When the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)-organised Enter Media 2001 conference ended in Mumbai on 9 August, it had been declared that a white paper would be produced by CII in conjunction with Ernst and Young to go into practical ways of addressing some of the key issues that had been thrown up during the two-day conference.

Well, that report is almost ready and the final touches are being made to it by the CII in conjunction with Ernst and Young. According to Biren Ghose, CEO of UTV Interactive and chairman of the task force assigned the task of preparing the report, it will be out on 16 October.

The report will first be presented to the information and broadcasting ministry before being made public, Ghose says. The dates of the meeting with the I&B ministry officials are yet to be finalised though.

Among the recommendations that are being finalised in the report as far as the television industry is concerned are: 1. The present foreign direct investment ceiling of 49 per cent on broadcasting companies be removed.

2. The government needs to bring in some clarity on direct to home broadcast.

3. The problem of cable operators underdeclaring their subscriber base as well as the interlinked issue of addressability is also being covered in the report, Ghose says.

4. But what is by far the most innovative and unique of the recommendations has got to be a pricing model for channels that the panel is trying to formulate. According to Ghose, the idea is to have a formula whereby, based on a number of parameters, the mean price of any channel can be ascertained. The value that is derived for any channel could form the basis for negotiations between a broadcaster and MSO vis-a-vis subscriber rates. What exactly is the formula the panel is using to derive its pricing mechanism is awaited.

One common thread that ran through the two days that made up the conference was the issue of piracy. Queried as to what measures were being envisioned to address this, Ghose said first the film industry would have to get more involved. Expecting the government to deal with the problem was not realistic. The panel is looking to an anti-piracy corpus made up of contributions from within the industry that will finance the maintenance of an enforcement force whose responsibility it will be to tackle piracy. It will be proposed to the government that it set up some nodal agency that can follow up on any piracy complaints brought to its notice.

As it enters year 9, MIPCOM JUNIOR, the youth screenings event held in Cannes from 6 to 8 October, will open amidst a hyperactive and rapidly changing children‘s content market.

To cater to the growing number of MIPCOM JUNIOR delegates, an extra 30 screening booths will be added this year, bringing the total number of booths to 230, according to an official release.

Last year MIPCOM JUNIOR saw 386 companies from 51 countries and 418 buyers attending. A total of 771 programmes were presented and 12,572 screenings took place.

Kids‘ programming faces new challenges. With the emergence of additional outlets - enhanced TV and the web - and children‘s growing attraction to interactivity, producers are creating content suitable for a wider variety of platforms. As a result an increasing number of programmes are now launched with both broadcast and web versions. On the technology side, CGI development is offering vast creative opportunities and is driving programme production towards a new level of sophistication and eye-appeal.

However, the basic premise for children‘s prgramming stays unchanged. "Innovation and creativity are the key element if you want to create series that will be picked up by the major channels," comments Roberto Mitrani, director of international business, Neptuno Films.

As the competition between terrestrial, cable, and satellite channels for an unpredictable and selective young demographic gets tougher, it is essential to offer content that stands out. Producers must go all-out to crop up quality driven properties with innovative storytelling, strong characters and merchandising spin-offs that will provide broadcasters with longer-lasting brands and allow them to capture audiences.

Andy Heyward, president and CEO, DIC Entertainment - a pioneering participant - says: " MIPCOM JUNIOR is an indispensable event for the children‘s television business, the only conference where all the children‘s TV broadcasters participate. I cannot imagine launching a new property without it!"

MIPCOM JUNIOR 2001 is a marketing event and learning forum with global sales opportunities and co-production prospects, the release states.