MxMIndia

Category: FRAMES 2013

  • The controversial question of censorship saw participants engage in a lively discussion

    #Frames2013: Need for reforms to take centrestage

    L-R – Jay Panda, Hon’ble Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Kamal Haasan, Chairman of FICCI Media & Entertianmnet Business Concalave (MEBC),Shoma Chaudhury, Managing Editor, Tehelka, Mahesh Bhatt, Film Director,Rahul Bose, Actor

     

    By Kshama Rao

     

    Day 2 of FICCI-Frames started with a session on ‘The Gag Orders: Are we stifling creative expression?’ Managing editor, Tehelka, Shoma Chaudhary moderated the session which had Kamal Haasan – who was recently at the receiving end when his ambitious 90-crore film, Vishwaroopam met with some opposition from certain religious quarters – MP Jay Panda, “liberal intellectuals” Mahesh Bhatt and Rahul Bose.

     

    Ms Chaudhary who admitted to believe in “absolutist freedom” had the panelists talking about the very definition of freedom, the role of art in society, on whether the Indian constitution is robust enough to tackle the various groups and diverse ones at that who get easily offended by any piece of art – be it a book, a piece of music, film or art. Mr Panda talked about how while the constitution doesn’t provide us with absolute freedom it does come close. What worried him were the Supreme Court rulings being defied by high courts and state governments when they should be tried for contempt of court. “The job of leaders is to resist lynch-mobs and not pander to populist measures.”

     

    While Kamal Haasan confessed to have curbed his daughters from always following their minds, he said as a filmmaker, he felt “curbing creativity and freedom is not a dignified thing. It shouldn’t be just about me. It should be about anyone and everyone irrespective of where he comes from who shouldn’t be pushed to a wall like I was.”

     

    Mr Bhatt said that the notion of absolute freedom is still a fantasy. “Right from the time I made Arth, which had people from my own fraternity ganging up against me for making a film that threatened the institution of marriage, the very bedrock of our culture and our being, I am still waiting to be free.”

     

    He added how the “offenders who are most often than not engineered to disrupt and disturb things” ensured that a little fear went a long way and did an irreversible damage to the society. “Timidity has now become a philosophy and every filmmaker lives with that dread of facing a lynch mob outside his door,” he said.

     

    The discussion also veered to demanding a film certification board rather than a censor board. Kamal Haasan observed, “Why should there be representatives from political parties on film certification boards? They are in no way connected with the aesthetics of cinema.”

     

    Mr Panda called for an urgent need for political reforms which could only be put in place with the rising middle class. “Their sensibilities are worthy of emulation and I do see a hope in the middle class who have already begun a movement for change if you go by the protests they recently staged in the case of the rising rape and violence.”

     

    Mr Bhatt rubbished Mr Panda’s trust in the middle-class, who, he saids are interested only in fighting battles they are comfortable with. “They will stand up for a Kamal Haasan but not a Kamaal Khan, a big Hindi film but not a Bhojpuri one.” Mr Bose agreed with him saying, “The middle class will come out in large numbers outside the PM’s house to fight for a rape victim but I wonder if they will be equally passionate about an issue that’s bothering some other part of the country.” Kamal Haasan added that sensibility is not the sole bastion of the middle-class. “It can come from any strata of society, from anyone.”

     

    The rather interesting conversation was ended with Chaudhary calling for everyone to first define the very idea of freedom and if the entire nation was ready to fight for it every time it was threatened by a few offending groups. She also placed the onus on the film and television industry to rise above their roles of mere entertainers and instead bring about social change through cinema.

     

  • In a shrinking world, the broadcast industry in India has to be on its toes to remain updated and geared for a promising tomorrow

    #Frames2013: It’s the best time to be in the content business: Andy Kaplan

    By A Correspondent

     

    There’s so much that has emerged in the recent past that it is mandatory for the broadcast industry in India to stay updated and geared for a promising tomorrow. Most of these developments have come from multinational brands which have made quite an impact on the way the M&E ecosystem functions in India.

     

    Presenting the experiences and practices adopted by his network, Andy Kaplan, President, Worldwide Networks, Sony Pictures Television had the stage to himself at a special session on ‘The future of television’ on the second day of FICCI Frames 2013.

     

    Sharing his outlook he said, “I think there has never been a better time to be in the content business. A few years there were barely any players that you wanted to sell your content to but today there are hundreds of players available that provide us many more opportunities. In the US market, there is a change that has been observed in the secondary revenue stream where if a show is there on a network long enough then there is syndication carried out with cable and TV stations but now there are a lot of new players in that world that are supplementing their revenue streams or are replacing them like Netflix, Amazon etc. So the way the content providers are looking at the world is completely different. It is providing them enough opportunities and is thus a good place to be in.”

     

    Highlighting his opinion on the issue of revenues facing the business, Mr Kaplan said, “Where revenues are concerned around content I do not think they are going down but are rather coming in from other places. But there are the challenges of infrastructure because one needs to be equipped with different areas of expertise from the distribution side that allows one to monetize these opportunities and have more sophistication and knowledge and transparency into all of these other businesses.”

     

    On the influence that localization has over global, Mr Kaplan said, “From an international network standpoint there is the localized model that we follow around content. So while we buy a lot of programming from our own we also buy from other studios as well. Our job is to pull in the best programmes that we can and deliver the best networks to our audience and maximise our ratings and eventually revenues as well. The good news is that there are a lot of people in the content business who want to sell their content and as we become more successful in these markets we want to become more important buyers. Also each of these markets throws up different nuances where content acquisition is concerned and where we are concerned we are always faced with a challenge of balancing the local with global. We resort to using research and focus groups and whatever local knowledge we get about our networks in each market to maximise our ratings. As an adjunct to the global programming we also have our own local programming because that is what will drive higher ratings and give us an opportunity to have a broader conversation with the advertisers.”

     

    On the ways that Sony has managed to stay relevant and close to its consumers, Mr Kaplan said that it is important for broadcasters to keep themselves available across platforms. Sharing his experiences from his offering, Crackle, Mr Kaplan said, “Crackle has been around for five years and is a non-linear network where one can watch movies, television programmes etc. It is streamed content and is advertiser-supported. While most players have a subscriptional or transactional role we are a purely advertiser-supported entertainment website. It’s all about being available on all platforms and being able to garner more eyeballs. That’s what the advertisers too look out for. The good thing is that the advertisers are dying to get into this world either because they think that they have the audience matrix they want to reach or either because it is the next big thing. But whatever it is, Crackle in the US caters to male 18-49 yrs and that’s where most advertisers are also comfortable being focused towards.”

     

    Mr Kaplan went on to highlight the role of India in fostering his growth in the region and the role that content will play in making broadcast a space to vie for.

     

  • India cannot afford to be complacent in the digital era, concluded panelists at FICCI-Frames

    #Frames2013: ‘For digital to excel, freemium has to make way for pay’

    By A Correspondent

     

    The past two years have seen the digital ecosystem in India take off in a big way. Whether for the medium of mobile or web, the fast-paced growth sweeping this medium is making other developing economies around the world sit up and take notice.

