The Entermedia 2001 conference kicked off in Mumbai‘s western suburb of Andheri today with the issue of addressability forming the core of discussions at the session on television and broadcasting.

IN Cable‘s Ashok Mansukhani, speaking for cable operators, pointed that the cable industry, like the film industry is facing difficulties with the recent announcement of a 5 per cent service tax on cable operations passed in mid-July. "Nobody exactly knows on what the sales tax is to be paid, and the interesting part the service tax is that cable operator are supposed to file a declaration and if your declaration is incorrect then you are liable for prosecution," he pointed out.

Meanwhile, Sandeep Goyal, group broadcasting CEO, Zee Network, pointed out that the cost of creating content for television had escalated without a concomitant increase in revenues from advertising and this pointed to the need to bring in more addressability by way of cable operators declaring their actual subscriber base.

Stating that it were the consumer who were reluctant to pay the full amount for the subscription, Mansukhani said the current rate that cable operators pay per subscriber was Rs 104 while the consumer paid only RS 100.

Though much was said about problems dogging cable operators, the addressablity issue and what should be done to come to terms with it, what eventually remained unaddressed was a concrete proposal to tackle this problem.

The panelists consisted of Kiran Karnik, former Discovery Channel head who recently was appointed as the president of NASSCOM, Ravi Gupta, CEO B4U; Ravina Raj Kohli, CEO, HFCL-Nine Broadcasting India Ltd; Ashok Mansukhani, Incable; Sandeep Goyal, group broadcasting CEO, Zee Network; K. Kunhikrishnan, deputy director-general, DD; Rajesh Pant, Sony Entertainment Television and RK Gupta from Prasar Bharti.

Karnik pointed out that if the next phase of growth in the industry was to be kickstarted, it was imperative that subscription rates be hiked to at least RS 300.

Gupta said there many inefficiencies of the products that go across channels. Systems were required which would provide better utilisation of products.

Is the cable industry in India going to see the size and growth that has happened in the developed countries like the US? Can we expect international cable operators pumping money into last mile connectivity? How soon is the pay market expected to develop for the broadcasters? What is the realistic number of channels the Indian industry can support - both nationally as well as regionally? Does DTH have a realistic future in India? These were some of the questions which received no satisfactory answers.

The two-day Entermedia 2001 conference was flagged off today in Mumbai by chief minister of Maharashtra Vilasrao Deshmukh who announced that the state government would not levy entertainment tax on new multiplexes that came up in Maharashtra for the first three years of their operations. Further, 75 per cent of the entertainment tax for the next two years would be waived, Deshmukh said.

Among the issues that were covered during the first day‘s session were - future opportunities for cinema in India; television broadcasting and distribution; the new age of radio; Internet and broadband and financing in the entertainment industry.

CINEMA: The key issue that was exercising the panel was the rampant piracy witnessed in India. The matter spilled over into the next session on television broadcasting when filmstar-producer Aamir Khan said big MSOs were in fact encouraging cable piracy by refusing to clamp down on erring suboperators. The incentives announced by the government for multiplexes led to complaints from single screen theatre owners that they should also be given some benefits.

FM RADIO: The main conclusions that came out of the discussion was that government policies and regulation mean that investments into FM radio, unlike the case abroad, are substantial. The conclusion was that only a few players with extremely deep pockets would be survive at the end of the day. A hurdle to the rollout of a range of FM services is the legislation that states that one company can only own one frequency per city.

On the plus side, the panelists agreed that FM radio was a market opportunity waiting to be exploited. Globally, ad spend on radio has grown twice as fast as television. Further abroad radio attracted 10-12 per cent of ad spend while in India, of a total ad spend of Rs 50,000 million only 2 per cent or 1000 million was the spend on radio.

The key advantages of radio are that it is seen as local / city-centric / dynamic.

And the content driver for FM at least in the initial phases? Music.

BROADBAND: The conclusion Broadband is a long way off in India for certain as some statistics show. If movies are to be shown over the Internet a download speed of a minimum of 400 kbps is required. The reality. The national average of connectivity is 1 kbps. And the television / PC ratio - 40:1.

What is a practical possibility is that digital integration across government, corporate, media and entertainment sectors.

FINANCING: The focus was on corporate financing in the film industry. And the conclusion. There was no way that financial institutions could finance films unless corporate structures were put in place. Consolidate or perish is the hard reality that merchant bankers offer budding filmmakers.

The sports television juggernaut rolls on. Come 15 August 2001, ESPN STAR Sports (ESS) broadcaster is going to launch two new services Star Sports Southeast Asia and Star Sports Asia. The channels - an outcome of a repackaging exercise of its Star Sports service will take the number of feeds it has in Asia to eight, reveals an ESS Press Release. Southeast Asian sports fans earlier shared a Star Sports feed with their North Asian counterparts, which carried a combination of English and Mandarin commentary, graphics, presentation and programming. With the introduction of the new feed, the service has been split, to better cater to the specific sports and language preferences of the two regions. The presentation, graphics and packaging of the televised sports will reflect these changes.

Star Sports Southeast Asia will continue as an encrypted service broadcasting 24-hours-a-day and seven-days-a-week. It is targeted at the Southeast Asian viewer and incorporates his/her viewing habits and preferences which includes soccer, Formula One motor racing, tennis and golf programming. The service will be available Asia-wide in English.

Star Sports Asia will be a free-to-air service, but will have programming around basketball, billiards/pool/snooker, baseball and bowling, which are popular among North Asian sports fans. Star Sports Asia will be available in China and Chinese Taipei, broadcast in Mandarin.

"This is part of our on-going customisation strategy, designed to bring our brands closer to our viewers," says ESS managing director Rik Dovey. "Localisation sends the message that we are listening and catering to viewership needs. Content is tailored to the culture, language and viewing habits of the region. Audiences want relevant content and familiarity."

Dovey adds that the two new feeds will function as even more efficient media for advertisers wanting to target specific audiences. "We have already done this in India and Taiwan and the returns in respect of brand equity and consumer loyalty are very apparent. Viewers get to see more of what they want, platforms are better able to sell our channel and advertisers can target their audience more efficiently, eliminating wastage It is a win-win situation for viewers, platform operators and advertisers," he says.