Broadcast & Film

B R O A D C A S T - F I L M - P O S T - I N F O T A I N M E N T T E C H N O L O G Y BROADCAST GLOBAL MEDIA FOR BROADCAST, FILM, POST & INFOTAINMENT & FILM TECHNOLOGY & BUSINESS JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 ZER 2021 MED IA TRE NDS GLOBAL MEDIA FOR BROADCAST, FILM, POST & INFOTAINMENT 2020 TECHNOLOGY & BUSINESS Media Kit BROADCAST & FILM - Your #1 Resource to Reach Broadcast, Film, Post & Infotainment Technology Markets in India

Broadcast & Film – www.broadcastandlm.com – is a leading online publication serving the broadcast, lm, post and infotainment technology markets globally. From being published since 1991, to its shift to the online platform in 2013, the magazine has established itself as a credible source for industry news, analysis and technology trends in the broadcast and entertainment technology industry. We cover the emerging new technologies and trends, including the transition to the digital phase of the ever-evolving media and entertainment sector.

Helping You Stay A Step Ahead of the Competition If your company wants MAXIMUM visibility in the broadcast, post-production market, then Broadcast & Film is your #1 Resource. Broadcast & Film will provide your company with an effective package of advertising via our industry leading online digital media, E-newsletter, broadcast e-mail service, mailing lists, and website to reach the broadcast markets. Broadcast & Film features the most widely circulated digital online media and E-newsletter and provides the best-quality editorial coverage of the trends, events, and happenings in the market. Suppliers of broadcast products and services who want to stimulate sales growth in an increasingly competitive environment advertise in Broadcast & Film to help their business thrive! GLOBAL MEDIA FOR BROADCAST, FILM, POST & INFOTAINMENT TECHNOLOGY & BUSINESS

The Largest circulation of any online media in the industry, reaching dealers and industry professionals across India, Broadcast & Film expands your visibility to worldwide markets as your ad is seen online with direct links to your website. Thousands of professionals and key decision makers will see your message. Broadcast E-mail Your Message to broadcast professionals, industry dealers and suppliers with Broadcast & Film’s exclusive broadcast e-mail service. This essential service allows you to target your message to the decision makers who prefer to receive their information via e-mail. Broadcast & Film’s E-Newsletter offers a powerful e-marketing opportunity to help drive trafc to your website. Readers nd Broadcast & Film’s E-newsletter an essential tool for nding the latest industry news, trends, exclusive editorial content, surveys, and much more! Your banner ad is certain to generate leads and exposure for your company. www.broadcastandlm.com is one of the most viewed website for the broadcast technology, post and lm technology segment. This site features breaking news stories, case studies, interviews and extensive coverage of the market. Digital Advertising Rates

Website Banners v Home Page v News & Feature Page Emailers v Dedicated broadcast e-mail v Broadcast & Film e-newsletter banner

Web Requirements u Home Page - width 300 pixels x depth 250 pixels u News Page - width 160 pixels x depth 600 pixels Resolution: 72dpi

For advertising, please contact Manoj Madhavan: Mob.: 91-9167331339 l Email: [email protected]

312/313, A Wing, 3rd Floor, Dynasty Business Park, Andheri Kurla Road, Andheri (E), Mumbai – 400059. Tel.: +91-22-6216 5313 l Mob.: +91-91082 32956 l www.broadcastandfilm.com Contents

4 Editorial

5 News NEWS...

6 Broadcast Technology Trends In 2021

FutureWorks Delivers Quality Remote Colour Grading For 21 Amazon Prime’s Tandav Web Series

25 The Future of Production in the Age of Media Choice

Media and Entertainment in India 27 – Digitally Empowered!

30 All Things Digital

BROADCAST AND FILM 4 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 Contents JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 ISSUE

Content – Rise Of 31 On-Demand Models

Editor: MANOJ MADHAVAN manoj,[email protected]

TV Advertising: Emerging 32 Trends Across Media Production: PRASHANT KARANGUTKAR

Overview of Market Growth for 34 DTH & Cable TV in India

Editorial & Advertising NürnbergMesse India Pvt. Ltd. 312/313, A Wing, 3rd Floor, Dynasty Business Park, Andheri Kurla Road, Andheri (E), Mumbai – 400059. Building & Promoting The Tel.: +91-22-6216 5313 36 Broadband Infrastructure Mob.: +91-91082 32956 Email: manoj,[email protected] www.broadcastandfilm.com

Lionsgate Launches SVOD 39 Service In India Copyright Disclaimer BROADCAST AND FILM Magazine is Digitally published bi-monthly. It is available only through subscription. is the Trade Mark of BROADCAST AND FILM Magazine. No material including the Logo may be reproduced, electronically or otherwise, without written consent of the publisher. The opinions in the articles are those of the authors and the publisher may not necessarily agree with them. BROADCAST AND FILM accepts no responsibility for material contained in the advertisements. It is not the intention of the magazine to encourage in any way actions which are contrary to existing or future regulations, rules or local laws.

Registered Office NürnbergMesse India Pvt. Ltd. 312/313, A Wing, 3rd Floor, Dynasty Business Park, Andheri Kurla Road, Andheri (E), Mumbai – 400059.

BROADCAST AND FILM 5 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 EDITOR’S DESK

From the Editor’s Desk

The media and broadcast industry are cautiously looking at 2021 as a ‘YEAR’ of stability where they are able to recoup and get back to a semblance of sanity. Content aggregators have their work cut out for them. The core media operations like content production have been badly affected in the pandemic. While live remote production is relatively mature, content producers are grappling to produce file-based episodic content remotely. As content libraries saturate, producers will need to find creative ways to generate compelling information remotely to engage consumers and pivot towards an agile way of working. The industry will need to adapt its operating model to support remote production. Many of the post production studios are adapting remote production and delivering quality output. 2021 will also see a consolidation in the technology trends in the media and broadcast ecosystem, Consumer will ultimately become MANOJ MADHAVAN the ‘KING’ and will have the freedom to chose from a plethora of Editor options in front of him. Consumer behaviour saw dramatic changes in 2020 due to the Covid 19 impact. 2021 will see broadcasters gaining an insight on the behaviour pattern of the consumers and preparing a game plan Consumer behaviour saw on how to effectively produce traditional content and also increase on-demand services. dramatic changes in 2020 AI driven experiences, new cloud deployments, super- due to the Covid 19 impact. aggregation are key tech trends in broadcast sector which will be 2021 will see broadcasters seen in 2021. All of this will result in consumers getting in the driving gaining an insight on the seat and industry will see great collaboration to create aggregated behaviour pattern of the content and device experiences. consumers and preparing Media technology is one of constant change and increasing a game plan on how to complexity and the entertainment and media industry will also bounce back. But they have to be agile and realign their strategies in terms effectively produce of their data, business and content work flows. They should use their traditional content and brands, content and audience relationships to stay relevant and use also increase on-demand their industry expertise, combined with a platform-centric business services. model, to innovate and evolve. That should guide them through the tough times and look at better times ahead!

[email protected] Manoj Madhavan - Editor

BROADCAST AND FILM 6 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 NEWS

SURGE IN SMARTPHONE Disney+ Feature Safety Uses Production Through Post DaVinci VIDEO VIEWERSHIP Resolve Studio Workflow Boston Consulting Group Blackmagic Design announced that (BCG), a global management consulting the Disney motion picture “Safety” firm, and the Confederation of Indian utilized a complete DaVinci Resolve Industry (CII) have unveiled a report, Studio workflow from principal 'Lights, Camera, Action…and the Show photography through final delivery, Goes On', which seeks to evaluate the incorporating an innovative digital asset impact of this very extraordinary year management (DAM) system on set built on the media and entertainment industry around Blackmagic Design’s switchers, and highlights key imperatives for recorders, routers and monitors. The film had its premiere on Disney+ this month. increasing the industry’s resilience in “Safety” is a drama inspired by the empowering story of former Clemson the face of adversity. University football safety Ray McELrathBey (Jay Reeves), a young man facing a series of challenging circumstances, whose dedication and persistence help him to triumph over repeated adversities. Aided by his teammates and the Clemson community, he According to the report, 2020 succeeds on the field has seen a massive surge in TV and while simultaneously smartphone video viewership during raising and caring for his the weeks of lockdown and beyond as 11-year-old brother people spent more time at home, and Fahmarr (Thaddeus J. Mixson). OTT witnessed its presence increase Even before the pandemic of 2020, the need to be more efficient and cost in tier 2-4 cities due to the high quality, effective, both on set and in post, had become a priority and a necessity for ever original, and local content marketed tightening budgets. Executive Producer Doug Jones knew the practical answer using free trials. Covid-19 has had a was to improve the technological workflow on set, get rid of the unnecessary major impact on how we consume roadblocks between set and post, while allowing editors to better interface with content, both in-home and outside and production. some of these will have long-term An early adopter of technology, years prior Jones had been one of the first implications for the industry. pushing for full digital filmmaking, and had always felt technology was something “India continues its unique to be embraced. The DAM workflow on the film came together out of an multimodal growth. TV consumption understanding that many of the tools used for broadcast work are equally surged ~40% during lockdown due to compatible for feature film production. Jones began to see how DaVinci Resolve, an increase in non-prime time viewing. combined with integrated Blackmagic hardware on set, could provide an “online Smartphone video consumption is up all the time” pipeline, and would not only save time but also save money. as well, with a 50-60% increase in Working with director Reginald Hudlin, cinematographer Shane Hurlbut ASC subscribers over last year. Going and editor Terel Gibson, the team outlined how the pipeline could help make forward, we expect the digital trend to production more efficient. “There are amazing things that we have done for over intensify, OTT adoption to continue a century of film production that are tried and true, and you just do not upset that rising, and the emergence of new apple cart,” said Hurlbut. “And then there are things that come along that look business models better suited to the like they are going to flip the paradigm and kind of change the channel. When new reality. The share of digital in Doug Jones came to me with this Digital Asset Management system, and showed advertising will also continue to grow, me how it completely unified the process from pre-production to production, to having reached 15% in 2020, a full two post-production, I felt it was pretty extraordinary.” years before its pre-Covid forecast,” The process they developed was simple and manageable by one operator said Mandeep Kohli, Partner, Boston on set. When production cameras rolled, they automatically triggered Hyperdeck Consulting Group India. Studio Mini recorders on the DAM cart to record simultaneously, with matching

