Events

It’s a SCaT man’s world!

Published

12 years ago

October 29, 2013

MUMBAI: The SCaT (Satellite and Cable TV) trade show in its 22nd year took place at the World Trade Centre, Cuffe Parade here over the weekend between 25 and 27 October. The show received a great response with all the stalls sold out. The show was buzzing with energy and enthusiasm.

“I feel like a kid in a candy shop, I am really spoilt for choice. I would love to check out all the new products and try out a few,” said one of the visitors.

According to the organisers, they had to take additional hall space to cater to the higher demand from exhibitors. It was deliberately held over a weekend to make it convenient for outstation visitors and the number of registrations clearly out did the previous years on both days. Several operators from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh attended in groups and of course from all over India too.

The show attracts visitors to review and purchase products from over 150 companies and brands, not only from India but worldwide. Over 40 international companies participated in the show this time around. The focus of SCaT 2013 was to showcase attractively priced digital headend products to meet the needs of smaller cable TV networks looking to migrate to digital cable TV within a year.

In fact, the entire idea to hold the exhibition is to make work easier for the people in the industry, say the organisers, who also come out with a monthly magazine, SCaT. “We launched the magazine in 1993 and it was the first trade publication catering to the satellite and cable TV industry in the south-Asian region. Simultaneously, we also started organising the SCaT Trade show for which we got huge appreciation,” says SCaT Media & Consultancy publisher and MD Sudeep Malhotra.

According to Malhotra, the entire idea was to cash in on the growing cable TV industry, which was at a nascent stage at that time. “There was a big barrier between the manufacturers of cable TV products and the cable operators who were the buyers. They could only connect through the shopkeepers, who at times were not really helpful. So, if an operator was looking for an amplifier, he would be supplied only those products that was available at the shops. He may not even be aware of the better products that are being manufactured,” says Sudeep, who with the magazine and the trade show wanted to bridge that gap.

The organisers hosted the first show in February 1993 and had just nine companies on board. In the same year in October, the show had 30 companies participating which was a huge jump for the organisers. “Over the years, we have been growing at a rate of almost 20 to 30 per cent. Now, we have 156 companies on board, with participation of about 21 countries,” says Malhotra, also adding that they have special permissions from the government to get the products from other countries.

The footfall has increased considerably too – from 300 people in the first show over three days to almost 18,000 in the present show. “We have visitors not just from India but from Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka etc as well. We also have cable associations visiting the show in groups of 100, 200 from various states in India,” says Malhotra.

The exhibition was spread across two buildings and witnessed a great response in terms of visitors. The show had a great mix of companies varying from those providing headend equipments to those providing end to end solutions. There was also a prominent presence of news channels like Captain TV (Chennai) and Channel News Asia (Singapore).

Satellite & Cable TV Magazine editor and executive publisher Dinyar Contractor expounded, “We hold this exhibition annually to let the industry get together under one roof and explore the new products that are available or will soon be available in the market. We at SCaT believe that the opportunities are manifold at this show and the industry can benefit at large.”

With the DAS rollout and impending phase III and IV implementation, the focus was but naturally on affordable digital headends and STBs which are cost efficient for small networks of the smaller towns that are not MSO dominated. Like always, it was the Chinese, Taiwanese and Korean manufacturers who dominated. Interestingly, the key Indian hardware companies like Catvision, Channel Master, Saibaba Electronics among others had all tied up with international manufacturers and were offering complete end to end DAS solutions.

“While clearly the focus was on hardware, the middleware and software vendors offering value added services, SMS and billing integration were yet to see significant traction. Also on display was the sole HITS service provider JainHits offering complete services including content, having recently won his legal case against the aggregator/distributors,” said media analyst Sanjeev Hiremath.

One of the products that caught everyone’s attention was the Android OTT IP-STBs – these are set top boxes that function on an Android 4.0 and can be easily synced with any device – which can enable internet surfing, listening to online music via WiFi or Ethernet interface. The STB also supports Live TV watching and VoD if the user has an account with the solution provider.

