Television distribution is an important component of a film's revenue lifecycle. The rapid expansion of the television industry has resulted in significant demand for program content, providing an outlet for film distributors. India is the world's third largest television market, with approximately 138 million TV households as of 2010, of which at least 101 million homes are cable and satellite homes. As over 70 million primarily analog cable homes in India convert to digital platforms, it will likely spur operator demand presenting further opportunities for content monetization. There are already 28 million DTH homes in India providing an alternative pay TV platform for television satellite networks thereby boosting demand for premium content. The growing size of the TV industry and consumer demand have led new and existing multinational satellite networks to provide an increasing number of channels, which compete for quality programming, in order to attract advertising and subscription revenues.

(a) As of August 2010.
Source: FICCI Report 2011 and FICCI Report 2010

Source: FICCI Report 2011. A TRP is a measure of viewership of a particular television program. One single TRP represents 1% of viewers in the surveyed area in a given minute. When used for the broadcast of a program, the average rating across the duration of the show is typically given.

India Distribution. We believe that the increasing television audience in India creates new opportunities for us to license our film content, and expands audience recognition of the Eros name and film products. We license Indian film content to satellite television broadcasters operating in India. We have, directly or indirectly, licensed content for major Indian television channels such as Sony, the Star Network, Zee and Colors. There are several models for satellite television syndication in India.

Our content is typically released on satellite television three to six months after the initial theatrical release. In India there are currently six direct to home, or DTH, providers. We have offered some of our films through these services, but we have also licensed these rights with the satellite TV rights to satellite channel providers. As the number of DTH subscribers increase in India, we anticipate that we will have an opportunity to license directly for DTH exploitation. We have also provided content to regional cable operators. Although DTH distribution is still relatively small in India, with Indian telecom networks and DTH platforms expanding their services, we are beginning to see an increased interest for video on demand in India. We also sub-license some of our films for broadcast on Doordarshan, the sole terrestrial television broadcast network, which is government owned. The Indian cable system is currently highly fragmented and predominantly an analog platform. As a result, local cable operators are unwilling and unable to pay standard licensing rates for our content, and cable television therefore has not been a material source of revenue for us. We believe that as the cable industry migrates towards digital technology and moves toward consolidation, cable television licensing will represent a more significant revenue stream for our business.

International Distribution. Outside of India, we license Indian film content for broadcasting on major channels and platforms around the world, such as Channel 4 and SBS Australia. We also license dubbed content to Europe, Arabic-speaking countries and in Southeast Asia and other parts of the world. Often such licenses include not just new releases, but films grouped around the same star, director or genre. Our majority owned subsidiary Ayngaran also distributes its content in Western Europe through its television station, Ayngaran TV, with approximately 20,000 subscribers.