BROADCAST AND FILM 7 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 NEWS

time code, creating immediate playback footage. That same video feed was live graded onset with DaVinci Resolve, allowing video village and remote creatives to view only colored footage rather than raw, uncolored imagery. Thus, colored playback was available right away, with dailies available twice daily both onset as DISNEY STREAMING well as remotely, when uploaded to secure cloud services. Live images and recorded SURPASSES NETFLIX shots were immediately available throughout the set via ATEM 1 M/E Production Studio 4K switchers and Teranex Mini SDI Distribution 12G boxes. Audio was handled by the Blackmagic Audio Monitor 12G. Decision makers on set that have impact on post decisions, such as directors and DPs, were able to make notes on clips that went through the DAM cart directly to editorial. Even Script Supervisor notes were added to metadata and available to editorial immediately. Camera original shots were downloaded from storage cards directly to high speed RAID drives, which were then delivered to nearby post production multiple times a day. Hurlbut appreciated the ability to provide clear communication, all the way Disney has drawn almost 87 to the studio level. “We were able to track all metadata coming out of the cameras million subscribers to its app. Disney+ and put that right into our RAID system, send shots all the way up to Disney and and other new streaming-video keep everyone on the same communication level, with same day dailies that kept services are still resting the waters if the studio feeling very connected to the film.” The comprehensive system gave their offerings are complete enough for creatives at every level not only a sense of involvement, but the ability to directly Netflix subscribers to switch over. Star interact, something Hurlbut felt was critical. India will help Disney’s skyrocketing “The system enables us to engage the studio with decisions, because now projection of at least 300 million total they're seeing same day dailies. Imagine that we're shooting in Atlanta and we are streaming subscribers globally within processing all the dailies at lunch, and again at wrap. The studio is seeing dailies three years. at four o'clock on the west coast, right before they go home. They're able to talk Star was evidently the to Reggie. They're able to talk to the other producers. They're getting everyone bandwagon on which Disney+ is dialed in. Everyone feels like they have a voice. And everyone feels like they're planning its new ride and set to take on absolutely included in the creative process.” Netflix. Disney purchased Star from its Editorial began from day one of production, providing a unique simultaneous $85 billion acquisition of 21st Century process that allowed for production and post to interact. Editor Terel Gibson set Fox in 2019. Star is the fulcrum on which up editorial in the same building as production. “We were able to stay very close rests Disney’s international streaming to camera, which was great.” Gibson cut “Safety” entirely in DaVinci Resolve efforts outside the U.S Studio. The content budget may touch In essence, the editorial process began on set, as Digital Asset Manager between US$14 billion to $16 billion by Michael Smollin would sync sound with camera files, add non-destructive color fiscal 2024. Netflix is also investing in correction and then create an editorial timeline, all within Resolve. “Dailies were its service as well. Much also depends delivered from set and were ingested into the system faster than they would be on how Disney’s theme and cruise with a traditional workflow. Working with RAW dailies meant no need for businesses will be able to bounce back transcoding. We were in essence the lab.” Disney reorganization of its First Assistant Editor Rahul Das found the challenge of moving entirely to company is intended to make it more Resolve a welcome one. “I was excited to learn more about Resolve, since it was adaptable and adjust where needed increasingly being developed as a one stop shop for editorial cutting and finishing, down the road. eliminating the need for a lab. When we started working on the project, I was Disney’s books show $90 immediately impressed by the different panels Resolve had designed for in depth billion including debt spent on the work in color, sound and visual effects. It was initially overwhelming because in acquisitions of Marvel, Lucasfilm and traditional editorial offline cutting we are usually just expected to do temp reference 21st Century Fox work with regards to VFX or sound design. In Resolve, even simple VFX work like green screen keying, or animating seemed to require a certain level of know how. But because the interface is very user friendly, the learning curve was fast.” Dailies were viewable within six hours after the start of each day, and a full day of dailies were available and uploaded within sixteen hours from the start of

BROADCAST AND FILM 8 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 NEWS

the day. Editorial was never more than six hours behind the actual shoot, making the entire process responsive to changes and notes, even from the studio. While onset tools have typically allowed basic color timing and adjustments on the fly, the more evolved Digital Asset Management solution provided quick and direct high-quality responses to the needs of set, and often helped solve US, INDIA OFFER GROWTH problems right away. Similarly, with dailies available so quickly to executives back FOR OTT at the studio, color changes requested upon seeing footage could be applied right away on set, then sent back to the studio for approval, providing a seamless and immediate response. With such fast turnaround, editorial was able to assemble scenes from the shoot day upon arrival to editorial, sometimes creating edits of scenes while they were still being shot. Rough cuts were often viewed by the end of the day or next morning. “I have never felt so close to the camera as I did during this project,” said Gibson. During the finishing process, collaboration was a big success; each team member was working from the same raw data set, thus everyone was a part of finishing. When color was applied to a shot, for example, editorial was prompted to update, and could see new color changes immediately. “We knew when somebody was coloring an image, we knew when somebody was editing something, India and US offers major we knew when visual effects were putting in a shot, we knew when sound design growth for OTT players. While was coming in with a whole new track,” said Hurlbut. “It created one communication Disney+ has already added over 73 channel where everyone could see it all live.” million subscribers, it will add another 112 million subscribers between 2020 FUJINON Premista Lens Launched and 2025 to reach 194 million. The report FUJIFILM has launched its adds that Netflix will increase its new FUIJINON Premista 19- subscriber base by 73 million. 45mm T2.9” (Premista 19- “Much of Disney+’s initial 45mm), a wide-angle zoom growth came from the US, mainly due covering focal lengths from to the attractive bundle of Disney+ 19mm to 45mm. The new lens with ESPN+ and Hulu. More recently, will be released on 28 January India’s Disney+ Hotstar subs count 2021 as the third model to join has rocketed due to its coverage of the Premista Series of cinema IPL cricket. The US and India will zoom lenses. The Premista 19- account for nearly half of Disney+’ 45mm supports Large-Format subscriber base by 2025,” Digital TV sensors and delivers outstanding high resolution, natural and beautiful bokeh Research principal analyst Simon and rich tonality with HDR (high dynamic range). Murray says. The Premista 19-45mm is a compact and premium-quality wide-angle zoom According to the report, the lens, developed with FUJIFILM’s optical technology nurtured over many years. streaming giant Netflix will take its It effectively controls distortion to deliver natural images with little distortion revenue up to $37 billion and its rival across the entire zoom range. Disney+ will generate $13 billion in FUJIFILM strongly supports high-quality video production for a variety of revenue by 2025. The report adds this scenes by covering wide-angle focal length and widening the range of focal is a lot lower than Netflix due to lower length to 19-250mm, thanks to the addition of Premista 19-45mm to the Premista ARPUs charged in developing series which prepares the standard zoom and telephoto zoom. markets. In recent years, there has been an increased uptake of cinema cameras equipped with Large-Format sensors capable of delivering high-quality and richly- expressive footage at sites producing premium-quality video such as Hollywood movies. Prime lens, which has outstanding optical performance, are regularly used among lenses compatible with the large format sensors. However, when shooting with prime lenses, it is necessary to change lenses depending on the

BROADCAST AND FILM 9 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 NEWS

scene. Thus, there is a growing demand for zoom lenses which requires less replacement and capable of shooting high quality video. COMPLIANCE POLICY OF In 2019, FUJIFILM released both a standard and telephoto zoom lenses as FDI part of the Premista Series of zoom lenses for high-performance cinema cameras equipped with a Large-Format sensor. The series has been praised by professionals at the frontline of video production for its edge-to-edge sharpness and a wide range of focal lengths for exceptional convenience. The Premista 19-45mm is a wide-angle zoom lens that offers a constant T- stop of 2.9 across its focal lengths from 19mm to 45mm. Featuring large-diameter FDI ININFDI aspherical lens elements and a unique zooming system, the lens achieves an DIGITDIGITDIGITALALAL astonishing level of edge-to-edge sharpness. Additionally, distortion is effectively MEDIAMEDIAMEDIA reduced even at the widest focal lengths, delivering natural footage with minimal distortion across the entire zoom range. The Govt has notified Furthermore, the use of proprietary optical simulation technology and compliance of policy on FDI in digital mechanical design technology enables a compact yet robust lens body measuring media. 228mm and weighing 3.3kg. The new zoom lens can be utilised for handheld All eligible entities involved in shooting using a Steadicam or high-angle shooting using a crane. Similar to the uploading and streaming of news and standard and telephoto zooms, the Premista 19-45mm supports “ZEISS eXtended current affairs through digital media, to Data”, which can record metadata when shooting, thereby reducing video-editing comply with the decision of workload in post-production and facilitating efficient video production. Government, which had permitted 26 FUJIFILM has led the cinema industry since its foundation in 1934 to achieve per cent FDI under Government domestic production of photographic and motion picture films in Japan. FUJIFILM approval route. The entities having will continue to tap into optical, high precision forming and assembling foreign investment below 26 per cent technologies that have been nurtured in the field of cutting-edge video production may furnish intimation to the Ministry to develop a wide range of lenses, thereby addressing diverse needs. of Information and Broadcasting. They have to provide details of Evertz acquires Studer from Harman the company, entity and its Canadian broadcast equipment company shareholding pattern along with the Evertz Technologies Limited is purchasing the names and addresses of its Directors legacy recording/broadcast studio gear brand and shareholders. Studer from Harman Professional Solutions. The names and address of The deal, arranged for an undisclosed amount, Promoters and Significant Beneficial sees the brand and all related assets and Owners, Permanent Account Number technology move to Evertz. and the latest audited or unaudited Studer has played a vital role in the Profit and Loss Statement and Balance development of recording technology over Sheet along with the Auditor report. the years. First formed in Zürich, Switzerland by namesake Willi Studer in 1948, The Ministry said, entities the company quickly gained notoriety for its tape machines, which went on to be which, at present, have an equity used around the world in countless recording studios during the analog tape era. structure with foreign investment Studer sold his company in 1990 to Motor-Columbus AG, which in turn sold exceeding 26 per cent will give similar the various Studer brands to Harman International in 1994. In the years that details to the Ministry of Information followed, Studer began producing broadcast consoles, including the long-running and Broadcasting. Vista line, and Harman eventually merged many of Studer’s operations with its It said, any entity which intends other console brand, Soundcraft. While the heart of the Studer brand remained in to bring fresh foreign investment in the Switzerland for decades, Harman ultimately shuttered the brand’s Swiss-based country has to seek prior approval of R&D and management offices in 2018 as part of the global restructuring of Harman the Central Government, through the Pro brands around international centers of excellence. That move came after Harman Foreign Investment Facilitation Portal itself was acquired by Samsung in 2016. of DPIIT. Evertz says it plans to invest in Studer, aiding the brand’s development of “next-generation products” with an eye towards building synergies between its current product suite and the Studer product line.

BROADCAST AND FILM 10 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 NEWS

In a statement, Brian Campbell, EVP Business Development at Evertz, noted, “We’re pleased to welcome this iconic audio brand to our Evertz family of products and solutions that has been serving the broadcast market for more than 50 years. DW & ASTRA PLAN We also welcome the many valued Studer customers who depend on Studer STRATEGY technology and reliability to deliver the best audio to their audience.”

Dolby’s Technological Innovations Powered Dream11 IPL 2020 Dolby Laboratories, Inc. a company with decades of expertise in delivering breakthrough audio & visual experiences to billions of people worldwide, worked closely with Star India, to deliver enhanced audio experiences for its broadcast and digital platform during Dream11 IPL 2020. The ongoing pandemic has brought about Deutsche Welle has planned a many changes to the world of live broadcast. Live strategy to expand and it has secured sport events around the world, like Dream11 IPL capacity on Astra and this will help it 2020, have been held without audiences and the to broadcast in the high definition lack of attendees has required many innovative format, both in Germany and large parts approaches across the industry. The sports of Europe. production team at Star India, used the Dolby On Unlike other broadcasters the app extensively through Dream11 IPL to remotely record voice-overs and reactions German international broadcaster has from commentators and fans to replicate a stadium-like experience for viewers at remained in standard definition. home. From December 1, 2020 In parallel, Dolby has been working with Star India for over a decade to help Deutsche Welle will broadcast create & deliver spectacular broadcast experiences that leverage Dolby’s end-to- unencrypted in HD on 11.778 MHz in end production and delivery workflow powered by Dolby Audio. This long-etched DVB-S2. relationship has grown further with the implementation of enhanced audio SES technologies across the chain, starting with on-ground and studio production Astra and DW workflows that delivered superior viewer experiences during the recently have been concluded Dream11 IPL 2020. Through Dolby On and Dolby Audio, Star India working was able to create an engaging fan experience that brought the thrill of a live together very stadium to the comfort of viewers’ homes. successfully Commenting on this deep relationship, Pankaj Kedia, Managing Director, since 2012. Emerging Markets, Dolby Laboratories, said, “We have been working closely Their with Star India for over a decade. It has been a fantastic experience to first usher programme in the HD revolution in 2011 with Dolby Audio, followed by delivering a live offerings cricket broadcast in Dolby Audio and many others. We are excited to be working reach millions of people in Europe, CIS, with the very talented team to explore & deliver enhanced audio experiences to Africa and North America every day Star India’s viewers”. via five satellites and provide them For Dream11 IPL 2020, Dolby also carried out a complete assessment of the with independent news and Stadiums, Pre-production, Post-Production, Audio Production, and transmission information. chain for live and post-produced content. The assessment involved studying the In addition, a long-term entire audio workflow from its origin at the ground, through the Audio Mixing partnership for the SES satellites Astra tables to transmission and editing stations, playout, and final delivery. Some of 3B (for Eastern Europe) and SES-5 (for the audio processes and workflows were redesigned to better synergize audio from various sources like live matches, on-air promos, and advertising content Africa) was concluded in June of this was optimized for native as well as enhanced 5.1 viewing experience, to ensure year. It means DW English can also be that the final audio delivered to the consumer was consistent and maintained a seen in HD quality in these regions. uniform loudness level & clarity regardless of its origin. Extensive audio training modules were designed and delivered to production and technical staff to ensure that they were fully equipped with the knowledge to handle the complexities of live sports broadcasting especially during the Dream11 IPL 2020.

