NetworkPlay Signs On Airtel For CPM Advertising On DTH; Eyes Mobile, Video

From http://www.medianama.com/2009/08/223-networkplay-signs-on-airtel-for-cpm-advertising-on-dth-eyes-mobile-video/ on August 25, 2009

By Nikhil Pahwa

Capital18 funded advertising network NetworkPlay.in has inked a deal with Airtel DTH for advertising on DTH in India. Interestingly enough, NetworkPlay CEO & MD Rammohan Sundaram told MediaNama that the company is going to sell CPM based advertising on DTH. This obviously means that Airtel DTH needs to be able to measure the impressions and relay the data back to the advertiser – there has to be a feedback loop with Airtel DTH. So far, interactivity has been limited on DTH. The company will offer video and image based advertisements on the DTH boot screen, iTravel, iShop, iMatinee, iCity, iNews, iPizza, iAstro and other Airtel DTH services. According to Sundaram, Airtel DTH service has a penetration of over 1.3 Million households and growing at a rate of 16 percent month on month, and reaches a SEC A & B audience in over 4000 towns in India. The total DTH userbase in India is 13 million; Tata Sky (4 million) and Dish TV (5.07 million as of March 31, 2009) are the top operators.

Sundaram says that the tie-up with Airtel is exclusive and they have been working on the deal for 6-7 months now; they are also actively pursuing deals with other DTH operators as well. The company is looking to launch Video and Mobile advertising solutions in the next couple of quarters, but Sundaram declined to comment on further plans.

Of late, we’ve seen a significant amount of collaboration between Internet, Mobile and DTH companies, with multiple services like ticketing, shopping, matrimonial, job classifieds and others being enabled on DTH. The increasing digitization of platforms means that digital services can be enabled across Internet, Mobile, IPTV, DTH etc; it doesn’t have to be about the world wide web alone.

Bharti rules out foreign investment in DTH biz

18 Jun 2009, 0124 hrs IST, Rashmi Pratap, ET Bureau

MUMBAI: Bharti Airtel, India’s largest telecom operator, said that its direct-to-home (DTH) venture, Bharti Telemedia does not require the approval of the Foreign Investment Board (FIPB), as the investment has come from Bharti Airtel’s internal accruals.

Responding to questions raised by FIPB regarding foreign investments in Bharti Telemedia, the company said there is no cash flow or investment from any foreign entity into Telemedia either directly or through Airtel.

In a letter to FIPB, Telemedia said FDI investment into Airtel has been in accordance with the norms and cap in the telecom sector and duly approved by FIPB. “Further, there is no FDI investor who has invested in Airtel specifically for downstream investment in the DTH sector. Accordingly, Bharti Telemedia did not apply for FIPB approval as it was not seeking fresh FDI or overseas investment,” it added.

This communication has come in response to a query from FIPB, which said approval for Bharti’s DTH services was “subject to compounding” (confirmation) by the Reserve Bank of India. Bharti said that “compounding” was not applicable in this case as only Indian money has been invested in Telemedia and no foreign money was routed to the company.

The government had earlier said the shareholding structure provided by Bharti Telemedia did not have FIPB approval and this was not in accordance with existing FDI policy. Last year, the Information & Broadcasting Ministry had also raised questions about Bharti Telemedia not having FIPB approval for foreign investments coming into it on a pro-rata basis through investing firms, including Airtel.

According to the FDI guidelines for DTH, total foreign equity holding in a company should not exceed 49% and the FDI component within the foreign equity should not exceed 20%. Airtel has 40% stake in Bharti Telemedia, while the remaining is held by an “Indian company of the Bharti group”, a Bharti spokesperson said.

Bharti also pointed out to FIPB that under the revised FDI policy, as per Press Notes 2 and 4, announced in February this year, Airtel qualifies as a company “owned and controlled” by resident Indians and there is no indirect FDI into Telemedia through Airtel.

Under the revised Press Notes, a company is considered Indian if Indian promoters have a stake of at least 51%. Moreover, the investments made by such companies in any joint venture or downstream venture will be treated as Indian. Since a major part of SingTel’s 31% stake and Vodafone’s over 4% share in Airtel is routed through majority-owned Indian companies, Airtel is owned and controlled by Indians.

Airtel launched its DTH services in October last year. It competes with Tata Sky, Reliance Communications’ Big TV, Zee’s Dish TV and Sun Direct in this segment. The company hasn’t yet started disclosing revenues from DTH services separately. “We will start disclosing the operational and financial performance of DTH operations next year, once they become material,” Airtel CEO and joint MD Manoj Kohli said recently.

BIG TV to kick start advertising campaign

From www.ciol.com on June 15, 2009

MUMBAI, INDIA: Big TV, Reliance Communication’s DTH service, is all set to kick start a two month long advertising 360 degree integrated campaign. The new campaign will deliver the value benefits a customer can derive through Reliance BIG TV and its entertainment niche, focusing on the brand’s larger than life canvas.

For the campaign, Big TV has engaged Corcoise Production which is headed by Prasoon Pandey while TVCs will be directed by Prashant Issar. A team from Leo Burnett led by Nilesh Tivary and KV Shridhar will lead the multi-crore campaign, which will be launched across the country covering electronic media, print, over 30 FM radio channels, OOH media, over 800 online portals and a host of social media. The advertising campaign will cover all the genres on a pan-India level with 1500 GRPs and over 10,000 radio spots.