, News and Cooking showed neck to neck competition. With middle
income group growing in India, it is predicted that there will be increase in
tourism which will ultimately increase the need of portals giving travel
services

21 | P a g e 2/23/2010
  When asked Commercials
to the customers about the ease of operating the remote
control to find the interactive services then about 89% agreed to be it as
easy while 11%Seenfound it difficult to operate.
 The operation of remote control was found to be easiest in Tata Sky than
any other DTH remote. This was due to the fact of having being written
the function of each and every button than mere symbols which some
other DTH remote do have.
 Generally senior citizens and children aged less than 4 years find it
difficult to operate the remote.

22 | P a g e 2/23/2010
  Tata Sky seems to be successful in its aggressive marketing plan where it
is seen as the most widely viewed advertisement. Tata Sky was also voted
as their favourite advertisement featuring Aamir Khan and Gul Panag.
 Airtel Digital TV and Dish TV are the next most viewed advertisements
after Tata Sky.
 The brand advertisements of Tata Sky, Dish TV and Airtel Digital TV are
Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Saif Ali Khan & Kareena Kapoor
respectively.
 Heavy advertisements results in better brand recall which results in higher
sales of the product as could be seen in case of Tata Sky.

Commercials
Liked

23 | P a g e 2/23/2010
  Almost three fourth of the population been interviewed felt that the
Interactive services increase the value of DTH package.
 Interactive services like shopping, travel earns revenue for the DTH
Company if properly executed.

 The survey showed that the majority of the cable consumers paid a
monthly subscription in the range of Rs 225 to 325. Upto 20% each paid in
the range of Rs upto 150 and Rs 150 to 225.
 It also indicates that majority of the consumers are ready to pay in the
range of Rs 225 to 325 and so the DTH players should cast their monthly
subscription in this range only.
 The price range of Rs 150 to 225 is also a lucrative one since the
consumers would be readily willing to pay in this range.

24 | P a g e 2/23/2010
  Tata Sky and Dish TV share equal platform in terms of popularity among
the cable TV consumers. This is because of popular celebrities like Aamir
Khan and Shah Rukh Khan endorsing for the products.
 The Airtel Digital TV gained popularity by advertising during IPL matches
2009 on SET Max. The result is within a short period after its launch it
spread its awareness.
 Sun Direct followed an extension advertisement of Bajaj Exceed which had
become very popular. This achieved wide popularity for Sun Direct.
 Reliance Big TV gained awareness in about 13% of the population
interviewed.

25 | P a g e 2/23/2010
  With the population interviewed, about 70% showed the intention to
change from cable to DTH.
 Tata Sky was the most preferred player among the consumers to change
from cable.
 Sun Direct was the least preferred among the consumers because of the
heavy regional content.
 Brand Image of the DTH was the most influencing factor among the
consumers for changing to a particular DTH.
 Schemes & packages was the next factor of consideration for rational
consumers

26 | P a g e 2/23/2010
  Most consumers were satisfied with their existing Cable operators and did
not intent to switch to any DTH player.
 High initial cost of DTH including the STB was one of the inhibitions to
change to DTH player.
 Some consumers were not satisfied with the existing package offered by
the DTH players and some did not understand the schemes of the DTH
players.
 Peculiar problems like having more than one TV also restricted the
consumers to go for DTH.

Recommendations:

 The consumers will be very happy to pay in the price range of Rs 151
to 225 as a monthly subscription since most of the cable consumers
pay more than Rs 225 to existing cable operators.

 Many a times cable consumers are fooled by their operators about the
unavailability of particular channels which Airtel can make aware to the
masses.

 Tata Sky and Dish TV are most popular among the masses due to their
distinct brand ambassadors. Airtel should come up with
advertisements with a brand ambassador who has a stronger mass
appeal to generate a top of the mind recall.

 Around 40% of the population interviewed does not understand the

DTH schemes or are not satisfied with the existing schemes
particularly the customer service. So improvements need to be made
in this direction.
27 | P a g e 2/23/2010
 Perceptual Mapping

A perceptual mapping of the five strong players in the DTH market was
carried out to produce a picture of the competitive landscape from a
customer point of view identifying the aspects or factors that customers
use to conceptualise their choices. In this research technique, a
questionnaire was designed and responses were collected from 30
customers surveyed which were put into statistical package of SPSS
known as Multi Dimensional Scaling (MDS). Following are the observations
obtained from MDS –

In the above perceptual mapping there are two dimensions along which the
mapping was done. Dimension 1 indicates „Customer Service‟ ranging from Poor
to Excellent, whereas Dimension 2 indicates „Emotions‟ ranging from Rational to
Emotional. Following were the conclusions drawn –

 Tata Sky was rated as the best player with respect to provision of
Customer Service.