BROADCAST AND FILM 11 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 NEWS

NBA Allegation of BARC Manipulating Viewership Rating of Republic TV NBA is shocked to see balances and the ability of a few within BARC to easily change the ratings as they hundreds of WhatsApp messages that deemed fit, making the system subjective to the whims and fancy of the have been exchanged between BARC management versus being an objective transparent system. The Oversight India’s former CEO – Mr Partho Committee with no representation of broadcasters and just consultants paid by Dasgupta and Mr BARC is an eye wash to show autonomy. NBA Arnab Goswami, strongly demands that action should be taken by Managing Director BARC against these dubious actors, legal and police ARG Outlier Media action should also be taken against those who are Pvt. Ltd. These responsible for ruining the credibility of BARC and messages clearly threaten to damage the credibility of the news establish collusion broadcast business have hitherto gone about their between the two in business without any consequences or fear thereof. manipulating ratings to garner greater viewership numbers for Republic TV month after month by fraudulently manually reducing ratings of other channels to give Republic TV an unfair advantage. These WhatsApp messages not only reflect manipulation of ratings but is also about power play. The messages exchanged go on to refer It is indeed with dismay that NBA notes the fact that in spite of having a to the appointment of Secretaries, damning verdict in its possession since July 2020, BARC sat on the forensic Cabinet reshuffle, access to the PMO report for several months, which brought to light these manipulations. This is a and the workings of the Ministry of glaring example of the systemic lack of transparency that has prevailed right since Information and Broadcasting. This the inception of BARC. Not only did BARC not share the data with NBA on only confirms the many and continuous grounds of confidentiality, no action was taken against the erring broadcaster, no allegations made by NBA in the last 4 penalty and no Discom proceedings were initiated. In fact, even after the new years that ratings were being management took charge, wide scale manipulation has continued. manipulated by a non-NBA member NBA’s Board demands that BARC: broadcaster in connivance with  Makes a clear statement about the veracity of its ratings in the period BARC’s top management officials. during the audit and also conducts an audit of the Hindi news genre. NBA demands that IBF membership of Republic TV should be  Expunge the data of the erring broadcaster and restate the real position of suspended with immediate effect till the rankings of all news channels from the beginning. case related to manipulation of ratings  Explain the concrete steps that have been taken by BARC in the last three is pending in the court. NBA Board is months to secure the ratings. also of the view that the manipulation  Bring transparency to the process and create a system whereby any changes of ratings by Republic TV has to the ratings that impacts the news ecosystem is done only after due immensely damaged the reputation of consultation with a BARC Sub Committee of NBA nominees. the broadcast industry and therefore it  Explain what penal actions are provided for in the BARC constitution against should be kept out of BARC rating broadcasters who have indulged in manipulation of ratings of this magnitude system till final court order. and what action will be taken in the current case. NBA has already conveyed to BARC that ratings are unreliable as far  Ratings of news channels remain suspended till such time all details of such as we can see and should continue to actions taken by BARC are shared with the stakeholders. be suspended in light of the recent NBA’s Board also wants to place on record that the corrupt data released revelations which shows the arbitrary month after month has not only led to reputation loss but has also caused huge nature of functioning at BARC. It financial losses to news broadcasters for which BARC is duty bound to give an shows that there are no checks and explanation. 

BROADCAST AND FILM 12 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 TECHNOLOGY

BROADCAST TECHNOLOGY TRENDS IN 2021

AI driven experiences, new cloud deployments, super-aggregation are key tech trends in broadcast sector which will be seen in 2021. All of this will result in consumers getting in the driving seat and industry will see great collaboration to create aggregated content and device experiences.

Consumer behaviour saw global streaming platform Operators are reinventing dramatic changes in 2020 due to the producers. themselves as content aggregators Covid 19 impact. 2021 offering their own linear will see broadcasters and VOD assets. And gaining an insight on all of them are boosting the behaviour pattern their capabilities to help of the consumers and consumers discover preparing a game plan assets such as on how to effectively podcasts, games, produce traditional books and related content and also merchandising using a increase on-demand single platform. AI- services. powered UIs that learn Globally VOD every customer’s likes and SVOD accelerated, and dislikes will drive a linear TV viewing was new generation of ultra- limited. 2020 proved a dynamic, highly difficult year for personalised user content productions experiences and broadcasters In 2021 there will be found they had lesser more than one billion resources, budgets and smart TVs installed flexibility to adapt than worldwide, as we

BROADCAST AND FILM 13 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 TECHNOLOGY

representing the next frontier of competition.” The technology priorities list for leaders in media has included a move to the cloud for some time now, but where that item fell on the list varied widely. Media and technology professionals often found the time to move their infrastructure to the cloud in between their day-to-day responsibilities. This year, the pandemic shifted priorities demanding a fast move to the cloud. This means that technology leaders in 2021 will continue to focus on creating efficiencies. Many are looking to what is known as the sharing economy as a means for this needed boost in productivity. Challenges for which standards can provide a solution involve cloud and multi-cloud infrastructure. In parallel, microservices-based software architecture for media systems will gain traction. Both developments fuel the possibility of a shared economy and continue to move towards a world Furthermore, the key SMPTE and its members are prepared where consumers are more reliant on companies selling media streaming to bring order to these exciting, and at TV delivered over the internet. devices are also selling access to an times chaotic, new technology Having an installed base of TVs with entertainment ecosystem, which advancements. built-in smart functionality is the new aggregates content services, takes AI/ML is a huge business today entertainment battleground for payment for media content, and with applications on the industrial vendors. It’s currently being contested integrates effectively with smart enterprise sector. The most deployed by LG with WebOS and Samsung with home technology. These platforms, use of AI/ML is for video analytics to Tizen, as well as Android TV, which is including the likes of Google, Apple enhance metadata generation and being adopted by many brands at a and Amazon, have a significant improve what is otherwise a very low cost, high quality interface, with impact on how today’s consumer manual process. some degree of customisation and communicates, shops and enjoys We’re unlikely to see 8K personalisation. leisure time. streaming in 2021. We are still in This has opened up the market A TV is therefore no longer a early adoption of 4K. On a mobile for media streamers like Google siloed entertainment device and must device there’s barely a reason to Chromecast, Amazon Firestick and at least work with these operating stream 8K since you can’t tell the Apple TV box to improve the user systems. The seamless ability to difference between that and the experience. We expect that the connect with the OS of choice for a image quality of HD let alone 4K installed base of media streamers will consumer is fast becoming an signal. Device manufacturers and increase worldwide to nearly 300 important reason to choose one brand encoding partners are working to million by 2024. of TV or accessory over another, build out 8K media. 

BROADCAST AND FILM 14 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 COLOUR GRADING

RAHUL PURAV

FUTUREWORKS DELIVERS QUALITY REMOTE COLOUR GRADING FOR AMAZON PRIME’S TANDAV WEB SERIES

Remote Production is increasingly becoming prevalent in the post- production business. Tandav, an Amazon web series relied on FutureWorks Media to deliver remote production. Rahul Purav, Senior Colourist & Director of Imaging at FutureWorks Media Ltd and the team of artists delivered the colour grading for Tandav using FilmLight’s Baselight grading software and the monitoring was done using Dolby PRM 4200 monitor.

BROADCAST AND FILM 15 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 COLOUR GRADING

Tandav is an Indian web series on Amazon Prime Video, directed by Ali Abbas Zafar. Saif Ali Khan portrays the role of a powerful politician in the series that started streaming from 15 January 2021 on Amazon Prime Video. This nine-episode series features Sunil Grover, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Dimple Kapadia, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Dino Morea, and Anup Soni. Rahul Purav, Senior Colourist & Director of Imaging at Future Works Media Ltd shares his insight on the challenges he faced on the colour grading Tandav and how he executed a seamless look for the whole series. “It was a challenging project with a specific teal and orange palette, travelling through elegant palaces down to the rustic dark neighbourhood exposing various environments and situations. Tandav depicts a strong visual language directed by Ali Abbas Zafar and captured by Karol Stadnik. One of the most notable feature of this project was that the entire grading was done remotely... Karol was in Warsaw and Ali was in his hometown. We could only achieve this with a carefully crafted and aligned visual workflow. We were interacting live during the grading session... It’s certainly a milestone achieved where the DOP and Director never came to the studio for approvals. Approvals were done remotely for the entire season. The grading was done using FilmLight’s Baselight colour grading software and monitored on Dolby Professional Reference Monitor - PRM 4200 series. The colour grading was done at FutureWorks Media Ltd.” Leading global content creators, studios and OTT’s rely on FutureWorks expert artists and technologists to deliver world class services. FutureWorks is a leader in end to end film production, from visual effects and picture-sound post production, to the supply of high precision cameras and lenses. With a dedicated team of over 300 talented artists, spread across

multiple integrated facilities in India, FutureWorks is recognised as a trusted partner by platforms worldwide. Talking about delivering the entire season working remotely, Colorist Rahul Purav shared, “Adapting to these new processes and workflows is certainly going to be the ‘new normal’ in the post production business.” Accolades to the entire FutureWorks Post-Production, Sound, Camera & VFX teams for their support in midst of this pandemic. Amazing teamwork! 

BROADCAST AND FILM 16 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 TV PRODUCTION

THE FUTURE OF PRODUCTION IN THE AGE OF MEDIA CHOICE

Introduction man on the moon, and the TV industry innovations are necessary to keep up It is easy to regurgitate the same was there to show the world. with rapid fragmentation. We are seeing message about how the TV industry is Engineering excellence in broadcasting more platforms, devices, markets, going through a massive period of has marched in lockstep with audiences, and versions of content change. It is a theme that has been well technology right up to the internet than at any point in media history. It’s covered and generally agreed. revolution – which has proven the not the volume of content that is However, the less acknowledged fact biggest disruptor event in our transforming the marketplace but the is that the TV production sheer variety being demanded world has struggled to keep – and met. We live in the age pace with the intertwined of media choice and it is drivers of technological making the complexity of advancement and evolving producing programs of all consumer behavior. Granted, types – especially live TV – there has been significant more challenging than ever. innovation, especially over The COVID-19 crisis and the last decade with the move lockdown have massively towards IP and software- accelerated this process. defined systems, but the Content producers have had fundamental processes for to set aside familiar ways of many top-tier broadcasters are doing things – once seen by broadly the same as they were many in the industry as sacred in the TV golden era of the cows – to ensure safety, social 1960s and ‘70s. distancing and greater cost The foundations of efficiency in the face of ongoing economic uncertainty. the TV industry were built on industry’s hundred-year history. successful engineering: the Innovation has been at the industry’s Underlying market challenges development of a consistently reliable very core – as long as it has not put the To put into context just how platform to enable creativity and business model at risk. dramatically the industry has shifted – ultimately deliver a sustainable The industry has reached a and its likely direction – you can look business model. In 1969, NASA put a point, however, where bolder at three sets of statistics:

BROADCAST AND FILM 17 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 TV PRODUCTION

