Television is moving towards multiple platforms: TV.NXT

The second panel of the day discussed various techniques that can help take TV viewing beyond television sets

The third session of the last day of TV.NXT, titled 'Beyond the last mile: The future of television' saw eminent panellists -- namely, Devendra Parulekar, partner, Ernst & Young; Ajay Puri, director and CEO, DTH Services Bharti Airtel; Vijay Yadav, vice-president and managing director, South Asia, UTStarcom; and Sanjiv Sharma, CEO and executive chairman, Optimystic Entertainment -- discuss the nuances of how television is moving beyond the single screen and becoming interactive, all thanks to technology. The session was moderated by Sunaman Sood, director, Acendo Capital.

The moderator started the session by remarking that the last mile has always been a much-discussed issue, given the fact that there is regulation and under-declaration. "In fact, we are reaching a point of inflection, where we have 25 million DTH homes; which means direct taxes in last mile control."

With cable and satellite gaining momentum and a slew of IPO launches, things would get better for the C&S industry, said Sood. He asked the panellists where they saw the whole business going, and from where the next big opportunity would come in the value chain.

Parulekar replied, "If we look at the television distribution industry, there are a few game changers in the distribution side, which are expected to change the whole business in the next few years. I believe that C&S still has some steam left; there is scope for this section to revive."

He added that broadband wireless access and 3G would be the game changers for the industry. Also, the regulatory issues bothering the industry would be sorted out in a couple of years; and the government was likely to become more tax-friendly.

"Television will move from generating content, which caters to the last denominator of the television audience, to generating niche content that will appeal to a specific set of audience. This will be enabled by the above-mentioned game changers. But we need to look not only at teenagers as audience, but the existing audience as well," said Parulekar.

Moving on to Puri, Sood asked him how he saw the DTH space evolving in the country, considering that Bharti Airtel has been an innovator in the distribution space. Puri replied, "Revolution of digitisation is happening at two ends. DTH has created a revolution for those who had the money to buy television, and are from the middle class, but don't know what to do with the TV box."

According to him, the availability of live recording, HD technology, and 3G are other big developments on the DTH platform.

Puri pointed out that in the time to come, TV would not only be used for watching linear content, but also for surfing the internet, gaming, and using interactive services. "The paradigm is changing, so why should we restrict to a single screen for entertainment? And with 3G and Wi-max making inroads in the Indian households, things will change dramatically."

Yadav was of the opinion that it is time for people to move from three screens as sources of entertainment (TV, mobile and internet) to four screens -- with the advent of interactive services. "With TV moving to multiple mediums or devices (cross-pollination), last mile is not a problem," he remarked.

He said that apart from cross-pollination, till now, TV was only a device for entertainment. And with interactive services becoming increasingly popular, it has become an information library.

Puri added, "With information being available in the audio-visual format, it is helping to bridge the digital divide."

He further said that TV has the potential to be used as a governance device. He spoke about a pilot project in which he and few other people were involved - television was used by an official to talk to a panchayat.

"The lack of PCs in our country need not be a constraint, with information now available on television, and that too in a user-friendly way. The development of interactive content has to take place," added Puri.

Sood then asked Sharma, "With many niche channels coming in, how do you see it panning on DTH?"

Sharma replied that there is no restriction on DTH; every DTH player in the country has the capability of beaming around 250 channels, which is likely to go up to 450 soon. The problem channels would face is not of space, but of original content. "Now, with technology such as live recording, people are able to view programmes as per their ease, not at the predetermined time by any channel. Therefore, the need to have original content will intensify."

He added that apart from this, there would be an increased requirement for 3D and HD content. "And with that, the currency of rating has to change as well," said Sharma.

Parulekar highlighted the role C&S operators could play in enhancing the technology. He said that cable operators didn't know that they were sitting on gold mines. "Cable is a very beautiful path of return. But cable operators are not able to use it, as they are not thinking like telecom companies. The day they start doing that, money will flow from all directions," opined Parulekar.

The panellists were of the opinion that video content would become more democratic in nature, with video traffic becoming two-way.

(TV.NXT was organised by afaqs!, in association with Big CBS (main sponsor) and Star News (associate sponsor). The other sponsors include UTV Action, Bloomberg UTV, Sony PIX, Sahara Samay and Mastii TV.)