MUMBAI: India has 44.21 million private DTH subscribers as of 31 December 2011, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said in its quarterly report.

The total number of registered subscribers is from the six private direct-to-home operators - Dish TV, Tata Sky, Airtel Digital TV, Videocon D2H, Reliance Digital TV and Sun Direct.

Digital cable TV, however, is growing slowly in the Cas (conditional access system) notified areas.

Cable TV operators have marginally increased the seeding of set-top boxes (STBs) in the Cas areas of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai during this period.

According to Trai, the total number of STBs installed increased to 853,737 in the quarter ended December 2011, as compared to 819,960 STBs in the previous quarter.

Trai has also released the data on the number of TV channels in India till 31 December 2011. There are a total of 825 private satellite TV channels permitted by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, out of which 163 channels are pay, as per the sector watchdog?s report based on the data received from 25 broadcasters and distributors across the country.

The maximum number of channels being carried by any of the reported multi-system operator (MSO) in digital mode is 277. In analogue form, however, the maximum number of channels being carried by any of the reported MSOs is 100 channels.

Trai also said that the number of private FM radio stations in operation remained at 245 till the end of Dec 2011.

MUMBAI: English movie channel Movies Now, which created an impact in the genre in a short period of time celebrates its first anniversary on 19 December 2011. It is looking at increasing its distribution footprint.

Movies Now channel head Ajay Trigunayat said that the aim is to increase its reach in the one million plus towns. "These are places where products and services are seeing a lot of growth. The focus will be on making the channel available at the right price among operators."

He notes that Movies Now is the only channel in the genre that reports for eight Metros which gives advertisers a homogeneous picture. Some of the other players he says are still not present in cities like Chennai and Ahmedabad.

The channel has now done deals with all the DTH operators - Tata Sky, Dish TV, Airtel Digital TV, Videocon D2H, Reliance Digital TV, and Sun Direct. The question though is what impact cable digitisation will have in terms of distribution costs.

Times Television Network MD, CEO Sunil Lulla notes as per the experience in other markets globally digitisation will result in as re-caliberation of carriage costs. "It is important that you are a strong brand that is present in consumers homes. The Times Television Network owns and operates strong brands. Movies Now, if I may say so, has been a super smash hit. We are a daily habit. Consumers come to see the movie of their choice," Lulla added.

One challenge is that of viewer fatigue with franchises like Rocky and Bond revolving among channels. Trigunayat notes that Movies Now gives at least a two month break to a film. The other challenge is increasing content costs which Trigunayat says have doubled in the past couple of years. This is affecting the period for which a channel holds the rights to a film. "For instance, if earlier you held the rights for three years, today if you want to pay the same price then you will only be able to hold it for a year and a half to two years. It has become a sellers market. Earlier when there were fewer players it was a buyers market."

He adds that when Movies Now launched it challenged the status quo. He adds that most viewership in this genre comes from library content. Action and comedy work the best. "Our philosophy is that if 60 million people watch this genre each week then it cannot be considered as niche. Right from the start we provided the necessary value with HD."

He adds that GRPs for the genre have risen despite the large amount of cricket being played. Also now more library content for film is being exploited with more players coming in. Earlier only 60 per cent of the available content was being used. Now this has gone up and popular films from previous decades air. Movies Now has around 500 films in its library and this will not grow. The only thing is that some films will go out and others will come in.

He adds that the broadcaster has made strides in social media. On Facebook it has half a million fans.

MUMBAI: The latest offering from Viacom18, Sonic, will be launched on 20 December. Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar, who is known for his daredevil action sequences in the movies, is the brand ambassador for the channel.

The channel goes with the tag line ?Thrills.Guts.Glory? and offers action, adventure and animation for its target audience, the young adults between the age group of 13-18 years.

Apart from major cable operators, the channel will be also be available on Airtel Digital TV, initially and gradually will be distributed via other direct-to-home operators. Sonic aims to reach 40 million households across the country.

Sonic and Nick India EVP and GM Nina Elavia Jaipuria said, "In India, animation is still looked upon as cartoons and hence childish while the world over, it has been soaring different heights. With Sonic, we hope to break that clich?."

Talking about the choice of the brand ambassador, Jaipuria said, "Action is in Akshay?s blood and DNA. He brings alive action and thrill for the action loving generation."

Kumar added, "I love action and I feel that Sonic is a channel that will bring action and adventure to the audiences very effectively. I immediately said yes to the offer when I heard the concept."

As part of the launch campaign the channel has undertaken multimedia initiatives on a large scale. While the network?s channels are airing TVC?s introducing Sonic, efforts have also been taken in the print, outdoor, digital, mobile and on ground media.

A dedicated website has been launched to engage the audiences. Users can access games, mobile interactivity and get updates on Facebook and Twitter.

The programming line up has animated shows like Shaktimaan, Kung Fu Panda - The Legend of Awesomeness, Jackie Chan Fantasia, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers S.P.D., Kung Fu Cat, Kong and Supastrikas. The Sonic Flix block will showcase action packed movies while Sonic Extreme will have shows like The Adrenaline Project and Are You Afraid of the Dark?

"The USP of the channel is the fact that it offers action across different genres from Kung Fu Panda to Are You Afraid of the Dark? Also, it is my belief that the superheroes are the trump cards for the channel," Jaipuria added.

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