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Digital switchover of broadcasting by 2013

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CIOL Bureau
New Update

MUMBAI, INDIA: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Chairman J S Sarma announced that complete switchover from analog to digital broadcast signals in the country will be done in a phased manner by December 2013.

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Addressing industry leaders at the CII organized conference on Managing Digital Media and Entertainment Business in the Digital Era (in Mumbai via video conferencing), Sarma called for support from industry in one voice for the digital switchover. “We are forward looking and pro active on regulation on digitalization.’’

The broadcast industry leaders welcomed the recommendation by TRAI as they were expecting digital switch-over by 2017. TRAI’s final consultation paper on digitalization will be released next week, said Sarma.

Emphasizing that human capital would ride technology, Amit Khanna, chairman, CII National Committee on Media and Entertainment, and chairman, Reliance Big Entertainment, maintained that media companies have to transform from products to relationship with audience in the future.

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He said there is extreme polarization and predicted more event-based (FIFA World Cup, Avatar, 3 Idiots) things in the emerging digital world.

Ronnie Screwvala, Co-Chair, National Committee on Media & Entertainment and Chairman & CEO, UTV Software Communications said that with the spurt in the number of DTH households in India, the overall industry has witnessed a remarkable growth in the country.

According to Sam Balsara, chairman & MD, Madison World, digitalization and advertising have a direct link to a considerable extent.

Speaking of digitalization of Pay TV, Vikram Kaushik, CEO, Tata Sky said, “Digitalization today is inevitable and the scale and potential of the volume of this business in India is huge. However, the players in this sector with a focus on achieving this volume are adopting disastrous margin cuts which are leading to very low average revenue returns for the industry.”

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