 Big TV was rated as a poor player in terms of Customer Service.

28 | P a g e 2/23/2010
  Sun Direct was considered to be rational in terms of its schemes and
packages, Set Top Box (STB) and monthly subscription.

 Customers appeared to be more emotionally attached with Dish TV, being

the oldest player in the DTH market and endorsement of its brand
ambassador i.e. Shah Rukh Khan.

 Small distance between Airtel Digital TV and Dish TV indicate that they are
more or less perceived similar by the customers. It also indicates a close
competition between the two players.

 The other brands viz. Tata Sky, Sun Direct and Big TV have distinct images
in the customers mind.

DTH potential in Rural Areas:

Contrary to the perception that Direct-to-Home (DTH) television

technology is an urban or a metro phenomenon, 70 per cent of its DTH
subscribers reside in rural areas and towns with a population under a
million. And metros like Delhi or Mumbai contribute only 2-3 per cent to
the overall DTH subscriber base of 13.2 million.

Within the rural markets, it is Dish TV and DD Direct plus DTH services
that have the most penetration. Tata Sky, Dish TV and Sun Direct DTH
services are preferred brands in top metros, the report says. The southern
market is dominated by Sun Direct DTH services, while in high-income
households (monthly income above Rs 50,000); Tata Sky is the dominant
DTH brand.

Over seven million DTH subscribers, or more than half the total of 13.2
million, come from rural markets alone, where Dish TV and DD Direct Plus
are the clear leaders. Towns of a population under one million (semi-urban
towns) contribute another two million DTH subscribers

The states of Maharashtra, Goa, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan are
the leaders in DTH subscription, contributing over 6.4 million DTH
connections or 48 per cent to the overall DTH subscriber base

In terms of geographical location, North India and Western India together

contribute over 8.4 million DTH subscribers, while the southern market
contributes 3.2 million. There are 126 million cable homes in the country,
of which 50 per cent are based in rural India.

So far the marketing campaigns of DTH operators have focused on sound

and picture quality, flexible payment structure and new interactive
services. The DTH players are now looking at cost-effective subscription
packages to woo consumers in small towns. DTH players such as Airtel
Digital TV, Big TV or Tata Sky are also banking on their pre-paid mobile
29 | P a g e 2/23/2010
 and fixed line customers in tier II and tier III cities to bite the bait, and
have schemes where new DTH subscribers get free talk time on their
phone connections or other such freebies. Others are working on low-cost
STBs and offering tailor-made packages, especially language channel
packages that suit rural consumers’ interest.

Rural has the potential to push volumes—but there are still hurdles for
DTH companies.

Annexure 1

Questionnaire on DTH Interactive Services

1. Which DTH brand service do you use?

Tata Sky, Dish TV, Airtel digital TV, Big TV, Sun direct

2. Since how long have you been using DTH service?

Less than 6 months, 6 months to 1 year, 1 to 2 year, 2 to 3 year, more than 3

years

3. Are you aware of the interactive services offered by the various DTH players?

Yes No
4. Which active service do you use frequently?

Games, Movies, cooking, Astrology, Others (please specify) ____________

5. How do you find the interactive system to use?

Complicated Easy

6. Does the interactive service offered by the DTH companies influence your
decision of purchasing a particular DTH?

Yes No

7. Do you find the interactive service helpful in your daily needs for example
cooking, learning etc?

Yes No

8. Are you willing to purchase your existing DTH without any interactive services
being offered, though with reduced price?

30 | P a g e 2/23/2010
Yes No

9. Any other service which you would like to have in the interactive package?

10. Which company DTH commercial have you seen so far on TV?

Tata Sky Dish TV Airtel digital TV Reliance Big TV Sun direct

11. Which is your favourite commercial among the DTH players?

A) Tata Sky (Aamir Khan & Gul Panag, Hrithik Roshan, Paresh Rawal)
B) Dish TV (Shah Rukh Khan)
C) Airtel digital TV (A.R Rehman, Saif & Kareena)
D) Reliance Big TV
E) Sun direct

12. Are you aware of the ad of Tata Active Learning featuring small school boys
as Einstein?

Yes No don’t remember

13. Are you aware of Dish TV’s service of banking facility with ICICI bank?

Yes No
14. Are you aware of big TV’s 32 cinema hall feature?

