Format for submission of Information : Broadcaster

To

All Broadcasters

Subject: Tariff issues for cable TV services in non-CAS Areas- Format for submission of

information to facilitate the consultation process

Sir,

The Hon’ble Supreme Court vide its order dated 13th May, 2009 has directed The

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to carry out a de novo tariff exercise for

cable TV services in non-CAS areas.

2. In order to carry out this exercise, TRAI solicits your cooperation in supplying the

information requested in the format attached to this letter. You are requested to download

the format and provide information to TRAI on or before 1700 hours on Monday 17 th

August, 2009. Please use extra sheets where requested (or if required by you) to submit

the information. The duly filled format should be submitted by email to [email protected].

Please provide the required information in two copies. The first copy should be provided in

Acrobat PDF or any other un-editable format. The second copy should be submitted in an

editable Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel format to enable us to process this information

in electronic form. The Hon’ble Supreme court in the said order has also directed all the

stakeholders to co-operate with TRAI in this exercise. We request your cooperation in

providing this information in time.

3. TRAI understands that some of the information to be supplied could be sensitive in

nature. Such data as you desire will be kept confidential and will be used for the purpose

of this exercise by TRAI. You may please indicate the data that is to be kept confidential.

4. TRAI has appointed M/s Ernst & Young to assist TRAI in this exercise. Ms.

Chanpreet Arora, Manager, M/s Ernst & Young (EY) may contact you in this regard.

Format for submission of information: Broadcasters 7th August 2009Tariff issues for cable TV services in non-CAS Areas

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mailto:[email protected]

5. If you require any help or clarification regarding any item in the format, please do

not hesitate to contact us at the following:

Phone: +91 11 23218918/23237922

Fax: +91 11 2322 0442

Email: [email protected] or [email protected] (please indicate “Information

regarding Tariff issues for Cable TV Services in Non-CAS Areas” in the subject line

of your email)

6. Given the limited time frame to complete this exercise, we look forward to your

prompt reply.

Thanking You,

Yours faithfully,

(Subodh Kumar Gupta)

Advisor (B&CS)

August 07, 2009

Format for submission of information: BroadcasterName of the Network: ___________________________ Format for submission of information: Broadcasters 7th August 2009Tariff issues for cable TV services in non-CAS Areas

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Name of Contact Person: ___________________________Designation: ___________________________Date of filling in questionnaire: ___________________________

I. Business Model

1. General Information

# Information Area 2006-07 2007-08 2008-091.1 Number of channels

operated by your network

# Information Area Year of commencement

Genre1 (please see footnote 1)

Wholesale price charged to MSO

1.2 Name of channel

2. Audited Results and Annual Reports for the company’s broadcasting operations for FY2006-07, FY 2007-08 and FY 2008-09 or from the year of existence (if less than three years). This applies for both listed and non-listed companies.

3. Profitability and Returns

4. Ownership Structure

4.1 Please provide details of the owners of the company/firm: Name/Entities and their addresses; Percentage Stake of each owner_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4.2 Do you have 20% or more stake in the following sectors? Please tick as applicable and specify the name of the entities owned, % stake and other relevant details.

□ Television Broadcast, other than your company__________________________________

1 Please select any one of the following genres: GEC English, GEC Hindi, GEC Regional language, Music (any language), Sport (any language), Movies (any language), News (any language), Kids (any language), Infotainment (any language), Lifestyle (any language), Religious (any language)Format for submission of information: Broadcasters 7th August 2009Tariff issues for cable TV services in non-CAS Areas

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# Information Area 2006-07 2007-08 2008-093.1 EBITDA Margin3.2 EBIT3.3 PAT3.4 Capital Expenditure Undertaken3.5 ROCE3.6 ROI

Please specify the total number of channels operated by the parent___________________

□ Distribution – MSO_________________________________________________________

Please specify reach of MSO network (number of connections2)______________________Please specify markets of presence ______________________

□ Distribution – LCO _________________________________________________________

Please specify reach of LCO network (number of connections)_______________________Please specify markets of presence ______________________

□ Distribution – DTH__________________________________________________________

Please specify reach of DTH network (number of connections) ______________________Please specify markets of presence ______________________

□ Distribution – IPTV_________________________________________________________

Please specify reach of IPTV network (number of connections) ______________________Please specify markets of presence ______________________

□ Any other broadcasting and distribution related sectors_____________________________

Please specify ______________________

4.3 Do any of your share holders who have 20% of more stake in your company have 20% or more stake in the following sectors? Please tick as applicable and specify the name of the entities owned, % stake and other relevant details.

