HD: Customer Demand Fueling Operator Ambitions - EXTENDED

 

Still in the Early Phases

In Asia, the story is mixed, with some platforms far more advanced than others. SkyPerfect JSAT of Japan  is predicting strong growth in the numbers of HD channels it intends to offer customers. In July, the operator offred 18 HD channels. By October, it will ramp up to 60 HD channels, with a projected 70-plus in 2010. Others operators are not as advanced. In Malaysia, the pay-TV competition centers around DTH operator Astro and Telecom Malaysia, which is launching IPTV services later this year. Astro has not yet launched HD services, but CEO Rohana Rozhan says they definitely are on the operator’s road map. Telekom Malaysia hopes to have at least two to three HD channels at launch. “There is not a lot to choose from, but we are definitely on the lookout for more HD content. We are trying to get as much HD content and material as we can, both for our linear channels and our non-linear channels, such as our [video-on-demand] services. We believe that HD content and interactive services will make the difference for us,” says Telekom Malaysia Vice President Jeremy Kung.

The goal for many operators in the region is develop a strong subscriber base for SD services before moving to HD. Benjie Fernandez, managing director of Mediascape, a DTH platform in the Philippines, says, “If we want to target the premium market, then HD would be important. We are doing the mass market right now. I think at this point, we know the set-top box costs and the bandwidth we will utilize. What we will see is how content providers price their channels. We are consciously monitoring the HD market. There is a high interest from us to offer these services. In terms of when we launch HD services, this will really be driven by the plans of content providers. They are starting to pick up.”

In Latin America, Brazil is expected to be one of the main growth markets for pay-TV services, with one of Brazil’s main telcos, Embratel, dipping its toes in the pay-TV space and launching a DTH service which already has 100,000 subscribers. “We think in 2011, there will be 500,000 HDTV-ready households in Brazil,” says Antonio Joao, executive director of Via Embratel. “We have plans for HD and PVR in 2011.The key question is about the availability of content. Today, local broadcasters are starting to produce local content in HD for the pay-TV market. We are seeing international content also being produced in HD, but the production of HD content here only started 12 months ago. We hope to have around 10 pay-TV HD channels. There could also be a further number of HD channels available from local broadcasters. We don’t think we will need extra capacity from Star One than the C2 satellite to serve the market in terms of HD.”

Bottom Line

HD is happening, perhaps not has fast as people thought, but it is here. Some operators are adopting a more cautious approach, and even in some established markets in Western Europe, you can count the number of HD channels on satellite pay-TV platforms on one hand. But progress is being made. Broadcasters are producing more content, and as more HD-ready equipment makes it way into homes, operators will be compelled to launch HD services to keep ahead of the competition.

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