IJEAR Vol. 2, Issue 1, Jan.

- June 2012

ISSN: 2348 0033 (Online) ISSN : 2249-4944 (Print)

Direct to Home Television: A Review

1

Karanpreet Kaur, 2Amit Kumar

Dept. of ECE, DWIET, Mohali, Punjab, India

College of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China
1

Abstract
DTH is a new technology and it has matured to its full potential
in other parts of the world. There are many application
has been found every day for exploitation of benefits of
DTH .The word DTH is synonymous with transmission of
digital video channel to home subscribers using a small dish
antenna. The DTH utilizes a technology which enables a home to
receive high speed internet broadband access data communication,
voice over internet protocol (IP) telephony and much more using
an open standard Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) technology.
In this paper we discuss that how DTH is related with the cable
and also about the role of DTH in rural and urban areas. DTH
platforms worldwide are focusing on increasing ARPU ( Average
Revenue Per User) by pushing premium services, the NSR report
predicts that global DTH industry revenues will grow from $70
billion in July 2010 just $100 billion in 10 years, i.e., by 2018.

II. How Does DTH Work?

DTH network consists of a broadcasting center, satellites, encoders,
multiplexers, modulators and DTH receivers. A DTH service
provider has to lease Ku-band transponders from the satellite.
The encoder converts the audio, video and data signals into the
digital format and the multiplexer mixes these signals. At the user
end, there will be a small dish antenna and set-top boxes to decode
and view numerous channels. On the users end, receiving dishes
can be as small as 45 cm in diameter [9].

Keywords
DTH Industry in India, Relationship Between DTH and Cable,
DTH Future
I. Introduction
DTH is defined as the reception of satellite programs with a
personal dish in an individual home. And an individual Set Top
Box (STB) empowering you to pick & choose you bundles of
choice and pay for what you watch. Direct to home connects
urban, rural and remote areas of the country and provides desire
information communication, education and entertainment at the
click of a button.
There are five major components involved in a Direct To Home
(DTH) satellite system: the programming source, the broadcast
center, the satellite, the satellite dish and the receiver. This
technology is originally referred to as Direct Broadcast Satellite
(DBS) technology and India is one of the biggest DTH service
providers in the world. Though DBS and DTH present the
same services to the consumers, there are some differences in
the technical specifications. While DBS is used for transmitting
signals from satellites at a particular frequency band [the band
differs in each country, DTH is used for transmitting signals over
a wide range of frequencies [normal frequencies including the
KU and KA band. The satellites used for the transmission of the
DTH signals are not part of any international planned frequency
band. DBS has changed its plans over the past few years so as to
include new countries and also modify their mode of transmission
from analog to digital. But DTH is more famous for its services
in both the analog and digital services which includes both audio
and video signals. The dishes used for this service is also very
small in size. When it comes to commercial use, DBS is known
for its service providing a group of free channels that are allowed
for its targeted country. The low cost of DTH when compared
to other local cable providers is also one main reason for this
substantial growth. The idea of DTH was first provided to India
in 1996, but the laws were changed by the year 2000 and thus
DTH was allowed [1-2].

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Fig. 1: Main Parameter of DTH

III. DTH Features and Technology
A. MPEG-2 v/s MPEG-4
Old players use MPEG-2 technology while new players are
using MPEG-4 technology which enables players to broadcast
high quality video content along with more channels in the same
bandwidth. MPEG4 offers a better compression/quality ratio for
transmitted videos than MPEG2.
B. DVB-S v/s DVB-S2
DVB-S is the original Digital Video broadcasting forward error
coding and modulation standard for satellite television.
Digital Video Broadcasting - Satellite - Second Generation (DVBS2) is an enhanced specification to replace the DVB-S standard;
this development of DVB-S2 coincided with the introduction of
HDTV and H.264 (MPEG-4 AVC) video codecs. The DVD-S2
system allows transmission of one or more MPEG-2 or MPEG-4
audio and video streams whereas DVD-S was designed for
MPEG-2.
Airtel Digital, Tata Sky D2H and Videocon D2H support DVB-S2
technology. Channel publish content in High Definition (HD) or
Standard Definition - HD content might not be captured by DTH
if they do not support DVB-S2.
C. IPTV and Recording
IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) is TV service which is
delivered using IP (Internet Protocol) technology, which is the
same technology used in Internet Services. In this service the TV
channels are encoded in IP format and delivered to TV using a
Set Top Box. The IP TV Service also includes Video on Demand
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IJEAR Vol. 2, Issue 1, Jan. - June 2012

