Indian cinema: Taking flight on digital wings

India might be producing nearly 1,000 films a year, yet Indian cinema's share of worldwide movie revenues is less than 1 per cent. But there is hope in the form of emerging opportunities and options for revenue earning for the Indian entertainment industry. One such great option is the digital distribution of content, which provides unprecedented and timely reach to consumers of Indian content in markets which are non-traditional clusters. New markets, better distribution and broadband at home open up significant opportunities for digital distribution of movie and music content with the enhanced security of content protection and advanced payment mechanism. These were some of the issues discussed in the session on ‘Tech Support: Emerging revenue options for the Indian Entertainment Industry’, which was moderated by Kiran Karnik, President, NASSCOM.

Karnik pointed out that Indian cinema had moved on from celluloid to digital storage to be digitally distributed via satellite. Giving an overview of the future scenario, he said, “This will change the entire distribution framework and the distribution chain will see a shake-up. This will hopefully minimise piracy. What is more exciting is the possibility of using newer platforms. With four million mobile handsets added every month in India, mobile will most definitely be a great platform. There will be a complete overhaul of the business model of the entertainment industry. We have seen technology changing the production of content. The digital change wave has the potential to go the same way as the Indian software industry with more start-ups and great content creative brains coming in. Even on the consumer side, the user devices will change, and increasingly content providers will be able to target the consumer with on the move devices.”

Actor Kamal Haasan, a technology enthusiast himself, spoke on the interplay of technology and entertainment. “Much has been said about the state of the entertainment industry, and even after being critically analysed, there has not been much change in it. It's just the same as it was a decade ago. But yes, the multiplex movement has somewhat led to progress and has helped minimise the gap between intent and effect,” Haasan said.

Doing a bit of number crunching here, Hassan said, “The US has 36,000 screens, China has 60,000 screens, while India has a little over 11,000 screens. The figures speak for themselves. The gross potential revenue realised is only 20 per cent and piracy is the biggest ill that is plaguing this industry. Technology is our biggest asset to deal with this menace. It is only with technology that we will be able to plug in the loopholes. This is the only solution we have today as well as tomorrow. Digital shooting is easier and offers great elasticity during post-production. Digital projectors help eliminate middlemen and are a cost-effective medium. Intel has been a pioneer in enabling to get content on the digital platform. What we need to do now is move together to bridge the gap between today and tomorrow. My request to the investors in the business is to accept the new technology and investment in the same. It will be a mistake if we ignore the analog medium as we still can’t do away with the analogous exhibitors just because digital media has arrived.”

Keynote speaker John McClure, Country Head of Intel Technology India Pvt Ltd, spoke on ‘Digital Entertainment: Leap Ahead’, where he unveiled Intel’s digital home vision for 2006. He said, “Intel is working with the industry to create an intelligent, interoperable computing environment in which information and content can be simply and seamlessly accessed throughout the home and on the go. Achieving this level of transparency requires continued business and technical innovation in the areas of seamless access to and sharing of information and content across multiple PCS, consumer electronics and portable devices in the home. Innovation will have to happen in seamless access too. Portability of content while on the go as well as innovative business models to support the evolving needs of the anytime, anywhere model are also the need of the hour.”

He continued, “Technology in the entertainment industry has merged and changes are taking place. Intel has been active in the past few years in making available options for digital content creations and thus, bringing content home digitally. Intel’s vision for the digital home consists of interoperable devices that enable consumers to easily acquire, share and enjoy a wealth of digital content within and outside of the home. During the last few years, the industry has made great strides towards achieving this vision. The communications infrastructure to the home and within the home has grown rapidly; over 150 million households worldwide now have broadband access to the Internet and over 40 million have home networks. India has the potential of becoming a leader in digital content production outsourcing in the entertainment industry as it has done in the IT industry.”