ITV

Tag: Broadcasters

  • ‘Carriage market has exploded and will close this fiscal at Rs 14 billion’ – Gurjeev Singh Kapoor

    ‘Carriage market has exploded and will close this fiscal at Rs 14 billion’ – Gurjeev Singh Kapoor

    Broadcasters are being hit hard by hefty carriage fees as bandwidth is getting choked both on analogue cable and DTH (direct-to-home). Building formidable distribution bouquets is high on their agenda as they struggle to ramp up subscription revenues which are estimated to touch Rs 28 billion this fiscal.

    Star Den, a 50:50 joint venture between Star and Digital Entertainment Networks, is quickly adding regional channels to complete its otherwise strong Hindi and English entertainment-news-kids bouquet. Zee-Turner is the only other broadcasting distribution company which has a formidable regional content lineup.

    Star Den is eyeing a revenue of Rs 10 billion at a time when the television industry is beginning to feel the first serious signs of a slowdown in advertising revenues. Analysts say this will be a hard task to achieve, despite the boon from DTH revenues. Big TV and Airtel Digital TV launched later in the year, reducing prospects of a full-fiscal revenue gain for the broadcasters.

    In an interview with Indiantelevision.com’s Sibabrata Das, Star Den Media Services chief executive officer Gurjeev Singh Kapoor talks about the dark holes in the distribution business and how the company plans to ramp up growth in a tough business environment.Excerpts:

    Is the steep climb in carriage fees upsetting the business model of broadcasters?
    The carriage market has exploded and is expected to end this fiscal at close to Rs 14 billion, up from Rs 6 billion a year ago. As there is a huge amount of bandwidth constraint on analogue cable and even DTH, the industry has changed in terms of carriage. DTH operators are offering 200 channels while the Information and Broadcasting ministry has given the nod to 370 channels. A plethora of channel launches in the Hindi general entertainment, news and regional space has meant that there is a fierce fight for frequency. In a market where funding was easily available, channels were willing to pay more for space on cable networks. Insanity ruled the market.

    Will we see a correction in the carriage market?
    The balancing act has to happen now. With private equity and other sources of funding drying up, many broadcasters have started contracting their distribution budgets. We could see a flat carriage growth next year as channels start rationalising their costs. Broadcasters are in no position to be omnipresent in all cable networks; they will have to pick and choose where they want to be present and optimise their resources.

    But we will continue to see more channel launches next year as Reliance ADAG is planning to get into broadcasting space. Even existing players like Star India have plans to add more channels. Won’t this ensure that the carriage tap continues to flow freely?
    We may see a 10-15 per cent growth in carriage fee market in FY’11 as more channels enter the race. The next two years will be the blue litmus test for many broadcasters. For the weak channels, there could be a shake out. The fact is that distribution costs have grown unmanageably high.

    There can be no potential threat to carriage revenues unless the digital universe expands to at least 25 per cent. When we reach that stage, other models can emerge like broadcasters getting into agreements for sharing their distribution revenues with delivery platform providers.

    Are broadcasters getting united to resist on carriage fees?
    Broadcasters have doled out so much money in the past because of competition that it will be difficult to correct the system fully. More so, as we will see new channel launches. Carriage fee is being governed by market forces. But it is good that the thought process has started to fight carriage fees collectively. How far that will succeed only time will tell.

    Would you want Trai to (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) come out with some regulation on carriage?
    I wish there could be some kind of formula that can be arrived at to regulate carriage. As an idea, it is definitely good since the regulator has mandated pricing issues.

    How difficult is it to ramp up subscription revenues in the backdrop of MSOs (multi-system operators) consolidating the cable TV market and Trai introducing pricing regulations?
    Subscription revenue for pay-TV broadcasters will close at Rs 28 billion in FY’09, up from Rs 23 billion a year ago. Even though there is a slowdown in the market and the times are tough, the industry expects a 10-15 per cent growth in FY’10.

    Isn’t that growth mainly because of DTH?
    DTH, undoubtedly, has expanded the market. But ARPUs (average revenue per user) haven’t grown in the DTH business; they are virtually the same as that of cable. IPTV, though much talked about, has also not happend this year.

    Will Star Den’s revenue touch Rs 10 billion this fiscal?
    While we are looking at very aggressive numbers and have set ourselves a very challenging task, I can’t comment on our financials.

