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MUMBAI:
The next television executive to offer his views on the Indian
television and media landscape ahead of next week's television
trade event Mipcom in Cannes, France is veteran television
executive Kamlesh Patel
Patel
acts as a consultant to cable companies, content distributors
(US and European) and Internet companies (i.e. dating and
social networking sites). He is also a consultant for Liberty
Global.
He
is cautiously optimistic about the prospects for media companies
in India. He notes that the introduction of digital and DTH
platforms is putting pressure on analog to compete. Meantime,
as affordability of pay services increases greatly, the sophistication
of the consumer grows and there is more disposable income
than ever before in India, the conditions seem to be good
for expansion.
When
asked about trends in the market, he pointed to the growth
of two genres of programming - news and children's programming.
The growing appetite for news has paved the way for global
channels like CNN and CNBC, which are performing well in India.
He says CNBC's partnership with TV 18 helped make the service
successful and relevant. The kids programming genre is also
doing well. A good example of a well-thought-out strategy
by a US company is Disney. They partnered with UTE for Hungama
TV, the animation channel, taking a 15 per cent stake in the
company.
He
observes that understanding the consumer, having a local marketing
strategy and the ability to recognise the local tastes when
programming a service are vital and those international companies
who have partnered with local, successful media companies
have seen more success than those who have not. Another example
he gave was Viacom, which partnered with Network 18 to jointed
house MTV, Nick and VHI channels under the Viacom 18 banner
and are moving to create a general entertainment channel.
Regarding
distribution platforms in India, he noted the Astro DTH platform
from Malaysia. Recognising the opportunity to reach the growing
young Indian audience, Astro partnered with UTV software to
create Bindass and is planning to launch this fall.
Overall
he says that if a media company is serious about wanting success
in India, they need a localized feed, the service needs to
have a local feel and there needs to be an on-the-ground marketing
team.
Structurally,
though the India cable landscape remains very fragmented,
he sees that changing. Government enforced digitisation and
the growth of DTH are key components of this change.
The
entry into the cable market by a programming company like
TV18 can only be good for the industry. The greater pressure
that is applied to the incumbent operator like WWIL and Hathway
as well as the emergence of DTH and IPTV are healthy. The
competition will force efficiencies and consolidation in the
industry.
Last
mile operators will soon have to make a choice and align themselves
with an organised corporate in order to enjoy the wave of
digitisation and growth . The last mile operator has neither
the financial or technical resources to do this by himself.
Regulation: "Trai should be discouraged from setting
price controls in either a DTH or analogue scenario. It becomes
tricky for those looking to pursue digital rollout to successful
execute their business plans when the regulator is intervening
in the revenue model for both operators and programmers.
"There
remains little incentive to invest in cable systems if there
is not going to be an increase in Arpu's and the ability to
bundle and sell packages. The most successful digital roll
outs in the world have been given such freedom."
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