     

    The session on ‘Digital content consumption: developing a robust paid ecosystem’ on day 2 at FICCI Frames saw panelists discuss the advantages, opportunities and challenges facing the medium. The panelists comprised, Neeraj Roy of Hungama Digital Media, Devraj Sanyal of Universal Music, Manish Agarwal of Reliance Entertainment – Digital, Sidhartha Roy of Hungama Digital and Boaz Ben Yaacov of Catch Media Inc.

     

     

    Neeraj Roy

    Neeraj Roy, CEO, Hungama Digital Media Enterprise started off by presenting a positive picture of the medium. He said, “India is today the third largest internet market in the world and is likely to be the second largest market with 600 million internet users in the next 3-4 years. The industry is adding about 5-6 million users every month and most of this is largely from the mobile device, especially smartphones that saw about 60 million new users this year. India will also be one of the rare nations that will transition from 2G to 4G this year. In India there was a single ecosystem that was created around the mobile which had got to do with micro-transactions. Unfortunately there are a lot of regulatory hurdles that are impeding the rapid growth of the sector. We are now at the cusp of moving away from voice to data consumption. What the industry needs to do is contemplate ways to develop an ecosystem that will bring in robust growth and provide an impetus for the industry to move forward swiftly.”

     

    Devraj Sanyal, MD, Universal Music said that it was exciting to see three ecosystems in digital co-existing well with each other. “It rarely can be seen in other parts of the world. For me, the death of voice is the beginning of a much bigger phenomenon – data. The entire future will ride on data. In a country as diverse as India there are two kinds of consumers – the first being pay consumers who are very few in number and the other kind of consumers being those who will pay for nothing and want everything free. As a content creator, I want to see a lot of this ecosystem thriving on the pay model. For me, having 1 million paid viewers is much more valuable than having 500 million viewers who are fence-sitters/pirates. The future will be pay along with value-added services.”

     

    Manish Agarwal

    Manish Agarwal, CEO, Reliance Digital said, “There’s no doubt on the huge impact that mobile will have on our lives. It is a device of the future and will be accessed for a host of things including content, gaming, etc. The market is very appealing and has just about taken off. I travel a lot around the world and have often heard things like if there are 20 million mobile users in Japan and if that economy is where it is today on that medium, imagine what potential the Indian market has which has more than 600 million mobile users and counting. While there is no doubt on the loyalty on behalf of the customer, we have to see how the medium will benefit the business across the formats that they will operate in.”

     

    According to Boaz Yaacov, CTO & Co-founder of Catch Media Inc, “The question we need to ask ourselves is whether we are still living in a world where a customer pays a dollar for a song when there are others who get it from Bit-torrent or even a youtube for free. If we are to sustain the technology or content we need to find practical solutions. We all know how the business of credit cards started about three decades ago and how they charged micropayments to give convenience and access to our money. Today one such player – Visa, is worth about $ 250 billion but the point is that we consumers do not know of these payments.” Adding further Boaz said, “What we are trying to do is build technologies to give people very convenient and mobile way to access their content. If we are able to deliver content to consumers where they are and at their convenience they won’t mind paying for it.”

     

    The panel went on to discuss the challenges confronting the medium and also how ‘pay’ would be a preferred model in the future compared to the model of ‘freemium’ that is currently what the players are taking a preference to.

     

  • Indian media and entertainment is at a crossroads, believes the GroupM global chief, and the route it takes now will determine whether it soars or stumbles

    #Frames2013: Indian M&E must take a global stance: Dominic Proctor

    By A Correspondent

     

    That the media and entertainment industry in India is making steady progress is known, but whether it is able to deliver advertising value to brands in a manner that gives them maximum bang for the buck is still questionable. For brands to remain interested in the medium and empower them to play a larger role in steering the ecosystem forward would require a great deal of recalibration from the industry and its stakeholders.

     

    The session on ‘Will advertising still be the key growth driver for the converged ecosystem?’ by Dominic Proctor, President, GroupM, Global threw up interesting insights on the role that the advertising and media industries had to play in helping the sector achieve remarkable growth.

     

    Taking off on the key theme that had been drawn up for him Mr Proctor said, “If you ask me, will advertising drive growth in the converged ecosystem – the short answer to that is yes! But the real question is – we all know that India is an emerging entertainment superpower, but will the growth come from just from extending business in India or will the business grow because of the global ecosystem? We believe that the Indian entertainment business is at crossroads and they can make a choice of whether to stay as a relatively inward-looking business or join and be a part of world entertainment business.”

     

    Questioning the reasons for the industry being under-valued, Mr Proctor stated, “I often wonder why the media business as not managed to do what the IT business has in terms of its growth and size. While the IT business is about $ 100 billion the media business is still about one-fifth of that size. The reason why the IT business has become what it is because it has taken a global stance.”

     

    Presenting another interesting facet about the media industry, Mr Proctor said that the thing about India is that it is a powerhouse of strong content. “If you look at the sector, the country produces more than 1000 films every year, has more than 700 channels, has more than 7 DTH platforms, about 900 million mobile downloads, has a huge base of consumers who access content online or through a mobile device… all these are factors around which India could build itself up in the global entertainment value chain. Right now what is happening is that a lot of programming on television or music on platforms or even sports is being produced for local consumption; that approach has to change and a more global route needs to be taken,” he said.

     

    Adding further, Mr Proctor said that where content is concerned it is obsessively dependant on things like Bollywood, cricket, stars etc but it was important to see whether these options were going to be sustainable in the long run. “For example, cricket in all its form is seeing a downfall in viewership over recent months. This poses a serious threat to its profitability and sustenance in the long run. But what is interesting is that Indian sports is expanding its horizons and looking at options such as football, hockey, golf, etc. But it is still not what is observed in other markets like the US and UK where each sport has become an entity of its own, be it in terms of viewership or revenue generation. So sports marketing in India will require a broader base for the long term.”

     

    Sharing his observations on the medium of films, Mr Proctor said, “If you look at films, the problem with that sector is that it hasn’t really moved at a pace that benefits brands more than it does from cricket. This is despite movies having a larger viewer base than sports. The tie-up as of now between the two is still very clumsy and they need to find new ways to take it to the next level. One way they could do it is through the web, which presents massive opportunity. Other avenues include hyper-targeting through STBs that could also change the way the ecosystem works. The way forward for our business is to move from inventory planning against demographics to specific audience planning and buying because the technology that we have at our disposal allows us to optimise our offerings by serving different advertisers and consumers.”

     

  • In the session on 'The second phase of TV digitization' noted panelists from the sector came together to discuss and mull options of making the exercise a more robust and achievable one

    #Frames2013: Making Phase 2 of TV digitization a reality

    By Johnson Napier

     

    When phase 1 of digitization became a reality in India there was a sense of accomplishment that was witnessed amongst most factions within the broadcast industry. Apart from the huge advantages that it presented to the broadcasters and allied interests, it was also seen as an exercise that enabled the consumer to become empowered like never before. But while issues remain about the impending challenges emanating from phase 1 of the rollout exercise and also the non-interest shown by some metros, the industry seems to be waiting with bated breath for phase 2 of the rollout to take shape.