1) Fragmentation: In 1985, five types is fundamental to the continued costs have gone up, so have the years before commercial internet success of broadcasters – and also production values. And there are still services, the three largest TV networks their online competitors. significant events and major paydays: in the United States accounted for 45% take the Super Bowl, where a 30-second Shifting demand and rising of American household audiences in ad spot can command as much as $5 primetime. By 2009, the share of the big costs million – or more than 40 times the four – even with the addition of Fox – The ‘Days of our Lives’ stat is typical US average. had dropped to barely 30%. Based on particularly noteworthy. The fact that Many of these statistics Nielsen data, in primetime the the longest continuously running show reference the US market. big four linear broadcasters However, the same trends are have a combined single-digit mirrored across the globe – share of total potential TV and even more magnified in viewers today. The fact is some markets. In Japan, for traditional linear TV is no example, primetime linear TV longer the unquestionable viewing rose to more than dominant medium, so 71% of households before the broadcasters must learn new millennium – a figure that has creation and delivery since slid below 60% and is methods to thrive in the more declining rapidly. In the UK, diversified media landscape. the average amount of broadcast TV watched has 2) Revenue decline: In fallen by 25% over the last 1965, the big three networks eight years and among 16-24- commanded around $50,000 year-olds, it has dropped by a for a “primetime minute” of TV whopping 50%. advertising. Adjusted for The counterpoint to this inflation, this equates to in the US produces five episodes of slightly gloomy outlook is that overall around $440,000 in today’s money. In scripted drama a week for less than a viewing has risen. In response, we as 2019, the average national 30-second million dollars – compared to the $6 an industry are producing more video US TV spot-ad cost $115,000 – a drop million-an-episode price tag for the content than at any point in history of roughly half for a minute of admittedly more complex and cinematic across a significantly broader and advertising. At a time when a recent ‘Game of Thrones’ – is a testament to growing range of distribution survey found that 60% of viewers the efficiency of its production process. platforms. The audiences are not as big, download or record shows so they can The trouble is not every production will but there are more of them – with skip commercials, the historic be that streamlined – and for many overall video content consumption monetization model of traditional live primetime programs, the quality across both TV and digital combined TV is facing an existential threat. required is at an entirely different level. rising by 6.6% between 2014 and 2019, 3) Escalation in production costs: Indeed, in other areas of TV according to eMarketer research. In 1973, the average daytime TV soap production, costs have seen much more Entertainment industry analyst Variety opera in the US, such as the ‘Young significant rises – even as technology Business Intelligence estimates that, in and the Restless’ or the ‘Days of our has attempted to aid in reducing costs. 2002, there were 138 movies and TV Lives,’ cost around $60,000 a week to Gameshows, dramas and shows produced by the US TV industry. produce – or the equivalent of $360,000 documentaries have each seen a cost By 2019, that number had reached 1,178 today. In 2010 a ‘Days of our Lives’ increase alongside a viewership decline – a figure eclipsed in India, where TV producer disclosed that the show cost and corresponding ad revenue erosion, and film productions have passed the $750,000 a week to make (the 2020 as fragmentation has given viewers and 2,000 mark. equivalent of nearly $900,000 per week). advertisers alike more options than ever. Specialty programs are finding With daily soap operas seen as the most One bright spot is live sports – which their niche on subscriptionbased over- cost-conscious end of the production for many broadcasters has been the the-top (OTT) services with very spectrum, it is clear that controlling anchor for their sustainability for targeted audiences. Alternative and production costs for programs of all several decades. Although production smaller sports and events that once

BROADCAST AND FILM 18 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 TV PRODUCTION struggled to get on TV because they broadcasters shifting their strategy to broadcast TV technology runs into the could not deliver the mass audiences become more video-on-demand (VoD) hundreds of billions – and many the major TV networks demanded in centric – as we have seen with the broadcasters can sweat these assets their glory days are now finding introduction of services such as CBS for a significant amount of time. themselves in demand – often globally. All Access, Pluto TV, and Disney+. At Besides, certain processes are still more Throughout the world, broadcasters the same time, these owners have efficient, faster, cheaper, and more and streaming services are dramatically looked for ways to offset stagnant or reliable via local, highly specialized ramping up their content production lower advertising revenue. hardware. along with the price they will pay for Despite the changes the Some may suggest that rights – and the content owners are industry has seen in the last decade, traditional TV is dead and that OTT/ more than happy to adjust their rates production costs have remained high VoD is the future. It may be at some accordingly. – or in some cases have continued to point, but the average US person still Across the globe, the media rise. When it comes to producing TV watches more than four hours of linear industry is seeing several powerful, content, yield per asset – which has and timeshifted broadcast TV every interconnected dynamics at work. dramatically come down amid the on- day – within the nearly six hours of Falling viewership on traditional TV, demand and online streaming total daily video viewing. Live sports combined with rising consumption of revolution – has become an area of and news, plus mass-media events, on-demand content, means that many intense focus for forward-looking media such as World Cups, Oscars, Royal giants of the TV world have needed to organizations. As a result, reaching new Weddings, Super Bowls, elections, and rethink their business model. This has levels of production efficiency – and culturally transcendent TV moments led to some owners of national flexibility – is rapidly becoming the (e.g. Game of Thrones final episode name of the game today. simulcast to tens of millions of viewers across 170 countries) are shared The evolution of production experiences that are now often technology and processes worldwide in scale. TV still accounts The challenge of rising for one-third of the global ad spending production costs is, in part, due to and is worth $166bn annually. the need to deliver content across Although wounded by streaming and many more platforms than traditional social media, broadcast TV is very linear broadcast. Production must much alive and kicking. now scale vertically and horizontally across formats, versions, language, Inside the factory device types, and platforms to meet Part of the solution to the rising an increasingly diverse audience costs and complexity of modern TV footprint. However, there is no quick production can be found in lessons fix for rising production costs, and learned from other industries, especially revenues are certainly not manufacturing. Although TV puts a lot increasing to counteract the more creativity into an intangible additional expense. ‘product’, content production shares Some may argue that throwing some of a factory’s traits – from the everything into the cloud is the automotive industry, for instance. As solution. Remote production via the it has evolved, the auto sector has seen cloud has many advantages, periods of major competitive disruption including more flexibility and the that have forced companies to embrace ability to scale up (and down) methods that allow workers to produce quickly within an OPEX model. both a greater variety and quantity of However, it is still technically vehicles with fewer staff. Take General unfeasible for specific use cases. It Motors (GM), today a top-five car is also not always financially brand globally that in the 1970s was sensible when considering that the the world’s largest private company, existing investment made in employing nearly 350,000 staff in North

BROADCAST AND FILM 19 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 TV PRODUCTION

America and producing roughly three for the 2019 million cars each year. After reinventing Championships, itself at several points, today GM makes SVT leveraged approximately 7.7 million cars while only extensive employing 164,000 staff, even as the remote number of models has grown production considerably – along with far greater capabilities factory customization options. instead, with up Over the intervening years, GM, to 80 camera in common with the wider positions and a manufacturing world, has adopted more largely IP-based lean production methods, automated its workflow factories, and used advanced software across video, to streamline its production workflow audio and data through design, logistics, quality and — transmitted test, and many other areas. Similar to SVT’s trends are happening across a broad production range of manufacturing sectors as facility in Stockholm, over 600 km away, going. The way viewers – particularly business leaders strive to deliver for production and playout. those in younger demographic groups products faster, with broader choice, Broadcasters such as SVT are – mix and match platforms and devices and for a lower cost. not alone. Across the industry, we see is having a fundamental impact on an ongoing shift towards technologies production needs and will continue to More with less and workflows that are designed to do so. Fragmentation and demand for The parallels with TV enable more remote production and choice will also drive change, with production are clear, as broadcasters achieve more while limiting or even remote production supported by cloud strive to meet consumer demands for reducing costs. This shift includes the technologies playing an increasingly greater immediacy, choice, and quality. widespread adoption of IP as a greater important role. We see examples of the drive to do more flexible and scalable replacement for with less in live sports events. Take, Beyond the Golden Age SDI and more use of software rather for instance, the FIS Alpine World Ski The architecture that was than dedicated hardware to not only Championships, the largest winter designed for the pioneers of TV of the reduce cost but to enable more sports event outside of the Winter 1960s was built for mass market linear automation. Olympics. Traditionally, SVT, the broadcast. And it does the job to Swedish National Broadcaster, would Charting the right direction incredible levels of resiliency. need to build a complete production To understand why this shift is Engineers built production “factory” at the ski resort town of Åre so vital requires a candid view of where centers that can scale to provide live to cover the 12-day event. However, we are as an industry and where we are coverage of vast and complex events

Enabling record breaking innovation Grass Valley’s unique DirectIP capability was central to SVT’s workflow for the 2019 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, enabling the XCU base stations to be situated in the central equipment room in Stockholm, while the cameras were in the snowy hills of Åre. DirectIP hugely simplifies the interconnections that need to be made, allowing all the camera signals to connect straight into the XCU. This enabled the shaders to match the cameras, without any delay – with fewer people traveling and instead working in the comfort of a Stockholm master control room. This hybrid workflow also allowed SVT to leverage Grass Valley hardware assets it already had at its Stockholm facility, including SDI routers, multiviewers, and signal processors, to deliver a high-quality production while reducing costs. In total, SVT delivered content from 60 remote cameras simultaneously: setting a record for the largest ever remotely produced event. Over the 12 days of the competition, SVT transferred over 8,000 TB of data and roughly 10,000 hours of HD video without failure.

BROADCAST AND FILM 20 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 TV PRODUCTION

The future: a journey, not a destination Grass Valley’s position in the TV industry – six decades of building relationships with over 4,000 broadcasters across 230 countries – gives us a unique insight into the media industry. We see the future of production not as a destination but an ongoing journey. On the technology side, we see software, IP, cloud, managed services, virtualization, commodity, and bespoke hardware – even artificial intelligence – all forming part of the direction of travel for broadcasters and other content creators. However, when we talk to media technology business leaders regularly through our GVX customer council and other forums where we engage with clients, they all convey that they are at different stages in their journey. And most are proposing different routes that suit their business model, country dynamic, and overarching strategic vision. Those outside of the world of TV may assume like the Olympics or national elections. Outside broadcasting (OB) a uniform picture between broadcasters, but when workflows bring live sport into the living room with visceral impact. you look deeper, it becomes abundantly clear that Contributors power 24-hour news coverage by feeding live from almost every organization is moving along a unique across the globe via satellite – instantly. trajectory. Any “solution” that aims to improve All these engineering feats are as valuable today as they production efficiency must have the flexibility to adapt were decades ago. However, many are overkill or unnecessary for to each organization’s own tempo and this realization producing reality TV and complementary content around events, is at the heart of the GV Media Universe philosophy. which now accounts for a significant proportion of TV The GV Media Universe is an ecosystem that programming. In an era where more people are watching the top recognizes the trends and challenges faced by the 100 YouTubers than the entire primetime TV line-up, media industry and strives toward a future where much of industry players must look to realign production resources to the physical plant that exists today – like that within match monetization and viewership. a studio or OB truck – could be offered as a software equivalent. Broadcaster diversity At the heart of the Media Universe ecosystem It is crucial to keep in mind, however, that each broadcaster is our cloudbased Agile Media Processing Platform or content producer is at a different point and dealing with its (GV AMPP), where we are creating a family of own unique circumstances. At one extreme are national virtualized applications including multiviewers, router broadcasters such as PBS and the BBC, which must maintain an panels, test-signal generators, switchers, graphics extensive live news broadcasting capability but, in some cases, renderers, clip players, and audio mixers and limited scope to generate additional revenue due to their public processors. All of these virtualized applications can service charters or state-funded status. In the middle are be deployed quickly to support a wide range of independent TV broadcasters, such as Canal+, ITV, and Globo, workflows. Built on a microservices architecture which rely on advertising revenue to thrive in a highly competitive based on five core technologies — fabric, timing, market. Many are now exploring multiplatform distribution, connectivity, identity, and streaming — GV AMPP including subscription video on demand, while balancing lower enables elastic media services and directly addresses advertising revenue. Further along the spectrum are multichannel many of the issues that complicate common IP and video programming distributors (MVPDs) such as Comcast, cloud deployments. GV AMPP delivers seamless DirecTV, and Sky, which own cable and satellite delivery and network connectivity, timing and ultra-low latency, have also built significant content offerings – with live sports with the overriding goal of “doing more with less”. across multiplatform as a major driver. At the far end are the specialists that focus purely on

