MUMBAI: Ficci Frames, taking place from 12-14 March, will have a session on the economic viability and the crisis within sports broadcasting.

This session will deliberate on the deep seated hurdles plaguing the business of sports broadcasting which has evolved and yet lacking the direction to plunge ahead. With a regime beset with escalating costs, restricted prices, and little IP protection, offering compelling content to Indian viewers remains a challenge. What are those enabling policies that will take sports broadcasting to its next level?

The panelists to discuss this are Kolkata Knight Riders CEO, MD Venky Mysore, Multi Screen Media COO N P Singh, World Sport Group head South Asia Venu Nair and Star India President-Corporate Sports Nitin Kukreja.

Another session on the first day looks at the ?Second Phase of Digitisation?. This session will focus on the crucial phase of cable television digitisation, its economics and revenue models, investments, preparedness and future roadmap. The session keynote will be delivered by Trai chairman Dr Rahul Khullar.

The panelists are Den chairman and MD Sameer Manchanda, Tata Sky CEO Harit Nagpal, TNN CEO Sunil Lulla, Multi Screen Media CEO Man Jit Singh, Reliance Broadcast CEO Tarun Katial and India Cast Group CEO Anuj Gandhi.

Another session revolves around the theme of Frames which is ?Engaging A Billion Consumers in media and entertainment?. This session will deal with the best and most effective ways to engage and profitably utilise the billion and varied consumer base we have in this country who consume myriad entertainment content in multiple delivery platforms. Stakeholders running media and entertainment businesses and regulators who play an enabling role in the business environment will share their vision.

The panelists are Information and Broadcasting secretary Uday Kumar Varma, Star India CEO Uday Shankar, Bennett & Coleman CEO publishing Ravi Dhariwal, Disney UTV Motion Pictures CEO Siddharth Roy Kapur, Viacom 18 Media group CEO Sudhanshu Vats and Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific senior VP, GM, India Rahul Johri.

For kids genre there will be a session called ?Trends in Children?s Entertainment: What are our children Watching?? Children, Ficci notes, are now exposed to a wide range of entertainment media for their entertainment, knowledge, and communication. With the variety that exists in the space of kids media, they have the opportunity to choose. So, it is now imperative to really understand the trends in Children?s content consumption pattern in TV, online and print medium.

The panelists will present their findings in the children?s space based on research and their rich professional experience. The panel will also bring out how ratings and research influences advertisement spends and programming and content strategy at large.

The panelists for the session are Tam senior VP Pradeep Hejmadi, Mindshare director-inventions Devendra Deshpande, IMRB International Group business director, media and panel group Ashish Karnad, Turner International India director content, South Asia Krishna Desai, Kellogg marketing director India, South Asia Harpreet S Tibb and Viacom18 Media executive VP, business head - Kids Cluster Nina Jaipuria.

On the film side, there will be a session on ?Gatecrashers who made the party: The Out of Towners in Bollywood?. The session looks at film personalities who have cracked the Bollywood success code and infiltrated it from outside of any clique or coterie, without background in the film fraternity. The panelists are film director Sujoy Ghosh, film director Kabir Khan, actor Siddharth Malhotra and actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui.

With Korea being the country of honour at this year?s Frames, there will be a session on ?New Business Challenges for Korea-India Co-Production?. This session will discuss the fundamental components to consider for fostering successful animation co-production between Korea and India, including collaboration environment of production, investment, distribution, national identity and culture. The panelists are Ocon CEO Kim, Ilho, Korean producer and writer Jonathan Hyong-Joon Kim, Karnataka Biotechnology and Information Technology Services (KBITS) MD Vijay Shankar and Technicolor India country head Biren Ghose.

MUMBAI: In order to expand its reach and brand beyond television, Star India has released its Life OK?s mythological saga ?Devon Ke Dev... Mahadev? on DVD.

The company has tied up with Ultra for this purpose.

Star India CEO Uday Shankar said, ?A nation and its people derive their collective identity and pride from stories passed on to it from earlier generations. It is our job not only to keep those stories alive but to tell them well in order to inspire a future generation. Like OK had its task cut out from the very first day and it has lived up to that challenge remarkably well by weaving gripping and inspirational stories with new approaches in production and technology.?

While 300 episodes was a big achievement for show, it is just the beginning of the story for the mythological saga and for Life OK. ?30 years ago you had Ramayana and Mahabharata which were fantastic. They fostered creativity. However later on, mythological shows were done the same way. They became old fashioned in look. That is why they did not have much success. When we started on ? Devon Ke Dev Mahadev?, we knew that the way in which the story was told would have to change. We wanted to take the show beyond the Amar Chita Katha level. We have created new parameter of creativity. At the same time we did not compromise on the quality of entertainment,? Shankar said.

Life OK, which completed one year in December 2012, is among the top five channels, Shankar added. "The aim is to make it a top three player."

Life OK GM Ajit Thakur said that the success of Life OK went beyond ratings. ?While we have done well in terms of ratings, we have also dwelt on issues including crime, domestic violence, terror and religion. We have done things both on the air and on the ground. We want to be the home of big. new stories. While our show has finished 300 episodes, we still have lots of stories to tell within that show. We made an earnest attempt to make it as contemporary as possible by highliting Lord Shiva‘s views on pertinent issues such as pollution and gender equality. This distinction has been pivotal to the resounding success of the show. At the same time while mythology is a platform that will be showcased on Life OK, it is not the only thing?.

