NEW DELHI: The sixth annual India Digital Networks Summit (IDNS), jointly organised by Indiantelevision.com and Media Partners Asia, is set to kick off here tomorrow the theme of “Building the digital ecosystem”.
Endorsed by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, the day-long summit will debate on India‘s future digital ecosystem. The tone of the summit will be set with a keynote address by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India chairman JS Sarma.
The meet will have participation of a stellar cast of leaders from government, distribution, content, technology and investment communities. Heads of DTH (direct-to-home), Cable TV, distribution, and broadcasting industries will also attend.
“The DTH industry has been going through a very dynamic and vibrant phase over the past year, with the operators expanding their subscriber base exponentially. On the Cable TV front also, there is a lot of untapped opportunity with the government needing to take decisions on several issues,” said Indiantelevision.com founder, CEO and Editor-in-Chief Anil Wanvari.
“Some of the MSOs like Den Networks, Hathway Cable & Datacom and Sea Cable have successfully raised capital through initial public offering. We hope the conference will help facilitate discussion for all the constituents – broadcaster, regulator, suppliers, DTH and cable TV operators,” Wanvari added.
The summit will start with a market review by Indiantelevision.com and MPA. It will give the perspective and future outlook on how the Indian broadcasting, pay TV, digital and broadband markets are developing in the global context with a focus on regulatory and commercial considerations.
The first panel, with industry heavyweights – Ajai Puri (CEO, Bharti Telemedia), Man Jit Singh (CEO, Multi Screen Media), Punit Goenka (MD and CEO Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd) and Uday Shankar (CEO, Star India) – will discuss the core issue ‘Building the digital eco system’ with challenges of innovation, regulation and investment.
Looking at the future which is all about targeted advertising, HDTV, DVR, 3D TV and VOD, the second panel - Imagining the Future - will try to answer how these services can become profitable and how critical they will be to the evolving road map for pay TV operators as they strive to innovate for low cost consumers. It will be attended by RC Venkateish (CEO, Dish TV), Anil Malhotra, (Northern Regional Head, Digicable), Rahul Johri (SVP & GM, Discovery Networks, Asia Pacific), Sue Taylor (EVP, NDS) and Tryggve Arveschoug (Head of International Product Marketing, Conax).
The third panel will raise the critical issue of ‘ROI: Pushing the envelope, models that pay’. The panelists include - Ravi Mansukhani (MD & CEO, Incable), Keertan Adyanthaya (MD, Fox International Channel India), Amit Arora (Star Den), and Edward Allfrey (Head of EMEIA software solutions, Solution Area TV, Ericsson).
The panel on “Risks, but where are the rewards?”’ will comprise Raghvendra Madhav (Executive Director, Astro), Salil Pitale (Enam Securities) and Vinayak Shenvi (VP, Citibank). It will examine the latest benchmarks and successful case studies.
The last panel: “Broadband & The Bundle – Dynamics with cable and wireless” will see participation of EVS Chakravarthy (CEO, You Cable & Broadband), Bibhu Rath (CEO, Ortel), R Mahesh Kumar (CEO, Asianet) and Rajesh Khurana (Country Manager, Seagate). They will discuss cable broadband and multiple product bundling sales and their development in India.
The closing session will be a one-on-one with S Parameswaran (Director Business Development, Antrix).
NDS is the lead partner of the event, while Seagate and Ericsson are the industry partners. ADB and MGM Channels have joined as the associate partners. Conax is delegate bag partner; Star DEN is name badge partner, while The One Alliance and Star News are support partners. CMCG India is the PR partner. Ambez Media, Media Route 26, Media Research Asia and TellyDost are the media partners of the event. Also joining as print media partners are Avishkar, Cable Quest, Satellite & Cable TV and Satellite @Internet India.