Another attraction at the event was Gaian Solutions’ new product through which cable operators and DTH players can now customise the advertisements being aired not only within states, but also within the city limit. “The new technology helps you to air different ads at the same time. So if in south Mumbai, a consumer will see a Mercedes ad on TV during a programme, another consumer in other part of the city can watch a different ad, according to the need of the market,” informed Gaian Solutions director-operations Mrigesh Gaurav.

The lobby of the Taj Vivanta President where most of the participants stayed was also a meeting place for networking and also became the hotspot for the trade party on the penultimate day.

All in all, it was an exciting and eventful three days of knowledge enhancement, serious business and networking.

Related Topics:Gujarat Karnataka Maharashtra Sudeep Malhotra

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Disney Star India shortlisted for IBC2024 Innovation Awards

Published

1 year ago

August 19, 2024

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Disney Star India is in the running for this year’s IBC2024 Innovation Awards which are to be held on 15 September at 18 hours. The category for which it has been shortlisted is the social impact award for its work with India Signing Hands through which it brought the IPL 2024 coverage to almost 67 million hard of hearing and 34 million visually impaired fans on Star Sports.

Late last month, the IBC announced the finalists for the IBC Innovation Awards which celebrate and honour collaborative initiatives leading to ground-breaking solutions that address real-world media, entertainment and technology industry challenges. This year’s awards bring together under one roof IBC’s innovation and social impact awards to create a unified celebration of industry advances, with five categories now being judged: content creation, content distribution, content everywhere, social Impact, and environment & sustainability.

“This year’s entries once again showcased the global reach and appeal of the IBC Innovation Awards with projects of the highest quality received from six continents,” said chair of the 2024 IBC Innovation Awards jury Fergal Ringrose. “Meanwhile, constantly evolving delivery methods and audience consumption patterns demand that content producers around the globe must innovate dynamically in order to stay relevant and competitive in the modern media and entertainment technology ecosystem. I would like to sincerely thank our panel of judges for their diligence and ability to adapt, as we brought our three content categories together with environment and sustainability and social impact this year for our new-look IBC Innovation Awards.”

Former news anchor Sasha Qadri is set to host the awards in the auditorium complex at the RAI on Sunday.

This year’s finalists in the Content Creation category include:

* The National Football League (US), ESPN, Disney/Pixar and Beyond Sports for creating the first fully animated, real-time NFL alternative broadcast set in the Toy Story universe.

* Olympic Broadcasting Services and partners for live broadcast production with more than 200 smartphones contributing video for the Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony and a sea-based 5G network for sailing competitions in Marseille.

* Aspire for working with Vislink and FocalPoint VR to develop a virtual reality over RF wireless solution for the inaugural season of Aspire’s Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League (A2RL).

The organisations named as finalists in Content Distribution are:

* Claro for creating a new approach to pay TV in Brazil, integrating streaming channels and applications, delivering entertainment to consumers with a complete pay TV offer.

* NBCUniversal Operations and Technology for its pioneering project to transform the way its TV channels are delivered to consumers worldwide.

* The National Hockey League (Canada and US) in partnership with Verizon, AWS, Zixi, Vizrt and Evertz, for producing a 5G and Edge compute framework for assembly, control and delivery of live broadcast.

The Content Everywhere finalists are:

* LaLiga for working with Play Anywhere and Ease Live to enable true fan interactivity for itself and its worldwide broadcast and streaming partners.

*Red Bull Media House for bringing together real-time GPS tracking, data management and advanced visualisation to transform viewing experience across live broadcast, web widgets and AR mobile app.

* Franceinfo (France Télévisions) for working with PimpMyCompany to aggregate text/audio/video/photo messages from various platforms and broadcasting them live on air.

Apart from Disney Star, the Social Impact finalists are:

* CultureQ for a new technology platform developed by indigenous-owned tech company Kiwa Digital that enables indigenous peoples globally to revitalise their language and culture at scale, while retaining sovereignty

* Sesame Workshop for its Watch Play Learn Distribution Hub which allows government agencies and aid organisations to preview and request videos for children in crisis settings.