    Do broadcasting distribution companies see the consolidation in the cable TV sector as a welcome change?
    The marketplace will make it difficult for small networks even as broadcasters rationalise their distribution budgets. Networks who have a geographical spread can bargain hard with broadcasters. In the short term, they will get paid more and will be reluctant to pay for more subscribers. But in the long term, it is better that the industry moves towards a better structured environment. MSOs and broadcasters have to join hands and realise that ultimately money has to come from the ground.

    Since the parent owner of Star Den also runs a cable TV company, how do you leverage the power of your bouquet to push the cable distribution business?
    We operate as independent entities. We treate Den like the other MSOs.

    Star India had earlier inked a distribution deal with sports broadcaster Neo which did not last long after the new management took over. Do you feel that the Star Den bouquet is strong but still incomplete without sports channels in its mix?
    We are currently distributing 23 channels and are in a very strong position to post growth. We have great quality content in the Hindi general entertainment space with Star Plus as the leader and Star One in the fifth spot. In the news television space, we have Times Now which leads in the English segment, CNN-IBN, IBN7 and Star News. CNBC TV18 and Awaaz, of course, are leaders in their segments and are powerful subscription-driven channels.

    In the kids genre, we have Hungama and the three Disney channels. For the English-viewing audiences, we have a formidable presence in Star Movies, MGM and Star World. We also distribute NGC and Zoom.

    We are now filling up the missing pieces and adding the regional bouquet. With Star buying majority stake in Asianet, we will cover all the languages down south. Star has also launched a Bengali and a Marathi general entertainment channel while the one in Gujarati is in the pipeline.

    Will Colors (the second most-watched Hindi GEC from the Viacom18 stable) automatically come to your bouquet when it decides to go pay?
    I wouldn’t like to offer any comments.

    Will you also be getting the MTV channels after Viacom’s contract with One Alliance expires on 31 March, 2009?
    I don’t want to comment on this.

    What about the wedding and home shopping channels that Star is planning to launch next year?
    Whatever niche channels Star launches, we will be happy to service. Niche channels will have a demand particularly on digital platforms. One the Fox channels launch, we will also be happy to distribute them.

  • Content Code: Govt to meet broadcasters next week

    Content Code: Govt to meet broadcasters next week

    NEW DELHI: The much delayed Content Code may get a push with the. government slated to hold a meeting with private broadcasters on this next week.

    “I am holding a meeting next week and then we will decide,” information and broadcasting minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi said on the sidelines of a book release function.

    Dasmunsi said the government needed to study the proposal by the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) about formation of the ‘News Broadcasting Standards (Disputes Redressal) Authority’ to enforce NBA’s code of ethics and broadcasting standards with effect from 2 October. He refused to make any comment on the proposal aimed at self-regulation.

    Answering a question, Dasmunsi said the recommendations of Trai on self-regulation by television channels of TV viewership ratings were being studied by the government. However, he said ‘no’ when a mediaperson sought to know whether regulation of content would be given to Trai.

    The minister was speaking to the media on the sidelines of a function at which he released two books on revolutionaries and freedom fighters – Khudiram Bose: Revolutionary Extraordinaire (English) written by Dr. Hitendra Patel And Ajeya Krantikari: Rajguru (Hindi) by Anil Verma – which have been published by the Publications Division of the ministry.

    Answering another question after the function, Dasmunsi also turned down any proposal to permit private FM channels to broadcast news bulletins, despite a recommendation to that effect by Trai and Ficci.

    Meanwhile, he said in reply to a question that he would talk to Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra about the reported attack by Jammu police on two photojournalists of Amar Ujala and JK Channel last night while they were covering the police brutality on Amarnath Sangarsh Samiti activists who were sitting on a dharna along with the body of Kuldeep Dogra who committed suicide yesterday. He said the ministry would make its own inquiry into the incident.

    Apart from the minister, others present included I & B Secretary Sushma Singh, Debasis Roy (grand nephew of Khudiram Bose) and Satyasheel Rajguru (nephew of Rajguru).

    Publications Division Director Veena Jain said that the recently-launched website of Employment News published by the Division was getting around 300,000 hits everyday. In addition, the popular children’s journal ‘Bal Bharati’ had the largest circulation among children’s journal category and the monthly magazine ‘Yojana’ is the only journal to be published in India in 13 languages.

