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.