Direct-to-Home Video Provides New Benefit for TV Owners in India

By Indrajit Ghosh – Director, India and South Asia, DisplaySearch

Direct-to-Home (DTH) video delivery is growing in India, and may be used by a quarter of the TV watching population in India by 2013. Recently, Bollywood (the largest producer of movies in the world) linked to the DTH platform offered by Bharti Airtel by showing a blockbuster movie only five days after it was released in movie theatres.

This made sense for both sides. The new movie allows the DTH provider to increase its revenue, increases interest among customers and drives LCD TV demand. Viewing a new blockbuster on the DTH platform costs only INR 150 (US$3), which is much more affordable than INR 200 (US$4) per ticket in a theatre.

It also makes sense for Bollywood to move to DTH; multiplex owners have refused to screen Bollywood movies in their theatres when the producers asked for a 50:50 revenue split. This opens up the possibility of an enlarged audience and additional source of revenue while keeping theatre owners in check.

However, theatre owners are not giving up, and are putting pressure on Bollywood to make this a one-time experiment. In this game of nerves, the customer wins and could drive LCD TV sales upwards.