Driven by the rapid development in digital and mobile technologies, sound company Dolby is expanding its market base from cinema to the broadcasting sector.

Dolby is pushing Dolby Digital Plus, an enhanced version of the Dolby Digital system, which allows broadcast operators to deliver surround sound. But Dolby also works with the entire value chain to ensure a better consumer experience.

As the Indian broadcasting sector digitises, Dolby sees a big opportunity. It has stitched deals with three DTH operators and is in talks with the cable TV operators. It wants to work with content providers to boost the quality of their sound.

In an interview with Indiantelevision.com’s Ashwin Pinto, Dolby Laboratories senior director, broadcast Jason Power talks about the company’s growth across all media platforms and its India plans.

Excerpts:

What strategy has Dolby followed in the past few years to enhance the consumer’s entertainment experience?
Our focus lies in all those things which are going digital and High Definition (HD). This is where we see a big opportunity as we create technologies that enable entertainment to be replayed at its best. While people know us for doing this best for cinema over the past 10 years, we have also been focusing on the broadcast sector and other areas where digital entertainment has been happening.

Dolby has been closely linked to the transition to high definition around the world. Dolby has been there to make sure that the audio complements the HD picture.

Now HD content is moving to digital devices such as the mobile phone. We ensure that content is replayed at its pristine best, regardless of the platform which includes online delivery.

What new products have you added to your portfolio recently?
The most exciting product for broadcasting is Dolby Digital Plus. Dolby Digital has been synonymous with HDTV. Dolby Digital Plus is the new generation of that technology and an ideal combination for new HD television services. It is being used in Europe and the US.

In India, it is currently being used by three direct-to-home (DTH) operators – Airtel digital TV, Tata Sky and Sun Direct. Using our technology, they can now offer 7.1 channels of surround sound.

How is Dolby Digital Plus an improvement?
It allows surround sound to be added at attractive data rates. It minimises the data rate that broadcasters need to use for transmitting audio. There is a 40 per cent saving over the previous technology. Most importantly, it allows for future innovation. The Blu Ray disc, for example, has features for 7.1 channel audio, for interactivity in the audio. We can offer these same benefits to broadcasters. It can keep DTH competitive.

What kind of product research does Dolby do to make sure that clients and consumers are satisfied?
Satisfying consumers is what we are about. We believe that to be successful, we have to make a difference to the entertainment experience.

To make the technology a difference, we want to help the industry create a surround sound. We work with content makers to help produce in surround sound. We work with broadcasters to help them handle that surround sound in their station. We also work with operators to help them transmit that surround sound.

We work with set-top box (STB) vendors to help them input our technology. We also work with home cinema manufacturers. We do educational drives and training to help operators understand our technology better and see how people hook up systems better. We are present across the value chain.

What have the learnings been from working with so many parties?
In the broadcast business where we have over 1000 channels using our technology, we find the eco system complex. Many parties are involved in the chain. There is production, broadcasters, equipment vendors, STBs, chip suppliers and middleware. There are all these layers. You have to support all these players if you want to give the consumer at home a better experience.

A key part of our success is our engagement with all the parties all the way through the value chain. We have not just tried to flog the technology in one small piece. We have engaged with the whole industry to help make surround sound a reality for them. We have nurtured and catalysed the process happening in the industry. This has been essential to our success in the broadcast business.

Which are your top three markets in Asia?
You have to split it between the consumer audience and manufacturing. Clearly, there are TV manufacturers in Korea. But in terms of consumption and getting content on the air in our technology, India and China are key. They have large populations going through an exciting digital transition. DTH is exploding in India. The HD transition is just happening. Digital cable transition will happen in the coming years. This is why we are excited about India.

Earlier Dolby was known for its work in cinema. When did you shift the focus to broadcast and mobile entertainment and how has it benefited you?
We remain focussed and invest heavily on cinema. We innovate in terms of audio formats for cinema. We are involved in 3D for cinema.

But we have steadily grown other businesses as digitisation has spread globally. Broadcast and PC is our second largest biggest segment.

How important will the role of sound be in a digital Indian television landscape?
What is interesting is that India has a passion for entertainment. Consumers are hungry for changing the quality of their entertainment experience; we can provide that change.

HD is about video and audio. Both are equally important - or it is incomplete. We think that for HD to make a difference and a valuable proposition, it needs to be more than just a pretty picture on the wall. We can turn it into an immersive experience where the consumers feel that they are in there.

We want to put your right in the middle of a cricket match, right in the middle of a rainforest or in the middle of your favourite drama, for instance. Picture gives you detail and something to watch for, but it is the sound that makes it real for you.

What other products do you offer for the broadcast sector?
The other product is Dolby Volume. It is a different challenge. It deals with the issue of volume inconsistencies across TV services. It can even be used in TV sets to level out sound differences.

How big a challenge is it to market your products to television platforms and services in India and abroad?
Our technology is used in over 50 per cent of TV sets shipped around the world. It is a challenge to market but we have invested in this area; we have improved the relevance of our technology. Our USP is about providing a richer, more immersive experience through surround sound for digital entertainment.

What is the value add that the DTH players will get by partnering with Dolby?
We are helping the three Indian DTH companies adopt our technology. They have included our technology in their STBs so that they can transmit on surround sound. We work upstream with broadcasters to help them provide a selection of surround sound content to feed on HD services. NGC, Discovery, ESPN are some channels that are making use of our surround sound technology. Our focus now is to work with local channels to help produce content in surround sound.

Have you set any targets in terms of the amount of business you expect to see from India?
We want our technology to be adopted by all the six DTH operators. We are also excited about digitisation of cable. We can help incentivise consumers to switch over to digital cable.