Category: ICC WORLD CUP

CANNES: Taking the cue delivered by CBS Corp. president and CEO Leslie Moonves at yesterday‘s opening day main keynote, today‘s keynotes harked on quality content as becoming ever more critical in a digitally enabled world.

United Artists CEO Paula Wagner and NBC Entertainment NBC Entertainment & NBC Universal Television Studio co-chairman Ben Silverman both stressed on how important quality content would be in a world of infinite choice.

Wagner pointed out how global box office receipts of American movies were worth $ 26 million last year, a growth of 11 per cent CAGR. Not surprisingly, more than two thirds of revenues from the movie business camde from international markets.

Wagner pointed to the days of the captive consumer being over and which in turn necessitated ever higher spends on marketing and distribution.

Wagner, who with business partner Tom Cruise reached a deal last November with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to take over United Artists, said her studio was committed to promoting original and daring commercial projects that would have one key underpinning – great storytelling.

Wagner made it clear though that these were business propositions so there had to be clarity on the finacial aspects of any project that UA would undertake.

Creativity with financial discipline would determine their business model, Wagner stated.

Following on her talk on the movie business was Silverman who declared that his network was committed to and believed strongly that what would work was content built for the global market.

Silverman cited the Bourne movies as an example of cinema that has an international outlook in terms of cast and shooting locations. He pointed to how that kind of international outlook was also coming into his network‘s shows with more characters from the UK, India, Japan, China, etc having important roles in the shows that were being green lighted as well as those already on air.

As did Wagner, Silverman also noted how important it was to help foster creative vision and ensure the servicing of creative voices.

CANNES: Is network television going to head the way of the dinosaurs? Well, if they are they will be of the raptor variety, fleet footed aggressive and highly adaptive.That was CBS Corp. president and CEO Leslie Moonves delivering his keynote address at Mipcom on Monday making the point that when it comes to delivering mass audiences, it will always remain the networks that do it best.

The digital world and all the avenues it is opening up provides great opportunity for those who can command a significant share of the audience day after day, year after year. And it is only the big television networks around the world that can deliver. “We are the guys who feed the world what people want to watch in really big numbers,” Moonves asserted.

In the new multi-platform world, the new digital universe, it is branded content from the networks across the world that will be able to feed this ever expanding universe.

Multiple platforms are always going to need content so the networks are actually well positioned to benefit from this demand. Ever new ways of reaching audiences means ever new revenue opportunities, Moonves pointed out.

“We‘re continuing to focus on high quality mass appeal programming. Every new platform is an empty shell without compelling content.”

And Mooves‘ knockout line delivered to all ‘upstart tech mavens‘ who might presume that the networks are about to go away anytime soon? “Wireless is useless if hitless!”

And who delivers those mass appeal hits? The big networks naturally.

CANNES: The day was bright, the sessions were well attended, and the evening party was rocking.It was India Day at Mipcom Monday and it showed, what with the country being the ninth largest exhibiting nation at this year‘s market.

With Indian presence standing at 220+ delegates at last count, the efforts put in over the last one year by Indiantelevision.com founder and CEO Anil Wanvari, who is also Reed Midem‘s representative in India, Reed Midem television division director Paul Johnson and Reed Midem international sales manager Arnaud Denanteuil have delivered rich dividends at the world‘s largest audio-visual market place. The upbeat mood remained through the day and reached its peak during the evening networking party hosted by Ficci for all the delegates at the market.

The fragrance of incense, the flame of diyas, Indian tattoos, saris, bindis… with every delegate at the party sporting an Indian Bandhini stole… with gulab jamun as the dessert for the evening… its flavour was distinctly desi and more than a hit with both Indian and foreign delegates.

With a 1000+ people from all over the world hitting the dance floor of the Majestic at Cannes, and the sound waves pulsating to the rhythm and melody of Rang De Basanti, Choli Ke Peechey, Tunak Tunak Tun and Yaar bina chayn kaha re, and other Indian numbers… and the crowd not ready to leave the dance floor… the message going out was this… the world is ready for Indian content!

CANNES: Amongst all the India high fives chatter on the opening day of Mipcom, UTV Group founder and CEO Ronnie Screwvala offered a reality check to both Indian as well as international companies on the opportunities and challenges of doing business in India.

Screwvala‘s session with Anil Wanvari, founder and CEO of Indiantelevision.com, was clearly aimed at cutting through the bombast and some of the points he made will have made some really big global conglomerates a tad uncomfortable.

