NEW DELHI: Star India-owned Malayalam television outfit Asianet has received a go-ahead from the Competition Commission of India for its merger with Tamil channel Vijay TV.

Both had approached the Commission for its approval on 22 October as a CCI nod is mandatory for mergers happening under Section 5 of the Competition Act. Both the companies are part of the Star Group.

"The Commission is of the opinion that the proposed combination is not likely to have an adverse impact on competition in India," CCI said.

Star India and Jupiter Entertainment Ventures, Rajeev Chandrasekhar?s media and entertainment development company, had formed a new joint venture called Star Jupiter in 2008. Under the agreement, Star India became the majority shareholder of Asianet Communications Ltd (ACL), which currently broadcasts channels in Kannada (Suvarna), Telugu (Sitara) and Malayalam (Asianet, Asianet Plus).

Vijay TV, the Tamil language general entertainment channel currently operated and owned by Star India, will also come under Star Jupiter.

Indiantelevision.com had earlier reported that Chandrasekhar would also have equity stake in Vijay TV. The clearance of CCI, thus, clears this regulatory hurdle.

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MUMBAI: It?s official. The Home Ministry has finally given clearance to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to invite Pakistan for a series, thereby setting the stage for cricket?s biggest rivalry to unfold in December.

For Star India, this could be a bonanza it had been waiting for as a rivalry between the two countries has high revenue value. The Rupert Murdoch company, which has secured the media rights for international cricket played in India, needs to shell out Rs 322.5 million per match for the five match series which includes three ODIs and two T20s. As per contract with BCCI, Star will pay Rs 322.5 million per match for the first two years till 2014 while for the next four years it will pay a whopping Rs 432 million till 2018.

With government clearance in hand, the BCCI will now be assured of increased earnings from broadcast rights as the series was not part of the Future Tours Programme finalised by the International Cricket Council.

The event will be broadcast on ESPN Star Sports which is a sister concern of Star India after parent company decided to take control of sports broadcasting joint-venture by acquiring Disney-owned ESPN?s 50 per cent stake.

For ESS, it will be three back-to-back blockbuster cricket properties which includes India-England, India-Pakistan and India-Australia next year.

The series is likely to be played between 25 December-7 January at Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bangalore, New Delhi and Kolkata. The series will be scheduled between the split tour of India and England involving four Tests, five ODIs and two T20 internationals.

The English team will play the Tests and T20s from 15 November-22 December before going on a Christmas break only to return for a five match ODI series beginning 11 January.

The clearance from Home Ministry will mark the resumption of cricketing ties which have been on a standstill ever since the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai. The two countries last played a series in 2007-08 when Pakistan toured India for three match Test matches and five ODIs.

The two teams have faced each other only in multi-team tournmanents which includes the 2011 ICC World Cup and the recently concluded ICC T20 World Cup.

NEW DELHI: The media and entertainment industry has to keep pace with newer technologies and adapt to changing social mores and the Government has to recognise the importance of this sector if it has to touch the $100 billion mark by the end of this decade.

This was the general consensus of speakers in various sessions at the "India-Big Picture" CII-Media and Entertainment Summit.

The CII-PwC‘s latest report titled ‘India Entertainment & Media Outlook 2012‘ released at the meet said India is expected to exceed Rs 1.75 trillion as growing at a CAGR of 17 per cent over the next five years.

Various experts agreed that M&E should emerge as a $100 billion industry in the conceivable future and for this stakeholders have a major role to play.

While the government has to lay a proactive policy framework, the industry should work towards enriching the content, innovation and strict observance to IPR rules.

The industry felt that for the long term growth of the industry, business models should undergo a drastic change. The present business model is dependent on B2B, thereby meaning that the revenues have to be realised from advertisements. More stress has to be laid on B2C concept, which would mean that subscription income should form an important component in the overall revenue flows.

Star India CEO Uday Shankar said digitisation of cable television in the country will mean more scope for programming and content in more languages. But he said that infrastructure in terms of studio space in Mumbai was inadequate and programmers will have to move out.

Similarly, he said access to good talent is difficult since there is no institutionalised way of finding new talent. Clearly, there was need for governmental support in this field.

He said broadcasters were still not clear about the actual picture after 31 October with regard to digitisation, though broadcasters were backing this move.

He said it was unfortunate that the government only saw glitz and glamour in the entertainment industry and did not realise the potential available for social transformation. Social and institutional support was necessary to reach the goals that the industry was setting for itself.

He said the government also failed to realise that if the industry did bring in $ 00 billion as forecast, then it could meet the costs of all the key programmes of the government for rural and urban development and creating employment.

Sony Pictures Television Worldwide Network President Andy Kaplan said game changing is the best insurance against irrelevancy. He said there was a need to adapt and adopt.

India had the third largest television market after China and the United States, and there was diverse consumption of content in every household.

But the ratio of advertising was very minimal in India and there was a huge potential in that sector.

For this purpose, he said the key was innovation and this could be achieved through content, digitisation, distribution, and platforms. Content could also be exported to other countries, and digitization was traversing geographic boundaries. India at present had only 35 per cent digitisation at present. Distribution has already evolved in various ways and newer platforms had come up for this. It is therefore necessary to build newer business models.

Walt Disney India managing director Ronnie Screwvala said Indian M&E was 30 per cent below the target at present. There was no sense of unanimity in this field, and 20 years of broadcasting had led to a growth of television channels but the revenue was still dependent on advertisements ? a shackle that had to be broken. Digitisation would not help too much unless people begin paying. He also said there was no respect for intellectual property and this resulted in rampant piracy. The film industry is at present a Rs 100 billion industry whereas it should have been around Rs 400 billion but for piracy.

But he felt that the country had adequate laws and there was need for better implementation. He also said broadband would become a major game changer and would augment broadcasting. He said rural India offered a lot of untapped opportunities.

CII National Committee on M & E Chairman Amit Khanna regretted that the stars took away a sizeable chunk of the budget of every film.

IMI President Vijay Lazarus regretted that though the consumption of music had increased manifold, only seven per cent was being monetised because of rampant piracy.

MUMBAI: Star India CEO Uday Shankar and Aamir Khan will be honoured by the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Government of India, in recognition of their efforts to create awareness against social discrimination through `Satyamev Jayate.?

The commission will felicitate Shankar and Khan at an award function being organised to mark the International Valmiki Day in New Delhi on 18 October.

Shankar said, "Satyamev Jayate was a natural evolution of content, given Star?s steadfast and widening focus on socially relevant issues. This recognition will spur us to advance in this path of leveraging the power of TV to act as a change agent."

Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, Social, Justice and Empowerment Minister Mukul Wasnik, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni, Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dixit and other political and civil society leaders who have worked for the cause of social equality will attend the awards function.

Star said in a short span, the show questioned social mores, helped shape mindsets and transcended borders to top popularity charts across the globe. It left an imprint on the minds of people with compelling tales from everyday life.

Satyamev Jayate was a narrative of real stories from across India that touched and inspired millions of people.