BROADCAST AND FILM 21 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 TV PRODUCTION distributed and OTT live sports content, such as DAZN and BEIN, with a focus on multiplatform and direct to consumer business model. With a major investment in rights, production costs need to be trimmed to deliver profitability. Joining this group are major sports brands such as NFL, NBA, Indian Premier League Cricket and Formula E, which are all exploring direct to consumer subscription OTT options. These innovators vary from those with very traditional, broadcaster-centric infrastructure to a few that have and the focus has been on absolute within its scope, along with many embraced a largely managed services reliability and peak scale. The need to dependencies. But the benefits of a provider model with little hands-on deliver more channels or increases in software-centric and cloud approach involvement. quality requirements, such as the can be highlighted by looking at just a These are just a few archetypes. transition to HD and UHD, has helped single example – and showing how the If you can think of a combination of prompt each refresh cycle. The transition delivers a tangible set of different audience segment, rationale for this approach was that benefits: Master control (MC), which distribution and monetization bespoke hardware offered a is the technical hub of a broadcast approaches, there is probably a media guaranteed level of performance and operation. A master control room organization testing that model suited the CAPEX heavy buy-cycle (MCR) is used to switch between feeds somewhere in the world. However, they that broadcasters are traditionally coming from different production are all embracing IP, software, geared around. control rooms (PCRs) and other pieces automation, and remote production to of content, such as clips and Software evolution create more content, faster, and at a commercials. Moreover, master At the heart of all these lower cost per hour. control’s function may also include the hardware elements, however, is insertion of other branding elements, Benefits of a production embedded software. And as such as logos and lower thirds, and innovation technology has progressed, the the regionalization of content. We must, nonetheless, computational power of COTS servers At the heart of the MCR are recognize that broadcasters and other within cloudbased environments that hardware elements such as our content producers still face an utilize virtualization offers a viable engineering challenge. Content alternative geared towards an on- Masterpiece 12G-SDI master control production at its most basic equates demand and OPEX focused model. switcher. Based on a 10x 12G-SDI to: we film it, we edit it, we deliver it. It What’s more, as the consumer has inputs for single link UHD connectivity sounds simple but finding ways to carry embraced on-demand content, so has plus 40x 1080p/1080i/720p inputs, the out these tasks more efficiently and, TV technology – and many of the unit works across multiple formats, potentially, for less CAPEX and/or broadcast functions that were only includes flexible audio capabilities, OPEX, requires shifting the technology really viable as highly specialized channel branding, and multichannel stack towards a more software-centric hardware can now be delivered as video program distribution, as well as position. software-only implementation. The dynamic visual effects. Masterpiece At a fundamental level, first wave initially provided these units are highly regarded platforms, traditional TV technology has been from on-premise appliances, but as installed at thousands of locations built around integrating discrete and global IP WAN connectivity has around the world. However, highly bespoke hardware elements – grown, the cloud now offers reliable organizations that have already moved and, more recently, software parts – to delivery for many of these production to an IP-centric workflow can leverage accommodate a specific workflow. use cases. many of the capabilities offered by a Several common standards, such as The production to playout Masterpiece powered MCR cloud- SDI and ASI, have acted as the glue, workflow has tens of potential elements based platform.

BROADCAST AND FILM 22 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 TV PRODUCTION

Blizzard: Master control in the cloud An early adopter of this cloud distributed remote production. Then, America and Asia, and the operation MCR innovation is Blizzard GV AMPP Master Control was used ran around the clock. Entertainment, an American video for master control switching and The Blizzard use case game developer and publisher that regionalization to English, French, provides an example of a new type of is also a broadcaster of global Korean, and Chinese, with each production model, and the master professional esports tournaments for broadcast containing localized control is just one element of a radical the Overwatch League (OWL) and commercials, branding and graphics. shift. With the GV AMPP Master the Call of Duty League (CDL). Due The job roles for Blizzard’s at-home Control application, any customers to COVID health concerns, in March productions were the same as onsite can create configurable virtual of 2020, Blizzard decided it needed with a truck, with one major master control rooms, accessible via to produce its broadcasts in an difference: a single producer would a web-based interface from anywhere entirely remote fashion. All necessary take on the roles of director, producer, in the world. GV AMPP meters usage, production and master control and technical director, as well as and each tool — switcher, audio functions were virtualized via GV monitoring the audio levels within the mixer, multi-viewer, clip player — has AMPP Master Control, allowing the GV AMPP interface. Each OWL and a different metered rate associated entire production crew to manage CDL production also featured one or with it. Broadcasters are charged only these events from home, without any two graphics operators, one or two for the features activated and the physical switchers or audio replay operators, and an operator for amount of time each element is used. consoles. the clip player (for playback of music They utilize the resources they need IP camera feeds from the on- or video clips). There was also a six- and then incur no further costs. screen talent and the in-game video person observer team (five observers When an event is over, the user can were sent straight to the cloud, where and one in-game director), along with take a snapshot of the configuration, the production was performed for casters and talent. Blizzard used GV thus retaining the ability to recall it every match-up using GV AMPP for AMPP for OWL matches in North before the next event.

BROADCAST AND FILM 23 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 TV PRODUCTION

Final thoughts be the emergence of content is embracing the changing nature of Production is heading towards “factories” that can handle a range of production. Blizzard provides a glimpse a future where flexibility and efficiency outputs across an array of live events, of the many projects Grass Valley is will be as crucial as reliability. The platforms, and geographies. In key live working on with major broadcasters, option to change workflows, utilize on- content areas such as news and less sports leagues and service providers. demand resources, and move between frequent live events such as sports, These companies are all exploring new OPEX and CAPEX business models will concerts, awards and elections, ways to get more value out of their become essential options for both traditional broadcasters and newer production workflows, freeing them up traditional broadcasters and new players alike will look for partners and to concentrate on developing more entrants to the market. creative and engaging While the trend to remote programming. production was already well At Grass Valley, we also underway among leading understand the need for broadcasters, the coronavirus technology partnerships crisis has acted as a catalyst for that bring specialist employing technologies that expertise in certain key enable it. There are technical disciplines to drive challenges such as managing success. Our vision is that latency and timing, and we and other pioneers will delivering the orchestration exist within a broad needed to allow the physical universe of technologies world of studio facilities and OB that utilize core open trucks to merge with the ethereal standards along with world of a software-centric proprietary systems to production model. Innovators such as ecosystems to help them navigate the ensure that production can transition Grass Valley are working within AIMS complexities of production. The aim for towards greater efficiency and scale and SMPTE to ensure standards are many is to address the fundamental with more options around CAPEX or adopted as required. These Yield Per Asset issue by creating more OPEX. With the demand for content collaborations have aided industry- content, more efficiently and more cost- showing no signs of abating, only wide efforts to standardize the SMPTE effectively – while also achieving organizations that are ready to embrace ST2110 Suite, and the same spirit has greater flexibility. innovation and systems that foster it fueled Grass Valley’s development of As a company with deep can hope to thrive, as terms such as the cloud-based AMPP platform. experience in broadcast technology “remote production” and “cloud-based The outcome of this across both traditional hardware and production” simply become evolutionary journey in production will newer software platforms, Grass Valley “production”. 

About the author: Marco Lopez, General Manager of Live Production As general manager of live production, Marco oversees all aspects of this critically important segment of the Grass Valley business. He is responsible for accelerating innovation across key strategic areas, such as remote production, IP-connected live workflows and virtualized media workflows as well as content creation solutions, such as cameras, production switchers and replay. From 2018 to 2019, as CEO at ChyronHego, Marco guided the company’s efforts to develop and launch tools that easily capture, search, aggregate, curate, and ultimately visualize live data to improve viewer enjoyment. Prior to this, following the successful acquisition and integration of Grass Valley with Miranda, Marco held the role of president of Grass Valley from April 2014 to December 2017. Marco would like to acknowledge the critical input and assistance of Chuck Meyer, technology fellow and Robert Erickson, strategic account manager for venues in the research and writing of this paper.

BROADCAST AND FILM 24 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 TRENDS

MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT IN INDIA – DIGITALLY EMPOWERED!

The media and entertainment industry in India continues to undergo significant transformation. The rapid proliferation of mobile access is enabling on-demand, anytime-anywhere content consumption nationwide. For global players across the media and entertainment value chain looking for scale and a vibrant growth market, the Indian media and entertainment industry provides an exciting opportunity to reach and engage with digitally empowered consumers.

Mobile leading the platform Indian consumer base, as well as succeed in these regional markets, race designing packages and pricing plans customization is critical. With a population of 1.3 billion, for services that align with local Global media companies a tele-density approaching 89% demand characteristics. recognize this imperative and many are of households, 723 million already producing their internet subscribers and nearly programming in multiple Indian 400 million smartphone users, languages to increase reach. India’s telecom industry is poised Along with localizing content, to become the primary platform international streaming service for content distribution and providers are also exploring consumption. Entertainment various pricing options for price apps are driving significant sensitive consumers. consumer engagement — India Foreign studios are ranks as one of the fastest- collaborating with Indian growing app markets globally. companies to co-produce, The thriving mobile environment distribute and market content in India is creating exciting new geared to appeal to distinct avenues for media and Indian audiences. They are entertainment companies to releasing trailers in a variety of reach a significantly larger addressable Local flavor creates a winning languages, hiring Bollywood stars to market that now extends across the edge dub local versions as well as to country. To capitalize on this India’s many regional and local promote content on social media. opportunity, industry participants also language markets offer exciting growth We expect localization and recognize the importance of finding fundamentals for global and domestic the focus on regional markets to be unique ways to appeal to the diverse media companies alike. However, to a significant priority for global

BROADCAST AND FILM 25 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 TRENDS media companies in the coming the affordability of eSports streaming Indians will need to ensure they years. services and improved internet take appropriate steps to comply Sports industry gaining steam bandwidth is driving this growth. A with the bill range of start-ups have entered the The sports segment in India is  Separately, the recent budget Indian online gaming and eSports flourishing with the help of several proposals are likely to reduce space, establishing eSports as an government initiatives focused on the compliance burden for emerging sector for investment. As building sporting infrastructure/ foreign companies earning eSports viewership continues to facilities and encouraging the income through license fees in grow we expect more global interest development of sporting talent in the India. The withholding tax rate in this segment. country. The for technical fees as segment also offers well as withholding global media tax provisions for e- companies with commerce operators several attractive are also expected to opportunities for be reduced investment,  Finally, for including broadcast global studios and rights across production houses, platforms, marketing the establishment of and sponsorship the Film Facilitation opportunities and Office to support investments in single window sporting franchises. clearance is Beyond cricket, expected to make other sports leagues India an even including more attractive badminton, field destination for film hockey and kabaddi making are undergoing significant growth and A conducive regulatory Conclusion offer relatively new and interesting environment for foreign The Indian media and areas for investment for international investors entertainment companies looking to tap into the India generally offers a industry offers a compelling Indian sports market. conducive regulatory environment for opportunity for global media players global investors. To underscore the value looking to tap into a vast, vibrant and There have been a few recent global media companies see in this diverse market — a market that is now segment in India, the battle for sports developments that global companies being cast wide open with the rapid need to be aware of: streaming rights continues to be red proliferation of mobile connectivity hot with global OTT providers and  The Government of India and streaming consumption. While social networks competing with recently introduced the the potential upside is significant, domestic companies for rights to Personal Data Protection Bill the sheer complexity and diversity of stream live sporting events. which regulates the processing the Indian market demands that eSports transforming the of citizens’ personal data by the global players focus on localizing future of gaming government, companies their content and/or services. Though currently nascent, incorporated in India and Whether the chosen strategy is to eSports in India is witnessing levels foreign companies dealing with build, buy or partner, understanding of interest and excitement seen in personal data of customers in the many nuances of the Indian other markets around the world. A India. Global companies market is now more crucial than ever huge millennial fanbase, coupled with processing the personal data of before. 