Services which is is similar to watching Video CDs / DVDs using

a VCD / DVD player. Movies, Instructional Videos and other
content shall be available to customers in the IP TV Services. If
you are unable to watch a daily soap for a week because you are
busy, you see all five episodes back-to-back on the weekend with
the recordings available. All this requires enormous amounts of
bandwidth. IPTV is currently available in India mainly through
BSNL and MTNL. These companies are providing is a cross
between cable and DTH.
D. Pause and Record
Tata Sky Plus gives facility of pausing, rewinding and recording
features in their service. This costs more than their regular DTH
service for setup box and installation.

ISSN: 2348-0033 (Online) ISSN : 2249-4944 (Print)

iPhone and iPad into a universal remote for television to

help the subscriber network and watch TV at the same time,
Airtel Digital has made the offering to farmers in rural
areas. Most of these services are free of cost -- for now.
The industry analysts feel that designing a new VAS-based
innovation model is the need of the hour for the service providers,
to stay a step ahead of their competitors. The DTH subscriber
base in India increased by 134.44% in a period of two years. As
on March, 35.56 million DTH subscribers are registered with
private service providers. December 2010 encountered a 21.21%
increase in terms of subscriber base which is the maximum for
the given time period. The average growth rate has been 12.99%.
Major DTH service providers include Dish TV, Airtel, Reliance,
Tata Sky, Videocon and Sun Direct TV.

E. Movies on Demand
Movies are available on what is called Video-On-Demand (VOD),
some new movie releases can be bought and watched at the comfort
of your home.
F. Interactive TV
Interactive TV provides additional features and services like
Tuitions, Shopping, and Stories for your child, cooking shows,
astrology, news and more. You should check these out for anything
that might be useful.
G. Multilingual User Interface
Most DTH offer user interfaces in multiple languages which enable
anyone non-conversant in English also to easily browse and use
the services. DTH services provide multiple users to select and
store channels of their interest for ease in viewing and shuffling
channels.
H. Channel Lock, Parental Lock, Channel Hide
There are features by which you can lock or hide the channels
that you do not want. You can also use parental locks to prevent
children from viewing unwanted channels.
I. Services Centres
This is a very important factor especially if you do not want to go
through any pain during the installation or any issue process. The
service should be reasonable and you should check with neighbors
or acquaintances for a feedback of the service provider [11].
IV. DTH industry in India
India is very popular emerging market for DTH services with
a large television viewing population. Specially, the number of
DTH subscribers in India is forecasted to grow at a compound
annual growth rate of 38.9 percent from 2007 to 2012. Today,
DTH services are getting popularity in India because of direct
to home technology, which is emerging as the leading digital TV
transmission platform in India. DTH services in Indiaare very
flexible and on time. DTH providers here are listed here:-Airtel,
Videocon, Tata sky, Sun direct, Dish TV. These are few service
providers in India [1].
A. DTH Scenario in India
Direct-to-Home (DTH) companies are busy seeking for innovative
VAS (value-added services)-based model to fetch the demands
of the new target audience consisting of social networking
freaks, housewives, students, farmers, kids and businessmen.
So, while Tata Sky has introduced a device to turn the

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International Journal of Education and Applied Research

Fig. 2: Market Share of DTH [14]

B. Recent Developments
1. Dish TV added725,000 new subscribers in the quarter ended
June 30, 2011, taking the total number of gross subscribers
to 11.2 million and net subscribers to 8.9 million.
2. At the end of Q1FY12, Reliance Digital TV has 3.7 million
subscribers, with an 11% market share in the Indian DTH
market.
3. Videocon d2hclaims to have reached a subscriber base of
4 million.
4. Tata Sky claims a subscriber base of over 75 lakh or 7.5
million users (as of August).
5. Airtel Digital TV reported a subscriber base of 6.26 million,
at the end of Q1FY12 [3-4].

