ITV

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  • Pubcasters still account for more than half of broadcast TV viewing, claims Ofcom

    Pubcasters still account for more than half of broadcast TV viewing, claims Ofcom

    NEW DELHI: Even as Prasar Bharati continues to struggle with the Sam Pitroda report which was largely a reiteration of earlier reports, the British Broadcasting Corporation last year brought out a Green Paper to review its working and make changes.

    Now, a report by the British media regulator Ofcom says public service broadcasters (PSBs) still account for more than half of broadcast TV viewing and around three in four viewers are satisfied with their services.

    Investment by PSBs in programmes on their public service channels appears to be stabilising after several years of decline and spending has increased on new factual programmes and original drama. However, spending on children’s shows, the arts and classical music and religion has continued to decline.

    Ofcom has said in is latest PSB Annual Research Report published this week that has shown that 16 to 24 year old people have particularly embraced on-demand services, and spend around a third of their daily viewing time watching free (e.g. BBC iPlayer, All 4, ITV player) or paid (e.g. Netflix, Amazon Video) on-demand services. Live TV accounts for 36% of daily viewing in this age group, a 14 percentage-point decrease in two years.

    The study was based on BBC, ITV, STV in Scotland, UTV in Northern Ireland, Channel 4, S4C in Wales and Channel 5.

    The main five public service channels provided by PSBs1 reached 84% of the TV population in a typical week, and accounted for 51% of all broadcast TV viewing in 2015, according to a report on the OfCom website.

    This share is similar to the last three years but represents a decline from ten years ago when PSBs held a 70% share of viewing. When PSBs’ ‘portfolio’ channels – such as BBC Four, ITV2 or E4 – are included, their share of viewing was 71% in 2015.

    Overall, TV viewing has fallen in recent years with viewers now watching 26 minutes less a day than in 2010. While the average person watched three hours and 36 minutes of TV per day in 2015, there is a widening generational gap in the viewing habits of the youngest and oldest audiences.
    People under 25 are watching around a quarter less broadcast TV than in 2010, while the average viewing of those aged 55 to 64 has only declined by 5%.

    The PSBs spent £2.50 billion on new UK programmes3 on their public service channels in 2015, a 2% increase since 2013; the most recent comparable year due to the absence of major sporting events4 .

    PSBs’ spending on new UK factual programmes rose by 8% to £522m, more than any other genre and the highest investment in this type of programme since 2008. They also spent more in 2015 on original UK drama (up 12% to £311m), and showed more of it – 416 hours, up from 371 hours.

    However, the hours of original UK children’s programmes decreased in 2015 – from 672 in 2014 to 580. This was the first time fewer than 600 hours of original UK children’s programmes have been broadcast since 1998. Spending on this genre was £77m, 13% down on 2014.

    The PSBs also spent less on new UK arts and classical music programmes in 2015 – £36m, down 14% from 2014 – as well as religion and ethics (down by 6% to £12m). Original UK comedy also decreased (by 4%, to £99m).

    Audiences continue to value programmes from the public service broadcasters: 73% of viewers said they were satisfied with PSB public service broadcasting overall, while 7% were dissatisfied.
    Nearly nine in ten (86%) viewers of public service channels cited trustworthy news programmes, and showing programmes of a high quality, as an important purpose of public service broadcasting.

    This was the most-cited purpose, followed by programmes that help viewers understand what is happening in the world (83%).

    The BBC, along with ITV, STV and UTV (the ‘Channel 3′ licence holders), spent a combined £270m on programmes specifically directed towards viewers in the particular nations and regions of the UK in 2015.

    At least seven in ten regular viewers are satisfied with BBC One and Channel 3’s delivery of nations and regions news.

    S4C spent £63m on original Welsh-language programmes in the 2015/16 financial year, a slight increase from the previous year.

    Jane Rumble, Director of Market Intelligence at Ofcom said: “Our research shows that UK audiences still watch and value public service broadcasting. But there are significant differences in the viewing habits of older and younger audiences.

    “As media and technology continue to evolve, it is important that broadcasters respond to these changes, so they can keep meeting the needs and expectations of viewers.”

    OfCom clarified that its data was from Ofcom Digital Day research 2016 as there is currently no single industry-wide measurement for understanding the share of viewing to all forms of viewing across all screens.