     

    In the session on ‘The second phase of TV digitization’ noted panelists from the sector came together to discuss and mull options of making the exercise a more robust and achievable one. The panellists comprised of N Parameshwaran of TRAI, Sameer Manchanda of DEN, Sunil Lulla of TTN, Man Jit Singh of Multi Screen Media, Raman Kalra of IBM, Tarun Katial of Reliance Broadcast and Anuj Gandhi of Indiacast. The session was moderated by Vivek Couto of Media Partners Asia.

     

     

    N Parameswaran

    N Parameswaran, Principal Advisor, TRAI began by highlighting the outcomes witnessed by rolling out of P 1 of digitization. “We all know what has happened with P1 of digitization where metros like Mumbai and Delhi have recorded a remarkable conversion rate. We may have questions about the metros of Kolkata not yet achieving their target and Chennai not yet taking off but rather than the negatives we should focus on the positives from this exercise, including the role that the industry players and stakeholders played in making this dream a reality.” According to Mr Parameshwaran, while P2 digitization would be kicked off from March 31, 2013 it would again require the coming together of industry players, trade bodies, MSOs/LCOs and the government itself in making this dream an achievable one.

     

     

    Sameer Manchanda

    Sameer Manchanda, Chairman and MD of DEN began by appreciating the efforts put in by all from the industry and added that “digitization has been the biggest change that has ever happened to our industry. While there are a lot of positives from this exercise, one of the big drawbacks as been lack of accountability. The MSO/LCO operators have to ensure that the KYC forms are filled by the consumers as it is mandatory and binding on them. There is still some time to go before that becomes a reality. Where I see it, P2 of digitization is a transition phase and will start rolling out over the next 60 days.”

     

     

    Anuj Gandhi

    Without wanting to sound too cynical, Anuj Gandhi, Group CEO, Indiacast said that while digitization has bought about a positive change for the industry there was some serious thinking that is needed. “If P1 of digitization is taking us about 7-8 months to become a reality we can imagine what P2 would be like. The onus lies on the MSO/LCOs to make this rollout a reality but I can assure you that this won’t be possible without the coming together of all from the industry.”

     

     

     

    Man Jit Singh

    Man Jit Singh, CEO, Multi Screen Media had a similar feeling to share as he voiced his excitement at the good that was seen from rolling out P1 of digitization. “Due credit should be given to one and all from the industry who made this a possibility and we can hope for a similar outlook from P2 as well. Even the government’s role has been encouraging but there are a few shortcomings that have to be worked upon if further rollout is to become more successful. There are issues that are cropping up at the MSO/LCO level regarding filling of KYC forms, data collection etc. All these have to be addressed immediately.”

     

     

    Raman Kalra

    Raman Kalra of IBM Global Business Services said, “We have entered an era where it is the end of digital. By that I mean that we are already in the know-how of how digital works and the benefits that the medium presents but the challenge now is how do we take it to the next level. There is need for the industry to come up with strategies to cater to the ever-evolving ecosystem.” Pointing out that the consumer today was faced with an array of choices to access entertainment, he said that consumers won’t mind paying more money to access content but it is essential that we know who our customer is and what are his likes/dislikes.”

     

     

    Tarun Katial

    Tarun Katial, CEO, Reliance Broadcast said that what DAS has done is enabled channels to have a wider reach and get carried more easily. “Early data has shown how most channels, especially those offering niche offerings, have benefitted in terms of ratings and acceptability from DAS. For new players, as you sharpen your positioning there are high chances of they getting lapped up more easily. The exercise has also opened new avenues for advertisers who will be looking at niche channels with renewed interest. I guess the advertisers will have to shell out more advertising dollars where niche channels are concerned.”

     

     

    Sunil Lulla

    Sunil Lulla, MD & CEO, TTN highlighted that the current economics do not fund the ecosystem as the industry is going through a transition and there is need for change. According to Lulla, it would do the industry a lot of good if the prices were to be lowered but that is not a logical thing to do. “In fact it is commendable to see how the industry has come together in making phase 1 a reality and the same can be expected from phase 2 too. At the end it is essential that we keep the customer at the centre of all that we do and keep on satisfying him so that he comes back to us for more.”

     

     

  • Text of FICCI's M&E chairperson and Star India CEO Uday Shankar's keynote speech at the Frames 2013 inauguration

    #Frames2013: Text of Uday Shankar’s keynote

    Good morning and welcome everybody. Secretary Uday Kumar Verma, Honorable Minister Dr.Soon Tae Park, Andy Bird – who has flown down all the way to be here, my dear friend Karan Johar, Rameshji, ladies and gentlemen.

     

    I take this opportunity to say that I am honored to be here in my new role as the chairman of FICCI Media and Entertainment Committee. I am stepping into the big shoes of the late Yash Chopra who was a leader of the Indian film industry for four decades. Yashji played a pivotal role in building Media and Entertainment as a cohesive community with a clear identity, and made FICCI FRAMES its most distinguished platform. Your presence here today is a testimony to his contribution. My goal will be to work with you all to further reinforce this community and accelerate the growth of the industry.

     

    And hence, the choice of the theme for this year’s FRAMES: “Engaging a Billion Consumers”.

     

    A concrete manifestation of this aspiration is reflected in the next big milestone that we have identified for the Indian film industry: to produce a 1,000 crore blockbuster. Celebrating its 100th year, Indian cinema has shown proof of its enduring followership and in recent times has set new benchmarks at the box office. It is time for the next audacious leap. And, there is no better consensus builder and no one more enterprising than my friend Karan Johar to steer this ambitious task. I am confident that both Karan and I will benefit heavily from the sage counsel of Ramesh Sippy.

     

    I remain convinced that such quantum leaps are possible across the media and entertainment sector. We all have tremendous progress to show for the last two decades: as a community, we have shown an admirable commitment to enthrall Indians and the Indian diaspora with compelling content. But, in business and creative terms, the Indian media and entertainment sector still remains much smaller than it should be in a country of 1.2 billion people. Our collective and individual ambitions should be taking wings around this big opportunity.

     

    I am confident that in the next three days we will come up with big ideas to make media and entertainment economically more robust, creatively more vibrant and socially more meaningful. However, in my view the single most important enabler towards all this would be a strong alignment within the industry, and with other stakeholders in the Government and the policy establishment. Our most recent experience with digitalization is a superb evidence of the power of alignment. Despite many hurdles, the unthinkable is beginning to happen in television distribution, with the first phase of digitalization well underway. As we speak, over 10 million cable homes have gone digital and in the next 2 years, 80 million homes will be digitalized. It will be the fastest digital transition anywhere in the world. How did this happen? It was because all of us within the industry and in the government were strongly aligned behind a move that was good for the industry and great for consumers.

     

    But, let me be honest – our experience with consensus building hasn’t been great. Usually, we disagree more than we agree. So, I want to highlight today what I see as the four big problems facing the industry around which we need consensus. And, in the days ahead, I hope to focus my own and the FICCI media and entertainment committee’s energies towards forging a consensus on how we can address each of these challenges.

     

    Firstly, media and entertainment is a real economic enterprise not just a vehicle of glitz and glamour. This industry is an economic enterprise like the best of them and is capable of creating employment and wealth much faster than most other sectors and with the ability to be a force multiplier, like it is in most countries. It is particularly relevant in India because it can be an employment generator without massive public investments and without being hampered by the deficiencies of public infrastructure. Just to put things in perspective, as a 15 billion dollar industry, we employ over 6 million people. This can be so much more significant and meaningful.