The Environment & Sustainability finalists are:

* France Télévisions for reducing CO2 emissions by 300 tons via a pioneering 100% glass-to-glass cloud production and private 5G network.

* GreeningofStreaming for addressing growing industry concerns about the energy impact of the streaming sector, with international reach and over 30 member organisations.

* Anton/Bauer for Salt-E Dog which harnesses the power of sodium chemistry to enable sustainable television production practices.

The Innovation Awards ceremony will also feature the presentation of the IBC International Honour for Excellence, which goes to an individual or organisation that has made an outstanding impact in the industry, and the best technical paper, with all papers being presented at the 2024 IBC Conference that runs 13-15 September in the auditorium complex of the RAI.

Event Coverage

Hyundai Motor India showcases ‘Mobility for All’ at Bharat Mobility Global Expo 2024

Published

2 years ago

February 5, 2024

indiantelevision.com Team

Mumbai: Hyundai Motor India Ltd. showcased its technologically advanced products at the first ever Bharat Mobility Global Expo 2024. Based on the theme “Mobility for All”, the Hyundai Motor India Pavilion at Hall 6, Pragati Maidan presented the company’s vision for India and highlighted its commitment to India.

Commenting on Hyundai Motor India’s participation at Bharat Global Mobility Expo 2024, Hyundai Motor India, AVP & vertical head, corporate affairs, Puneet Anand, said,” We would like to congratulate Government of India and ministry of commerce & industries for envisioning this unique Bharat Global Mobility Expo 2024. It gave us an opportunity to showcase our products & technologies to the audience. As Hyundai Motor India, we take pride in our journey of localisation, epitomising the ‘ Made in India, for the World ‘ spirit. Our commitment goes beyond cars; it’s a commitment to India’s engineering prowess and growth. Achieving 100 per cent localization in vital components reflects our dedication to the ‘Make in India’ initiative. Our state-of-the-art facilities across the nation, coupled with ongoing investments, underscore our vision for excellence. Hyundai’s journey in India is more than just automobiles; it’s a narrative of progress, community development, and a relentless pursuit of innovation, reflecting our enduring commitment to India’s future.”

Key Highlights at Hyundai Motor India Pavilion:

Localisation Zone

Localisation has been pivotal in Hyundai Motor India’s journey since its inception. As the foremost exporter of “Made in India” cars globally, Hyundai’s specialised localisation zone exemplifies the extensive utilisation of parts from Indian manufacturers, showcasing the nation’s engineering prowess. In its ongoing commitment to enhancing localisation, Hyundai has achieved 100 per cent localisation in key components such as tires, panoramic sunroof, alloy wheel, and more. The company is also working towards enhancing localisation ratio for manufacturing vehicles in India, including key car components, ECM based inside rear view monitor (IRVM), higher grade AGM technology battery, and a wide range of other components. Reinforcing its commitment towards localisation, a dedicated team has been established to intensify its efforts, particularly for high-volume models, aligning with the government’s “Make in India” initiative. The zone not only highlights Hyundai’s advanced manufacturing facility in Sriperumbudur but also showcases the R&D facility in Hyderabad, corporate office in Gurugram, and the recently acquired Maharashtra facility, firmly establishing Hyundai’s presence on the Indian map. The comprehensive zone is complemented by a film illustrating Hyundai’s manufacturing excellence, emphasizing the company’s dedication to delivering the highest quality vehicles globally.

Commitment to India

Since its inception in 1996, Hyundai Motor India has consistently demonstrated a commitment to India, becoming the first OEM to export “Made in India” vehicles worldwide and holding the position of the largest passenger vehicle exporter from India. Hyundai has been a pioneer in the Indian automobile industry, introducing global technologies and features, and standardising 6 airbags and 3-point seatbelts across its entire range.