  • Parents place high value on originality of kids shows in the UK: study

    Parents place high value on originality of kids shows in the UK: study

    MUMBAI: According to the results of a YouGov poll, parents in Great Britain place a high value on originally produced, children’s programming and like to watch their favourite children’s programmes with their own children.

    The poll, commissioned by Pact – the trade association for independent producers – was conducted amongst a sample of 2551 adults across the UK.

    Other key findings of the survey include the following:

    • 66 per cent of parents believe original children’s programming provides families with shared cultural experiences

    • 70 per cent believe that original UK children’s programmes contribute to the UK’s cultural identity

    • 73 per cent agree that original UK produced children’s programmes encourage children to read and play imaginatively

    • 73 per cent agreed that original UK children’s programming is even more important in the age of multi-channel television

    • Just 21 per cent agree that programmes from countries like Japan and the US are just as high quality and family friendly as children’s programmes produced in the UK.

    These findings come at a critical time for the UK children’s programming industry. Over recent years there has been a steady decline in the level of new UK children’s programming shown on commercially funded public service broadcasters (ITV, Channel 4 and Five).

    ITV stopped commissioning new UK children’s programmes 12 months ago. It has continued with this policy despite Ofcom’s ruling that it is not allowed to cut the amount of children’s hours it broadcasts each week. Furthermore, it has also recently cut the total number of children’s hours to just two per week, despite Ofcom’s ruling.

    Pact also understands that Five’s commissioning of new UK programmes for older kids (outside the so-called pre-school genre) is under severe pressure.

    Historically the UK’s broadcasters have been renowned the world over for funding and broadcasting imaginative, high-quality and family-friendly programming.

    Successful contemporary shows made by the commercial broadcasters include:

    * My Life As A Popat: nominated for a Commission for Racial Equality award (ITV)
    * My Parents Are Aliens: deals with contemporary family values (ITV)
    * Fifi And The Flowertots: promotes the environment and health (Channel Five)
    * Peppa Pig: celebrates the warmth and humour of family life (Nick Jr)
    * A Different Life: teaches about children with unusual lives – from having rare disabilities to living in the South African bush (Five)
    * Art Attack: encourages kids to experiment (ITV)
    * Michaela’s Wild Challenge: explores nature and the environment (Five)
    * Brainiac: promotes science as fun (Sky1)

     

  • Cookie Jar Ent. inks deals with North American broadcasters for ‘Magi-Nation’

    Cookie Jar Ent. inks deals with North American broadcasters for ‘Magi-Nation’

    MUMBAI: Cookie Jar Entertainment has forged a deal with Kids’ WB! on The CW in the US, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and Radio-Canada to be the North American broadcast homes for the new original series Magi-Nation, from the action-adventure brand Coliseum. The networks will broadcast the show’s first 26 episodes.

    “We are pleased to have placed ‘Magi-Nation’ with some of the top broadcasters in children’s entertainment,” said Cookie Jar Entertainment president and COO Toper Taylor. “The addition of ‘Magi-Nation’ to our growing library of action-adventure shows demonstrates Cookie Jar’s commitment to expanding our creative and balanced portfolio of quality programs for kids of all ages.”

    “With the multi-platform capabilities of ‘Magi-Nation,’ the series will organically extend its animated adventures – and Kids’ WB! branded entertainment – far beyond the television screen,” said Kids’ WB! senior vice president and general manager Betsy McGowen.

    A Cookie Jar and Daiwon (South Korea) co-production, Magi-Nation follows the adventures of 15-year-old Tony Jones, whose world is forever changed when he is mystically transported into Magi Nation – a beautiful world far beyond imagination that was created millennia ago by a powerful race known as the Magi. Here Tony meets Edyn and Strag, two young Magi heroes in training, who help him discover his vast new magical environment. Magi-Nation is based on the “Magi-Nation” game originally developed and published by Interactive Imagination Corporation, informs an official release.

    “I’m thrilled to have ‘Magi-Nation’ on the CBC. There is so much strength and appeal in a great fantasy adventure for school-aged kids. I can’t wait to see them get immersed in this property,” said CBC Children’s and Youth Programming creative head Kim Wilson.

