India's broadcast sector is digitalizating

The Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia's (Casbaa) recent India Forum 2016 analyzed the fast-evolving Indian broadcasting industry and examined the ripple effect of the country’s digitalization initiative. Casbaa is a non-profit media association in Asia Pacific serving the multi-channel audio-visual content creation and distribution industry. The theme of the day-long event, which brought together all the stakeholders including multi-system operators, local cable operators, DTH players, satellite technology providers, and regulators, among others, was ‘Digital India: The Four Phases of Cable Enlightenment’.

The event featured speakers from local and international brands to provide essential information about the business of multi-channel TV in the country. They discussed everything from its impact on content and advertising to how it is shaping the technology and satellite industries. Casbaa’s CEO, Christopher Slaughter, set off the event by establishing the relation between the digitization of the cable television system in India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Digital India campaign. Speaking at the inaugural session, Chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), RS Sharma acknowledged the challenges and opportunities as the country witnessed the fourth phase of Digital Addressable System (DAS).

“TRAI is not here to promote legacy systems in cable TV where a structural monopoly exists. With the objective of providing the right of choice to the consumers, we will allow the march of technology. At the same time, for healthy growth of the sector, it is crucial to strike the right balance between all the stakeholders through a constructive dialogue,” said Sharma. One of the key highlights of the event was the launch of ‘The capacity crunch continues’, a paper developed by PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) on the present and future of satellite technology. This was followed by a panel discussion titled ‘Satellite industry in India: Continued challenges’. The session covered issues like general procedural delays, taxation issues and the wait for a new sitcom policy in India.