Fig. 3: Growth of DTH Subscribers Base Per Annum

V. Relationship Between DTH and Cable
DTH, TV channels will be transmitted from the satellite to a
small dish antenna mounted on the window or rooftop of the
subscribers home. So the broadcaster directly connects to the user
DTH can also reach the remotest of areas since it does away with
the intermediate step of cable and wires (cables) that come to your
home. DTH offer digital superior quality picture against cable TV
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ISSN: 2348 0033 (Online) ISSN : 2249-4944 (Print)

today which is most analog. DTH is an encrypted transmission

that travels to the consumer directly through a satellite. DTH
transmission is received directly by the consumer at his end
through a small dish antenna. The encrypted transmission is
decoded by an individual STB at your home.
The other advantage of DTH is the availability of satellite broadcast
in rural and semi-urban areas lying of cable is difficult. Due to
digital compression techniques, many more niche channels are
available than cannot be provided by cable operators. DTH also
offers digital quality signals which do not degrade the picture
or sound quality. It also offers interactive channels and program
guides with customers having the choice to block out programming
which they consider undesirable [5].

Fig. 4: Cable V/s DTH Trends

A. DTH Doing Well, but 80% Households Still on Cable
TV
Even as the DTH players are gradually ramping up their market
share, the Cable connections still form the preferred choice
for a large majority of the subscribers even today. While DTH
subscribers summed-up to paltry 22 million by 2010, the overall
Cable subscriber base in the country stood at 83 million during
2008. With the entry of corporate giants such as Dish TV, Tata Sky,
Airtel Digital TV and Big TV among other players, the market
for DTH services is more organized than the Cable industry and
has been able to sneak into the market for digital T V, effectively
competing wide-spread cable operators.

IJEAR Vol. 2, Issue 1, Jan. - June 2012

five households avails of digital connection. Most of the cable

connections come with fixed charges and cost, mostly cheaper
than DTH services, with out any add-on packages and free access
to most of the channels on air including latest yet pirated movies
on local connections. However, the pay-DTH is gradually gaining
ground in rural India where the subscriber base has almost doubled
since past couple of years. Many analysts are of the view that both
cable and DTH services can grow simultaneously in the Indian
market. In fact, DTH players target 33% of cable market in the next
couple of years. It certainly seems that after mobile revolution,
it could well be turn of the DTH market to explode into a mass
product. And most probably the competition and involvement of
the big corporate world in this business space would ultimately
benefit none other than the final consumer of the premium directto-home services [6].
VI. DTH in Rural and Urban Area
Direct-to-Home (DTH) is penetrating rural India in greater
measure as the share of pay-DTH has almost doubled in rural
India, as compared to 2008. As per a study known as. Digital
connection involves reception of TV signals through a set-top-box,
(STB), either through DTH or through cable. The DTH service is
growing fastest and has been higher across platforms, whether it is
metros or even smaller towns. Both urban and rural digital growth
is mainly coming from pay-DTH; the growth rate of the same is
specifically higher in rural areas. The share of pay-DTH among
all DTH households has been 86% for urban compared to 64% for
rural areas. But if we compare the statistics in 2008, the growth
in the digital segment in the rural sector was 34%, in 2009 it was
49% and in 2010 it was 64%. What prevails over everything else
is that DTH has been observed as the growth provider for digital
TV in both strata, whereas cable STB. The rural market has been
responding fantastically compared to the urban one, said the TAM
spokesperson. According to the statistics provided by the report,
Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Delhi
have performed better with a higher growth rate than the all-India
figures for TV and C&S (cable and satellite). According to the
demographic composition studied by TAM on the digital platform,
non-metros have seen a significant digital growth, considering
that all-India digital growth has been around 11%. TV, C&S and
digital segments grew by 9%, 11% and 54% respectively per year,
as per the TAM report, where growth has been primarily driven
by non-metro markets. TAMs spokesperson added, What the
Indian landscape is seeing is the co-existence of C&S and digital
on the same platform, which is marvelous. According to industry
sources, the DTH story has been fairly optimistic, as the industry
added about 12 million customers in the first five years but in the
last one year the industry has added 10 million more customers.
Therefore, today the total DTH market is around 22 million. Airtel,
which has around 2.5 million customers for its DTH service, said
that rural India is an important market, It (the rural market) has
played a substantial role in our growth in DTH services in the
last one year or so. Increasingly, we find that over 60% of our
customers come from outside the top 300 towns in India [7].