     

    Let me explain this further: according to official estimates, about 15 million people are entering the job market every year while the country is generating only about 3 million new jobs a year. This means that we are adding, as my friend Shekhar Kapoor eloquently put it, a city of unemployed people as big as Delhi every year.

     

    And yet, the lens often used to look at this industry is largely one of glamour and propaganda and the biggest debate is on how to control and contain it. As a result, the growth of M&E has not been supported by policy and regulatory initiatives. With full recognition of the government’s constraints, this year’s budget is a case in point. Instead of giving fiscal support to digitalization which can unlock huge economic value, there is an imposition of additional customs duties on boxes and of withholding taxes on content rights. Why would you not nourish an industry which has the potential to become a huge employer? Why would you not fuel an industry that can grow with more policy support than resource support? The time has come for all of us to make sure that it is not just industry status that we seek; it is a fundamental change in mindset.

     

    Confusion on basic facts

    This takes me to the second big challenge. How can we seek support from the government when as an industry we do not even have the basic facts in place?

     

    It is not my desire to add fuel to the debate on TAM. However, it is indeed a matter of concern that the credibility of the most prevalent currency of all transactions in TV enjoys so little credibility. Imagine if the automobile sector didn’t have consensus on the number of cars sold or the railways did not know the number of passengers transported or the tonnage of freight carried. The lack of reliable data is not limited to TAM. In fact, as a TV executive, I am surprised sometimes how I am even able to function. I do not know enough about my viewers – in fact I don’t even know how many of them are there. There are 140 million cable and satellite homes but the measured universe is 62 million households. I do not know how many subscribers I have with a particular MSO and the MSO doesn’t know how many households his LCO delivers the signals to. Same is true in advertising too. The country’s premier media agencies can’t even seem to agree on a fact as basic as the size of the advertising market. One leading agency estimates the total market size to be ~35,000 crores, while the other, equally illustrious, estimates it to be ~29,000 crores. A variance of no less than 20%! I don’t even want to get into projections for next year, where this variance is even more bizarre! The ambiguity in data for other sectors of the media and entertainment is no less. For instance, no film producer seems to know accurately how many people actually bought tickets to watch his film. How can this industry function without a shared and non-controversial view of the most basic facts? Numbers are supposed to be the foundations of rational business decisions but how can we make decisions when professionals in the business of numbers can’t get their numbers straight?

     

    Crisis of talent

    The third issue that must keep us awake at nights is talent. We have a real crisis on both supply and quality. While it is not unique to Media and Entertainment, what is different is the lack of recognition of the scale of the challenge. While other fast growing sectors like IT and financial services are actively working to find the right talent and building the right skills, we, as a community are complacent in our belief that this sector is different. We hide under the pretense of creativity and have convinced ourselves that creativity gives us the license to be informal and chaotic. It is this informality and chaos that has seeped into our approach to spotting and grooming talent. This is dangerous. We must realize that discipline and formality are not antithetical to creativity and if anything they are necessary ingredients to fostering the creative process.

     

    In the last 10 years, there has been a manifold increase in the content we have produced, the number of channels, the number of newspapers, the number of radio stations, and the number of films – but there is not even a nominal increase in the number of quality training institutions to support this kind of growth. Fly-by-night training shops have mushroomed, making the problem even worse.

     

    Even in what are considered “established” disciplines like management and technology, the situation is not any better. Not a single premier management institute has a proper course on media and entertainment.

     

    No industry without free expression

    While these are all big challenges, for me, the most important issue at the moment is the one on freedom of speech. This perhaps is the only major democracy in the world where, after over 60 years of independence, there continues to be a debate on how much freedom can be given to the media. I am shocked that there are still groups and interests who continue to debate on the right amount of freedom that can be granted to media; as if this is something to be granted and as if this is even negotiable.

     

    There is a strong positive correlation between creativity and the space for free expression. There is no greater evidence than Silicon Valley that culture is destiny. The Valley’s preeminent role in global media and technology can be directly attributed to the freewheeling culture of the 1960s and 1970s California. So, what is troubling to me is that in a very competitive world, we are questioning the scope of free speech – one of the few real sources of advantage for us. China and Russia are way ahead of us in most areas of business and industry. But we, as a democracy, should be unquestioningly leveraging the democratic advantage that we have over them and many other competitors to become a global media and entertainment giant.

     

    What is interesting to me is that we all agree that the role of media is to question the status quo. But with the right to question must come the right to provoke and the right to offend. In the absence of these, there is no debate and without debate there is no clarity. But we seem to be regressing in this area.

     

    When Satyamev Jayate points to weaknesses in the medical system, doctors are offended. When Jolly LLB creates a courtroom satire, lawyers are offended. Even when a precocious teenager posts a comment on Facebook, some people start baying for her blood. We are not far from a point where someone’s sneeze or a cough on a television show will be source of offense and outrage for many. What makes it worse is that increasingly the democratic institutions have more patience for those who promote intolerance. It is time for us to recognize that free speech is what is sacrosanct, not the right to be offended.

     

    In conclusion, I want to go back to the idea of the 1,000 crore blockbuster – mainly because of the scale of its ambition, how bold and daring it is. Just in the last couple of years we had major Hollywood movies – like Life of Pi and Slumdog Millionaire – where everything was Indian except production and direction, and these went on to become world-wide successes. There is no reason why those movies should not have been made in this country by one of us here.

     

    It is that kind of ambition that needs to fire up all the sectors in their pursuit of the next big leap. Today, let’s commit ourselves to this goal.

     

    Thank You.

     

  • As audiences for children's channels expand to include the entire family, among the chief challenges is keeping the genre viable

    #Frames2013: Need to grow the kids’ pie further

    By Johnson Napier

     

    While increasing importance is being given to Hindi GECs and sports broadcasting in India, a genre that has been steadily pushing itself up the growth chain is children’s entertainment. Accounting for nearly 7 per cent of the growth pie, kids’ channels in India have been throwing up interesting growth trends over the past few years.

     

    At the session on ‘Trends in Children’s Entertainment’, panelists presented their viewpoints on the genre and what was the way forward. The panelists comprised Harpreet S Tibb of Kellogg India, Vijay Subramaniam of Disney UTV, Ashish Karnad of IMRB, Krishna Desai of Turner, and Pradeep Hejmadi of TAM.

     

    Harpreet S Tibb, Marketing Director, India & South Asia, Kellogg said, “The focus for marketers is to strengthen our brand and also that the message gets conveyed to the desired TG. The thing about kids today is that they are increasingly gravitating to newer mediums and it is therefore essential that the broadcasters come up with content that is valuable and meaningful. There is also a need for players to create content that is interactive and relevant.”

     

    Vijay Subramaniam

    Vijay Subramaniam, Executive Director, Kids Network, Disney UTV highlighted how the focus by his group was to tell stories that are great.” We have always been known to present stories that are innovative and pioneering. While much of our content is centred around kids, it is also made keeping the family audience in mind. The challenge facing the genre is of financial viability.”

     

    Ashish Karnad, Group Business Director, IMRB International presented his outlook as he said that boys consumed different content while the girls too consumed content that was different from boys. “There was not much differentiation that was observed between the two subsets earlier but that is seeing a change now. And as we all would be aware, there is a huge demand for locally produced content.”

