Peter Smith, president at NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) International, said on the sidelines of the conference that the global M&E major will focus on the investment in NDTV for now and is not currently looking at other investments in India right away. NBC bought a 26% stake in NDTV Networks…

Information and Broadcasting Minister Anand Sharma and I&B secretary Sushma Singh clarified some policy decisions on the sidelines of the conference. DTH License fee reduction: The ministry’s move to reduce the license fee for DTH players from 10% of gross revenue to 6% may soon bear fruition. Secretary Singh said…

India’s media and entertainment industry grew at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15% during 2006-08 and was, in 2008, a Rs58,400 crore ($12.16 billion) industry, says the annual M&E industry report brought out by industry body FICCI and consultant KPMG. Last year’s edition of the report, which was…

Every year in February, for nine years now, the movers and shakers of India’s media and entertainment sector have congregated at Ficci-Frames. Organized by industry body the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the event serves as an interface between the industry and the government and also the…

As we gear up for Tuesday’s EconMusic conference in London, we’ve assembled a list of the top five recent music deals by size. Given the tremors in the music industry, it should come as no surprise that the deals—both in size and kind—are quite varied by sector, as players look…

This is big: responding to ContentSutra’s question about MultiScreen Media’s upcoming New Media Initiatives, CEO Kunal Dasgupta said that the company is working with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to set up a Fantasy Cricket League around the Indian Premier League (IPL). Dasgupta is bullish on…

Mobile TV: We have received recommendations from TRAI. The issue is of opening of the terrestrial networks - it involves Prasar Bharti and they have to be on board. Spectrum is not holding back mobile TV - there’s enough spectrum that is available. Analog is not holding back. There’s one…

I’m at Convergence India 2008, in Delhi; the exhibition halls are packed - companies like IOL Netcom, Motorola (NYSE: MOT), Nokia…around 550 of them. If you’re around, let me know - I’ll be checking my mail regularly - nikhil AT contentsutra DOT com. A quick aside, a geeky joke I…

A riveting discussion between Atanu Mandal, President of ACL Wireless, Viren Popli, VP and Head (Mobile Entertainment) of STAR India and Milind Pathak, Co-CEO and Country Manager for Buongiorno, was among the highlights of the IAMAI’s India Digital Summit. Popli, in a belligerent mood, played the devil’s advocate: “I don’t…

Mobile operators are tying up with financial institutions for mobile payment systems, because they want a separate wallet; if the money is shown in their books, then it will add to the license fees the operator pays to the government - typically around 10 to 12 percent. Which is why…

“The problem of our times, for the Advertising Community, is how to reach consumers with personalized advertisement and still maintain an affordable cost per lead” - a member of the audience Ravi Kiran, CEO of Star Com Media Vest Group introduced Ibibo CEO Ashish Kashyap, informing the audience that ibibo…

The Q&A part of the India Digital Summit opened up with a couple of tough questions, but really no answers: “We’ve seen lots of presentations, lots of people who’ve started Internet companies that are bleeding. Everything was dependent on number of users - the claimed users from the IAMAI and…

I’ll be at the India Digital Summit 2008, the flagship event of the IAMAI, and am hoping for more issue driven discussion at the conference, so we have more to report and debate. Expect our usual brand of coverage, and also photos and interesting asides. In case of any announcements…

The activities for our “Future of Business Media” conference started this evening in NYC. We had a fabulous reception of the attendees at the swanky IAC building, followed by a speakers dinner with a great view, 30th floor of Reuters (NSDQ: RTRSY) building in Times Square. Two great buildings in…

Early-bird registration for our fall conference “Future of Business Media” is now open. Early bird tickets are limited, and bound to start going fast, judging from how tickets to EconSM, our first conference, sold out a month before the event—and the topical nature of the FOBM conference. Date: Oct 30th.…

Sivoo, an Internet TV network of multicultural on demand content has tied up with the 2007 Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) for hosting online, content based on the festival. IFFLA is being held at the ArcLight Hollywood, and being held between the 17th and 22nd of April, with…

First up: during the Q&A, when Lloyd Mathias, Director Marketing-India for Motorola India was asked about Motorola’s plans for terrestrial broadcasting, much like the Doordarshan DVB-H launch with Nokia. Mathias confirmed that Motorola is talking with broadcasters in India for a pilot project. As of today, only the public broadcaster…

Tarun Mohan, CEO of PhoneyTunes, during his presentation at the session on Mobile Entertainment and VAS at Convergence India said that though the subscriber base is growing, the VAS provider is not seeing a corresponding growth in VAS. Even then, it’s not enough for there to be a VAS boom…

I switched to the session on “Wireless Delivery: Broadband for all” from the one on infotainment which seemed to be rather introductory and focused mostly on the US market and product features. Parag Kar, Senior Director, Government Affairs, Qualcomm - India and SAARC said that technology should be appropriately placed…