MUMBAI: The phenomenon of Social TV is surfacing in India as single screens and consumers are turning to multiple platforms.

Tata Sky MD Harit Nagpal said that about 31 million Indians were now regularly viewing TV and as such TV is not an idiot box any longer. ?There are also a large number of Indians watching programmes through digital platforms. There are over 750 channels catering to diverse tastes. TV broadcast is merged with broadband,? he said.

What?s on India CEO Atul Phadnis said that TV viewers were indeed doing multi-tasking. About 75 per cent of TV viewers were simultaneously using other technology platforms.

The theme of Fusion 2012 was ?Content, Creation, Consumption and Audience involvement?.

Tam India CEO LV Krishnan said that today?s children between age of 4 and 12 were tech-savvy, and would engender a revolution in the coming years in TV world. ?You will see a sea change in the next eight years in people?s attitude towards viewing programs on TV and digital platforms. As the size of TV viewers enlarge, all stakeholders will stand to gain,? he said.

Meanwhile in the opening session Union minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Ajay Maken blamed the sports federations for obstructing growth of sports in India. ?The federations have been playing a negative role,? he said.

Sports was a healthy form of entertainment, popularised through mass media. ?Unfortunately, the growth of sports in India was being stunted due to monopoly of sports federations, which have become fiefdom of powerful vested interests. For breaking their stranglehold, it is necessary to promote sports leagues and other platforms, so that Indian youth would be able to avail wider opportunities for nurturing their skills?, he said.

?Sports is a State government?s subject, and the central government has no direct control on its administration and development. Yet I have taken initiative to promote sports by offering liberal grants for creating infrastructure and for setting up training academies,? Maken added.

Explaining further, he said that India had 92 sports academics, catering to the needs of about 15,000 youths. ?My ministry has sanctioned grants totalling Rs 2.60 million for promoting non-cricketing sports by hiring the services of 29 foreign coaches, all in preparation for London Olympics,? he said.

He would be moving a Bill in the Lok Sabha for bringing all sports organisations under the ambit of ?Right to information? for ensuring transparency and ending vested interests.

?Once this Bill is passed, you will see revolutionary changes in the world of sports in the country. We want to set up a sports university and also an academy of sports sciences on the model of China. I will get the Cabinet?s okay for this Bill before 31 March 2012?, Maken said.