Aligned with Hyundai’s global CSR guideline of ‘Continue,’ the Hyundai Motor India Foundation, initiated in 2006, has undertaken various social initiatives, including Art for Hope, telemedicine clinics, sports labs, dhyan-Do, drive for progress, BeTheBetterGuy, and more, focusing on community development, healthcare, education, vocational training, and promoting safe mobility practices.

In 2023, Hyundai Motor India signed a MoU with the government of Tamil Nadu, committing Rs 20,000 Crore over next 10 years for capacity expansion, new products, establishing a battery pack assembly facility, and improving charging infrastructure. In 2024, an additional commitment of Rs 6,180 Crore was declared by the company including Rs 180 crore towards ‘Hydrogen Valley Innovation Hub’ in collaboration with IIT Madras. Additionally, the company has signed a MoU with the state of Maharashtra for a long-term investment of Rs 6,000 crore for infrastructure upgradation and capacity expansion for its 1 million capacity goal. These endeavours underscore Hyundai Motor India’s enduring commitment to India, paving the way for its sustained success in the country.

Event Coverage

Welingkar Institute and indiantelevision.com partner on career guidance seminar

Published

2 years ago

January 18, 2024

indiantelevision.com Team

Mumbai: There’s a tremendous opportunity for new entrants in the media and entertainment sector, despite the transformation it is undergoing and the pressure of revenues it has been facing. That was the conclusion of senior industry leaders who were part of a half-day conclave We Communique that Mumbai-based MBA institute We School – aka Welingkar Institute of Management – organised in partnership with Indiantelevision.com on 17 January for postgraduate students of the media and entertainment course.

Among the leaders who took part in panel discussions and a fireside chat included: Cosmos Maya India CEO Megha Tata, Enterr10 director Akshat Singhal, Shemaroo broadcast business head Sandeep Gupta, Elara Capital media analyst Karan Taurani, Friday FilmWorks CEO Devendra Deshpande, Madison Media Sigma COO Vanita Keswani, Wavemaker general manager Sejal Lodaya, Lodestar UM IPG Associate vice-presidents Shrikant Shenoy and Bhavesh Shah, Disney Star India’s Prashant Khanna and Carat India director integrated media planning Swarali Halepati. Indiantelevision.com founder, CEO & editor in chief Anil Wanvari chaired all three sessions.

The speakers were spread across two sessions “Evolution of Media, Sports, and Entertainment Trends” and “Media and Marketing in 2024. ”

Almost all the speakers agreed that students need not be demotivated by news reports of doom and gloom that the media and entertainment industry are facing. “Yes, 2024 is going to be a year of consolidation with mergers and acquisitions seeing the course of conclusion,” said Taurani. “Jobs are evolving but you have to get the basics right,” said Shenoy in the marketing and media session. “Learn about viewership trends, GRPs, reach etc and continue keeping abreast of developments.”

“There is no shortage of jobs in media,” said Shah. “We are always hiring in media,” added Lodaya. According to Keswani, the media executive’s job is becoming more about numbers and this can be fun as well. Both Lodaya and Halepati emphasised that longevity in an organisation works very well as far as an executive’s career progression is concerned. “You should not be hopping around every few years for that marginal increase in salary,” they opined. “As long as you are learning and growing stick to the job.”

The television panel opined that even though there is a shrinkage in the broadcast sector on the advertising inventory front (read: ad revenues), the television industry has a lot of legs. “Free TV is growing,” said Singhal, “Though pay TV is struggling..”

“Yes, production budgets are also slimming down,” explained Deshpande. “As are OTT series budgets.”

He added that producers have to thus work within these budgets, and extract profits without compromising on quality through efficient production pipelines.

Gupta extolled the student and WeWork alumni audience to learn as many skills as they can, but they need to focus on only one.

Most of the panellists concurred that animation, gaming, VFX, AI, and ML are the most promising verticals that students should keep an eye on. “VFX studios are popping up everywhere in India and they will need talented individuals to work with them,” highlighted Taurani.

The conclave was extremely well received with students rating it high on the knowledge enrichment chart.