BROADCAST AND FILM 26 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 AD MARKET REPORT

ALL THINGS DIGITAL

Digital to be the torchbearer for growth in advertising

India’s advertising market is spend whereas TV’s 23%, given sharply, given the entry of global over- estimated to double over the next five demographics in India (the big mass the-top (OTT) giants to make large- years, driven by market with several languages), we scale regional content. OTT’s prefer 1) huge pent-up demand in some believe the share of mediums like TV web series over paying premium for sectors (travel, retail & tourism), and print will remain higher than global direct OTT release of a feature film, due which were negatively affected average. to during COVID-19, 1) web series being more binge worthy in nature 2) an increase in the number of Expected ad spend share 2) lower per hour content cost while advertisers (SME-led); as on today, by FY25E (%) producing a web series vs 98% of advertising is held by only acquiring a film 500 advertisers, and 3) a more loyal customer base, which 3) a surge in digital advertising led has a strong recall for the new by favorable demographics (better season of any particular web data speed, smartphone series. penetration & increased time Direct digital release of large- spent). scale cinematic films on OTT is a tactical India’s advertising market is phenomenon and a mere COVID-19 estimated to post a CAGR of 16% over Source: Elara Securities Estimate Research trend (lack of availability of new content the next five years (including COVID until three months ago). Success of one base impact), with digital is likely to Content cost will continue to large web series leads to a huge jump grow ~25% CAGR during the same inch up within digital in key performance indicators (KPI), period; the share of digital advertising The shift toward digital content subscription video on demand is estimated to double (v/s pre-COVID has led to anytime and anywhere Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) levels – CY19) toward 44% whereas the convenience; however, the audience revenue, ad revenue and consumption share of the largest ad medium today – base remains largely different for digital dynamics); India’s OTT market will TV – will largely remain stable. TV and TV, which is why we have yet to remain to be freemium based in the advertising may witness a decline see chord-cutting trends on a larger medium term. Content is most important within the ad share post CY25, if digital scale. Content cost on digital will part of an OTT offering to gain scales up further. Globally, digital continue to be much higher than TV, as Customers; India based broadcaster advertising accounts for 61% of ad regional content cost may grow OTT’s have a relatively lower tech cost

BROADCAST AND FILM 27 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 AD MARKET REPORT vs global counterparts, which spend at 8.8%; Jio’s Fiber To The Home offerings over a period of time to as high as 18%-20% of the their revenue (FTTH) offering will be a key driver for ensure it has a large loyal audience on tech/user experience. growth in consumption of content, led base; the shift from B2B to B2C will be Cinema trends in APAC more by enhanced speed offerings. Indian the biggest risk for broadcaster-based consumers remain to be more value- OTT to scale up. favorable than US & UK driven and plans by Jio FTTH will Cinema remains an outing and Our view on listed firms within continue to attract customers, given a socializing trend in Asian countries, large pool of content offerings in the M&E space such as Singapore, Taiwan, China, the various plans. TSP will continue to We maintain our positive stance UAE and India. This means there on India broadcasters (Zee is relatively low or no threat of OTT, Entertainment, SUN TV Network unlike the West (US and UK) India digital video has witnessed a and TV Today Network) based on wherein consumers visit a cinema strong 14.5% CAGR over CY18-20 the near to medium term; however, only to watch a movie. In terms of the potential of re-rating on screen openings too, APAC has valuation multiple remains limited ~88% of screens, which are open unless they offer visibility for vs the US and the EMEA, which building a large-scale digital have opened up only 38% and 24% business. Among these names, we of screens until now, respectively; believe TVT and Z have been able the occupancy cap limitation too to create some initial success on has been removed from markets digital; however, it is not good like China and Taiwan. There have enough for enabling a big rerating. been no changes in terms of Concerns for broadcasters distributor share arrangement with persist: exhibitors in APAC to date despite Source: BCG CII Big Picture Report, December 2020, Elara Securities Research 1) distribution of content over the COVID-19 situation; there is digital – overdependence on a also less likelihood of a highly consolidated telco industry imultaneous release of a film on & aggregators, OTT and cinema in APAC. The US % of screens re-open post COVID-19 market has witnessed a change in 2) an inability to extract a large distributor share and a share in the digital advertising simultaneous release arrangement segment, which is still dominated as the market is already at a mature by social media and sports, stage vs APAC; we do not expect 3) continued investments in digital sizeable changes in distributor content, which is a risky share, simultaneous OTT release proposition, in our view, given the kind of trends to come into India’s competition with global OTT movie industry. giants, Broadcaster OTT may 4) change in any regulations (tariff struggle without telcos order & censorship on digital), Source: Gower Street Report, January 2021, Elara Securities Research which will further impact business Partnerships with telecom negatively, and service providers (TSP) will continue to account for a larger chunk dominate in the OTT partnership 5) converging growth rates in the of SVOD revenue for broadcaster and ecosystem as the former is highly advertising segment and threat of other OTT in the near term; smart TV consolidated vs OTT, which is a highly shift in ad spend, from TV to and smartphones too will support fragmented market; this will lead to digital post CY24. growth of India’s SVOD ecosystem in TSP getting a higher revenue share or We estimate ad growth of 7-8% the medium term. Consumption of long better bargaining power vs OTT apps. YoY for broadcasters post FY22 after form content will only be driven by Customer retention for OTT remains the COVID base normalizes; there may increased wired broadband (fixed line) to be a challenge unless it develops a be some form of upside, which we will penetration, which is low in India today large catalogue of quality content monitor on a medium-term basis. 

BROADCAST AND FILM 28 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 ON-DEMAND CONTENT

CONTENT – RISE OF ON-DEMAND MODELS

Content is the same everywhere. On digital, content can be created segment- wise in different genres. However, the budget will be similar across genres, content and segments. With digital, there is convenience with skipping, choosing shows, anywhere and anytime.

In India, around 40 OTT the Season 2, which enables organic where the family viewing has grown platforms are currently streaming growth of subscriber base for the significantly content, especially SVOD; however, OTT platform. On Sony LIV, Scam 1992 original content is key to gain In India, around 10mn followed India vs Australia series; subscriber base. audience have cut chords during thus, there was significant buzz Every platform has its own COVID-19 lockdown, choosing OTT throughout Q3FY21, gaining journey. Alt Balaji has been SVOD platforms largely due to a variety of subscribers for the SVOD model. since the beginning and hence content. The key remains to keep up In a usual production of driven by originals only rather than the engagement of audiences on the OTT content, feature film duration is acquiring movies. Once the audience OTT platform. TV and OTT can 2.0-2.5 hours while web series is for comes via originals, it is a more coexist at least for the next 8-10 years. eight hours. Hence, each episode is sticky and loyal audience. Once the Earlier men used to explore treated as a feature film and the show clicks in the first season, the OTT content while women had TV’s sequel is the next episode & the initial audience and the buzz it daily soap preferences; however, this Finale is based on which budgets are created via season 1 comes up for trend has changed during COVID-19 decided.

BROADCAST AND FILM 29 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 ON-DEMAND CONTENT

Regional is the next big thing INR 5-10mn per episode or higher on 3) telcos & aggregator OTT on the OTT platform and SunNXT OTT platforms. Production house platforms, and has huge Tamil Film catalogue, which is paid at a mere 10% as fee, but is 4) others, can do well in South India, given the not adequate for making quality which require focus on OTT investment plan of SUNTV over content. originals, as excitement is about web the next two years. South India has Budget per episode on OTT series; hence, changes of saturation are been ahead of North India in terms platforms is inching up to INR 10mn low of TV consumption. South India Direct release of has started to films to OTT is a embrace OTT tactical play while platforms; hence, OTT will continue to INR 1.5bn spend focus on web series for regional OTT content. content. TV The freemium viewership is platform works in continuing to well favor of SVOD to coexist with OTT models whereby the for the next 5-10 first episode is free, years. However, TV and post that it is via content needs some subscription. This innovation from old has helped create a same type of subscriber base. content. Scam 1992 has given Post July, 5x jump on all global OTT business KPI for platforms have Sony LIV, which has started to feature built in positivity for Tamil and Telugu entering the new films. Also, with year with only six uncertainty of originals in FY21, theatre reopening, these producers but FY22 shows the pipeline is huge. per /episode, but this will depend on have started to move OTT platforms Sony LIV will be launching in the legacy and creative vision of for negotiations as they are unable South India by the end of CY21. Euro producer. Also, OTT conviction to sit on a huge working capital 2021, Olympics and India Tour are remains key for budgets being blockage. Big films, such as coming up backed by which Sony LIV sanctioned Drishyam 2 were released directly on will be formidable in the OTT space. Alt Balaji solely works on web OTT as well as Surya, which was a Regulation would have a series, and even movies broken down big hit in theatres. Zee5 has been negative impact on OTT platforms; into episodes to create a web series. It active in Tamil and Telugu content. hence, it is better served if self- has been buying content, which is Amazon Prime had entered the regulated. Clean entertainment cannot syndicated, but all decisions are based COVID-19 phase with a big budget continue forever, given what the on ROI. of ~INR 10bn for content recently, younger generation needs. Youth OTT platforms are divided but instead of web content, only wants dark and real stuff so regulation into movies are being bought. Web series can cap creativity. is focused on regional platforms like 1) broadcast OTT (Zee5, SonyLiv VOD is video on demand i.e. Zee5 while global OTT is not going and Hotstar) which have the consumer choice has to be primary. the web series way advantage of catchup content, Hence, regulations can impact this TV budgets cannot match sports and originals basic intent of SVOD where consumers digital OTT budgets, as they remain 2) international firms (Netflix and are paying to watch on-demand at ~INR 0.25-0.03mn per episode vs Amazon), shows. 

BROADCAST AND FILM 30 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 TV AD TRENDS

TV ADVERTISING: EMERGING TRENDS ACROSS MEDIA

Broader advertising trends within the TV vertical indicate a good recovery, backed by IPL after a big blow during COVID-19 lockdown.

Currently, ad spend stands in pressure, due to lack of consumer slate of advertisers from startups, the good stead after a K-shaped recovery confidence. digital space has come up on TV to with some new ad verticals coming up Within the FMCG basket, Amul build brands. The news genre also is while some old ones are drying up. and Dabur saw 100% growth in ad being used as an advertising medium During the COVID-19 spend as some FMCG firms came to due to better ROI. lockdown, TV had Despite the TRP ratings become an essential scam, advertisers have service for every continued investment, household, witnessing while only news channels record viewership for all are holding back a little, channels; however, on but established news the other hand, the channels have continued advertising spend took a to remain a priority for hit. advertisers. Publishers Revenue has and online platforms need dropped across verticals to figure out regulation, except digital by ~60% advertising for some average, but 40% was brands as several sticky & consistent, companies have 95% largely backed by FMCG revenue from advertising. firms. People had been stocking up all advertise on the news genre, which There can be huge fallout of types of necessities; hence, ad was not the case earlier due to TRP scam on GEC as well. The news verticals like personal hygiene, home preference for general entertainment genre was not dependent on GRP, while appliances, eCommerce, hand channels (GEC) and viewership GEC are highly dependent. sanitizers, tech companies and online patterns. Dabur was the first FMCG On the supply side, content education & gaming saw aggressive advertiser for Republic TV and saw a generation came to a halt with the spending. great response, which led to 3x theatrical shutdown, and that has had On the other side, the travel & increase in ad spend toward the news a severe impact. However, there has tourism space saw a sharp cut, due to genre. been significant advantage to OTT the lockdown hit prevailing even post The number of advertisers has platforms, which gained traction and the unlock. Hospitality remains under come off on an overall basis, but a new new-age platforms attracting