□ Television Broadcast, other than your company__________________________________

Please specify the total number of channels operated by the parent___________________

□ Distribution – MSO_________________________________________________________

Please specify reach of MSO network (number of connections)______________________Please specify markets of presence ______________________

□ Distribution – LCO _________________________________________________________

Please specify reach of LCO network (number of connections)_______________________Please specify markets of presence ______________________

□ Distribution – DTH__________________________________________________________

Please specify reach of DTH network (number of connections) ______________________Please specify markets of presence ______________________

□ Distribution – IPTV_________________________________________________________

Please specify reach of IPTV network (number of connections) ______________________Please specify markets of presence ______________________

□ Any other broadcasting and distribution related sectors_____________________________

Please specify

2 Connections = subscribersFormat for submission of information: Broadcasters 7th August 2009Tariff issues for cable TV services in non-CAS Areas

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5. PricingPlease indicate the price charged to the aggregator/ distribution agent or to the MSO (if negotiated directly) for the last three years

# Name of Channel

Sold in a bouquet or a la carte

2006-07 2007-08 2008-09A.Total value of subscription revenue collected

B.Total number of connections negotiated with all MSOs

C.Effective price of channel per connection(A/B)

A.Total value of subscription revenue collected



A.Total value of subscription revenue collected



Eg XYZ Channel

Bouquet INR 10 crores

1 million INR 10 INR 20 crores

1 million INR 20 INR 30 crores

2 million INR 15

Please use extra sheets if required


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All information requested in the points 6-7 are required to be provided channel wise so that we can understand your business better. Please use separate sheets for separate channels.

Name of channel:

6. Revenue

Name of channel:

7. Operating Costs


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# Information Area 2006-07 2007-08 2008-096. Total Revenue6.1 Advertising Revenue(i) From India

Please provide further details as requested in Appendix A and Appendix B

(ii) Average advertising rate/ 10 seconds

(iii) From international markets(iv) Name of any external agency that

collects advertisement revenue on your behalf

6.2 Subscription Revenue(i) Is the channel pay or FTA?(ii) Name of bouquet that channel is

part of (N/A if standalone)If Pay

(iii) Subscription revenue from international markets

(iv) Subscription revenue from IndiaPlease provide further details as requested in Appendix C

(v) Subscription revenue from specified commercial subscribers

(vi) Subscription revenue from residential subscribers

(vii) Total subscription revenue from digital platforms- Digital Cable- DTH- IPTV

(viii) Total subscription revenue from analog platforms

(ix) Name of collection agency for subscription revenue if pay. Please indicate by platform- Cable- DTH- IPTV

6.3 Other revenues(i) Content Syndication(ii) Others, please specify

# Information Area 2006-07 2007-08 2008-097. Total Operating Costs

(Note: please apportion manpower costs to the relevant functional cost provided below)

7.1 Content Production Costs7.2 Technology and Transmission

Costs7.3 Distribution Costs

For Distribution Costs Please provide further details as requested in Appendix D

(i) Carriage Fee3 by platformAnalog CableDigital CableDTH

(ii) Placement Fee4 by platformAnalog CableDigital CableDTH

(iii) Technical Fee5 by platformAnalog CableDigital CableDTH

(iv) Any other fee paid to the distributors, please specify ____________________

Analog CableDigital CableDTH

(v) Agency commissions (if carriage and placement being negotiated by a third party)Name of placement agency

3 Carriage fee means any fee paid by a broadcaster to a distributor of TV channels, for carriage of the channels or bouquets of channels of that broadcaster on the distribution platform owned or operated by such distributor of TV channels, without specifying the placement of various channels of the broadcaster vis-à-vis channels of other broadcasters4 Placement fee means any fee paid by a broadcaster to a distributor of TV channels, for placement of the channels of such broadcaster vis-à-vis channels of other broadcasters on the distribution platform owned or operated by such distributor of TV channels.5 Technical fee refers to the technology related costs to allow the channel to be up-linked, down-linked and distributed. This fee includes (but is not limited to) transponder space, cabling costs, capacity-enhancement etc.Format for submission of information: Broadcasters 7th August 2009Tariff issues for cable TV services in non-CAS Areas

