Sun Direct became the No. 2 DTH operator in India on the back of free set-top boxes and rock-bottom fees. It must now begin the journey to profitability
In December 2007, the sun almost set on Kalanithi Maran’s media empire. The television mogul, who rose from a cassette magazine entrepreneur to a billionaire in just 16 years, had crossed the path of the most powerful political family in Tamil Nadu. The apparent trigger was a poll published in a daily owned by him that favoured M.K. Stalin, younger son of chief minister M. Karunanidhi, as his successor over the elder son, Azhagiri.
Less is More
There is one crucial difference between Sun Direct and its competitors, claims D’Silva, and that is the way it chooses which channels to offer to subscribers. Rather than invest huge sums to buy all the 140 or 150 channels from broadcasters, it has focussed on a few channels that people in its target markets like the most. Normally, broadcast companies like Star TV sell a bundle of channels cheaper than one channel individually.
D’Silva also claims Sun is the only DTH operator currently that forces broadcasters to provide it channels on an a la carte pricing (Sun even went to court to ensure that). This means buying just STAR Plus for Rs. 8.75 instead of an entire bouquet of eight channels for Rs. 23.40. D’Silva says he can thus create a tighter package of channels that are really popular among TV viewers instead of being forced to carry bouquets that contain a large number of niche or unpopular channels. For South India, this is corroborated by data provided by TAM India: Just 36 channels account for 80 percent of an average viewer’s television time in South; In fact, 66 percent comes from 25 regional channels versus 14 percent from 11 national ones.
(This story appears in the 18 December, 2009 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)