ICFAI LAW SCHOOL

THE ICFAI UNIVERSITY, DEHRADUN

Project
On

DEN NETWORKS

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:

Mr. Gagan Gulati APOORVA
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR 17FLICDDNO1024
B.B.A.LL.B(H)- II

OBJECTIVES OF DEN NETWORK LTD.

Den Networks Ltd is one of the largest national cable television companies in India. The
company is engaged in distribution of television channels through analog and digital cable
distribution network and provision of internet services. Cable multi-system operator (MSO) DEN
Networks has three basic objectives over the years—

 To expand its broadband services in smaller towns,

 To strengthen its high-definition (HD) subscriber base to boost its revenues and,
 To Increase the growth of the company in terms of Revenue.

VARIOUS STRATEGY ADOPTED BY DEN NETWORK IN ORDER TO

ACHIEVE THE OBJECTIVES

 The company followed a two pronged strategy in order to achieve the first two
objectives. A two pronged approach is basically a bifurcated strategy where two
objectives can be simultaneously attained by following the it. This approach can be
followed through two prongs:

PRONG 1: FOUNDATION

It is followed when the company establish a solid foundation for their marketing, they put
themselves on a path to profits and sanity and this can be done in three ways:

 Clarity on Target Audience

 Lead Capture & Communication System
 Online Presence and Profile Management

PRONG 2: FREEDOM

Freedom is where the company embrace their personal expression and creativity. With the
confidence of knowing their foundation elements are solid (or soon will be) they are free to
engage proactively with their target audience. This can be done by Claiming their Home Base.

 Then the company followed a 3-C strategy to consolidate, corporatize and cartelize.
  The last strategy Den Group pursued was an inorganic growth strategy.

IMPACT OF THE STRATEGIES ON THE COMPANY AND WHETHER

THEY WERE ABLE TO ACHIVE THEIR OBJECTIVES?

 The impact of the two pronged strategy was that the company is rolling out its broadband
services in phases in 20 smaller towns in States such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and
Rajasthan. Since its incorporation in July 2007, it has expanded its analog cable services
to 77 cities across India. It has obtained an all–India ISP license and has recently
commenced a limited roll out of broadband internet services in select areas, which it
intend to expand in all of the other cities in which it operate across India. They were thus
able to expand their broadband services to smaller towns. The impact was Average
revenue per user in tier-I cities up to Rs 144; Rs 112 in tier-II cities. Fifty percent cable
subscription revenue collected from tier-I cities; ARPU in tier-III cities at Rs 76. Aiming
to take this to Rs 144 in the next two and a half years.
 The impact of another prong of the two pronged strategy was that, the company is
offering consumers HD STB with attachable wi-fi dongle to enable transformation of any
non-smart TV to smart TV. This definitely increased their revenue. The impact was they
Ceded a total of 5 million standard definition boxes last year to high definition.
 The impact of another strategy i.e. inorganic growth strategy, they did it through mergers,
acquisitions and joint ventures. In January 2008, it entered into a 50:50 joint venture
agreement with STAR with respect to STAR–DEN. STAR–DEN acts as a content
aggregator and currently has the exclusive right to distribute 23 television channels,
including the entire STAR group of channels, the entire Disney group of channels, select
Network18 channels, the entire Times Group of channels and MGM, to providers of
various television distribution platforms, such as cable television, DTH satellite television
and IPTV, in India, Bhutan and Nepal. In October 2010, the company through their
subsidiary, IME Networks Pvt Ltd, entered into a 75-25 joint venture with BFTV,
Broadcasters of the BabyFirst Channel, a leading international television channel for
babies, toddlers and parents. The joint venture housed all rights for Baby First's
 businesses in India and other select territories, including the distribution of the channel
and related businesses. This helped them in market penetration and growth.
 The company followed a 3-C strategy to consolidate, corporatize and cartelize. They did
it through-
-At the inception stage, DNL’s promoter, Manchanda, invited Raghav Bahl, who owned a
bouquet of news channels, to become a non-executive director in the parent company.
-In January 2008, DNL entered into a 50:50 JV with the Star Group. The JV, Star Den
Media Services Pvt Ltd was a content aggregator. It entered into agreements to place
channels on preferred bandwidth with the distributors in India, Bhutan and Nepal.
-In 2011, Star Den Media Services formed a 50:50 JV with Zee Turner, which, in turn,
was a JV between the Zee and Turner Groups. In effect, DNL had a 25% stake – 50% of
50% — in the new JV, MediaPro Enterprise India Pvt Ltd. The fact that such strategies
were collusive was proved in 2014, when MediaPro Enterprise had to shut shop after
TRAI disallowed content aggregation deals between broadcasters.

Hence, the time of entry of the Den Group influenced the ownership structure, and forced
the Group to evolve a complex maze. Since it had inherent last-mover disadvantages, as
well as advantages, DNL had to follow an acquisitions-led strategy; DNL devised several
internal mechanisms to exert and retain control in the subsidiaries; and adopted 3Cs
strategy to expand and leapfrog.
 LEARNING OUTCOMES
Therefore, a study of media ownership can indicate a group’s growth strategy,
management’s decision-making tactics, as well as its ability to compete with other
players. So, its is very important to understand media ownership of a company. It is
important to know one’s objectives and thus form strategies accordingly and slowly by
being consistent can achieve the competitive advantage like Den Networks did. In the
similar manner it is important to know the competitor’s strategies as well in order to
compete.
 ICFAI LAW SCHOOL
THE ICFAI UNIVERSITY, DEHRADUN

Project
On

BUSINESS STRATEGY AND POLICY

SUBMITTED BY :
APOORVA-17FLICDDNO1024- DEN NETWORKS
AYUSHI SRIVASTAVA-17FLICDDNO1036-TV TODAY
JANNVI PANDEY- 17FLICDDNO10152- JAGRAN
KARAN UPADHYAY-17FLICDDNO1057- DISH TV
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

https://www.dennetworks.com/upload/investor_events/DEN%20HNI
%20Mumbai%20Meet.pdf

https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/info-tech/broadband-services-den-
networks-sees-big-promise-in-small-towns/article9965526.ece

https://www.ndtv.com/business/stock/den-networks-ltd_den/reports

https://indianmedialogue.com/2016/08/01/a-den-of-cable-ownership-matters-
in-cable-tv-distribution-in-india/

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/moneycontrol-research/den-
networks-after-a-robust-q3-performance-should-you-invest-2486865.html

https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/den-networks-confident-of-
growth-despite-tariff-pressures#gs.1iqvxt