Life OK is doing a social awareness campaign to clean up the Ganga. ?We did 15 days of activity last month. In this manner Life OK has gone beyond just being a TV brand,? Thakur said.

Ultra Group CMD Sushilkumar Agrawal said that his company aims to bring content that blends entertainment with cultural and educational values. "This philosophy drew us to join hands with Life OK and launch ‘Devon Ke Dev Mahadev‘ on DVD. This show is not just an epic but an amalgamation of Indian culture, tradition and values that will continue to be passed on to forthcoming generations."

NEW DELHI: Star India CEO Uday Shankar has been appointed the new Chairman of FICCI?s Media & Entertainment Committee.

This position was earlier held by legendary filmmaker Yash Chopra, who passed away this year in October. Shankar will be supported by Ramesh Sippy and Karan Johar as the Co-Chair of the Committee.

Shankar has been the Chairman of the FICCI Broadcast Forum, and led the Forum on some seminal work towards broadcast digitisation along with Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

Multi Screen Media CEO Man Jit Singh will now be the new Chairman of the Broadcast Forum.

The FICCI Entertainment Committee has been working closely with the government on behalf of industry stakeholders for the past decade and has been responsible for achieving major milestones for the industry such as the accordance of ?industry? status to the Indian film sector; income tax rebate to the extent of 50 per cent on book profits to the multiplexes; tax holiday for five years by some state governments to give concessions or exemptions from payment of entertainment tax; spearheading the second phase of privatisation of FM Radio broadcast policy; submitting a definitive TRP report to review and recommend robust system of measurement of TRP; working with the Ministry to define roadmap and solve policy issues relating to animation, gaming , VFX and comic industry (AVGC); towards complete digitisation; forming a Sector Skills Council with NSDC to focus on skill development in the media sector, among others.

In a statement, FICCI said it looks towards Shankar?s vision, rich and varied experience and deft leadership to take the formidable Indian media and entertainment industry to newer heights.

On taking over as the Chairmanship, Shankar said that he would work with all industry stakeholders closely to formulate an agenda for sustained growth of the burgeoning entertainment sector and keep up regular and meaningful dialogue with policy makers.

NEW DELHI: The media and entertainment industry has to keep pace with newer technologies and adapt to changing social mores and the Government has to recognise the importance of this sector if it has to touch the $100 billion mark by the end of this decade.

This was the general consensus of speakers in various sessions at the "India-Big Picture" CII-Media and Entertainment Summit.

The CII-PwC‘s latest report titled ‘India Entertainment & Media Outlook 2012‘ released at the meet said India is expected to exceed Rs 1.75 trillion as growing at a CAGR of 17 per cent over the next five years.

Various experts agreed that M&E should emerge as a $100 billion industry in the conceivable future and for this stakeholders have a major role to play.

While the government has to lay a proactive policy framework, the industry should work towards enriching the content, innovation and strict observance to IPR rules.

The industry felt that for the long term growth of the industry, business models should undergo a drastic change. The present business model is dependent on B2B, thereby meaning that the revenues have to be realised from advertisements. More stress has to be laid on B2C concept, which would mean that subscription income should form an important component in the overall revenue flows.

Star India CEO Uday Shankar said digitisation of cable television in the country will mean more scope for programming and content in more languages. But he said that infrastructure in terms of studio space in Mumbai was inadequate and programmers will have to move out.

Similarly, he said access to good talent is difficult since there is no institutionalised way of finding new talent. Clearly, there was need for governmental support in this field.

He said broadcasters were still not clear about the actual picture after 31 October with regard to digitisation, though broadcasters were backing this move.

He said it was unfortunate that the government only saw glitz and glamour in the entertainment industry and did not realise the potential available for social transformation. Social and institutional support was necessary to reach the goals that the industry was setting for itself.

He said the government also failed to realise that if the industry did bring in $ 00 billion as forecast, then it could meet the costs of all the key programmes of the government for rural and urban development and creating employment.

Sony Pictures Television Worldwide Network President Andy Kaplan said game changing is the best insurance against irrelevancy. He said there was a need to adapt and adopt.

India had the third largest television market after China and the United States, and there was diverse consumption of content in every household.

But the ratio of advertising was very minimal in India and there was a huge potential in that sector.

For this purpose, he said the key was innovation and this could be achieved through content, digitisation, distribution, and platforms. Content could also be exported to other countries, and digitization was traversing geographic boundaries. India at present had only 35 per cent digitisation at present. Distribution has already evolved in various ways and newer platforms had come up for this. It is therefore necessary to build newer business models.

Walt Disney India managing director Ronnie Screwvala said Indian M&E was 30 per cent below the target at present. There was no sense of unanimity in this field, and 20 years of broadcasting had led to a growth of television channels but the revenue was still dependent on advertisements ? a shackle that had to be broken. Digitisation would not help too much unless people begin paying. He also said there was no respect for intellectual property and this resulted in rampant piracy. The film industry is at present a Rs 100 billion industry whereas it should have been around Rs 400 billion but for piracy.

But he felt that the country had adequate laws and there was need for better implementation. He also said broadband would become a major game changer and would augment broadcasting. He said rural India offered a lot of untapped opportunities.

CII National Committee on M & E Chairman Amit Khanna regretted that the stars took away a sizeable chunk of the budget of every film.

IMI President Vijay Lazarus regretted that though the consumption of music had increased manifold, only seven per cent was being monetised because of rampant piracy.