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(vi) Aggregator commissions (if subscription revenue is being collected by a third party)Name of aggregator

(vi) Other personnel & operating costs pertaining to the function

(vii) Any other distribution related costs, please specify________________________

7.4 Sales Division Costs7.5 Marketing and Packaging Costs7.6 Support Functions – Admin, HR,

Finance7.7 Overheads 7.8 Any Other Costs

II. Factors Affecting Key Receivables/ Pay-outs from the Distribution Supply Chain

Advertising Revenue

1. What are the factors that determine the advertising revenue potential of your channel? Please tick as applicable and elaborate.

□ Target Group

Please specify your target audience __________________________

□ Presence in key markets

Please specify in which key markets you are present (provided in Annexure D)

Subscription Revenue for Pay Channels

2. How do you determine wholesale pricing of a channel?Please describe the various components of this price and the methodology used for calculation.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. What is the usual mechanism of selling different channels to the aggregator/MSO? Please tick all mechanisms that apply and elaborate on the key benefits of each.

□ Minimum guarantee _____________________________________

□ Lump sum payment _____________________________________

□ Revenue share _____________________________________

□ Per Negotiated Subscriber basis _____________________________________

□ Any other, please specify _____________________________________

4. Are there any problems faced by broadcasters in switching from Pay to FTA and vice versa? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


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5. What is the extent of control that you can exert on any of the key businesses levers listed below or others while negotiating your subscription revenues? Please tick as applicable and elaborate on the extent of control.

□ Wholesale price to be charged to the MSO/ DTH operator_________________________

□ Number of connections declared by the operators_________________________

□ Visibility of number of connections serviced by the MSO network_________________________

□ Access visibility of the collections from connections_________________________

□ Others, please specify _________________________________________________________

6. How do you measure and monitor connectivity at the LCO level? Please tick as applicable.

□ Are any connectivity reports provided by MSOs

□ Visits/Checks at the MSO/LCO levels

□ Any other, please specify____________________________________

7. How do you estimate the number of connections at the MSO/LCO level?________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Carriage and Placement Fee

8. Does the company pay any carriage or placement fees in markets which are not covered by measurement agencies

like TAM or aMAP? □ Yes □ No

Please explain why or why not, ________________________________________________________

9. What is the price difference in carriage fees for the same band across TAM markets? (please provide this information in the format provided in Appendix E)

10. In your perception, of the total carriage & placement fees paid what percentage is attributed to placements in the entire payout? _________________________

11. How do you measure the effectiveness of the amount spent as carriage and placement fee? Please tick as applicable and elaborate.

□ Increase in advertising revenue ____________________________________

□ Increase in subscription ____________________________________

□ Increase in connectivity ____________________________________

□ Increase in viewership ____________________________________

□ Other parameters, please specify ____________________________________

12. How do you define the increment of carriage and placement to be paid? Please tick as applicable and elaborate.(The factors below are just suggestive and should not be considered as conclusive or comprehensive)

□ Increase in Number of connections ____________________________________

□ Perceived number of TAM connections ____________________________________


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□ Improved Band placement ____________________________________

□ Factor of carriage and placement fee paid last year _______________________________

□ MSO Bargaining Power (due to monopoly, and/ or increase in competition) ____________

□ Other, please specify ___________________________________

III. Challenges Faced in the Current Market Conditions

1. Highlight the key business issues that your company is dealing with today? Please elaborate of the perceived cause of the issue and impact on the business operations. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Specifically, please elaborate the impact of the mandatory a la carte pricing of channels on:

- Your business for existing channels _________________________

- Your business for new channels _________________________

- Aggregators (Distribution agents) _________________________

- Distributors – MSOs _________________________

- Distributors – LCOs _________________________

- Other stakeholders, if any _________________________

3. What key market constraints (outside the influence of the individual companies) impact business operations? Please tick as applicable and elaborate.

□ Regulation, please give specific instances:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

□ Market Practices prevalent in the business amongst other stakeholders. Please provide specific actions:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

IV. Proposed Solutions

1. What are your expectations from other stakeholders in the value chain? How can this be operationalised?______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. What resources can you and your stakeholder group commit in the future for improving the current market conditions?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


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3. What is the desired level of intervention from the TRAI? Please tick as applicable and elaborate.