    A multi-platform entertainment brand, kids will enter the world of Magi-Nation this fall via the 2-D animated television series, where they can follow the adventures of the three young Magi heroes. From there, fans can experience the continuing action of Tony Jones, Edyn and Strag via mobile and internet platforms as they navigate their way through environmental obstacles and confront the constant challenges and creatures that threaten the vitality of the 12 precious Moonlands of Magi Nation.

  • Zee Turner: Budget should stop double taxation from broadcasters
     

    NEW DELHI: Broadcasters have expressed the hope that the government will ease the taxation structure for the initial three to five years and introduces policies that promote domestic manufacturing of set top boxes because the high import duty and taxes like octroi and other taxes were acting as a bottleneck in smooth transition to digitalisation.

    Zee Turner CEO Arun Poddar told indiantelevision.com today that irrational rates were dissuading Indian entrepreneurs from investing in the production of STBs. He hoped the government would introduce policies that promote domestic manufacturing of STBs.

    Listing his expectations from Union Budget 2007-08 being presented on 28 February, Poddar appealed for doing away with double taxation from broadcasters. He said since media was part of the entertainment as well as a service industry, broadcasters were charged both entertainment tax and service tax.
     

    He said the entertainment industry was in the transition mode from analogue to digital and it was extremely imperative for the government to take steps that not only accelerate the process but also make this industry an interesting and appealing investment proposition for Indian manufacturers.

    Service tax remained one of the crucial and unresolved issues in the entertainment industry and should be sorted out in the forthcoming Union budget. While service tax is levied on the electronic media, the print media is exempted from any such taxation. This is despite the fact that both print and electronic fall under media and entertainment industry. There was therefore need to create a level playing field for all, and take measures to bring electronic at par with print media.
     

    “The 400,000 exemption limit from service tax has led to ‘appalling confusion and dissatisfaction’. While the last mile cable operators are able to take undue advantage of this exemption limit, multi system operators (MSOs) and broadcasters were being penalized,” Poddar said. The last mile cable operators conveniently avoid passing the service tax to MSOs by under declaring their subscriber base by almost 80 to 85 per cent. MSOs and broadcasters paid service tax but could not recover this from the last mile operators.

    He expressed the hope that the government would bring about clarity on how service tax should be charged or should waive the exemption limit completely.
  • Trai faces QoS issue to ensure improved Cas rollout

    Trai faces QoS issue to ensure improved Cas rollout

    NEW DELHI: Many cable households are unhappy with repeated signal failure and Trai is now faced with the issue of what to do about enforcing Quality of Service provisions, sources tell indiantelevision.com.

    One of the major confusions in the market in the national Capital is what are the cable operators doing about the billing of chosen channels.

    At the moment, the operators are giving all the channels that can be shown in India, and they have been telling the subscribers, those who have filled up the forms indicating their choice, that at the end of the month, they would be charged for what they have indicated in the forms.

    “The COs have told us that the programming for each STB is taking time, but they would charge each household what the latter has opted for,” the official said.

    He said also that the COs are watching the scenario. “They feel that in a month or two, subscribers might want to drop some channels and want others, or just want more channels than they have opted for now. So then, they would have to do the programming all over again.”

    The official felt that the COs want the situation to stabilise before they get into programming for “watch what you pay for”.

    However, in many cases, the COs have registered the subscribers and taken the advance charges at the beginning, when they gave the STBs but have so far not returned for collecting the advance fees for February.

    “This means subscribers would suddenly be faced with having to pay for two months if the COs do not take the fees for February now,” said an official, agreeing that all this is causing more confusion than is good for the ongoing Cas rollout to regain the traction it has lost quite a bit of recently.

    One MSO is not showing contact numbers in the appropriate window when the signal goes off, and still signal loss is quite a regular phenomenon and, though less than in the beginning, there is a lot of pixelisation of images.

    The MSOs have so far not raised the issue of QoS being enforced, for reasons best known to them. But they are aware that this is one of the reasons for not just slowdown of Cas rollout, but in many cases, people wanting to return the boxes and settle for just the FTAs.

    In a report last week, indiantelevision,com had reported the worries amongst MSOs on these issues, and their informing Trai that broadcasters and they themselves need to do attractive packaging and ensure QoS, but nothing seems to have materialised so far.