    It also found that Public service channels typically spend more in even-numbered years (2014), which contain major sporting events such as World Cups, European Championships, Olympic or Commonwealth Games. Spending here covers new UK network programming only, and excludes nations and regions content.

  • Shemaroo ropes in Disney’s Kaushal Nanavati as VP – international biz

    Shemaroo ropes in Disney’s Kaushal Nanavati as VP – international biz

    MUMBAI: Shemaroo Entertainment has appointed Kaushal Nanavati as vice president – international business.

    Nanavati will be responsible for driving the business in the international markets and scaling up Shemaroo’s international business on television and digital platforms.

    Prior to joining Shemaroo Entertainment, Nanavati was with Disney India as director – international distribution & syndication. He has also worked with several other media companies including UTV and Zee Telefilms.

    Nanavati has an extensive experience of 18 years, of which more than 15 years has been in the television space having handled roles encompassing international channel distribution, content syndication & domestic distribution.

    Shemaroo Entertainment director Jai Maroo said, “We are glad to welcome Kaushal to the family of Shemaroo Entertainment. Shemaroo has a vast and diverse content library, whose demand has been growing phenomenally in the international markets. Kaushal will lead the team to leverage the opportunity and scale up the business.”

  • Shemaroo ropes in Disney’s Kaushal Nanavati as VP – international biz

    Shemaroo ropes in Disney’s Kaushal Nanavati as VP – international biz

    MUMBAI: Shemaroo Entertainment has appointed Kaushal Nanavati as vice president – international business.

    Nanavati will be responsible for driving the business in the international markets and scaling up Shemaroo’s international business on television and digital platforms.

    Prior to joining Shemaroo Entertainment, Nanavati was with Disney India as director – international distribution & syndication. He has also worked with several other media companies including UTV and Zee Telefilms.

    Nanavati has an extensive experience of 18 years, of which more than 15 years has been in the television space having handled roles encompassing international channel distribution, content syndication & domestic distribution.

    Shemaroo Entertainment director Jai Maroo said, “We are glad to welcome Kaushal to the family of Shemaroo Entertainment. Shemaroo has a vast and diverse content library, whose demand has been growing phenomenally in the international markets. Kaushal will lead the team to leverage the opportunity and scale up the business.”

  • Channel V vice president – programming Lavanya Anand resigns

    Channel V vice president – programming Lavanya Anand resigns

    MUMBAI: Channel V vice president – programming Lavanya Anand has put in her papers at the company.

     

    Anand served as the content head of Star India’s music channel Channel V from December 2012. In this role, her primary responsibility was to create and manage content on the channel – both fiction and non-fiction – across genres. She was also involved in the strategic running of the channel.

     

    With more than 15 years of experience in the Indian broadcast entertainment industry, Anand has been a part of over 75 shows in different media companies like UTV, Yash Raj Films and Zee Entertainment amongst others with a particular focus on content creation.

     

    Sources confirmed to Indiantelevision.com that the new hire for the designation is currently under process by the channel.

  • ‘We have never got the cable television pay model right’: Ronnie Screwvala

    ‘We have never got the cable television pay model right’: Ronnie Screwvala

    Despite having a negative connotation more often than not, “disruption” can be a good thing, especially when it’s planned and executed in a strategic manner. And if there’s one person who is known for good disruption time and again in the Indian media and entertainment industry, it’s Rohinton Soli Screwvala or Ronnie, as he is popularly known as.

    With a quest to grow and excel in whatever he undertakes, Screwvala belongs to the rare breed of first generation media entrepreneurs in India. For him, trying is not enough for he believes in achieving all his dreams as he dreams with his eyes open!

    The pioneer of cable television in India, Screwvala has been best known to build brands and enter untapped territories. From a humble beginning in the cable industry, erecting one of India’s well known media company UTV, grabbing The Walt Disney Company’s attention, foraying into Kabbadi – a sport that was never televised robustly to breaking even in the second year, Screwvala has always pushed the boundaries.

    Complacency and failure are two words that don’t exist in his dictionary. In a country where entrepreneurship means legacy business, Screwvala is the flag bearer for first generation entrepreneurs.

    In a conversation with Indiantelevision.com’s Anirban Roy Choudhury, Screwvala goes back in time and shares his views on the Indian cable TV industry, Disney, sports and more.

    Read on for more :-

    The Disney – UTV deal is touted as a landmark deal in the Indian broadcast space. How does it feel when you look back at it today?

    I feel very proud when I look back at Disney India. We have a phenomenal team, which is doing an incredible job across the board. The channel is doing well and the movie studio is doing fantastic. The live show Beauty and the Beast has given live experiences in India a new benchmark. The best part is that they did it with local talent. It was not some imported show that travelled in here and went away.

    So it’s an incredible job done by the Disney team in India and I am proud of them. The easiest thing would have been to get a travelling show in, but they took the difficult route with local talent so it’s a local Disney show. The Disney team makes me feel proud.

     

    As a pioneer of cable television in India, you played a pivotal role in building it from scratch. What is your view on the evolution?

    When I look at cable, I have to say I have a little bit of regret because we are the only country in the world where we have to explain what cable TV is!

    The concept of local cable operator (LCO), multi system operator (MSO) is not there anywhere in the world other than India. A cable operator means that you need to pay for content. There are cable operators who are actually aggregators of channel. We have never got the pay model right! It started because nobody wanted to pay. Then there was a whole decade of under-declaration and nobody made capital investment.

    There are two things: Firstly, after 25 years of cable we are still not paying for content and secondly, serious investments have not gone into cable. You need billions of dollars……. we are still using the same cable that we were using 25 years back. We are still using the same model that we were using 20 years back. Yes, there have been some improvements, but we cannot call it cable TV. We are not cable TV like the world understands cable TV and that’s my problem.

    On the flip side, I must say it’s an incredible cottage industry. Look at the number of jobs it has created! It’s such a gigantic industry and for that matter if it was not the way it flourished, TV might not have been that popular the way it is. People could still be watching terrestrial TV and there would have been no satellite programming. So the fact that it has spread because of its entrepreneur spirit is a proud moment.

    I am proud of the entrepreneur spirit that has gone in there. However, I am regretful because no serious investment has been made there and we could not manage to get the pay model right.

    Speaking about the pay model, are we getting it right in digital? We are providing content for free and hence making free content consumption a behaviour.

    Let’s be very clear… people think online is free, but we are not doing anything for free. The first entrepreneurship course that we are launching is for Rs 50,000 for three months. Yes, people are skeptical to pay but that’s the way forward.

    The problem with the digital platform is that the biggest player in the ecosystem – YouTube is for free. That becomes habit forming. Things will change on digital once we go to experiential viewing. There has to be something for you other than just watching… I don’t have any idea what that is but we are trying very very hard to figure it out.

    I think the digital paid space will be experiential where you are not paying for watching but for watching plus plus… We are trying to figure out what those plusses are.

    Do we have a content strategy ready for digital? People still consider it to be a platform for 2 to 3 minutes video consumption.

    You will be shocked to hear that since last year, people are watching 30 to 40 minutes of content online even while everyone thought that digital means two to three minutes. 

    There are more people now watching 20 to 30 minutes of content online compared to the ones watching two – three minutes. What’s more, people have been also heard saying that the smaller duration content is snaky. That habit is changing because there are increased offerings. You give people quality content, they will consume it.

    Quality of content and storytelling in digital is changing. People are ready to watch a full movie on digital but they cannot now because of the bandwidth issue. So content size is not an issue, it’s the quality that matters.

    Talking about films on digital, Netflix recently simulcast The Beasts of No Nations. What’s your take on Netflix and what is the revenue model that Indian players should follow?

    Today Netflix’s market cap is as much as 21st Century Fox’s, it is as big as Time Warner and higher than Viacom… with the sole exception of Disney, which is the largest media company in the world.

    The road ahead for digital has to be ad revenue. We cannot fool ourselves on that. But the frustrating part is that we are dealing with people who do not understand digital. So the problem is that when you start a new digital medium, the main constituent – the advertisers – do not understand it at all. They still think it’s niche. They just don’t get it that today movies can be launched on digital.

    There are huge advantages of the platform. Sorry to generalise on the advertisers but the fact is that they do not understand digital and it’s going to take them three to four years to understand it. The big challenge is that while digital players will rely on advertisers, there will be no one available to experiment. So players will have to experiment, prove and only then will advertisers come on board.

    Are you saying that the next few years will be very tough for digital players?

    It will be tough, but it will be tough in a good way. It won’t be scary tough. Only serious players in the ecosystem will stay. The others that are coming with a herd mentality, the MCN players etc… I have no idea what they are up to.

    You cannot wake up to 20 different channels. What is the need? What is the model? Where will it go? What will happen to it? And the worst part is, you got investors backing those models. I fail to understand what they are up to. But yes, serious players who want to be in the ecosystem for good will be there.

    After your successful stint with Kabaddi, are you eyeing any other sport?

    We are investing in football. We are doing global grass root training programmes but it’s not the training that everyone is doing here. The training that we are giving is very different wherein we will take 60 kids to Germany for six years of training.

    Since the cost of something like this is very high, the expenses will be shared by us and the candidates. The will pay for the lodging and boarding, whereas we will pay for the training. We will manage their careers for the next 10 years. The age group that we are looking at is under 12, under 14, and under 16. We have to catch them really young and that’s the challenge.

    There are people who do three months training and summer courses, but you cannot become football stars by that. In our initiative, the kids will have to be away from home for six years. The peer pressure to meet global standards, the environment, discipline and the commitment is what we plan to offer them.

    So is this a business proposition of USports or are you doing this to uplift the sport?

    (Laughs). Of course it is a business proposition! Swades is the only social initiative that I am in for non-profit. Everything else is pure business. I think we are in the process of developing 300 future football stars. Then we will manage their careers for 10 years, that’s our business model.

    What is the progress of your motor-sport innovation?

    My motor-sport venture is an attempt to start a destination sport in India involving two-wheelers. Lakshadweep, Daman and Diu, Leh and Ladakh and Puducherry are the locations that we have in mind. The infrastructure has to step up to it, and the most important part is not the track but safety.

    This year India will be number one in terms of bike consumption, larger than China. The two-wheeler population is massive in India. Therefore, sports is an interesting way to go forward with that. But to us, the most important part is safety. It’s not a rally that we are planning so we cannot do it on a muddy paddy field. The infrastructure will take time to grow. There will be one domestic team and one international. The domestic riders will go abroad and train for six months.

    How much more time do you think it will take to match the quality you need? Are there any other investors involved?

    I would have liked to start it in next six months but the safety level that we are targeting will take at least 18 months more.

    I am doing it on my own and there is no partner involved to start the league. Here, we are going to be a league owner and our partners will be the ones we sell our franchises to.

    You have entered into online education with UpGrad. What are your plans with the venture?

    UpGrad is in the education space for post-grads. We are eyeing 14 to 16 completely different online courses, which will all be post-grad and specialised courses.

    We kicked off on 25 November with our entrepreneurship course. UpGrad received 2000 applications and then eventually we shortlisted 600 participants for the first cohort that started on 25 November. This would be the first time someone is doing a course of such high scale on entrepreneurship. The number that we roped in is huge. For every hundred students, there will be a teacher associate, who will interact with them at regular intervals. There will be a continuous process of mentorship. The course on entrepreneurship is of three months. After that the next one on Big Data will be of nine months to a year. We are launching three new courses, which will be out between March and May.

     

    You recently wrote a book and that inspired many igniting minds. Are you planning a second one too?

    I am not an author for sure! A book takes a lot of effort, I am happy being a business man. I am not even thinking about one more book at this stage.

     

     

     

     

    What are your plans with Swades? How much do you invest in it both in terms of money and time?

    Swades to me is not an investment. We are putting our heart and soul in it. Zarina, my wife, is working full time for that. We are not cutting cheques. Philanthropy is when you cut a few cheques and give it to an NGO. We are building a foundation from ground up. Yes, we are putting our own money but we are also putting our sweat and toil. We have 1200 people working for Swades, which is also quite big. It is a life-long commitment for us and there is no running away from it.

     

     

    You are too much of a TV person to not be in TV. When are you going back? What’s next?

    I don’t feel I am being left alone. Look at the things we are doing with Football, UpGrad and with Kabaddi. If because of Filmfare, five people used to come for selfies, now at least 50 of them come because of Kabaddi. It’s the same in rural areas too. When we travel for Swades related work, we get to know the popularity and the craze of the sport.

    I am happy with what we are doing and have no plans of going back. Swades is a key focus for me and Zarina both and we will continue to do what we are doing.

  • Bindass to roll out two youth centric shows in November

    Bindass to roll out two youth centric shows in November

    MUMBAI: Bindass, the Hindi entertainment channel targeted at the Indian youth owned by Disney India has always connected to the youth by providing content and a free spirited zesty time. 

     

    The channel will be adding two new shows targeted at the youth this November.

     

    The first show titled Tu Con Main Con will be launched on 7 November. The promo of the show is smart, zesty, and sleek and also includes a lot of gizmo and gadgets. Tara and Dhruv are roped as the leads for the show. The plot talks about two con artists who with their charming personalities and smart actions, spindle the fraudsters in the society. The program is produced by SunShine and will run every Saturday at 7 pm.

     

    Next in line is a classic sitcom, a laughathon titled Kota Toppers produced by BodhiTree. Slated to go on air on 20 November, this show be aired every Friday at 7 pm. Kota Toppers sheds light on the lives of six characters from Vardhan Coaching Classes namely Abhay, Naici, Raghav, Saina, Piyush, Siddharth and Riya, trying their luck to clear the IIT exam. The storyline talks about the logic and reason of the group behind preparing for the exams, Vardhan’s quirky and different style of teaching, the group ganging up against an external factor, their conflicts and interpersonal dynamics.

     

    Talking about the two new shows, Disney India – Media Networks VP and head – content and communication Vijay Subramaniam said, “We have constantly evolved when it comes to the content broadcasted on Bindass. I strongly believe that youth power is gender neutral. We have all passed through the ‘over-enthusiastic’ phase in our lives. So I think it is very important for us to connect to the youth with our shows. The youth will share a bond, a connection with these two new shows on board. Tu Con Mein Con will emotionally connect with the youth raising many questions about the characters, whereas Kota Toppers will help the students shed off all their stress by simply laughing it out.”

     

    Currently the channel airs youth centric shows like Yeh Hai Aashiqui, Halla Bol and Love by Chance amongst others with a wide catalogue of Bollywood music from morning to noon.

    Bindass launched the third season of the show Yeh Hai Aashiqui – Sun Yaar Try Maar on 25 October, which is produced by Lotus Talkies and airs every Sunday at 7 pm. Maintaining the element of love to its core, the third season will feature a collection of one-sided love stories experienced by people and traces how they expressed their feelings to their loved ones. The show has brands like L’oreal and Glam-Up on board.

     

    Speaking on the same, Subramaniam said, “This show highlights the lives of people who love someone but don’t have courage to convey it. The story talks about the journey of such lovebirds who muster courage to go and admit it. After the success of Yeh hai Aashiqui, we are really looking forward to this new season.”

     

    With BARC releasing its all India data including rural areas, Subramaniam believes that this new data will definitely help the channel grow and will equally be effective as the channel grows in the rural areas too. The channel is working with reference to the youth dynamics from the consumers and the broadcast will continue to provide services regardless of territory.

     

    “With increased digitisation, the aspirations are constant. Young people are young people and their hopes, dreams, wishes, everything is similar. It does not matter where they come from,” added Subramaniam.

  • Tabu replaces Rekha in UTV’s ‘Fitoor’ directed by Abhishek Kapoor

    Tabu replaces Rekha in UTV’s ‘Fitoor’ directed by Abhishek Kapoor

    MUMBAI: Director Abhishek Kapoor has put an end to all speculation and confirmed that actress Tabu has replaced Rekha in his upcoming movie titled Fitoor, which is being produced under the UTV Motion Pictures banner.

     

    Kapoor said, “Tabu’s wonderful performances in Indian and international shores are too many to be named. She is an actress who fearlessly goes against the tide and isn’t afraid to break stereotypes. I am honoured to have her in my film.”

     

    UTV Motion Pictures senior vice president Amrita Pandey added, “Tabu has been a part of the UTV family since The Namesake, and most recently in Haider. In both movies, her performance has been the emotional fulcrum of the narrative, and we are very happy to have a chance to work with her again in Fitoor.”

     

    The movie, which also stars Katrina Kaif, Aditya Roy Kapoor and Aditi Rao Hydari, is based on Charles Dickens’ novel Great Expectations.

     

  • Zee Music Company acquires music rights of UTV-Disney & Balaji’s films

    Zee Music Company acquires music rights of UTV-Disney & Balaji’s films

    MUMBAI: Zee Music Company (ZMC), which completes a year of operations, has acquired the music rights of UTV-Disney and Balaji Motion Pictures’ upcoming movies for the year 2015-16.

     

    ZMC will be releasing the music for Disney’s ABCD2, UTV’s Fitoor and Katti Batti and Balaji Motion Pictures’ Flying Jatt and Kya Super Kool Hai Hum 3.

     

    ZMC head Anurag Bedi said, “It has been a phenomenal year for us and we are very happy with our decision to enter the music space. We are elated to be associated with two of the finest studios – UTV Disney and Balaji Motion Pictures – who have consistently delivered successful movies and music over the years. Meanwhile, we continue to work towards a fantastic year ahead with an exciting line-up of movies starting this summer. Among our new titles are Gabbar is Back, Piku, Kuch Kuch Locha hai, Bombay Velvet, Ishqedarriyaan, Singh Is Bling, Tina And Lolo, and Jazbaa. In addition to that, 30 new projects will be announced soon.”

     

    Disney India VP and head, marketing and distribution studios Amrita Pandey opined, “We are happy to associate with Zee Music Company on our movies. Our upcoming slate has highly anticipated movies, like Disney’s ABCD 2 and UTV’s Fitoor and Katti Batti and with these movies we will deliver on our promise of providing audiences with great stories and music.”

     

    Balaji Motion Pictures group CEO Sameer Nair added, “Music is a key driver for audiences across, as a studio we believe this creative synergy will be productive. The aim has always been to entertain, entertain and only entertain. We’re looking forward to this enthralling journey with Zee Music Company.”

     

    Last year, ZMC bagged the rights to films like Holiday, Mary Kom, Humshakals, Bang Bangand Shaukeens amongst others. In all, the company acquired music rights to more than 40 Hindi movies from studios like from Viacom18 Motion Pictures and Fox Star Studios as well as 15 Marathi films in 2014.

  • “Good ideas always find an investor, so there is no point compromising with the idea:” Ronnie Screwvala

    “Good ideas always find an investor, so there is no point compromising with the idea:” Ronnie Screwvala

    20 years back when the word entrepreneur was rarely pronounced correctly, a 19 year old man in the midst of great legacy businesses turned out to be a stand-out first generation entrepreneur, who fearlessly kept invading into undiscovered territories.

     

    After starting as a local cable operator, he went on to finding United Television Group (UTV), ventured into sports with Kabaddi and funded e-commerce enterprises like Lenskart and Zivame. While the world was witnessing catastrophes, he decided to turn philanthropist with the Swadesh Foundation. From Shanti on Doordarshan to Swadesh on the big screen, from Rang de Basanti to Dev D, he has enumerable number of trophies in his cabinet.  

     

    The distinguished voyage that ignites million minds, the role model for aspiring entrepreneurs in India – Ronnie Screwvala in conversation with Indiantelevision.com’s Anirban Roy Choudhury, shares his priceless guidelines for young aspirants.         

     

    Excerpts:  

     

    What triggered you to pen Dream with Your Eyes Open?

     

    Entrepreneurship is a challenge and the perception that only people with huge initial capital can become an entrepreneur is a myth and that’s the message I wanted to convey and that’s where the book came into picture.

     

    Dream With Your Eyes Open is not an autobiography but a voyage that has both highs and lows, failures and success, encouragement and demotivation. Another reason behind penning down the book is to encourage aspirants to go for entrepreneurship passionately and not take it as a second option.

     

    What do you think is stopping India from becoming a global leader when it comes to entrepreneurship?

     

    20 years back when I started, people could hardly pronounce the word entrepreneurship. Even today, while on the one side, there are a fair amount of businesses, on the other, there is huge parental pressure of going and getting a good job. Entrepreneurship has always been plan B. But that doesn’t stand true.

     

    One can either go and get a good job or turn an entrepreneur – both are equally respectable. The most important reason for less growth is the fear of failure. In India, people don’t talk about this fear and if they do, they can’t handle it. For most people, failure means the end of the game… the fear that everything is over is what acts as an obstacle.

     

    The thought process needs to be that if you failed yesterday, you should see today as another day and move forward. When you have such a fear about failure, you don’t start. That is one of the reasons why India is ranked between 140 to 150 when it comes to entrepreneuring nations.

     

    How does an aspiring entrepreneur deal with the intriguing question of ‘How do I get funded’? Do you think in order to find that answer, the basic idea gets feeble or compromised?

     

    Everyone in India thinks that you need an investor to start a business and finding one is the biggest challenge. In my opinion, that’s not the procedure that you need to follow always. If we look at the entrepreneurs who are prospering today, all of them bootstrapped themselves on their own. Bootstrapping is a must when it comes to entrepreneurship. You have your idea and you should start executing it and only after you reach a particular level, should you go for an investor.

     

    Your success ratio goes up if you bootstrap first and then go for an investor. If you get an investor early on, you get spoilt. The entire work culture changes and half the time the investor runs the business that you are supposed to run. The hunger is much more when you are doing it on your own and hence if you have an idea, you should start executing it and after you have concept proofed it to yourself, you go for the investor. A good idea will always find an investor therefore there is no point compromising with the idea.

     

    Is stagnancy another reason behind the low rate of entrepreneurship growth in India? Do you think one should have the hunger of invading into new territories?

     

    It’s good that these questions are coming now because a few years back, no one thought about what happens after the substantial establishment of a business. In India, after a certain level we refrain from moving forward, get stagnant and eventually start downscaling.

     

    In business, downscaling begins the moment stagnancy sets in. So, one should always be open to venturing into new territories as entrepreneurship doesn’t mean earning a livelihood but generating employment. The more we explore, the more are our chances of succeeding.

     

    Do you think digital can give birth to a non-advertiser source of revenue model, which will be subscription based?

     

    If we see globally Google, which is the world’s number one company, has taken its platform YouTube and left it free. It runs on advertising. Facebook is also on advertising. If we look at it from that perspective, that’s where it’s going.

     

    Let’s face it, in two weeks’ time, a newly released movie is available on Tata Sky for Rs 75 but people are refraining from opting for that as there are pirated DVDs available for Rs 35. Piracy is a huge barrier of subscription based model and to counter piracy we need consumer behaviour to change, which is a slow process and will take time.

     

    Digital media is cost efficient. The capital investment is less when compared to the other mass medium platforms and hence there is a slim chance of having a subscription based revenue model. However, it will take time as there are bandwidth and technological issues that need to be sorted first. For now, I think advertising is going to be a long-term stay.

     

    Don’t you think an investor, after financing the concept, at some point of time starts regulating the strategic affairs?

     

    If you are a strong entrepreneur, you will never let anyone regulate you. I think there is a misconception that an investor comes in to regulate. Investors have two aspects: firstly, his risk capital is higher than most entrepreneurs because he is choosing one out of 999 and secondly, all investors get into a portfolio investment mode where they know out of 10, five will fail, three will somehow sustain and two will succeed. Who else in the entire cycle has got a risk of five failures out of 10? So, investors are seasoned veterans, who take their decision after enormous number of research and knowledge so that they put their money in right place. 

     

    Investors’ key is to back entrepreneurs with whatever they are doing and not regulate them. So it’s a misconception that an investor regulates. Yes, if things go wrong, an investor may get hyper and interfere with a perception that he can add value. It’s a myth that investors regulate a company.

     

    What’s your opinion on the Indian eco-system? Is there enough encouragement and support from the Government’s side for an aspiring entrepreneur?

     

    I don’t think it’s the government’s job to support. The thing that everyone is looking at is ease to do business. So the business environment has to be simplified by the government. When it comes to taxation, with 30 per cent tax we are one of the least taxed nations of the world. The tax structure in the UK and the US is higher than India. With the Goods and Service Tax (GST), it will come down to 16 per cent, which solves many problems. In the UK, value added tax (VAT) is at 17 per cent so there is no room for blaming the government.

