<FONT COLOR="#FF0033"><B>FICCI Frames ’06:</B></FONT> Watching the idiot box just got better

Watching television just won’t be the same any more. With several content delivery platforms falling over each other to woo the Next Gen consumer, a revolution is inevitable in the Indian television industry. Some of these platforms include Direct-to-Home (DTH), IPTV (Internet Protocol Television), digital cable and television content on mobile phones. FICCI Frames 2006 debated the feasibility of each of these options.

At present, India has the third largest cable television subscriber base (5.5-6.5 crores) in the world. Under the present cable TV system, a consumer has to pay a fixed charge even for what he doesn’t wish to watch. Digital cable and DTH are being offered as probable solutions to this problem. In addition, under the CAS Set Top Box system, a consumer only has to pay for the channels he wants to watch.

However, Sriram TV, head, new technologies, Bharti Tele-ventures, and Hemang Mehta, group product manager, Microsoft TV, are of the opinion that IPTV is the way forward. At FICCI Frames, Mehta tried to clear a few myths about IPTV, saying, “IPTV is not just about watching television on one’s computer.”

While satellite television is common for India and neighbouring countries such as Pakistan and Sri Lanka, cable television is common for specific regions within a city, such as Santa Cruz or Juhu in Mumbai. “But IPTV is personalised to suit individual consumers. It provides ‘X’ consumer residing in flat number 2, Santa Cruz, Mumbai, exactly what he wants to see, when he wants to see it, in a digital format,” said Mehta.

So, clearly, IPTV places the ‘content remote control’ in the consumer’s hand, and he pays for only what he watches. The content on IPTV can be both live and recorded. Under this system, you can rewind, forward various programmes, or even watch shows that you’ve missed.

Another development that is still at a rather nascent stage is television content on mobile phones. Rajesh Sawhney, president, Reliance Entertainment, spoke on the evolution of the screen, from cinema to television, which later led to computers and, now, mobile phones.

It is interesting to note the facts: There are 12,000 cinema screens in India, 10 crore television sets, 1.4-1.5 crore personal computers and 8.5 crore mobile phones.

“So, one can clearly see that mobile phones are greater in number than even PCs,” said Sawhney. And over the next five years, the number of mobile phones is expected to reach 31 crores.

Just like the evolution in the other screens, mobile phones, too, have evolved. From being a purely communication device, the mobile phone is now also a camera and a music device all rolled into one. In fact, standalone devices like iPods and Blackberrys are now converging with mobile phones. “The latest feature is the provision of television content on mobile handsets,” Sawhney said. “It is an interactive way of reaching the consumer.”

To support his theory on mobile television being the next big thing, Sawhney cited the example of news channel Times Now, which was first launched on mobile handsets.

To sum up, Abhijit Saxena, president, Zee Group, said, “The era of broadcasting as a one-way service is over. Consumers will change how they consume content.”

He explained that while today, everything is mass, tomorrow, individual choices will rule. There will be personalised consumption of content as well as personalised schedules of consumption of content (that is, consumers will decide when they want to see what).

“Different content may require the use of different delivery devices. On the other hand, the same content may require different devices. The content delivery guys will have to realise that one size doesn’t fit all,” Saxena concluded.

© 2006 agencyfaqs!