August 2011

1/8/11 -- The European soccer event, Euro 2012, has moved away from ESPN Star Sports (ESS) to Neo Sports. The rights will be for the Indian subcontinent (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives).

Media Dominance is Dangerous

It was unimaginable to see Rupert Murdoch, world's greatest media Mogul, seated in front of the British Parliamentary committee along with his son James Murdoch, trying to answer the serious criminal allegations of phone hacking, including those of some murder victims, victims of crimes, royal family members and politicians. One could see his hesitation in answering some of the questions, accepting his inability to know everything that was happening in his media empire and finally apologizing to all when the proceedings were being broadcast to millions of TV viewers all across the world. 

It was also interesting to see how the Indian Media covered the event. Apart from carrying the live broadcast of three hours grilling of the tycoon in the Parliament by BBC and CNN, most of the Indian news media avoided discussing the UK issue in the news. They spent all the time discussing if Indian Politicians could do a similar questioning of a VVIP in front of the cameras. 

It was quite understandable because Rupert Murdoch has his fingers in every media pie in India which apart from Star Empire includes NDTV, TV Today, TAM, ABP, Wall Street Journal, Radio, MSOs, DTH and internet properties. I am surprised how the Indian system has no checks for such monopolisation. This laxity and subservient attitude of our government is responsible for the present state of the country marred by various scams where a few industrial houses rule the country's economy depriving the masses of their dues. Poorer are getting poorer and rich are getting richer. 

It does not make much of a difference when the fingers are raised at the political bigwigs as they have become shameless and find innovative ways to get out of the rut unscathed, be it Kalmadi of CWG fame, Raja of 2G scam and Yeddyurappa of Karnataka mining scam.

I am afraid, it may not stall the progress on digitalization which could be kept pending for some more time proving disastrous for the industry. The Ministry, however is doing its best and has constituted a task force to implement digitalization fast. 

DTH is making good progress in the country connecting 2.5 million people in the first quarter of the year, increasing its reach to 35 million connections. Thanks to DTH, new technologies like HDTV, VoD, DVR, Sling media etc. are fast penetrating into the Indian homes and now many 3D television brands have also entered the market even when there is no 3D broadcast as yet. This month we carry the main story on DTH Market giving views of some prominent people. 

TRAI has issued a consultation paper on Mobile VAS and asked for the views of the stake holders. Also, I & B Ministry has made guidelines on employing children for TV programmes. 

—— Lt. Col. (Retd.) K K Sharma

Editor

Source: http://cablequest.org/articles/editorials/item/1778-media-dominance-is-dangerous.html

Source: http://cablequest.org/articles/editorials/item/1778-media-dominance-is-dangerous.html

July 2011

2/7/11 -- Cartoon Network announced a joint agreement with Singapore's MDA to launch Snaptoons .

Taiwan, a nation to Emulate

Last Month I had an opportunity to visit Taiwan, a tiny island country and was amazed to see such a small country supplying best of the technology products to the whole world. Their share of the world market in PCs, Smartphones, LCDs etc is so impressive that one wonders how could a country with just 23 million population achieve so much. It is the sheer determination to keep themselves ahead of the world that keeps them working hard.Their success in the world of electronics is purely because of their strong R&D infrastructure which has lead them to have several patents in technology that rules the modern world. 

This month we are also focusing subscriber management and billing systems and customer related issues. These systems are very essential in the process of digitalisation and also to introduce transparent and better customer relations . Our endeavour is to inform our readers about all facts of digitalization so that they get mentally prepared to meet the government deadlines when they are finally notified. 

Broadcast Asia, Asia’s biggest trade show for broadcast and communications technologies was held last month at Singapore. This time Broadcast Asia and Communic Asia were held at two different venues and inspite of that there was no dearth of visitors. The focus this time, was on new media and 3DTV. Now you don’t have to wear the polarised glasses to view 3DTV. Not only on TV, 3D is now available on mobiles too. Hybrid TV and OTT are the other technologies becoming popular. 

Trend is to provide the customer the content when he wants and where he wants. Even multiple platform file transfer solutions are galore in the market now. This has opened up new vistas of revenue generation for the content producers. 

TV channels went overboard last month reporting Baba RamDev’s protest fast against corruption 24x7, making one wonder if these channels had no other news. We could get minute to minute details of his pulse, blood pressure and temperature on the screen which made many viewers switch off their TVs in anguish or change to non-news channels. But I wonder why none of the News Channels carried the news about protest by more than 10000 cable operators of Tamil Nadu on 7 June 2011 in Chennai. God knows, why do we have so many news channels? Anyway, one more news channel, GNN News has been launched last month and another Express News has commenced their trials. 

—— Lt. Col. (Retd.) K K Sharma

Editor

Source:  http://cablequest.org/articles/editorials/item/1779-taiwan,-a-nation-to-emulate.html

June 2011

1/6/11 -- Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) chairman Subhash Chandra will receive the 2011 International Emmy Directorate Award at The International Emmy Awards Gala in New York on 21 November.

I & B’s Future Strategy

I & B Ministry has made its strategic plan for the next five years which is placed on Ministry's Website. In the SWOT analysis carried out by the Ministry there are more 'Weaknesses' than 'Strengths'. Also, The solutions given or the actions to be implemented are more of a paper work which gets repeated every five years rather than some solid points on which action can be taken. Most of the planning pertains to the Public Broadcasters who, in any case spend more and output less. We are yet to see their projects of DTT & Mobile TV started many years ago, taking off for the masses. Their HD project started during CW Games although operational, is hardly visible because of dearth of FTA HD STBs and high cost of HDTVs. I Don't think any content is being produced in HD by Doordarshan. 

IBF, the apex body of Television broadcasters has finally come up with its self regulatory mechanism forming a Broadcasting Content Complaint Council (BCCC) headed by a former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court. The only hitch is that less than fifty broadcasters out of 600 plus are members of IBF and some of them are news broadcasters who are not governed by these self regulations as NBA the News Broadcasters Association has made the self regulatory code for them and also has its own complaint redressal committee. 

Regional broadcasters have also formed their association recently as they don't wish to align with IBF. Here again, the body has come up because broadcasters don't appear government to interfere in their affairs and the government does not have the courage to pull up this powerful lobby. Many of them are active politicians or support a political party. 

Announcement of digitalization deadlines by the Ministry has brought in some positive results. Major MSOs like DEN, Hathway, DIGICable and InCable have started planning to invest in value added services, high definition and broadband. Hope the government does not slow down once again in supporting the industry. 

A task force has also been made headed by the Additional Secy. to chalk out a road map for digitalization and also resolve various issues to expedite the process. The task force had its first meeting recently and things appear to be moving in the right direction. 

Television Media is very busy these days as a number of TRP attracting events have occured in the recent past. World Cup, IPL, Osama’s death, Royal Wedding all were a boon to the News Channels. 

—— Lt. Col. (Retd.) K K Sharma

Editor

Source: http://cablequest.org/articles/editorials/item/1780-i-b%E2%80%99s-future-strategy.html

Source: http://cablequest.org/articles/editorials/item/1780-i-b%E2%80%99s-future-strategy.html

May 2011

2/5/11 -- The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), has announced that it had approved a “Self Regulatory Guidelines and Complaints Redressal Mechanism” for all non news channels, including general entertainment, children and special interest channels. Justice A P Shah, retired Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, will head the Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC).