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NEW DELHI: "Investors in the broadcast sector must realise
that the government's policy is open, and when the (broadcasting)
bill is ready, the world will see and realise this,"
said information and broadcasting minister PR Dasmunsi at
the inauguration of the three-day Broadcast Engineering Society
Expo 2007 today.
Dasmunsi said, "There is a huge potential for development
of broadcasting in India and we have a lot of advanced technologies
available with us. What we need to have is proper selection
of technologies suiting our requirements."
I&B secretary SK Arora, in his remarks said that in devising
a regulatory framework, the interest of the consumer is foremost
in government's mind. The business models have to suit the large
number of our consumers. Policy framework and the business models
have to be in sync to cater to the consumer interest, he added.
Sharing with his audience the excitement of living in this
amazing age of broadcasting revolution, he stressed nevertheless
that the government would ensure a level playing field for
all, and more than that, not allow most of the consumers to
be deprived of the benefits of technology. Prices need to
be controlled to keep them affordable.
"We must allow full play of technology, business and
management to take shape successfully," he said, adding,
"the regulatory regime is crucial for the success of
innovative ideas and products."
He had a critique of the government sector too, which, he
said, lacked management skills. "The public sector must
realise the commercial aspects, and be acutely conscious of
working out systems to facilitate innovations and business
models to become successful," Arora held.
He stressed that the core philosophy of the government was
simple: the consumer. "Everyone must keep this in mind,"
he added for good measure.
Prasar Bharati's experience in introducing newer technologies
(TV, FM radio, DTH, now digitalisation and mobile TV) has
helped develop the regulatory environment.
"We have depended on the technological expertise of
Prasar Bharati while designing the regulatory regime,"
he explained.
He felt that though the regulatory framework must have adequate
provision for segmentation and exploitation of the market
by investors, the business models they develop must be appropriate
and new technology is carried to the people at affordable
prices.
The inauguration ceremony also saw BES president AS Guin,
David Astley, secretary general of AsiaPacific Broadcasting
Union, and Roger Crumpton, CEO of International Association
of Broadcast Manufacturers address the more than 300 persons
attending the function.
'BROADCASTING MULTI-FACETED, MULTI-DIMENSIONAL'
In his keynote address, Crumpton said that broadcasting is
not only a multifaceted affair, as the title for this year's
Expo suggested, but a multidimensional one, in which the engineering
challenges were just huge.
Especially in India, he added, explaining that whereas only
19 per cent of the people in the US and 20 per cent in the
UK were under 15, the figure is 35 per cent for India, and
with this population the multiplicity of platforms is not
important: content is everything.
"It does not matter on what platform they are accessing
it, but they want it where and when they choose and what they
choose. This is the young demographics we are dealing with,
which is cash-positive and time-negative," Crumpton said.
What was important in his speech was that he made presentations
of when the first TV sets came and then the first colour TV
sets came and it all seemed to people like him, and these
are the people who are having to design technologies and content,
so this aging generation of experts need to be in synch with
the young demographics facing them.
The challenge is that for this generation, there must be
a clear agenda for creation and delivery of content, which
will be constantly repurposed in real time, a situation where
broadcasting will face this problem. Because there is a paradigm
shift from tapes-based programming to file-based one, he explained.
"There has to be a radical shift," Crumpton argued,
"for training, qualifying and accreditation systems."
And he saw a huge opportunity for India. He says this paradigm
shift, combined with an ageing skilled workforce in the West
has already started creating problems of skill shortages in
the globally $11 billion broadcasting market, which is also
facing revenue streaming threats from telecom and IPTV.
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