Yes No

15. Which interactive service have you purchased recently?

16. Have you made use of the services like iPizza?

Yes No

17. Do you take part in the various contests held in the interactive channels?

Yes No

18. What do you feel about the feature of watching cricket from different angles
as provided by Tata Sky and Dish TV?

Very innovative Interesting Not useful

19. Overall, do you feel that the interactive services increase the value of the
DTH package?

Yes No

31 | P a g e 2/23/2010
 Annexure 2

Questionnaire for Consumers of Cable TV

1. Since how long you have been using cable TV?

Past 6 months 6 months to 1 year 1 to 3 years more than 3 years

2. How much do you pay for monthly cable?

Upto Rs 150 Rs 151-Rs 225 Rs 226-Rs 325 Rs 326-Rs 400

above Rs 400

3. Do you get all your required channels from your cable operator?

Yes No

4. If answer to Q3 is no, then what reason does your cable operator gives for not
providing the required channel?

5. From the list provided below which DTH players are you aware of?

Tata Sky Dish TV Airtel Digital TV Big TV Sun Direct

Others (then specify) _____________

6. Are you satisfied with the services of your cable operator?

Yes No

7. Would you like to change from your cable operator to any of DTH players?

Yes No

8. If answer to Q7 is yes, then which DTH provider would you like to change?

Tata Sky Dish TV Airtel Digital TV Big TV Sun

Direct

32 | P a g e 2/23/2010
Others (then specify) _____________

Annexure 3
Questionnaire for Perceptual Mapping

Q1 – Give your ratings regarding the redressal of complaints for the DTH
companies? 1 denotes Excellent and 5 is Poor

1 2 3 4 5

Tata Sky

Dish TV

Airtel
Digital
TV

Big TV

Sun
Direct TV

Q2 - Give your ratings for the promptness of response from the DTH companies?
1 denotes Excellent and 5 is Poor

1 2 3 4 5

Tata Sky

33 | P a g e 2/23/2010
Dish TV

Airtel
Digital TV

Big TV

Sun
Direct TV
Q3 – Rate the given below DTH companies according to the overall customer
service provided by them? 1 denotes Excellent and 5 is Poor

1 2 3 4 5

Tata Sky

Dish TV

Airtel
Digital
TV

Big TV

Sun
Direct TV

Q4 – Give your ratings for the economy of the schemes and packages of the
various DTH players? 1 denotes Excellent and 5 is Poor

1 2 3 4 5

Tata Sky

Dish TV

Airtel
Digital
TV

34 | P a g e 2/23/2010
Big TV

Sun
Direct TV

Q5 – Give your ratings according to the emotional impact of the advertisements

of the DTH companies? 1 denotes Excellent and 5 is Poor

1 2 3 4 5

Tata Sky

Dish TV

Airtel
Digital
TV

Big TV

Sun
Direct TV

Q6 – Give your ratings according to the overall entertainment level provided by

the DTH companies? 1 denotes Excellent and 5 is Poor

1 2 3 4 5

Tata Sky

Dish TV

Airtel
Digital
TV

35 | P a g e 2/23/2010
Big TV

Sun
Direct TV

Major competitors

Dish
TV
168 channels, 7 movie
channels, 21 audio
channels

Price between Rs 2,490-

3,990 (initial payment),
Rs 100 for up to 85
channels, Rs 300 for 140
channels

USP: Free gaming portal,

multilingual voice-overs
coupled with astrological
services and customized
sports

36 | P a g e 2/23/2010
 TATA
Sky
150 channels

Price Rs 2,499 for initial

installation; Rs 175 for 65
channels, Rs 310 for 123
channels

USP: Interactive offering

like quiz, story telling,
broadcast like shrines and
cooking portals among
other offerings

37 | P a g e 2/23/2010
 BIG TV
202 channels, 32 movie
channels and 10
interactive channels

Price Rs 2,499 for initial

installation, Rs 100 for
bouquet of 44 channels,
Rs 175 for a pack of
101 channels

USP: Movie channels on

a monthly subscription,
niche channels at low
add-on charges, USB
port in the set-top
box

38 | P a g e 2/23/2010
 SUN
DIRECT
110 Channels (initially
no Hindi channel)

Initial installment of
Rs.1999 with one year
free subscription, Rs.75
per month

Add-ons such as the

Hindi package, the kids’
package, or the English
movie package, which
cost Rs 20-140 more.

USP: It’s not a rich

man’s product. Low cost
makes it easily available

39 | P a g e 2/23/2010
Prasar Bharti owned
DTH service which is
free to air service
which just needs an
initial installment to
buy set top box.

40 | P a g e 2/23/2010