  • Provision for penalty for defaulting channels in new telecast ordinance

    Provision for penalty for defaulting channels in new telecast ordinance

    NEW DELHI: Television channels that fail to comply by the ordinance promulgated late last week for compulsory sharing of live feeds with the national broadcaster Prasar Bharati would have to pay a penalty up to Rs 10 million and also face possible revocation or suspension of license.

    The Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Ordinance 2007 promulgated on February three has retrospective affect from 11 November, 2005 when the government had issued its guidelines for downlinking of TV channels. The Uplinking Guidelines had been issued on December 12, 2005. It has also been stipulated that no action no action of the government would be challenged in any court of law.
    With the Guidelines coming in the ambit of the Ordinance which is expected to be replaced by an Act of Parliament in the ensuing Budget session, the government has taken upon itself the powers to enforce them with retrospective effect. The guidelines are already the subject matter of the petition in the Delhi High Court by Nimbus Communications on the Indo-West Indies series telecast. Nimbus, which owns Neo Sports channel, had expressed apprehensions that the government may resort to coercive methods for share their exclusive.

    The ordinance also provides for a revenue sharing formula between private and public broadcasters. Advertisement sharing between private and the public broadcasters would be in the ratio of 75:25 in case of TV coverage in favour of the rights holder and 50:50 in case of radio coverage.

    Meanwhile, Neo Sports yesterday announced live telecast of the India-Sri Lanka one-day international cricket series for the Hero Honda Cup starting in Kolkata tomorrow with the Hindi feed on Neo Sports Plus. Neo Sports also announced a cricket show called Extra Cover, a pacy pre, mid and post the live match on Neo Sports plus, featuring some of the games’ stalwarts like Javagal Srinath, Dean Jones and Arjuna Ranatunga.

    Of the four match series, the first tie at Kolkata will be telecast from 1 pm to 11:30 pm, while the three other matches at Rajkot on 11 February, at Margao on 14 February and in Vishakhapatnam on 17 February will be telecast live from 7:30 am to 6 pm.

    Neo sports holds the rights to all the international and domestic matches played in India . This is in addition to 67 per cent rights of all confirmed international cricket series featuring the Indian team till March 2010.

    All India Radio will also broadcast live commentary of all the matches alternatively in Hindi and English. The commentary can be heard between 1400 and 2230 hrs for the first ODI in Kolkata, while it would be broadscast between 0830 to 1730 hrs for all the other three matches.

    Earlier this week, Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi indicated it was also contemplating action to ensure that private broadcasters gave good quality feed to Doordarshan. When asked what kind of action was contemplated, the Minister said on the sidelines of the Editors Conference on Social Sectors: ”When you do something, do not reveal what you are doing.”

    He denied the charge that private broadcasters were losing in business by sharing sports feed with the Doordarshan.

    The Ordinance was resorted to as Nimbus refused to share live footage of the just concluded India-West Indies cricket series with public broadcasters Doordarshan and All India Radio. However, Doordarshan was permitted to show a seven-minute deferred telecast and All India Radio was allowed running live commentary following an order by the Delhi High Court.

    After promulgation of the ordinance, Nimbus which holds exclusive rights to broadcast all international matches to be held in India until 2010 will have to share live feeds of all cricket matches to be played in the country with Prasar Bharati, besides sharing advertisement revenue from joint feeds.

    Furthermore, the ordinance will help millions of viewers across the country having the facility of only terrestrial or free-to-air channels to enjoy live sports events of national and international importance.

    Talks between Nimbus, which holds the rights given by the Board for Control of Cricket in India and Prasar Bharati broke down just a day before the India-West Indies cricket series was to begin on January 21. Nimbus had refused to permit the signals to be shown on any DTH platform and said the signals would have to be encrypted.

    Meanwhile, Prasar Bharati has already filed an appeal against the order of the single bench of the High Court, and it is expected to come up for hearing late next week.

    The issue of sharing feed with Doordarshan and All India Radio has been controversial from the beginning, with private sports broadcasters arguing that it was unfair to them as it would affect their revenue. They contend that telecast rights are obtained at the expense of large amounts and sharing their signals with DD and AIR would make the business less remunerative.