     

    The reason why service tax was increased is to bring it closer to GST. The complication lies in the number of regulations and multiple-window clearances. The media is the least controlled in India. In the US, you have to be a citizen of the United States to be able to operate any digital or broadcast media, whereas in India anyone can operate an entertainment venture and hence when it comes to democracy and freedom, India beyond question beats the rest.

     

    Regulations make doing business complicated in India as there is no single body that deals with all the regulatory issues, which makes opening a business in 10 days impossible.

     

    Do you think it’s important to add entrepreneurship as one of the major aspect when it comes to academic upbringing of the youth in India?

     

    There are 10 million graduates coming out of college every year. Do we have jobs for all of them? The answer is a big no. The only way of tackling that problem is adding entrepreneurship in the curriculum as early as possible. I started at 19, so an early start is possible provided you think about it at an early stage. The manifestation should be there. The target should not be to get a job and then become an entrepreneur.

     

    Managers and presidents of big companies should think about where they will stand ten years down the line when there will be a hundred million skilled youth looking for jobs. Hence they should devote time into entrepreneurship, which will provide job to those skilled people.

     

    You are venturing in motorsport now. Can you throw some light on it?

     

    Well, yes I am venturing into motorsport. However, the report stating an investment of Rs 300 crore is incorrect. Nowadays, whatever you do, a zero gets added automatically. Here motor sports doesn’t mean cars. It caters to bikers in India, which is the largest bike selling nation of the world. The over 250cc category has grown at an incredibly high rate in last five years and we are looking at a tourism based sport. Currently, we are researching on the ten most exotic places in India, where on television one will enjoy India’s natural beauty along with skilled bikers. The plan is to make it a tourism cum sporting event.

     

    In the beginning, we will get a mix of Indian and international bikers, as the aim is to make it world class. Each team will have one Indian and one foreign biker for the first two years and after that we would look at making it a 100 per cent Indian event.

     

    From the first super-flop Dil Ke Jharoke Mein to the blockbuster entrepreneur writing his book, how will you describe the versatile voyage of yours?

     

    The opening four lines in my book is about the biggest failure of my life Dil Ke Jharoke Mein, which is what I started with. The concept behind starting the book with that was to convey that failure is just a part of life and not the end of the world.

     

    My journey so far has been to not stop after a failure but to keep moving on. Cable was different, UTV was different and sports is different. I have always rediscovered myself and for me that’s the way forward.

     

  • Ranbir Kapoor unveils first look of Ronnie Screwvala’s book

    Ranbir Kapoor unveils first look of Ronnie Screwvala’s book

    MUMBAI: Ronnie Screwvala’s entrepreneurial journey is an inspiration, to say the least. Founder of one of India’s largest media & entertainment conglomerates UTV, Screwvala has now penned a book on his journey called Dream with your Eyes Open. 

     

    Published by Rupa, Ranbir Kapoor unveiled the cover of the book, which will be on stands from 2 April, 2015. In the meanwhile, online bookings have commenced for for Dream With Your Eyes Open.

     

    Encompassing Screwvala’s journey from cable TV to toothbrushes manufacturing, from theatre to media and entertainment, Dream with your Eyes Open, aims to champion entrepreneurship in the country.

     

    “Ronnie is an inspiration for everyone who dares to make their dreams come true. His conviction in an out-of-the-box film like Barfi made me realize that when belief meets innovation, it creates magic! I am delighted to launch the cover of his book and look forward to its release. I will definitely be buying the first day, first copy,” said Kapoor.

     

    Screwvala added, “Dream With Your Eyes Open shares failures and triumphs, thoughts and anecdotes of my journey. It details out my vast experiences and myriad lessons learned from more than two decades of building some successful (and some not-so-successful) businesses. This book is about ‘it can be done’, not ‘I did it’. It’s all possible. Just dream your own dream—and when you do, dream with your eyes open.”

     

    Demonstrating an innate ability to merge creativity with commerce, Screwvala is credited with pioneering Cable TV in India, building one of the largest toothbrush manufacturing operations – before founding UTV, which he later divested to The Walt Disney Company.

     

    Onto his second innings, Screwvala is driven by his interest in championing entrepreneurship in India, and is focused on building his next set of ground up businesses in high growth and impact sectors. His more recent commitment to being a first mover in sports has made him lend his support to Kabaddi and football.