Satellites set to make Video Distribution more economically viable

A panel discussion on “Satellite in the Video Distribution Value Chain” was powered by Satcom Industry Association (SIA-India) during The A.B.I.S. Knowledge Summit on 22^nd Oct 2021.  The other sessions during the summit covered trends across broadcast, post production technology to satellite, cable TV, broadband and IPTV segments. 

Rajeev Gambhir, Sr. Director – Technology and Policy at SIA-India interacted with Industry exponents and experts Mr. John Huddle, Director-Marketing Development, Asia, SES, Mr. Rajdeepsinh Gohil, Senior Sales Director, ASIASAT, Mr. Gaurav Kharod, Managing Sales Director, Intelsat, Mr. Vynsley Fernandes, MD & CEO, NEXTDIGITAL and Mr. Anil Malhotra, CEO-Siti Networks.

The SIA India session focused on satellites’ role in enhancing the reach of the video distribution platform making a viable business case through transformations within the Industry. The virtual panel discussions, fireside chats, product demos, interaction opportunities during the summit that was held online between 21 – 23 October 2021, provided a great platform for meaningful interactions.

Rajdeepsinh Gohil; Senior sales Director, ASIASAT said “With satellite playing a better value proposition the situation can be improved with MSOs sharing the infrastructure with the satellite operators.  The MSOs can improve their situation, as they are surviving on a thin margin”

John Huddle, Director-Marketing Development, Asia, SES opined that

“In India, villages will be challenged to get OTT, the country has a largest TV population. Major OTT traffic is coming from the metro, hence, satellite would play a vital role outside of Metros. Marrying traditional tv with OTT tv is the best solution going forward”

Gaurav Kharod, Managing Sales Director, Intelsat said

“Satellite is a very powerful medium of delivery, with both broadcast and multicast systems delivering the information using a single transmit operation, saving network capacity and reducing serving costs. Cost per Mbps/month of through satellite is lower than cost per through alternate mechaniams”

Mr. Vynsley Fernandes, MD & CEO, NEXTDIGITAL said “If you were to truly digitize India, reach and reliability is must, for that the Country needs to have a satellite based mechanism. Satellites hold great potential, the kind of uptime from a satellite is significantly higher. One great advantage of c band is that the services are not affected by weather conditions, whether it’s snowing in Jammu or raining in Arunachal Pradesh, signals work absolutely fine for a video delivery chain that’s critical. Since the cost of infra is higher in terrestrial, satellite is the best mode”

Rajeev Gambhir, Sr. Director Technical & Policy, SIA-India said “For the video viewing audiences, satellites have always played an invisible role while enabling the entire value chain, and this has happened over various transformations that the industry has gone through right from analog to digital to higher HD & UHD resolutions.  Besides the conventional models, HITS with associated infra sharing and the Free dish business have shown welcome distribution models not seen in the past.  The future holds great promise for satellites in the video distribution value chain.”