Tariff Regime

□ Case for forbearance

If yes, what checks & balances do you recommend:____________________________________________________________________________

□ Regulate carriage/placement fee-

If yes, through what mechanism____________________________________________________________________________

□ Tariff Regulation: Mechanisms for determining subscription at wholesale and retail level


□ Any other factor

____________________________________________________________________________

Non-Tariff Related

□ Digitization


□ Any other factor

____________________________________________________________________________


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Appendix A: Details of Advertising RevenueName of channel:Please allocate the revenues of each channel by city/state using the point of sale/transaction.

Format for submission of information: Broadcasters 7 th August 2009Tariff issues for cable TV services in non-CAS Areas

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# State City Advertising Revenue

2006-07 2007-08 2008-09

e.g Maharashtra Mumbai 5 Cr 10 Cr 15 Cr

Appendix B: Details of Average Advertising Minutes Revenue

Name of channel:Please provide us details of the average number of minutes per hour of advertising breaks for the last one year (i.e. 01 August – 31st July). Please provide the details by month.


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# Month Number of Minutes per Hour by Time Band

Morning6am – 12 noon

Afternoon12 noon – 6 pm

Evening6 pm – 12 midnight

Night12 midnight – 6 am

e.g 01-31 August 2008 6 7 12 4

Appendix C: Details of Operators that Carry Your Channel and Subscription Revenue Collected by Operator/ Commercial Subscribers

- Please indicate the operators that carry your channel and the subscription revenue collected from them. We would also like to understand your perspective on the current

revenue potential of these markets and the extent of under-declaration in different parts of the country

- If your channel was/ is FTA in certain markets, please indicate N/A in the subscription revenue column

- Please indicate collection of revenue from commercial subscribers separately

Name of channel:

# Operator (please include DTH and cable)

State(s),

City (ies)

Areas Covered

TAM, aMap or non-metered market

Digital or Analog (D/A)

2006-07 2007-08 2008-09

Total Subscription Revenue Collected

Number of connections (declared by the MSO)

Actual number of connections (estimated by you)







eg DEN (Cable)

Delhi, New Delhi

South Delhi

TAM Digital


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Appendix D: Details of Carriage, Placement and Technical Fee Paid by OperatorWe would like to understand the break-up of your distribution related expenses(If possible, please indicate Carriage fee and Placement fee separately in the same column)

Name of channel:

# Name of Operator (please include DTH and cable),

City(ies) and State(s)

Digital or Analog (D/A)

2006-07 2007-08 2008-09Reach

estimated by

you (number

of

connections)

Reach

declared by

operator

(number of

connections)

Band in which

your channel

is placed

Carriage and

placement

fee paid to

this operator

Reach

estimated by

you (number

of

connections)

Reach

declared by

operator

(number of

connections)

Band in which

your channel

is placed

Carriage and

placement

fee paid to

this operator

Reach

estimated by

you (number

of

connections)

Reach

declared by

operator

(number of

connections)

Band in which

your channel

is placed

Carriage and

placement

fee paid to

this operator

Eg Hathway City 1City 2City 3

Analog


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Appendix E: Markets of Presence, Band Placement and Current Levels of Carriage and Placement Fee

- Please indicate your markets of presence by writing Y in the Actual Presence column. If you would like your channel to be present in certain markets but it is not present (due to

external factors or actions of other stakeholders), please indicate Y in the Intended Presence column.

- Next, please indicate the price that you are currently paying your markets of presence, in the respective Band column and mark this value with an asterix.

- Additionally please indicate what you would pay in the same market for the other bands (that you have not selected). This will be an approximation based on your understanding

of what distributors are demanding in each market.

E.g. if you intend to be present in Meerut which is a TAM market, and you are also present in it on C Band and paying INR 12 lakhs for carriage and placement, please indicate:

Name of channel:

# City

TAM/ aMap market / Non metered city

Intended Presence (Y/N)

Actual Presence (Y/N)

(Please indicate value in INR)Prime Band (P)

Colour Band (C) S Band UHF VHF

eg Meerut TAM Y Y 15 lakhs 12 lakhs* 10 lakhs 6 lakhs 2 lakhs123456789

1011121314151617181920


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