To quote from some Screwvala-speak: “I do believe that in many aspects, many of the multinationals that have come into the country, may not have had the best experience. My question to them for coming in, in the future is always going to be, ‘What‘s your value add?‘ Because India is a very unique market.

“And if you‘re coming in there thinking, ‘Well we can go out there and buy. We can go out there and give large amounts of money and display that.‘ I dont think necessarily, that‘s going to be the way that India is going to welcome that player.”

Screwvala took the examples of long invested in India conglomerates like Time Warner (CNN & Cartoon Network), Viacom (MTV, Nick, Vh1), Sony, Pearsons, Kerry Packer (Channel 9), Disney (Disney Channel, Toon Disney and now Hungama) and News Corp (Star) to make his point.

Said Screwvala of Warner, “CNN and Cartoon Network have really not had an India agenda though they have been in India for the last 15-20 years. CNN finally licensed their brand name to a local news channel (Network 18‘s CNN IBN) for as cheap as a million dollars. That clearly articulates a lack of strategy for the Indian environment.”

Pearsons (print) and the Packer group (TV) had both burned their fingers in India and in the process burned off $ 100 million each, he pointed out.

Interestingly, even News Corp‘s Star is not as rosy a story as commonly perceived, Screwvala pointed out. Looked at for the period between 1992 and 2007, net-net, the cumulative P&As would not be on the plus side, was Screwvala‘s view. Why? Because between 1992 and 2000, Star was bleeding big time, particularly on the huge investments it made to launch DTH then, which proved a non-starter.

Even Star‘s market dominance of 2000-2005 was one of missed opportunities, according to Screwvala. He believes that not enough was done then to monetise and leverage the dominance Star plus enjoyed then.

His advice to international companies – “Ask the question: ‘What‘s your strategy? What‘s your value add?‘, before taking the plunge.”

On the domestic front, Screwvala sees cable as being the single largest bottleneck to the evolution of the industry to the next level. The cable industry would require anywhere between $5-10 billion dollars of investment in hardware if it was to evolve into the new digitalised world and that wouldn‘t happen without regulation of the cable industry, Screwvala stressed.

He remained unimpressed by calls for regulation in other parts of the broadcast value chain though.

CANNES: During his keynote at Mipcom today, Zee Group CMD Subhash Chandra asserted that India had the potential to become the largest pay television market in the world.

However, Chandra remained steadfast that while newer distribution avenues would eat into the dominant share that cable enjoyed in Indian television households, that was not to imply that platforms like direct-to-home (DTH) would take over.

Chandra made the point during his interaction with Chris Forrester, Rapid TV News Editorial Director, who asked: “Do you see this threat (to television viewing) that today‘s youngsters will remain on a gaming, animation, or maybe mobile path?”

Chandra dismissed the notion as being higher on hyperbole than fact. “I don‘t see that day. When we started television everybody in the film industry said this is going to kill the industry. It didn‘t. It actually enhanced the film experience.

“Today in India, more than 70 films are screened per day and available to 70 million homes but still people watch cinema. Similar things will happen. All these newer avenues (for content to flow) will consume more and more media as they are made avilable at cheaper prices. As the newer applications come, they will all complement each other. Today we are showing gaming on the DTH platform.”

Queried over whether going forward, he saw DTH becoming the primary feed into TV homes, Chandra responded: “It will not become the primary feed because regulation will not allow it, which is a good thing. But I do agree that other delivery platforms will take 40-50 per cent of the distribution market over next five-seven years.”

On the issue of there being only one dominant or at the most two competing DTH platforms in other television markets, Chandra said: “India is a country of surprises. We will still be able to see two or three DTH platforms operating. Not five or six as is the case now though. So in that sense we will see consolidation.”

On regulation, Chandra was quite clear that India needed it if the industry was to be able to grow in an orderly fashion. Said Chandra, “There should be regulation. Actually there is no regulation in India today. Only some guidelines on FDI caps and this kind of thing, nothing else.”

CANNES: Zee Group CMD Subhash Chandra‘s keynote at Mipcom today was also an occasion for him to talk about a pet project of his – Veria, the alternative lifestyle channel he has just launched in the US. Chandra revealed in his interaction with Chris Forrester, Rapid TV News Editorial Director, that a total investment of $ 200+ million had been earmarked for the channel. Veria is a wholly owned subsidiary of Essel Group.

