Anil Wanvari, CEO and editor-in-chief of Indiantelelvision.com, described the industry in India as “large, sexy and alluring”, but pointed to many problems that hinder the pay-TV industry from the perspective of consumers, content distributors and service providers.
Jagi Mangat Panda, co-promotor and managing director of Ortel Communications, said that three things were needed for sustained growth: investment, consolidation of service providers and self-regulation.
On the topic of mobile and DTH services, the panel agreed that India had too many service operators. Managing director and CEO of Digicable Network India, Jagit Singh Kohli, said it would be hard for them to survive in the long run and deliver quality service when everyone is competing on price. “How low can you go?” he asked.
Discovery Network Asia-Pacific’s senior vice-president and general manager Rahu Johri concluded that the only way to surviv in India at the moment is to ”produce one show and publish many times”.
However, the demand for quality content is high. Penetration of DTH is expected to go up to 30 per cent by 2013 compared to per cent this year. According to Tony Worthington, the global head of TMT for Standard Chartered, which provided the statistics, people just need “deep pockets” to venture into India.