E-vision induces local flavour

E-vision was the digital dream of etisalat – a platform to give its customers good quality broadcast with technological superiority and quality programmes.

CEO of Emirates Cable TV and Multimedia Humaid Rashid Sahoo shares the challenges and the future of broadcasting business in the region in an interview with Emirates Business. He warns those involved in illegal promotion of channels from abroad.


How did e-vision evolve? Tell us about its phenomenal growth?

E-vision started nine years ago on April 30, 2000 with 39 channels and connected 12,000 homes in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Today we reach more than 400,000 homes and have almost doubled our bouquet with more than 70 channels.

What is your customer base and how do you distinguish them for configuring channel packages?

Keeping in view the demographics of the region, e-vision caters to different nationalities and has channels from almost all the languages of the region. For better understanding of our region and delivering the best, we have divided our customer base into three groups: Emiratis and Arabs; Asians; Westerners.

Of course, there are also some specific channels with niché audience and we keep them as an option on á-la-carte basis. This includes some sub-regional language channels from the Sub-continent and other information based channels such as Discovery and Nat-Geo. Sport is also very important for our clients. Our channels cover sport events from all over the world. We have clubbed them together and offer a special package for sport enthusiasts.

What's the most important criteria for structuring bouquets and satisfying your customers?

Price is the most important concern for our customers. Though the price involved is very small, customers compare it with similar services they receive in their home countries. But the reality and numbers in the region define a different price range. Despite that we strive to give best value for money to our customers and as many options as possible to choose from.

We start at a minimum of Dh58 and offer top-quality broadcast with amazing variety to satisfy our varied customer base.

What are the exclusive benefits of subscribing to e-vision?

With e-vision, we try to induce local flavour and have introduced information channels, which are essential for our local population and customer base.

E-junior entertains and educates children and is very well received. It is tailored around the children in the country. We studied their social habits, school timings and even their viewing habits. Only after a detailed study of these parametres did we put together a channel for children in the UAE one that's educational, entertaining and very safe.

The intention is also to cater to the needs of a child who will grow into an adult customer of ours.

E-vision offers technological advantage, too. You not only have a 24/7 service and customer support, but the technology involved is also state-of-the-art and offers the latest in broadcasting quality. Our customers don't have to bother about installing a dish and securing connections all over the building. A cable service is at their house and with just one cable they are connected to the world. In case of a technical glitch, we aim to attend to the consumers' complaint swithin 24 hours and solve it in another 24 hours.

At any given time, if they wish to upgrade their bouquet, it's only a phone call away. Our á-la-carte selection of additional channels offers a wide variety of entertainment catering to various genres of broadcasting.

How much of e-vision business is affected by piracy and illegal import and installation of dish antennas to watch channels illegally?

Piracy, to be very clear, is bad not just for e-vision, but for the entire business. Producers of programmes, TV channels and service providers, all suffer the negative impact of piracy and have to bear the loss of millions of dollars.

We have taken some initiatives with agencies and government bodies who are responsible for fighting piracy.

We have also taken some initiatives and started with educating customers about the illegality of the exercise. Many of our customers are not aware that its illegal and of the implications it has for acquiring this. Rather than taking punitive actions, we are educating users and are confident this will cease with the right kind of information and awareness in the market.

We are clear about the fact that those who are using this without the knowledge of its legality need to be informed. However, for those who are using this for commercial benefit, authorities are coming very strong on them and will have to face the consequences.


PROFILE: Humaid Rashid Sahoo CEO of e-vision

Sahoo manages and supervises all e-vision outlets and its unique selling points within the UAE to satisfy all the business plan requirements; thus differentiating e-vision as the leading entertainment TV provider within a highly competitive pay TV market.

He joined etisalat in 1981 as an engineer and was promoted as senior engineer in 1985. He worked his way through to become the general manager of Al Ain and manager of engineering by 1989.

In 1997, he was selected to manage the cable TV initiative launched by etisalat. Since then he has worked relentlessly on positioning e-vision as the premier cable TV provider in the UAE initiating various agreements.

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