CASBAA India Forum 2014

As an annual spotlight on the Indian multichannel TV market, CASBAA India Forum 2014 took place in New Delhi recently attracting over 150 delegates, speakers and the media. The forum brought together leading government officials and industry decision-makers to debate on the state of Indian television and the global broadcast market.

"Our roster of knowledgeable and high-profile speakers from both the government and business sectors provides invaluable information for the future prospects of multichannel television in India," said Christopher Slaughter, CEO, CASBAA.

This year's event began with an opening keynote by RK Arnold, Secretary, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and an industry keynote was delivered by Punit Goenka, MD & CEO, ZEE Entertainment.

Goenka, commenting on this year's Forum theme, said: "This industry is blessed with such great talent and potential that is has all the elements to produce content which can entertain not just Indian but global audiences. But content creators will have to adapt to the new distribution platforms apart from the primary platforms like linear television."

The forum witnessed the speeches made by Supriya Sahu, Joint Secretary Broadcasting, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting who gave introductory remarks during The Digital Revenue panel; Ashok Mansukhani, President, MSO Alliance on foreign direct investment; Harit Nagpal, MD & CEO, Tata Sky on DTH; Avanish Kaul, CEO, Times Now, ET Now & zoom during the content panel; Huang Baozhong, EVP, APT Satellite on satellite capacity constraints; and Partho Dasgupta, CEO, BARC on advertising issues.

Remarking on the first two phases of the cable TV digitization rollout, Sahu said: "Available data indicates there is excellent positive impact of digitisation for broadcasters including more bandwidth for more channels and a greater incentive to provide better content and to invest in infrastructure."

She also noted "the support of state governments as critical in the digitisation initiative."

An important stop in the multichannel TV calendar, the CASBAA India Forum 2014 recognizes Supporting Sponsor SES and Sponsors APT, AsiaSat, Eutelsat and MEASAT for their generous participation at this year's event.