Fig. 5: DTH & Cable TV Household as a Percentage of Totals

According to the TAM Annual Universe Update 2010 study,
out of the estimated 135 million total number of TV households
in India, 80% of the them are subscribed to cable and satellite
connection. From this cable subscriber base, only one in every
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ISSN: 2348-0033 (Online) ISSN : 2249-4944 (Print)

its subscriber base explode from 6 million to 75 million over the

same period [13].
B. Challenges Faced by the Industry
Policy and Regulation
Lack of Exclusive Content
Cap on Foreign Investment
Cap on Cable Company/ Broadcaster Investment
The Rule of Must Carry
Interoperability issues.
Non-availability of Transponders
Fig. 6: Rural Vs Urban Scenario
VII. DTH Future
The most significant and disturbing prediction is financial. Even
though DTH platforms worldwide are focusing on increasing
ARPU ( Average Revenue Per User) by pushing premium services,
the NSR report predicts that global DTH industry revenues will
grow from $70 billion in July 2010 just $100 billion in 10 years,
i.e., by 2018. The reports points towards market fragmentation,
and increased competition, from other sectors such a not Cable TV,
but also IPTV, and the internet particularly in advanced markets
such as the USA and France. However, while, 99 DTH operators
were beaming over 13,800 channels at the July of 2010, it is
predicted that more than 21,000 channels will be beamed from
DTH platforms, by end 2018.

Fig. 7: DTH Subscribers Awareness

A. Sunny Side up for DTH Firms
1. DTH Subscriptions Grow by Million, Every Month
Government policy is also expected to favor further DTH growth.
Digitization will lead to hefty rise in revenues for broadcasters
as it will eliminate carriage fees they pay to cable TV operators,
substantially cutting cost of operations of running channels. At
present, carriage and placement fees corner nearly 20% of the
total cost of running a channel. The government is also pushing
for a hike in FDI limit in DTH from 49% to 74%. For DTH, the
growth was even faster between July and September 2010 with
5.6 million additions in three months [12].
2. DTH and Digital Cable Will Co-Exist
Most viewers seem to prefer Direct-To-Home (DTH) to view
television. However, cable (digital) will still be an important
broadcast mode. This observation has been made by a FICCIKPMG report on media and entertainment. The number of DTH
households in the country is set to go up from 37 million in 2011
to 86 million by 2016.Digital cable, on the other hand, would see

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International Journal of Education and Applied Research