     

    Krishna Desai

    Krishna Desai, Director-Content, South Asia, Turner International India elaborated on how the broadcast players were waking up to providing new content options for the kids of today. “Admitting that animation as an industry is still in its infancy, Mr Desai said that it was indeed picking up in growth. “Overall the kids’ genre is still small compared to the other genres as the ad spends around the medium are still very low. But there are other positives that are emerging inclusing its ability to ship content to outside markets. The industry is evolving and it is up to us to unite and take it to the next level.”

     

    Earlier Pradeep Hejmadi of TAM went on to present his perspective of the kids’ genre in India and what was in store for the players in the years to come.

     

  • In an era when the consumer is king and is faced with an array of choices for consumption, the challenge is engaging the growing audience and hiring the right people

    #Frames2013: Unlocking M&E’s true potential for a billion consumers

    By Johnson Napier

     

    That the media and entertainment sector in India is one of the liveliest and has been delivering a robust growth year-on-year is what makes it a favourite for many. Little doubt that when the economy is just about struggling to stay afloat the M&E industry surprised one and all by posting a 12.6 percent growth rate in 2012 (according to data from FICCI-KPMG).

     

    There have been a stream of avenues that have led the industry to achieve the kind of growth it is seeing thanks largely to the emergence of new mediums and technologies which in turn have led to a growth in the number of audiences out there to consume such mediums. The challenge going forward would be how the industry can engage a billion people in an era when the consumer will be king and would be faced with an array of choices for consumption. The panel discussion ‘Engaging a billion consumers in the M&E industry’ saw a high-profile display of knowledge and mantras from speakers including Ravi Dhariwal of Bennett & Coleman, Punit Goenka of ZEEL, Sidharth Roy Kapur of Disney UTV, Sudhanshu Vats of Viacom 18, Rahul Johri of Discovery and Shailesh Rao of Twitter Inc. The session was moderated by Uday Shankar, chairman of FICCI Frames 2013.

     

     

    Uday Shankar

    Uday Shankar, chairman of FICCI-Frames 2013, began by warming up the audiences on the quality of panellists that had assembled at the session who according to him were among the best in the business. “If any change has to happen in the M&E industry then it has to begin with us (pointing at the speakers) and if we cannot do it then nobody else can and it will eventually be a failure,” remarked Mr Shankar.

     

     

     

    Ravi Dhariwal

    Presenting the mantras that get practiced at his workplace, Ravi Dhariwal, CEO, Publishing, Bennett & Coleman began by saying that for him it was important to concentrate on the smaller audiences, which is roughly about 1 per cent of the total population, and try and make a business model out of it. “To get this going we lay more emphasis on hiring good creative people and give them the freedom to do what they feel like. Ours is a very federal system where we let our people do what they want to do whether it is television or Radio Mirchi, TOI etc. With this, we also make it a point to hire good marketing professionals as we believe that the creative people also need to understand where the market is moving and be able to hear the voice of the customer. We try and make this combination come together to develop brands.”

     

    Sudhanshu Vats

    On the question on whether the industry is geared to cater to the entire range of diversity in terms of content, Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO, Viacom 18 Media said that the emphasis going forward would be to be able to build more of this ability and be able to segment and target. “In order to cater to a billion Indians we sharply need to segment and target them.” Pointing out to three trends that were helping the industry move forward, Mr Vats said, “The first trend is the mega-consumer trend where people generally tend to fall under the ‘collectible’ category and believe in sharing with the others around them and the ‘I’ category where people focus more on themselves and what they desire. The other trends include multiple screens that are here to stay and also the role that digitization will be playing in delivering focused content for both the mediums of television and print.”

     

     

    Punit Goenka

    For Punit Goenka, CEO & MD, ZEEL, the industry has just about taken baby steps and there is still a long way to go. “In fact if we are not geared for it then fragmentation is going to be the order of the day. And if do not do something about this then the consumer is going to go away.” Adding further he said, “From a television POV we have to stop calling ourselves as broadcasters and call ourselves content creators and aggregators. As in the end we will have to customise content even to the last individual. The problem is that the industry does not believe in working together today and if the entire value chain cannot work together then it cannot be done.”

     

    Sidharth Roy Kapur, MD – Studios, Disney UTV said that where films is concerned what has happened in ten last 7-8 years is that commercial and parallel cinema have learnt to co-exist and also become popular too. “Films have managed to bridge the gap where you have audiences who like a Rowdy Rathore and are also enjoying a film like Barfi at the same time. And these are not two different set of audiences. I think the massive gap that we have in our country is infrastructure. In India there are only 12 screens per million viewers compared to the US who have 130 screens for the same number. So you can see the unlimited potential that exists in our country. Even the scope of catering to the outside diaspora is large but we hardly are doing anything to cater to their needs. The thing is that we haven’t even scratched the surface of where we want to go with our content and as we keep experimenting I think our job is to keep expanding the footprint and it needs to be done collectively.”

     

    Rahul Johri

    Rahul Johri, Sr VP & GM, India – Discovery Networks said, “Where localisation of content is concerned we have our channels available across multiple languages. The fact is that we need to have a right mix today; the way we are looking at the market is that people come to our brand to see what is happening around the world. Today about 60 per cent of the population is in the youth category and how do we engage this set of audiences that is an important TG is what is core to us. For us it is not about ratings and creating sensationalism but about building strong brands.”

     

    Putting forth his observations, Shailesh Rao, Head of Global Operations, Twitter Inc remarked, “Where the Indian M&E industry is concerned I honestly think that it is one of the finest in the world in terms of creativity and diversity of content and product that’s brought out in the market. So while we have huge assets at our disposal we have to see what is it that will make us aspire to deliver more. And I think it is technology that will help us deliver that.” According to Mr Rao the way technology can  help connect the dots is in the following manner: “We have always seen broadcast and print as a push medium but I think there is a role for something like Twitter that is used to pull. We have to ask the audience what they like and communicate with them on a continuous basis. The other thing is to use technology for effective distribution. I see mobile playing a huge role in the way we communicate with the consumers, especially SMS.”

     

    The panel proceeded by discussing other ways, including regulatory challenges, that would make this industry amongst the most preferred and profitable for the economy.

     

  • At the first keynote of the 14th FICCI-Frames convention, Anne Sweeney, co-chair Disney Media Networks and President, Disney-ABC Television group, talked about how local markets and local culture play an important role for any programme or format to work in different countries

    #Frames2013: The key is to know your markets and its demands: Anne Sweeney

    By Kshama Rao

     

    At the first keynote of the 14th FICCI-Frames convention, Anne Sweeney, co-chair Disney Media Networks and President, Disney-ABC Television group spoke about creativity and the importance of localization in creativity. She talked about how local markets and local culture play an important role for any programme or format to work in different countries.

     

    To source out local talent so that the character-actor fit is perfect for the said market is another important aspect of making a good show, she said, recounting how the creative team had short-listed two girls to play the role of Hanna Montana. While one was an experienced sit-com actress, the other was this shy, inexperienced girl who went on to be known to the world as Miley Cyrus aka Hanna Montana. “The key is to know what your market is and its demands. When we make or adapt shows to the Indian market, we have to know what’s important to an Indian audience and how different is it than any other viewership we might have catered to. The core values are universal is what we have found out time and again aligned perfectly with the Disney themes,” Ms Sweeney said.