BROADCAST AND FILM 31 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 TV AD TRENDS disproportionate ad spend. Digital IRS, which was quarterly subscriber is going to increase media grew ~30-40% YoY easily service for radio, measurement via significantly. Earlier, with 30-40 OTT during this period. Ad spend moving other forms and engagement are platforms and several TV networks, from traditional to digital has been a being done via research agencies. content demand was high. But clear phenomenon. TV and Out of Home(OOH) are currently audience has become quality Large telco partnership is key not 100% effective; hence, content-specific and willing to spend for OTT, due to dependence on one inefficiencies exist in all mediums but on marquee shows and content. another currently. digital is highly measurable, can easily Anchor properties like Amazon Prime The print industry witnessed improve and become the most-effective and Netflix allow entry via marquee the largest negative impact during this medium for advertisers. Any amount shows and then after that offer a period. However, the auto and spend can show whether it has worked variety of shows and genres healthcare verticals have come back on digital, which can even help The digital ad pie will strongly, with new launches for auto, advertisers revise ad spend as well i.e. continue to be dominated by personal hygiene and Instagram and sanitizer products on Facebook as it is a print media. consumer preferred COVID-19 had platform and accelerated the consequently social decline for print media will continue although pre-COVID to own that pie. as well it was declining Video has a strong gradually. Print reach and might should be 60-70% of soon catch up to TV pre-COVID levels levels for brand- currently. building. Digital has The sharp huge potential for surge in digital trends luxury items. Digital can be attributed to: has become a part of 1) arrival of digital lives; hence, OTT age where it firms and new impacts every platforms like Tiktok single part of an organization, age lower ad spend if inefficiencies can compete with Google and skewness and growing internet increase. Facebook. population, Deliverable for every publisher Projections for FY25: Digital 2) consumers as well as companies will be between reach and engagement is likely to witness a disproportionate realize digital adoption is rather than just reach, which was the growth of overall 150% of base year becoming mandatory, and case earlier. over the next five years and even in 3) digital monetization earlier was The pandemic has forced a other mediums, revenge only via advertising, but today change in traditional mediums. For consumption i.e. huge pent-up will other methods have been radio, it has re-imagined its purpose be seen to some extent assuming the employed, such as subscriptions, where 25-30% growth is from vaccine is administered. The industry ads and eCommerce. listenership. It has moved from just will be INR 1,200-1,400bn by FY25 Digital will trigger new songs to talk shows, podcasts and whereby digital pie being ~35-40% opportunities. Top 500 advertisers audiobooks. Opportunity lies in growth in FY21, and continued which control 90%, but other millions monetization of this content, which growth for the next 4-5 years will of advertisers also have moved to was earlier lethargic. Audio will come clock in INR 700bn, next to TV, radio digital. SME do their own digital up strongly with 25-30% growth. With in excess of INR 32bn and other advertising, but their adoption is syndication of content across mediums growing in the mid-single much slower. However, gradually platforms, radio networks will benefit digits. With linear progression, SME’s have been shifting which was with non-radio scaling up. digital will be much higher than other a trend overseas few years back. The value of a revenue-paying mediums, except TV. 

BROADCAST AND FILM 32 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 SCAT & DTH MARKET ANALYSIS

OVERVIEW OF MARKET GROWTH FOR DTH & CABLE TV IN INDIA

Prabhudas Lilladher, a research based financial services organization in a report said that the pay TV services including cable TV and Direct-to-Home (DTH) will deliver “low single digits” growth in India.

Prabhudas Lilladher,a research the DD Free Dish, the free DTH service cannot be part of the same bouquet,” based financial services orgainzation from Prasar Bharati also registered an Prabhudas Lilladher said in its report. in a report said that the “uptick in DD increase in its subscriber base in 2019, The firm highlighted that the Free Dish” along with the “higher contributing to the restrictive growth broadcasters converted their free-to-air growth in connected TVs” will restrict of pay TV services. (FTA) channels into pay channels in the growth of pay TV homes across Prabhudas Lilladher said that the price range of Rs 0 to Rs 1 and India. The firm has highlighted that the the DD Free Dish is now estimated to included them in the bouquets. pay TV homes, since 2012, have been have a subscriber base of 35 million to Prabhudas Lilladher said that the move on the rise across the country except 38 million with the platform now hosting resulted in the “significant fall” in the for the services registering a dip in 2019. 104 channels as of 2019. reach of these channels with their “ad- “Post NTO 1.0, majority of the revenues plummeted.” DD Free Dish Registers large broadcasters pulled out their FTA “In contrast, channels which Increase in Subscriber remained on the Free Dish Base platform like Big Magic and In 2019, the firm said Dangal saw significant rise in that the pay TV services viewership and ad-revenues,” registered lower growth as Prabhudas Lilladher said in its compared to the previous report. “Thus, all major years due to multiple reasons broadcasters like ZEEL, Sony, including the English Star and TV18 have decided to language viewers shifting to make a comeback on Free Dish Over-the-Top (OTT) with their 2nd rung GEC’s like platforms. Prabhudas Lilladher Zee Anmol, Zee Anmol said that the “strong content Cinema, Star Utsav, Colors pie” on the OTT platforms Rishtey and Sony Pal.” enabled the English language Similarly, Prabhudas viewers to make the shift from pay TV channels from Free Dish as TRAI Lilladher said that the smart connected services. The firm also highlights that mandated that FTA and pay channels TVs are now present across 15 million

BROADCAST AND FILM 33 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 SCAT & DTH MARKET ANALYSIS to 20 million homes as of 2019, due to “gradual shift in content consumption Prabhudas Lilladher said in its report. “rising affordability.” The firm said that habits” with key factors including “Hence, having an OTT platform with it estimates the smart connected TVs “cheap data” and increase in mobile strong content is key to capitalize on base to cross 40 million by 2025 in India. subscriber base aiding OTT this emerging trend.” consumption. The firm said that Zee5, the OTT Indian OTT Market “Rising rural internet platform run by Essel Group through “Overcrowded” its Zee Entertainment Prabhudas Enterprises is “strongly Lilladher said that the placed in competitive Indian OTT market is OTT market.” “overcrowded” with “ZEEL has been over 30 players aggressively investing competing in the in ZEE5 and expects segment. The firm said break-even by FY24E,” that the OTT market in Prabhudas Lilladher the country is in said in its report. “We “evolution stage” with believe ZEEL’s strategy “most broadcasters” to transit to digital said to be “investing medium is a step in the aggressively in building their own penetration is expected to lead to right direction given migration in platform.” Prabhudas Lilladher said that migration in viewing habits from linear viewing patterns from linear TV to the OTT segment is witnessing TV to digital in the long term,” OTT.” 

BROADCAST AND FILM 34 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 BROADBAND INFRASTRUCTURE

BUILDING & PROMOTING THE BROADBAND INFRASTRUCTURE

Broadband connectivity has received a boost with the Govt’s Digital India Initiative. Boosting and promoting the broadband connectivity across the hinterland in India and metros will result in a growth trajectory for the media ecosystem.

Broadband will become a inhabitants only. The region-wise fundamental human right and it will be details of fixed broadband internet difficult to imagine life without subscription rate in 2019 are given in broadband connectivity. Figure 1. The government is going to put The Government has notified in place a national optic fibre map to the policy objectives through NDCP- help investors decide where they subscriptions per 100 inhabitants of 2018, one of those is to provide would like to invest and build the global population. In comparison, universal broadband connectivity @ capacities. in India, we have approximately 1.5 50 Mbps. To meet this NDCP-2018 Currently, India has the second active subscriptions per 100 objective, there are two important highest number of online aspects that need a careful consumers in the world, deliberation. One is to Fig. 1: REGION-WISE FIXED BROADBAND accounting for about 10% achieve universal SUBSCRIPTION RATE 2019 of the world’s internet broadband connectivity or population. However, ‘broadband for all’ when we compare the same objective; another is speed with India’s share in the enhancement from 11–12 world population which is Mbps presently to average approximately 16%–17%, 50 Mbps. even this achievement MOBILE looks below par. This BROADBAND becomes more alarming when we compare the fixed Mobile internet has broadband penetration. As better availability and per www.statista.com, in generally proves to be 2019, it is estimated that, at more affordable for low to global level, wired medium usage than fixed- broadband subscriptions line broadband. As per the reached 14.9 active available details, at macro

BROADCAST AND FILM 35 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 BROADBAND INFRASTRUCTURE level, except in some left out areas rural and remote areas remains a mobile devices like Smartphones and where the Government is executing challenge. World over, ‘Wi-Fi Tablets are becoming affordable for certain schemes through USOF to fill hotspots’ are used to fill this gap in masses. Further, the significant the gaps in mobile broadband cellular coverage. Moreover, in increase in uptake of video coverage, the wireless broadband cellular covered areas, Wi-Fi may consumption in native languages coverage is available across the allow TSPs to offload their cellular and availability of multilingual country. data. While doing so, operators can keypads of mobile devices in Indian Further, Wi-Fi technologies offer a better user experience and languages has reduced the language can play a significant role in the higher access speeds to subscribers barrier and improved accessibility. penetration of mobile broadband due in Wi-Fi zone, hence facilitating Behind the regularly increasing to ease of deployment and faster subscriber satisfaction and retention. subscriptions of mobile broadband rollout. In rural and remote locations Accordingly, the Authority services, better availability, where spread of houses is limited to issued its recommendations dated 9th affordability, and accessibility may a smaller area, wireless coverage March 2017 to the Government on be the important factors. using Wi-Fi technology may be cost ''Proliferation of Broadband through As the NDCP-2018 aims to effective and easy to provide universal broadband maintain. In this manner, connectivity by 2022, still cellular and Wi-Fi approximately 40% of total technologies could mobile subscribers are not complement each other in accessing data services. delivering the mobile Achieving ‘broadband for all’ broadband services. objective of the NDCP-2018 In general, TSPs/ may be possible using ISPs may incur substantially wireless technologies only. lesser costs in setting up Wi-Fi access infrastructure FIXED BROADBAND compared to mobile In promoting fixed broadband networks like broadband connectivity also, 3G/4G, especially in rural and these three factors, i.e., remote areas. This is on availability, affordability, and account of the fact that Wi- accessibility, could be of Fi technology utilises considerable importance. It is unlicensed spectrum, the equipment Public Wi-Fi Networks'' to promote use pertinent to note here that, now a days, is both cheaper and more readily of Wi-Fi technology, which uses the generally, the converged devices such available, and maintenance and unlicensed spectrum. as Smartphones and Tablets are operational costs are significantly At present, as compared to commonly used for accessing mobile lower. The lower cost of Wi-Fi monthly subscription charges of fixed as well as fixed broadband. Therefore, delivery should easily translate into broadband, the monthly charges of to a large extent, the issue of lower prices per GB for the end users, mobile broadband are less than one accessibility may not be the limiting making it a more affordable service. third. As per the report40 ‘ICT Price factor in growth of fixed broadband. Added to this is the fact that Wi-Fi Trends 2019’, published by ITU, in Fixed broadband service networks can often offer faster India, mobile broadband services cost stands out when it comes to speeds compared to mobile less than 1 percent of per capita Gross reliability, speed, and cost per GB of broadband, allowing users to access National Income (GNI). As Wi-Fi data consumption, while mobile more bandwidth-intensive technology use unlicensed spectrum, broadband takes a lead due to its applications and content. which is free, broadband services basic characteristic, viz., mobility. Despite significant progress delivered using Wi-Fi technology With fixed broadband, one can get in the space of mobile broadband, would be even more affordable. up to Gigabit per second with delivering reliable and affordable Accessibility of mobile symmetrical download and upload broadband services in the dense broadband is also improving day by speeds and very low latency when urban areas, inside the buildings, and day as new as well as pre-owned compared to mobile broadband.

