Broadcasters eye channels with niche market

new delhi: niche broadcasters of theunited states are queuing up to target cable tv viewers in india. from historychannel to tech tv and golf channel to home & garden, these channels areeagerly awaiting a government decision that would make it mandatory for paychannels to be routed through a set-top-box. they are making strategies totarget indian households, who will be wiling to pay extra for these specialprogrammes. globally, with a few exceptions like india, channels like hallmarkand turner’s hbo, are routed through set-top-box. however, in india thingswill change once these niche broadcasters beam programmes to a select audience,either through the advent of dth (direct to home) services or cheaperalternative conditional access, like the set-top-box. the two allow viewers topick channels of their choice. while a dth service would cost rs 20,000,set-top-box subscribers will have the option to buy the addressable box foraround rs 3,000 or pay a nominal rent every month. apart from enabling targetedadvertising, dth and conditional access will allow broadcasters to beamprogrammes in different languages and, help viewers watch channels of choice.cartoon network and discovery channel are also planning to segment viewership inhindi, english and other languages. normally, viewers are captive to the choiceof cable operators and in certain areas, the programmes of these two channelsare beamed in either hindi or english. initially, niche market broadcasters planto target just about 3 million homes, out of about 38 milliion cable tvhouseholds in india. history channel md carl meyer recently said the channelwould be launched in india, later this year. initially, it would use contentfrom its global library; later, local production could follow. those alreadyhere and distribute through normal cable route are also doing a strategyrethink. hallmark company officials said the channel would target high-incomeviewers. ‘‘we don’t believe in reaching 20 million homes withno focus,’’ said gregory ang’s hallmark’s asiapacific’s ad sales director. an internal research, said ang, showed thathallmark had a reach over 8 million homes in india, of which about 4 millionwould be its target. his reasoning: ‘‘we had an exclusive palio carlaunch in our channel. the more niche our audience, the better feedback we getfrom the ad community.’’ similarly, us-based tech tv, a 24-hourbroadcaster of technology related programming, is evaluating entry into india.rasa urmonas, tech tv’s sales and marketing head in the asia region, saidshe was on a fact finding mission to india and was impressed with the market.‘‘the trip is an eye-opener,’’ she said. even publicbroadcaster is not far behind in plans to get into niche market. doordarshan isall set to launch direct terrestrial transmission (dtt) in metros. people inmetros would be able to buy a decoder for around rs 2,500 and an antenna for rs150 to watch dd’s dtt. dd dg quarishi said advertisers have shown interestin these channels, which would deliver educational, agricultural and culturalprogrammes. ‘‘there is certainly a big market for these channels inindia,’’ said bhuvan lal of indian broadcast foundation, an apexbody of foreign and indian broadcasters. ‘‘they are looking atdistribution models of cable addressable system and dth,’’ he added.