C. Environment Analysis- Porters Model

Let us apply the porters five forces model in the context of DTH
industry. Out observations are categorized in to the five forces
as below:
Threat of Substitutes
Terrestrial Television
Cable TV
Internet Protocol Television (IPTV)
Bargaining Power of Suppliers [8, 10]
VIII. Conclusion
With the existing regulatory restrictions, increasing content cost
and lack of transponders, DTH terrain appears too steep to climb.
With content differentiations not happenings in the near future,
companies have to differentiate only at the services and cost levels.
The increasing consumer awareness and expectations also make
it is difficult to satisfy the consumer. India being the home of
entertainment hungry populace, volumes play the role of a growth
driver. Attractively priced and feature rich package targeted at
the critical mass is the mantra for sustaining the growth. Todays
customer is sensitive to price as well as to quality. A prudent
DTH operator should also take a serious look at the substitutes
and complements. There should diversity and creates his presence
in the entire spectrum of broadcasting and telecommunication
services. The final winner cannot be a pure DTH player but a
convergent player who offers all in one to the value-conscious,
price sensitive Indian consumer. The DTH industry is very bright
in the future years.
References
[1] Chaman Goyal (2010),DTH HOME: DTH services on
Modern Technology, [Online] Available: http://www.
sooperarticles.com/communications-articles/dth-home-dthservices-modern-technology-36909.html
[2] DTH Technology working electronic circuit diagram
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com/direct-to-home-dth-technology-%E2%80%93working
[3] Magazine for Satellite Broadcasting & Broadband IndustriesNews Update, [Online] Available: http://news_view.asp.
htm
[4] Saptarishi Dutta (2011),MEDIANAMA News & Analysis
of digital media in India, [Online] Availabe: http://www.
medianama.com/2011/09/223-chart-of-the-day-dthsubscribers-in-india/
[5] Tech In, [Online] Available: http://teck.in/news/what-is-dthwhy-is-dth-different-from-cable-tv-t107.html
[6] Digital TV: IP TV vs. DTH v/s. Cable TV Monday, (2009),
[Online] Available: http://amitslab.com/blog/2009/06/22/
digital-tv-ip-tv-vs-dth-vs-cable-tv/
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[7] Sathish (2010),Digital TV growth in India driven by rural

market, [Online] Available: http://www.moneylife.in/
article/8/5287.html
[8] R. Srinivasan,"DTH Industry in India Future Prospectus",
Economic Affairs, Vol. 56, No. 2, June 2011, pp. 185-188.
[Online] Available: www.ndpublisher.in/Last_Issue/EA/12_
Economics.pdf
[9] Priya Ganapati (2004),WHAT IS DTH, [Online] Available:
http://www.rediff.com/money/2004/mar/23spec.htm
[10] [Online] Available: http://www.authorstream.com/
Presentation/aSGuest20765-203837-dth-technology-globusengineering-education-ppt-powerpoint/
[11] DTH (Direct to Home) Television Guide, [Online] Available:
http://indiahometips.com/DTH-Plan-Guide.html
[12] Sanjib Kr Baruah, Hindustan Times, New Delhi, October 30,
2011, [Online] Available: http://www.hindustantimes.com/
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[13] K.VENKATASUBRAMANIAN,DTH and digital
cable will co-exist, [Online] Available: http://www.
thehindubusinessline.com/features/investment-world/
macro-view/article3314911.ece
[14] "Dth Service Providers: New Horizions, Sunny Side
up for DTH Firms (2011), [Online] Available: http://
www.businessandeconomy.org/31032011/storyd.
asp?sid=6035&pageno=1

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IJEAR Vol. 2, Issue 1, Jan. - June 2012

Karanpreet Kaur is pursuing her

bachelors degree in Electronics and
Communication from Doaba Group
of Colleges, Mohali (Punjab Technical
University), Punjab, INDIA. She has
published a paper in International
Journal. Her field of research is Wireless
Communication Networks.

Amit Kumar received his bachelors

degree in Mathematics from the
Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla,
India, in 2002 and Masters degree in
Computer Application from Kurukshetra
University, Kurukshetra, India, in 2006.
He completed his M.Phil. in Computer
Science from Annamalai University,
Annamalai nagar, Tamilnadu, India,
in 2010. He is currently pursuing his
Ph.D. in Computer Science. He is
working as a Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science,
College of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing Forestry
University, Nanjing, China. He has many publications in National/
International Conference proceedings and International Journals.
He is a reviewer for many international Journals. His current
interest includes Techno-Economic Analysis of Broadband
Wireless Networks viz. WiMAX-m, HSPA+ and LTE-Advanced.
His future focus is to explore the Green Wireless Technologies
and their Sustainable development.

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