Gaming Troika of DTH, DSL and Cable TV

Learning from worldwide DTH providers like BskyB, Canal Satellite and Sky Italia, Dish TV is going to be the first Indian DTH provider to venture into gaming services its set top boxes. Dish TV has tied up with US-based Open TV for this technology transfer at $100 million over 5 years. Playjam, a gaming product from the Open TV stable, would be rolled out by the end of this month. Though Dish TV would be the first to introduce VAS, others like Tata Sky, Sun TV and Anil Dhirubhai Ambani DTH (Bluemagic) ventures, may follow suit as competition heats up. Moreover, with India's regulatory body TRAI's denial regarding content exclusivity, providers would increasingly have to depend on VAS as a differentiating factor. With the parity in content, only price, brand, quality of service and VAS would be available to fight.

Others operators are also preparing for this new turf in a big way. ADAE aka Reliance has earmarked approx Rs 450 crore over next 3 years and now even your local cablewallah may start delivering games along with cable TV. With MSOs like Hindujas, Hathway and Siti Cable going digital and offering their customers set top boxes, games will be easy to deliver. Hathway is offerring a gaming channel to customers who buy its digital set top box. Subscribers will have access to a channel with 10 to 12 games initially. Other than cable TV, broadband is also witnessing some gaming bubbles. After Airtel's launch of Gaming On Demand (GoD), Reliance and Sify are also gearing for gaming portals. Clearly, the prospect of earning big bucks is what attracted even a multiplex chain like Cinemax to install personal computers at its Thane multiplex and create a Games Garage. The Garage is part of its gaming zone Giggles, which offers indoor bungee jumping, among other sports.

It’s estimated that the gaming market (minus mobile gaming) will touch Rs 229 crore this year. This might be the start of success story where India may follow the US where the gaming industry (Rs 1,80,000 crore) is bigger than Hollywood (Rs 1,37,000 crore)