MUMBAI: Brokerage firm Morgan Stanley has some good news in store for direct to home (DTH) player Dish TV and multi system operator (MSO) Hathway Cable & Datacom. The firm has upgraded both Hathway and Dish TV to ‘overweight’, while also raising their target price, that represents an upside of 37 per cent and 20 per cent respectively, over the next 12 months.

As per an Economic Times report, Morgan Stanley has downgraded Zee Entertainment to 'equal weight' with downside of 10 per cent. “Zee outperformed Hathway and Dish by 12 per cent and 24 per cent, respectively, in 2014 as they believe that a large part of the potential improvement in subscriptions for Zee is in the price,” said the report. 

While upgrading Dish TV from ‘underweight’ to ‘overweight’, the target price of the DTH platform has been raised from Rs 49 to Rs 82. Not only this, Hathway has been upgraded from ‘equalweight’ to ‘overweight’, with a current target price of Rs 91 from Rs 59.   

According to the brokerage firm, there is a sense of urgency on monetisation by the MSOs, which can push up realisations for both Hathway and Dish TV.

“MSOs were unable to effect any sizeable improvements in realisations in 2014. However, the push from broadcasters to improve their subscription share has forced MSOs' hands,” added the media report.

As per Morgan Stanley channel checks, MSOs are responding by introducing higher value packs, raising prices and moving to a prepaid model.

The firm expects these efforts to boost realisations for MSOs and create headroom for Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) expansion for DTH. 

While an improving macro-economic outlook can help lift TV ad spending, margins could remain muted in F2016 for Zee due to new launches. Hence, Morgan Stanley prefers Hathway Cable followed by Dish TV and then Zee Entertainment Ltd.