BROADCAST AND FILM 36 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 BROADBAND INFRASTRUCTURE

Some of the performance metrics of In India, mobile broadband has transmission speeds ranges from fixed and mobile broadband are better availability and affordability for several hundred Kbps to few megabits compared in the Table 1: cost-conscious subscribers. Though per second (Mbps). The availability In view of the and speed of an xDSL above, generally, the service depends on the broadband policies aimed TABLE 1: PERFORMANCE METRICS OF length of cable used and at economic development FIXED AND MOBILE BROADBAND deteriorates with distance. focus more on improving It requires relatively low fixed broadband Performance metrics Fixed Broadband Mobile Broadband investment in passive penetration. For this, we Latency Low Relatively higher infrastructure if the cost of need to roll out more and already laid copper cable is Reliability Highly reliable Less reliable more optical fiber ignored. infrastructure in the access Mobility Mobility restricted Full mobility The G.Fast specification network, both in urban and within the premises is developed by the ITU-T rural India. Minimum Speed Assurance Possible Not possible and combines the best In European Maximum Speed Up to one Gbps Up to 100 Mbps aspects of optical fiber countries, primary internet Affordability More affordable for More affordable for networks and DSL access at home is provided heavy users light users technology to support mainly by fixed access speeds of up to 1 technologies. By the end of Gbps via existing copper 2019, fixed broadband was available to affordable, but the availability of public twisted pair for loops shorter than 250 97% households41. Among fixed Wi-Fi hotspots to access broadband meters. The access speed reduces as technologies, xDSL has the largest services is quite poor. The availability the distance increases further. ISPs footprint (91%) followed by DOCSIS of wireline, i.e., xDSL, FTTH, and Cable can use G.Fast to increase broadband 3.0 cable (46%) and FTTP (34%). TV, broadband networks is also limited speed without having to extend fiber to few cities and, the monthly all the way to the home42. As G.Fast AVAILABILITY AND subscription rates of fixed wireline enables the use of existing assets, it AFFORDABILITY OF FIXED broadband are generally higher than may reduce the cost of providing BROADBAND mobile broadband. The availability of broadband services and therefore Demand for broadband FWA networks is miniscule. improve affordability. G.Fast services plays an important role in It shows that, presently, other technology is deployed in many growth of the broadband than cellular mobile technologies, countries including U.K., Israel, and connectivity. It depends on customer availability of networks of other Australia, etc. expectations. Generally, customers technologies is quite limited. There is More than 50 % of the existing expect reliable and high-speed a need for exploiting blend of wireline fixed subscribers are working on DSL broadband services at affordable and wireless broadband technologies technology. DSL broadband prices as they access videos and to promote broadband connectivity. subscribers constitute about 60%– other bandwidth hungry Fixed line broadband services 70% of the of total wireline telephony applications. Meeting customer are delivered using various subscribers working on copper expectations largely depends on the technologies such as xDSL, G.Fast, cable. Accordingly, in India, there is technologies adopted by service Data over Cable Service Interface limited scope for growth of the fixed providers. Specification (DOCSIS), Ethernet, and broadband using DSL technology. A variety of broadband GPON, etc. Further it uses multiple CATV broadband is usually technologies like xDSL, FTTH, Cable mediums like traditional copper offered to customers via the existing TV broadband, Wi-Fi, mobile telephone lines, Coaxial cable, OFC, CATV network. Since the bandwidth technologies like 3G, 4G, FWA, etc., are and combination of these mediums. is shared among several users available in the market for delivering Broadband connections using connected through a last mile cable, broadband services. The performance, xDSL technologies are provided over many times, the broadband speed availability, and affordability of traditional copper telephone lines reduces during peak traffic periods of broadband service delivered using already installed to subscriber the day. different technologies vary. premises. DSL-based broadband In most of the cases, to deliver

BROADCAST AND FILM 37 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 BROADBAND INFRASTRUCTURE high speed broadband services, Cable three percent only. As mobile became the broadband, cable TV networks are TV operators deploy Hybrid Fibre- more affordable, the penetration of being used to deliver fixed broadband. Coaxial (HFC) networks. The fixed line reduced further. This is In India, share of the cable implementation of DOCSIS 3.1 standard evident from the fact that at the end of TV broadband in fixed broadband allows for higher bandwidths to end December 2019, when mobile tele subscribers is minuscule. users of up to 10 Gbps. density was approximately 87%, fixed Operations and maintenance of DOCSIS (Data over Cable Service line tele density was 1.6% only. fixed line broadband is manpower Interface Specification) is an Although time and again TSPs have intensive. By now, LCOs and their international telecommunications revealed their intent through public employees have more than two standard which enables the addition announcements to invest in fixed line decades of experience in operations of high-bandwidth data transfer to the broadband network, not much has and maintenance of fixed line networks. existing HFC network being used for happened. In one of the world’s largest and delivery of cable TV services. It is a fact that, in India, fastest program, these operators Optical fibre is the globally maximum numbers of houses have upgraded the existing analog cable TV preferred been wired using HFC networks for networks to digital cable TV networks technology to provide high-speed cable TV services. As per an estimate, in less than five years. It indicates their broadband to end users. determination and capability Generally, it uses the Gigabit of adapting technology and Passive Optical Networks marching with time. By doing (GPON) technology for an incremental investment, it provisioning of broadband may be possible to upgrade services through FTTH the existing HFC networks to connectivity. This is deliver reliable and high- considered as future-proof speed broadband, and re-skill solution but requires higher available technical manpower initial investment in the last in latest technologies. It mile connectivity. would increase the Ease in deployment of availability of fixed OFC networks at reasonable broadband networks across costs plays a significant role India. Since it would enable in the availability of FTTH exploitation of existing networks. In India, multiple challenges the availability of HFC networks networks for delivery of additional relating to delayed and costly crosses more than 100 million services, this may be able to bridge the permissions for RoW, prohibitive costs households. Most of these networks affordability gap also to a large extent. for laying new OFC, non-optimal have been established, and are being At present, monthly Average utilisation of available wireline operated and maintained by local Revenue Per User (ARPU) of fixed infrastructure in the country, non- entrepreneurs, i.e., Local Cable broadband is significantly higher than availability of efficient marketplace for Operators (LCOs). The procedure for cable TV monthly ARPU. Existing sharing, leasing, and trading of fibre, registration of cable operator, under the licensing framework for internet etc., could be few of the factors which Cable TV Act 1995, is extremely simple, services enables use of these may be impeding the growth of fixed and the Authority for registration has networks for delivery of broadband line broadband. been delegated to local area head Post services. As per the licensing In India, underdevelopment of Offices. Requirement of regulatory framework for Internet Services, two fixed broadband market could be compliances is also minimal. These options are available to LCOs, i.e., because of the dominance of the mobile could be some of the reasons that more either they themselves can obtain ISP telephony and lack of availability of than 60,000 local-level entrepreneurs license, or they can enter into wireline telephony infrastructure opted for providing cable TV services. commercial arrangement with existing before advent of mobile telephony. It In approximately, a decade time they TSPs/ISPs to provide last mile is a fact that before launch wired more than 100 million connectivity. The licensing framework of mobile telephony in the country, the households. for internet services provide flexibility fixed line tele density was less than World over, since the advent of of area of operations through three

BROADCAST AND FILM 38 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 BROADBAND INFRASTRUCTURE categories of licenses, i.e., category A, most prevalent broadband networks using copper or fiber B, and C, at National, LSA, and District technologies in Indian market. Other have traditionally been the preferred level, respectively. probable reason for lower demand for choice for delivering fixed broadband One known issue, relating to fixed broadband could be relating to services due to their high capacity and payment of the license fee on adjusted day-to-day maintenance issues. In reliability, but the need for universal gross revenue, which includes the comparison to cell level maintenance connectivity means that alternatives revenue accrued from cable TV requirements of mobile broadband, to the wired network are more in services, have been addressed by the fixed broadband requires maintenance demand than ever. Fixed wireless Authority in its recommendations to of individual connections. broadband networks using mainstream the Government LTE-Advanced on “Definition of (LTE-A) Revenue Base technology are (AGR) for the proving capable Reckoning of of delivering fast, Licence Fee and high-quality, Spectrum Usage highly managed Charges” dated connectivity. 6th January 2015. The surge in The decision of demand for high- the Government speed broadband, on these along with the recommendations need to extend is awaited. connectivity and Less than improve the 15% of total overall experience wireline for broadband broadband connections in the country FTTH is capital intensive and users, has opened new opportunities are working on FTTH technology. This takes more time for rollout. FWA can for fixed wireless access. As per Ovum could be because of limited availability also provide an easier/cheaper solution consultancy, “Fixed wireless networks of FTTH networks, which is considered to offer broadband connectivity to are increasingly contributing to home as future-proof solution. This is regions where wireline infrastructure broadband connection in developing reflected in the non-satisfactory is not present, or only copper wireline markets where levels of HBB progress in growth of FTTH infrastructure is in place. Wireline penetration are particularly low. Today broadband connections FWA represents more than during the last 5 years, as 90% of total broadband Fig. 2: FTTH BROADBAND CONNECTIONS presented in Figure 2. connections in Nigeria and GROWTH IN LAST 5 YEARS The other issue DRC, and over 50% in a could be from demand side. number of other countries Customers may not be including Ghana, Uganda, finding enough value for and Bangladesh.” As per money in subscribing to GSMA, globally, over half fixed broadband. This may of all LTE operators have be because of the launched an FWA service. customer’s perception that As the LTE networks are there may not be much already existing, extending difference in performance FWA over LTE can between mobile broadband increase availability of fixed delivered using LTE broadband. Use of common technology and fixed core and Fixed Mobile broadband using DSL Convergence (FMC) may technology, which are the improve affordability. 

BROADCAST AND FILM 39 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 SVOD SERVICE

LIONSGATE LAUNCHES SVOD SERVICE IN INDIA

Lionsgate Play is a new SVOD service launched by Starz, a global OTT player and it is targeting the 15-45 age groups. The app will have content which includes feature films, premieres and original content to the audiences.

The SVOD platform is content, which is what I feel a little The app is priced at ` 99 per committed to innovation in its content, overwhelmed with, sometimes. There month and ` 699 annually. technology, pricing and accessibility will be edgy dramas, slice-of-life stories, Jeffrey A. Hirsch, President and by making premium Hollywood Chief Executive Officer, Starz, said, “India content available in multiple has always been a key market for us. Indian languages. The large and diverse population Rohit Jain, Managing increased data usage in urban and rural Director said “One of the insights markets, and the adoption of OTT that we constantly see, in all our across all demographics created an research and all our feedback, is exciting opportunity for us to launch the complexity of decision Lionsgate Play. We’re confident that our making. What do I watch next? unique, exclusive and exceptionally That's really the question all ROHIT JAIN curated content will generate a great audiences struggle over the response from Indian audiences.” weekends and over their free time. Hirsch said the global SVOD Curation is the centre of our service, space is evolving differently. “The curating based on the world's best-in- Netflixes, Hulus and Amazons are class cinematic experience, world-class trying to be broad in their content content that's core to our content portfolios. They're serving kids, philosophy.” they're serving the parents; Lionsgate will tie-up with Kunal JEFFREY HIRSCH they’re serving the young, Kohli, Mukesh Bhatt, Anil Kapoor and depending on the channel that production houses like Endemol and comedy, some very interesting stories you have signed up for. We were very Reverie for content production coming your way,” Rohit Jain added. focused on adult premium, non-ad- “I'd like to believe we have a SVOD market will see an supported content. We don't have kids, very well-rounded slate. We have expansion over the next five years in we don't have news, we don't have collaborated with really accomplished India. He said the Indian market will sports, we don't have advertising. It's makers and I am very excited with all start hitting hundred million very focused on adult content that we the partnerships that we have in subscribers for SVOD, which is a pretty like to send that people are willing to originals that we are making in India, sizable interesting base, and they hope pay for and we'll continue to lean into which is not an overdose of crime and to get a reasonable share of that pie. that strategy in a big way.” 

BROADCAST AND FILM 40 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 BIGGER, BETTER, ONE GRAND EVENT!

Varun Gaba Geeta Lalwani OFFICIAL MEDIA PUBLICATION Manoj Kumar Madhavan Director - Projects Project Manager Editor (Satellite & Cable TV Magazine) Tel.: +91-22-6216 5303 Tel.: +91-22-6216 5313 Mob. : +91-99458 26427 Mob. : +91-70218 50198 Mob. : +91-91082 32956 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] www.scatmag.com Email: [email protected] Asst. Director – Projects

A