     

    She then went on to cite two popular shows in the Indian kiddie show market – Best of Nikki and The Suite Life of Karan and Kabir, the latter being a desi take on The Suite Life of Jack and Cody. “The reason these two shows have best worked for us and the Indian market is because they celebrate culturally relevant things say a festival like Diwali or Holi. The theme is kid-centric and family-inclusive.”

     

    She said advancement in technology has only made story-telling much more compelling and magical. “It has helped us to push story-telling in the right direction just like it did several years ago when Disney made Snow White!”

     

    She said the key is to empower the audience and “give the consumers content which is what they want, when they want and how they want.”

    In a q&a session that followed with Man Jit Singh, CEO, Multi-Screen Media and Chairman, FICCI Broadcast Forum, Ms Sweeney also reiterated that as much as they love to adapt foreign content to Indian screens “the key is also to balance it with original content. It’s not just about recreating these shows for a different market but make it original too. Like some of the properties were created in Europe but adapted later to the US market. We are also looking at Indian content we could adapt to foreign markets.”

     

    Lastly, she said that while there is always the business challenge, difficulties in understanding the market, sourcing local talent and understanding the needs of the audience, it’s shows that are family-inclusive that work the best. “When we worked closely with children in focus groups to know what they were watching and when we asked them who their favourite heroes were, they never mentioned a superhero, it was always either the father, mother, brother or sister in their family. So family-inclusive shows are key for children’s programming!”

     

  • Escalating costs, restricted prices and little IP protection – a sports broadcasting universe that badly needs reform, concluded the FICCI panel on the last day

    #Frames2013: Business of sports demystified

    L-R – Sundar Raman, CEO, IPL, Prasana Krishnan, COO, Neo Sports, Harsha Bhogle, Sports Commentator, Venu Nair,Head-South Asia,World Sports Group, Kushal Das, Secretary General, All India Football Federation, Nitin Kukreja, President, Star India Pvt. Ltd.

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    The third day of FICCI-Frames 2013 saw some of the key stalwarts of the business of sports and sports broadcasting industry come together to address and touch upon issues surrounding the sector. The session examined the hurdles plaguing the business of sports, which has evolved and yet lacks the direction to plunge ahead.

     

    With a regime beset with escalating costs, restricted prices and little IP protection; offering compelling content to Indian viewers remains a challenge, what are those enabling policies that will take sports business and broadcasting to its next level. The panel consisted of Sundar Raman, CEO, IPL; Kushal Das, Secretary General, All India Football Federation; Prasana Krishnan, COO, Neo Sports; Venu Nair, Head-South Asia, World Sports Group and Nitin Kukreja, President, Star India Pvt. Ltd.  The session was moderated by one of the most famed names in the commentating world, Harsha Bhogle.

     

    The initial part of the session stressed on some of the most common issues faced by broadcasters in the industry, ie the battle of Cost Vs. Revenue, if revenue is keeping pace with costs of the sports properties and whether they are viable. The session also touched on how broadcasters fair between airing cricket which has already established itself as a national sport and non-cricket sports which are still developing in India. Ultimately boiling down to the discussion whether costs on cricket properties are going on an upward spiral and if revenues are keeping pace with it.

     

    Sharing his views, Nitin Kukreja, President, Star India Pvt. Ltd said that his network has committed over Rs.38.50 billion over the last 6 years to acquire the rights to Indian cricket. He said “I think the challenges on the revenue part are manifold and are present in almost every field. The advertiser is always looking for continuous stream of content that he can count on for viewership. It’s the nature of the game, the format, the schedules which are different for sports hence influencing habit formation and therefore to get a consistent stream of advertising is a challenge. On the distribution front, the regulatory environment for sports is such that the catch up doesn’t happen and each step is a struggle. Also if you look at price caps every genre of content is treated similarly whether entertainment or sport or news. Any sport is bucketed together irrespective of viewership, so once again distribution has become a challenge and even monetizing a new form of content is a struggle because technology has emerged at a faster pace than regulation. The revenue stream is difficult to unlock in the value space.”

     

    Commenting on whether revenues and costs were pointing in different directions Prasana Krishnan, COO, Neo Sports added “The reality is that the revenue stream is still a little slow to catch up to today. The revenue streams are still not ramping up to costs. The DTH explosion has been slow and has not taken place at the rate we were expecting to. So you can say that the basic challenge is the cost structure, as it is slight above what is justifiable in the market at this point of time.

     

    The next phase of the session stressed that when rights are being purchased, broadcasters are fully aware of the environment and are therefore making rational choices. Venu Nair, Head-South Asia, World Sports Group said, ” Most people who bid on the rights, bid on basis on data which they think will come up to performance, the question when you go out and bid, can it be recouped?  The point is that unless you don’t bid on a cost that is unreasonable, you will not chase on its revenues. I believe this industry, like real estate, there is a price to every value point, if you can decide on a value point and stick to that, then you have a chance to make money.”

     

    Taking a look on the positive side and supporting the claim that there is no crisis in the industry Sundar Raman, CEO, IPL said “I personally don’t think there is a crisis as stated out for cricket or for any other sport.  There is a lack of opportunity in the industry and issues which need to be addressed and FICCI provides such a platform to address such issues. Today the amount of money that you notice in the markets such as UK, USA, South Africa or even Australia that a broadcaster gets paid is from subscription revenue. One of the major point broadcasters should look at is understanding the market size they exist in, once you are on track with that and recognise it you can understand the potential of revenue.”

     

    India now is getting influenced with the western world and is opening up to sports outside the world of cricket. The challenge is to develop these sports in the Indian environment where cricket is so strongly rooted. On that, Kushal Das, Secretary General, All India Football Federation said “The problem with football in India is football itself, you have every professional football league broadcasted across channels, if you compare the Indian league with other world class league you will see that it is not compelling. So if you look at it there are a host of problems as to why football is not being able to develop into a promising product. The challenge is to develop football as a compelling product through talent development and infrastructural improvements.”

     

    To summarize the discussion, Harsha Bhogle stated that the industry as is still at a crucial stage where sports broadcasters are trying to balance and justify their rationale of purchasing sports rights in the country, brace for developments into non-cricket sports and look forward to the digitization boom.

     

  • After some insightful sessions, the biggest M&E trade event in India came to an elaborate end

    3-day informational event fulfils tryst with destiny, almost!

    Actor and Convenor, FICCI MEBC East Prosenjit Chatterjee, Bangladesh Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu, FICCI M&E chair Uday Shankar and co-chair Karan Johar, I&B secretary Uday Varma and Ronnie Screwvala, MD, Disney UTV

     

    By Johnson Napier

     

    If there was ever a platform that was going to foretell the future that lay ahead for the M&E industry in a manner that was befitting, it had to be at the FICCI-Frames 2013. After an invigorating, insightful, challenging and forward-looking three days of deliberations, the biggest informational event for the M&E industry in India came to an elaborate end yesterday.

