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Believe it or
not, Direct-to-Home (DTH) television, that some of us are oh-so-eagerly
waiting for, is here. With two interesting differences: First, the
DTH content is not on any Indian platform, but on an African one.
Neither is the signal coming through a pizza-sized dish, associated
with DTH homes in US and Europe. But such technicalities apart,
several thousand homes across the country have got a first taste
of this African pie last week, from their friendly neighbourhood
cablewallah! It is a minuscule percentage of a total of 38 million
cable homes in India who got to see the African DTH offering and
it was cricket which set things afire. And how!
Some independent
cable operators, whose access to ESPN-STAR Sports is blocked, found
a smart alternative to beam the ongoing India-West Indies cricket
match. On the African DTH bouquet Multichoice. A Delhi-based cable
operator, who opted for the Multichoice route, describes the situation
as “an arrangement of need”. Since Multichoice has the
ESPN feed on it, this is an alternative way of showing the India-West
Indies cricket match, which otherwise would have been blacked out
for his cable homes. And he hasn’t done it for free. The price
for showing this bouquet is around $85 a month. Plus, the cable
operator needs to get a Multichoice decoder for around Rs 30,000.
The entire Multichoice kit, which consists of a decoder box, a smart
card and six-month subscription charges, comes to around Rs 90,000.
The Multichoice service is available both on C-band and on Ku-band.
And cable operators in India are receiving the service via normal
six-feet dishes.
As the strength
of the African bouquets signal reaching India is not very strong,
the size of the dish required in India for this service is at least
six-feet. Currently, around 50 such Multichoice kits are being used
in the country. Even as broadcasters, who are believed to be affected
by such an alternative route of airing channels, are leaving no
stones unturned to stop the Multichoice service at various head-ends,
cable operators are trying to outsmart broadcasters. Even as broadcasters
stop a service after tracing it to a cable-end through fingerprinting,
some of the cable operators have stocked themselves sufficiently
with Multichoice cards to get over this problem at least till the
ongoing cricket match lasts. So, even if one card is de-activated,
the operator can use another and then another. The idea is to get
even with the broadcaster, while offering a wholesome package to
the viewers. Those watching the cricket match on the Multichoice
bouquet have an added attraction. There are hardly any advertisements
coming along with the cricket match, as against the flurry of ads
that one has to bear after every turn of over on the channels that
we receive in India. Of course, one missed the Siddhuisms, that’s
so much a part of cricket matches.
Even as the
legal position on use of the Multichoice service in India is unclear,
broadcasters feel it is completely illegal. On being contacted,
an ESPN Software India spokesperson said that the DTH service box,
meant for use outside of India, was smuggled in to show the illegal
signals through the cable network in some areas in the capital and
in some far-flung rural areas in other states. Delhi-based Home
Cable Network was among those showing the Multichoice bouquet, he
said. “The showing of illegal TV signal is an offence under
the Copyrights Act and can attract up to three years’ imprisonment,”
the ESPN Software spokesperson said. Adding that the channel has
taken corrective action already, the spokesperson said: “We
have received excellent cooperation from the service providers,
and the said box has been immediately deactivated.”
But maintain
cable operators that the Multichoice DTH service is still being
shown in several areas. Not just cricket, but movies, serials, talk
shows and lots of other sports in a bouquet that India’s probably
catching for the first time.
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