  • DVB-H set to be future of mobile TV: report

    DVB-H set to be future of mobile TV: report

    MUMBAI: The concept of providing television services on a mobile device is generating much enthusiasm among the wireless industry, in turn driving the growth and development of digital video broadcasting-handheld (DVB-H) technology. Overwhelming support from the wireless industry is likely to be one of the major drivers for the growth of the technology, as will be the increasing demand for content on the move. In short, DVB-H could well become a global standard similar to Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM), creating an altogether new market for television viewership.

    New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, DVB-H Technology-Market and Potential Analysis, reveals that revenues in this market totaled $60 million in 2006 and is likely to reach $2.04 billion in 2010.

    “Many participants in the wireless industry support the DVB-H technology as it is an open industry standard, and this non-proprietary feature of the standards is likely to vastly assist its growth in the wireless market,” notes Frost & Sullivan research analyst Nagarajan Sampathkumar. “Furthermore, DVB-H delivers an improved end-user experience over current video streaming services that utilize cellular networks, while also providing, broadcasters, cellular operators, handset manufacturers and silicon providers with tremendous growth opportunities.”

    This apart, the quality of service (QoS) is likely to be better due to the use of a dedicated broadcast network. Additionally, though DVB-H claims speeds of 25 frames per second (fps), trials show practical speeds of 15-16 fps, which seem to be sufficient for existing screen sizes and resolutions. However, in future, these speeds are likely to increase to 20-25 fps for fixed digital TV in Europe.

    Despite the promise, one of the biggest challenges to adoption of DVB-H by mobile operators is the issue of business and revenue models. With DVB-H, mobile operators are likely to prefer to continue operating in their area of domain expertise service provisioning, billing, and customer care and therefore, broadcasters would have ownership of the content and the overall visual experience.

    “Hence, mobile operators would need to differentiate their offerings and provide value to ensure customer loyalty and remain profitable,” says Sampathkumar. “This also means that mobile operators are likely to serve only as a link to customers and would not be in a position to negotiate for better revenue splits with others in the value chain.”

    Service providers would be required to work very closely with content creators, aggregators, and broadcasters, and ensure secure content and support digital rights management in an effort to protect copyrighted content. While revenue issues could be addressed through subscription models, event-based, pay per view, and even interactive services, the most important challenge is likely to be the optimizing of battery life of the handsets, the study concludes.

  • IPTV likely to generate significant revenue within first three years: Accenture survey

    IPTV likely to generate significant revenue within first three years: Accenture survey

    MUMBAI: More than half of communications industry executives believe that Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) can generate significant revenue within the first three years of service, according to findings of a survey released by Accenture and the Economist Intelligence Unit.

    The survey of nearly 350 executives from telecom, broadcasting and media companies across 46 countries in the US, Europe and Asia revealed industry-wide confidence in the longer-term outlook for IPTV, with 60 percent believing that IPTV will generate significant revenues within three years.

    However, confidence in the short-term outlook remains mixed, with slightly more than half (52 per cent) of respondents saying they are not confident in the ability of IPTV to generate significant revenues within the next 12 months. On the other hand, one-fifth (20 per cent) of respondents said they are confident or very confident, and more than one-quarter (28 per cent) said they are somewhat to fairly confident, that IPTV will generate significant revenues within a year.
    The report notes that the business case for IPTV, its value-added benefits and its potential remain strong. In the long-term, the key to achieving high performance through IPTV is to be visionary, ambitious and open to innovation from many sources. For the shorter term, the key is to quickly adapt to consumer feedback and jump over technology hurdles.

    When asked what they believed would be the principal revenue source for IPTV, about half (46 per cent) of the industry executives surveyed selected advertising. However, network operators, as a subset of all respondents — which included equipment vendors, consumer electronic companies, content providers and broadcasters/studios — disagreed, with three-quarters (74 per cent) of network operators saying they believe that subscription fees for premium content will provide the largest recurring revenue stream, followed by basic content subscription fees and then ad fees.

    This difference in opinions reflects the broad uncertainty around how media will be delivered and what customers will be willing to pay for. Carriers are used to subscription revenues and believe that the IPTV experience will soon be comparable to or even better than current video offerings, whereas media executives are more cautious and skeptical of a scenario where a new revenue stream is created so rapidly. The reality is that both revenue streams will be important, but the challenge will be to harness the power of this new technology to create a new video experience that makes consumers and advertisers willing to pay more than they do today.