     

    While the day began with a series of interesting sessions that centred around topics like the economics of running a sports business, long versus short form of content consumption, skills in the M&E sector, unleashing the power of data, single window clearance for films, reinventing regional media and electronic news media among others, an equally power-packed panel of speakers made sure that the delegates had a lot to take away as learnings from the sessions.

     

    Perhaps the mood that was prevalent over the entire three-day event at the venue was summed up at the valedictory session on day 3 at FICCI-Frames. The session once again saw a line-up of dignitaries who had words of wisdom and promises to make to the gathering.

     

    Union I&B Minister Manish Tewari was not present at the event but shared a recorded message with the audience. Affirmed the minister, “The I&B ministry exercises various limits – we are licensors, we are players and stakeholders and are also regulators… so it’s a mixed bag of duty for us. But it’s incumbent upon the government to try and play the role of a facilitator and enabler in order to ensure the growth of this sector takes place at a more rapid pace than what it has witnessed over the past few years.”

     

    Highlighting his observations over the entire digitization exercise and the demand to do away with the hike in duty on STBs the minister said, “In the first phase we went through a digitization process in the four metros and what was observed was that the STBs are important from also a regional point of view – South East Asia. In order to give a fillip to the Indian manufacturers the Union Finance Minister therefore decided to hike the duty from 5 to 10 percent. So while a rollback is not possible we should see it in the perspective that we as a country also have a duty towards seeing that the other sectors are also benefited and a robust mechanism be established. To achieve success in the second phase across 38 cities all the players, stakeholders and MSOs and LCOs have to come together and make it a reality.”

     

    Adding further Mr Tewari said, “The other issue that had been highlighted was the issue of pricing of talent and that is something I feel has to be handled between the private-public players jointly. While the government has its own institute for providing training and other skill-sets it will take the combined efforts from the private sector to make that dream a reality.”

     

    Sounding a word of caution to the industry, Mr Tewari said that where the issue of freedom of speech and expression was concerned, it is something that is guaranteed by the Constitution but it also carries certain restrictions. “The challenge is to see how we can find the golden mean between liberty and the reasonable caveats that have been imposed by the Constitution. If you ask me the freedom of speech and expression does include the right to offend but we also need to ask ourselves the question – what about the remedy? As we unfold the debate further, it is worth that the industry also introspect that there is a distinction between a debate that is honest, candid and something which can be corrosive to the national spirit.”

     

    Next it was the turn of Ronnie Screwvala, MD, Disney UTV to put forward his predictions as he presented the keynote address. “Some of the good things that have happened in the recent past is the onset of digitisation that has had a huge impact on us. But I think we should hold on to popping the champagne as it will be another 2-3 years before the monetisation from this exercise comes about. So while we have made the investments, the consumer doesn’t necessarily reflect them. But it’s good news that after 20 years of waiting the move has finally come to fruition,” said Mr Screwvala.

     

    Adding further he said, “Where new media is concerned there is a lot to celebrate about, but unfortunately we have not been able to monetize it. The fact that we are going to be a 150-200 million smartphones market in less than two years, and the fact that large digital and mobile players look at this market as the second or third in the world is phenomenal. There is a need to take this growth further.”

     

    According to Mr Screwvala the future will belong to dominance from a single screen. “We all talk about the second-television household but that will become irrelevant as it is going to be our personal screen. We will be surprised to see how consumers from all corners of India wake up to using mobile as their primary source for entertainment. The issue is going to be of bandwidth and pricing,” asserted Mr Screwvala.

     

    Taking over from Mr Screwvala, Uday Verma, Secretary, I&B Ministry began by thanking the industry and the stakeholders for the response that was elicited for the digitization exercise. He said, “The digitization exercise has come about to be because of the alignment of the industry and the stakeholders. It was a difficult task but we are satisfied with what we have managed to achieve. It is something that has happened in a record time and has happened in a smooth manner. Also, it is something that has happened with no intervention from the government where cost is concerned; it has all been borne by the industry.”

     

    “Where Phase 2 is concerned the progress has been satisfactory with more than 60 per cent conversion having already taken place. There are 21 cities that have reported more than 50 percent digitization and about 10 cities have reported more than 75 percent digitization. There are just four cities that have been posing problems with a conversion rate hovering around 30 percent,” added Mr Verma.

     

    On the issue of measurement, My Verma said that the option of the industry making its own rating system is already there and the IBF is working hard towards making it a reality. “If there is a consensus that the government should intervene in this matter in terms of guidelines we can do so for the benefit of the industry.”

     

    Mr Uday Shankar, chairman of FICCI Frames summed up the proceedings by announcing the rollout of a Centre for Regulatory Excellence in collaboration with the industry. “This won’t be limited just to M&E but the entire corporate sector. It will also act as a facilitator in aligning corporate India’s objective with that of the goals of the government and policy establishments. We hope we receive active participation from all quarters.”

     

  • Text of speech by I&B secretary Uday Varma at FICCI-Frames 2013

    #Frames2013: Text of speech by I&B secretary Uday Varma

    I am indeed very happy and delighted to be here like previous years.

     

    FICCI FRAMES actually is one event in my opinion which perhaps is looked forward to by everybody in the media and entertainment industry. By Government also, because I think this is one platform, one forum where you get the best people from the industry and I think the level and quality of deliberation is of extremely high quality. And that provides us not only the inputs of the industry but also to a very large extent to the Government as well.

     

    There’s a very interesting and famous book in Sanskrit, known as Panchtantra. It’s like Aesop’s Fables but much more comprehensive and perhaps much richer. This was created by a fellow known as Vishnu Sharma. And when he started writing this book, he started with one couplet and I would like to quote it here. It says (quoting in the Sanskrit). Most of you perhaps don’t know Sanskrit, and therefore whichever way I translate it you will have to accept it but I am very faithful. What he did was he invoked good people. In an enterprise which is going to be an extremely important enterprise and they were going to be very important in delivery. Perhaps you know that this fellow was given the task of educating four delinquent children of a king and you know how difficult it is to deal with delinquent people, unruly people and undisciplined people. So this was the task given to him. And this is what perhaps FICCI is also doing, FICCI FRAMES. And I took it in the most positive sense and I made a bold statement. This offers through a collection of narratives and through a stream of thoughts. One is to be able to find a way forward, in practical terms. Also, there is a general sense of direction taken.

     

    But I think what is more important that we come out of these next … of deliberations is very substantial things and that is what is extremely critical. Meanwhile, we had all talked about digitization and we are all glad that it is happening. And it is happening because as Mr. Uday Shankar said, there was alignment, alignment within the industry first of all and also between the government and other stakeholders. And I think the argument of alignment is can be very challenging and I may refer back to it in my address. And that is perhaps one of the most important ingredient for any post – development from this sector that will be taken care. It was difficult task but we did it and we can feel very satisfied about it maybe a little bit proud also, a certain amount of pride we can take because this is something which has happened in record time and no country in the world has been able to do so and that too in the most smooth fashion. It happened quietly but it has happened very smoothly.

     

    We must remember that this has happened without a single paisa intervention from the Government. There was no subsidy. Whole cost of operation was pulled off by the industry. And I think this is remarkable. This has not happened anywhere else. With regards to Phase II, I can report to you that the progress is quite satisfactory. More than 60% digitization has already taken place. There are 21cities which are working with more than 50% digitization, 10 cities more than 75% digitization. And it is only in 4 cities, 4 problem cities where at this point of time digitization is roughly around 30%.