Available in the US in 15 million homes currently in the free preview period, Veria will in due course be encrypted as a pay channel. Queried by Forrester as to why he chose lifestyle as a genre for his first direct entry effort in the US, Chandra pointed out that while the channel fell into the lifestyle segment, there was nothing like Veria anywhere in the world created specifically around alternative lifestyle. Chandra terms Veria as a 360 experience that connects the TV screen, the web as well as direct consumer interface through a network of ‘wellness centres‘ that would be set up acrss the US.

“We would like this product to be global in next five years. That is what is planned. The next step is to dub this content into Spanish to serve the Hispanic population of America, Latin America, and then go to Europe and Canada. And slowly perhaps, come to India as well,” Chandra concluded on a wry note.

MUMBAI: Breakthrough Animation and 2-D Lab‘s children‘s animated series, My Big Big Friend (52 x 11‘) has won The Licensing Challenge, sponsored by License Global! at this year‘s Mipcom Junior.

The announcement was made by Breakthrough Animation executive producer and managing partner Kevin Gillis.

The Licensing Challenge is a pitching session that showcases the TV property with the highest licensing potential. The international jury included Leigh Anne Brodsky (Nickelodeon), Stan Clutton (Fisher Price), Anna Hewitt (BBC), Andrew Lane (Hasbro), John Lee (World World), and Richard Woolf (Jetix).

“We are extremely pleased that My Big Big Friend was honored at the Licensing Challenge this year” said Gillis. This is a very special property with unique characters and intriguing storylines that will resonate with the 4-6 age demo worldwide. Every child needs a big big friend, especially at this time in their lives.”

With a combination of 2-D and computer-generated imaging animation, My Big Big Friend is a series of fun, frolic and adventures that all starts with a little boy. Yuri is 6, an only child, with an energetic and curious attitude towards life. In the world of his imagination he is brave, daring and adventurous, but in real life he is truly shy and lonely. At least he was until the day he had an idea. A great big idea. Golias! Golias is Yuri‘s imaginary friend – only don‘t tell Golias – he doesn‘t know he‘s imaginary! Nor do Bongo or Vanessa. With the help of their Big Friends, Yuri and his chums, Doris and Matt, discover that if you imagine you can, sometimes you really, really can.

The multi-platform comedy pre-school adventure series is available for broadcast, broadband and mobile platform formats at Mipcom. My Big Big friend will be supported by a line of books and an interactive multi-platform content produced specifically to tie-in with the broadcast series. My Big Big Friend is a Brazil, Canada co-production with 2-D Lab in Brazil and Breakthrough Animation in Canada.

CANNES: India was everywhere at the Palais in Cannes as Mipcom 2007 kicked off this morning and even the weather gods seemed to have got into the act.The climate was pleasant as the market welcomed thousands of delegates attending the world‘s biggest television market.

Sony Entertainment Television (SET) India CEO Kunal Dasgupta opened proceedings for the high-powered Indian presence at Cannes by offering a detailed overview of the third largest TV viewing market after China.

Marking out television as the engine of Indian media industry growth, Dasgupta said revenues are projected to triple by 2011.

Offering a macro view, he outlined key industry drivers as:

    Development of content for niche viewers
    Pricing remains a key driver, whether it is for cable subscription, film tickets or newspaper prices
    Increased consumerism and increased advertisement spend by marketers fueling further growth
    Use of technology for special effects, animation and other creative work leading to better quality of media products
    Enabling regulations related to broadcasting, print and radio by the Government

Not surprisingly, the opportunities thrown up by India‘s young population increasingly exposed to, and hence aspiring for, a better lifestyle, and therefore willing to spend more on entertainment was one of the cornerstones of his speech.

While touching on the complexities that the Indian market represented, Dasgupta‘s focus was clearly on the advantages India offered on the global media map and the opportunities on offer for international players looking to do business in India.

Television:

    Production/co-production of content including animation
    Broadcasting of TV channels
    Distribution of TV channels through cable and new delivery platforms like DTH and IPTV
    Technology transfer for digital content creation
    Marketing of TV rights/air times
    Strategic investment in existing companies in broadcasting, distribution and content
    Adapt show formats
    Dubbed movies
    Branded European blocks

    Radio:
        Investment in FM and satellite radio
        Content creation for radio channels
        Marketing of air times

    Films:
        Production/co-production of films
        Processing, distribution and exhibition of Bollywood films
        Shooting of overseas films in India
        Development, distribution and exhibition of Hollywood/overseas films
        Training for technical and functional areas of film making
        Supply of hardware to film studios

    Music:
        Creation of content for film and non-film music
        Marketing of film and non-film music
        Strategic investment in local music companies

    Print:
        Strategic investment in news and non-news publications
        Tie-ups for providing content to Indian publications