The Hindu Business Line : `Broadcasters' future lies in content ownership, copyright'

Mr Pradip Baijal, Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, addressing a seminar on `Broadcasting: A look towards the future' along with Mr Kunal Dasgupta (centre), CEO, Sony Entertainment Television, and Mr K.S. Sarma, CEO, Prasar Bharati, in the Capital on Tuesday. - Kamal Narang

New Delhi , Oct. 12

IF you think that viewers' loyalties towards channels are declining, then be ready for bits and pieces viewing. For with technology progressing at a very fast pace, broadcasters would have to focus on content ownership.

Speaking at a FICCI seminar on `Broadcasting: A look towards the future', Mr Kunal Dasgupata, Managing Director, Sony Entertainment Television (SET) and Co-Chairman of the Entertainment Committee, said, "Technology will enable people to see what they want, when they want." In the future, he said, viewers would be able to zap advertisements and even clear them, leading to a decline in advertising revenues.

The way forward for broadcasters would be to own as much as content as possible and copyright it. "There will be an increase in content ownership as well as the cost of owning content. Broadcasters must be present on different platforms and must be able to exploit the benefits of copyright to the fullest," Mr Dasgupta said.

The SET India chief also added that these are days of the "attention economy" wherein only those products that are able to grab the consumers' attention do well.

"The marketing costs for broadcasters are set to go up in the near future," he said. Currently, the marketing costs are just 10-15 per cent of the programming cost.

Mr Dasgupta also added that in the forthcoming months at least 50 channels are set to go pay.

"This will be the death knell for pay broadcasters as the cable operators would demand deals for carrying certain channels and leaving out the others," he said.

Delivering the inaugural address, Mr Pradip Baijal, Chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), said that once the unified licensing becomes a law, all services would be available on one platform.

"The passage of this law is expected to lead tofierce competition at the delivery platform level leading to very aggressive rates. This will lead to market expansion," he said.

Speaking on the sidelines of the seminar, Mr Baijal said that the regulator would come out with draft rules for inter-operability of services for the cable industry.

On the report on CAS, he added that the Government would have to take a final decision.