     

    I’m quite sure that with the help of all the stakeholders, the second phase of digitization should also be accomplished by 31st March. And if that is done, and I see no reason why it should not be done, the process of digitization of cable service in India would become virtually irreversible. And I think irrespective of mandate, irrespective of the deadlines, subsequent to 31st March, the process has to reach its logical conclusion and complete digitisation of cable service. So, we have been pursuing it, and I think all the stakeholders have been very helpful and very proactive and if there are any problems we need to see, we immediately look at them and we collectively tackle them and find solutions as far as those problems are concerned.

     

    While in the process of digitization, the seeding process of the Set-Top box has happened very successfully, I think the more important dimensions of digitization and after – effect of digitization is yet to be realized fully. Unless there is complete addressability, the digitization process is incomplete. And I think we have very seriously worked towards it and a number of steps are being taken by the government. Also we recognize the process and it takes a slight time, a while to do that. But I think all the stakeholders will have to work towards it. The certain responsibilities which are cast upon all stakeholders must be carried out because unless we are able to have complete transparency in the system, have full transparency in subscriber data, that would actually address the aberrations of the business models.

     

    And as Mr. Ronnie Screwvala was pointing out – in the next one or two years most of most of the aberrations should be addressed and we should have a far more healthy and more dynamic system based on real data and not on assumptions of approximate figures.

     

    So the challenges as far as this discussion is concerned – I’ll quickly put them: Number 1 – We have to make sure that set-top box is of good Quality and certifications are made by MSOs, We have to provide roughly 16million set top boxes; 10 million have already be seeded, 6 million have to be seeded; if we take into account what is in stock and what is in pipeline. We have 6 million lying and I don’t think we’ll have a problem. But I think the bigger problem is between the broadcasters and MSOs I think that needs to be addressed. And since all the people associated to that process are here, I’ll request them to address this problem.

     

    Also what is important is that the consumer understands what digitization is and what price he has to pay for the set-top box and the services – that is extremely crucial. The effective public awareness campaign is a must. And we already in one, it is already in place and we hope it gains momentum in the coming days. And it really becomes a very effective instrument of public awareness. And lastly the role of state governments is crucial because there are 15 state governments involved. And we know that it is seldom that Union and the State Governments seek to agree on any issue – that is what the situation is today. This becomes very crucial and a Role TRAI has to play the regulation of the right kind is put in place. I will not go into the detailsof TAM data,but I think it requires much better application of mind on the TV rating system.

     

    A lot of discussion took place to my understanding, and in proper rating system of TV programs I would like to say that the option of the industry creating its own rating system is already there.And if there is a general consensus that the governments intervene in this matter, we maybe come out with guidelines that any rating agency should be following in terms of sample sizes, spread, several other dimensions and parameters I think that it is possible. But that is that there is general consensus that is coming in into these matters, there are lots of people coming to us and telling us that we must do something about it there are issue waiting in the parliament, industry stakeholders come and say that governments should be doing more than what they are doing now and at the same time there are perceptions in the industry who feel that the government should be staying away from this thing because it is kind of a supply of a service and a demand for that service and therefore it is between the supplier and the person who is the purveyor of that service. But I’m mentioning this deliberately so that if it is indeed perceived as serious threat to the growth of TV industry and to what our minister has referred to as somewhat corrosive discourse on the TV screens, I think something has to be done about it and some decisions taken in the short term. I’m quite aware the disappointment that the film industry has articulated after the Budget speech of the Finance Minister. It is true that in terms of the tax capital the film industry actually feels, rightly so, that they haven’t got a fair deal.

     

    My ministry is with the film ministry. But the issue is how we go beyond the issues discussed. I have two suggestions to offer, one is to – and I have said also – the film industry and the gaming industry is to be seen as serious economic segment of the country. It is not nearly the glimmer and the glitch as Mr. Uday said in his speech. But a serious provider of employment and contributor too. And that is correct. Secondly the regime of general goods and taxes was to come into existence. It was to come into existence a year ago, it will take some time, it is unfinished, but I do believe it is the kind of industry and ministry to work together to make sure that is the kind of a not so fair deal that we have got so far from the film industry those issues are addressed right away so that when we have a new GST regime at least some of these issues are addressed.

     

    What I am offering is that we are willing the world to the film industry to deliberate on and how we can build up a very strong case for a fair case for the industry to the new GST regime comes in place. As far as the 100 years of cinema is concerned its initiative by the state has been talked about we now give away the national film awards every year on the 3rd of May to commemorate 100 years of cinema and  also to pay a tribute to Dada Saheb Phalke. The national museum on cinema, one part of it– is almost about to be ready and we and will be ready in next few months. We have launched the national film heritage mission, the formal launching will also take place, which actually will make sure that the film heritage is well preserved and are restored and the conservation of film heritage takes place.

     

    We want to make sure that nothing is lost…and we will facilitate the shooting in India by creating a board which will be used for film promotion and facilitation board so that people get that one window to go ahead and apply for permission by the producer, this is not only for the producer from outside the country butaldso domestic ones. On the FM radio we have done a meeting with the minister where we have some glitches because of TRAI recommendations which said that we could perhaps have more FM channels by reducing the spectrum requirement or inter spacing from 8ookilo hertz to 400kilohertz. But that had actually created a bit of a problem but that has been resolved. ECom has decided to go ahead with auctioning off 839 new FM channels to 295 cities, so it is my hope and am quite sure it should happen that in the next year we should be able to have close to 839 additional radio channels across the country. I think we can imagine to kind of impact it will have on the media industry once its close to 839 channels are launched and i think this will completely transform the industry in the country. I would now like to conclude that while  listening to other speakers and following FICCI Frames i heard things like talking about a 1000cr blockbuster, or having films like Life of Pi or Slumdog Millionaire being produced in India, and I think the KPMG report is talking about an encouraging kind of growth for the sector for next year and the years on for the next five years, I think this is perhaps the right opportunity to talk about this and my thought  is to make India the digital hub of entertainment not only interms of hardware in terms of teleports  but also interms of Digital production.  I think the task is difficult but I have no doubt in my mind that is neither impossible nor improbable the only thing is that we have to align our efforts align our thinking , and if the industry is able to do that we should be able to do this lots of people say that’s a risky proposition, and there are greats risks involved in the proposition, like in the film industry is considered to be a very risky, but I think risks must be takenand you must let me conclude with a poem that I find very stimulating but also very relevant and is titled only a one a person who risks is free……

     

    I’m very fond of this , please allow me to read out this as only a person who risks is free to laugh is to risk appearing a fool, to weep is to risk appearing sentimental, to reach another is to risk involvement, to explore your ideas out before a crowd is a risk to their loss, as a lot of people don’t talk about their ideas because they think that someone will steal them , to love is to risk not being loved, to live is to risk dying, to believe is to risk despair to try is to risk failure but risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing, the people who risk nothing do nothing, have nothing , are nothing the people who risk nothing do nothing,  have nothing , are nothing, they may be award3ed by suffering and sorrow but they cannot…, run, feel, change grow, love , live, change by the attitudes they are slaves they have forfeited their freedom only a person who risks is free.

     

    Thank you very much!