Come 1 November, TV studio owners, editors, animation and graphic artists are going to be headed towards Mumbai‘s World Trade Centre. The reason: the eleventh edition of the Broadcast India trade show, showcasing the latest in post and production equipment, will be flagged off on that day.Organised by Saicom Trade fairs & Exhibitions from 1-3 November, the show will be preceded by a two-day Symposium from 30-31 October 2001 at Y.B. Chavan Centre which is a hop step away from the WTC.

Ramesh and Kavita Meer

"The entire exhibition space has been booked," says Saicom promoter Ramesh Meer. "The response has been very enthusiastic."

The DPSVelocity (providers of post production equipment) stall at last year‘s event.

"The event is expected to attract more than 21,000 trade visitors," says Saicom CO-promoter Kavita Meer. Senior professionals from the broadcasting and post industry are expected to speak at the symposium and topics will run the gamut of TV, radio, video, audio, film, music, lights, cable, satellite, multimedia, transmission, computer graphics, broadband Internet and all their allied and associated technologies.

MTV India threw cold water today on a recent report that it was seriously considering a proposal by the Hinduja-owned INCablenet whereby it would be able to insert local ads on the music channel carried on its cable network.
Sanjeev Hiremath, vice-president, network development, South Asia, licensing and merchandising, MTV India, while admitting such a proposal had come from INCablenet, said MTV had asked the MSO‘s officials to produce a practically workable model before taking matters ahead.

In the west, broadcasters enter into agreements with local cable operators since a single headend supplies the cable feed. In India, taking the example of an MSO like INCablenet, in a city like Mumbai it supplied its feed through mutiple headends which makes tracking how many times an ad appears, where it appears and when it appears, extremely complicated, Hiremath said.

According to Hiremath, ad insertion at local levels can be possible if:

1) There is consolidation - typically a single headend feed.

2) MSOs or cable operators install ad insertion equipment at individual headends. These are very expensive.

3) The broadcaster or channel has cue tone generation equipment (something no channel in India has at present) in place.

4) Broadcasters programme their channels such as to create bands for local ad insertion.

Despite repeated attempts, INCablenet officials were unavailable for comment on the issue.

Star has announced that its Star Movies channel has signed an output deal with DreamWorks Distribution to acquire the exclusive pay-television rights for 40 DreamWorks SKG films to be broadcast in India and Pakistan. The agreement extends the nine-picture deal brokered between Star and DreamWorks in June 2000.

Titles to premiere on Star Movies include "The Haunting" starring Liam Neeson, Best Picture Oscar-winner "American Beauty", rib-tickling Star Trek spoof "Galaxy Quest", animation classics "The Road To El Dorado" and "Chicken Run", and Peter Chan‘s poignant "The Love Letter", an official release states.

Founded by film and music industry giants Steven Spielberg, Jefferey Katzenberg and David Geffen, DreamWorks had a bountiful summer with the box office heat generated by "Shrek", the animated blockbuster featuring the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz, and "A.I. Artificial Intelligence", a Steven Spielberg film.

Jamie Davis, senior VP, programming, Star, said: "Building on the fantastic response the DreamWorks titles have generated for us thus far, we are very excited to add a long line of new DreamWorks titles for the benefit of our South Asian viewers."

Speaking on behalf of DreamWorks Distribution, Hal Richardson, head of Worldwide Television Distribution, expressed enthusiasm for the agreement, stating: "We are very pleased to have concluded this deal, securing a home for our motion picture product in pay television for India and Pakistan. We are especially happy that this arrangement has served to broaden the relationship with our friends at Star."

The DreamWorks agreement further expands a Star Movies library that consists of exclusive contributions from 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney (which includes the output of Touchstone Pictures, Hollywood Pictures and Miramax), MGM/United Artists, Canal+ and over 100 independent distributors and production companies, the release says.