    When asked to identify reasons for pursuing the IPTV market, the greatest number of respondents (42 per cent) cited new revenue streams, followed by acquiring new customers (28 per cent) and increasing sale of broadband access connections (21 per cent).

    Overwhelmingly, executives believe that discounted pricing through service bundling will be the primary motivation behind consumer spending. Nearly two-thirds (64 per cent) of all respondents — and three-quarters (74 per cent) of network operators surveyed — said they believe that discounted service bundles provide the greatest enticement to buy IPTV. The ability to move content between devices was also cited as an important enticement, selected by 38 percent of respondents, as was the convenience of a single bill for multiple services, selected by 31 per cent of respondents.

    Yet there are obstacles to IPTV adoption. One-quarter (25 per cent) of respondents said that the primary short-term obstacle to IPTV adoption is a quality-of-service issue relating to unproven architectures, low bandwidth and other technology issues. The same number (25 percent) said they believe that quality-of-service issues will be resolved over the next three years, leaving stiffer competition from alternative TV providers as the toughest challenge to the adoption of IPTV. Another challenge to IPTV adoption, cited by 19 percent of respondents, is high subscription fees due to the high cost of network access and equipment.

    When asked which types of companies are most likely to generate revenue from IPTV, the vast majority (87 per cent) of respondents selected content providers, followed by telecommunications providers (72 per cent). Not surprising, more than two-thirds (69 per cent) of respondents said that traditional broadcasters have the least to gain from IPTV, a view held strongly by respondents across all company types, including broadcasters themselves.

  • Broadcasters feel need for diversifying TV content, want level-playing field for growth

    Broadcasters feel need for diversifying TV content, want level-playing field for growth

    NEW DELHI: Mobile TV is going to be popular but there is a need to address compatibility issues by using a single chip on the hand held device. That is what was stressed in the `International Conference on Multifaceted Broadcasting – Present and Future’ held as part of the BES Expo 2007 – the 13th Exhibition on Terrestrial and Satellite Broadcasting.

    Speaking on the last day, speakers – including LD Mandloi of Doordarshan, Brajeshwar Singh of All India Radio, Ashok Ogra of Discovery channel, and retired Prasar Bharati official MP Lele – admitted that there was need to diversify content on TV and mobile TV but said viewership appeared to be driven by some accepted formats.

    However, this made niche channels like Discovery and National Geographic very important. They also agreed that the content on news channels was driven only by sensationalism.

    Referring to some government actions like banning of the AXN channel while letting Fashion TV to continue its telecasts, they felt there was need for a level-playing field for growth of the media.

    The three-day event – inaugurated on 1 February by information and broadcasting minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi at Pragati Maidan, was organized by Broadcast Engineering Society (India). It was approved by the Union government and endorsed by International Association of Broadcasting Equipment Manufacturers (IABM), and supported by Prasar Bharati (AIR and Doordarshan), Unesco, Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU), DIT and IGNOU.

    Speakers said IP-based delivery systems – DVB-IP and IPTV for television and DAB-IP for radio – were going to be very popular. Mobile TV on the Hand held devices is already here.

    Keeping in view the large rate of growth of mobile cells in the country, Mobile TV was going to be very popular. Some speakers stressed the need to bring provisions of Emergency Warning Broadcast Systems (EWBS).

    It was accepted that there was a marked shift in the consumer behaviour pattern, with people wanting ‘any time anywhere interactive access’ which can be achieved only by the convergence of broadcasting, wireless and mobile technology. The consumer will decide the primetime and the platform.

    Some of the speakers stressed the need to permit private players to set up Community Radio stations instead of keeping this low-cost technology confined to some niche institutions.
    Digital Radio and High Definition TV (HDTV), which provide much better quality, were going to be introduced in the country in the very near future.

    Around 40 speakers from India and abroad explained the latest technological development in areas like Mobile TV- Anytime Anywhere, Digital Radio – emerging scenario, Role of broadcasting in Warning and Disaster Management, Digital media life cycle, Content creation – cutting edge technology, interactive broadcasting, broadcasting in India: Challenges ahead, and assuring audio and video quality.

    Sixty-five exhibitors from India and abroad displayed the latest broadcast equipment systems and services in the field of radio, television, satellite, internet and interactive broadcasting.