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Anil Wanvari
What a contrast it was at the Casbaa '98 and Mip Asia '98 conferences and exhibitions which were held in Singapore for the first time, compared with the regular run of events and trade shows in India. Singapore minister of information & arts and second minister of trade & industry George Yeo laid out the red carpet for broadcasters, cable operators and programme producers who attended the two shows.
He did the formalities of cutting the inauguration ribbons at both the do's. And then he hard-sold Singapore as a broadcasting hub. "Among the attractions of Singapore are a good broadcasting and telecommunications infrastructure. There are four uplink/downlink service providers offering world class services at competitive rates. You can't get any better," said Yeo.
"We are gearing up for the future to offer multimedia services to every home, school and office and through our `Singapore One' project. We are readying for digital terrestrial broadcasting, both radio and television. Such technologies will createnew opportunities for industry and provide more and better choice to consumers. We are honoured that two major broadcasting conferences are being held in Singapore for the first time."
He went to give further details about the technological advances Singapore was making and how it was trying its best to attract more professionals in this sector to come and settle in the island state. He sounded more like a technocrat than a politician, though there's no doubt that he is one and has been steering Singapore towards its emergence as a major television centre.
Asked whether he thought India's efforts to become a broadcasting hub in Asia would pose a threat to Singapore, he proffered: "No way. There are cultural differences between India and Singapore apart from the size. We want business. We have six million tourists every year and we want more. India is a country of a billion people; it has a measly 3 million visitors. Bureaucrats complain that they are one too many. They have a totally differentattitude."
It's not as if all is hunky dory in Singapore. There are amazing restrictions on media content, if you speak to the locals. However, if you scan through the papers, you can't see much of a difference between Indian papers and the Singapore ones. Ditto with television. The Internet is censored and access to pornography sites is nigh impossible. Despite these problems, the mood in Singapore is buoyant and Yeo says that the controls on media content are all by design and have served their purpose.
The minister has been in place for several years. Compare that to India, where I&B ministers have been coming and going and they seem to have no sense of technology. To be sure, not one of them will have taken the trouble to go and visit a cable TV control room, nor the facilities of a broadcaster. To be sure, not one of them has had much knowledge about television technologies.
Yet they decide which direction broadcasting in India should take. People may argue that Singapore is a tiny country whichcan be governed, India is huge, and hence that much more difficult to administer.
True. However, that's no excuse for the one step forward, 10 step backwards attitude that prevails in the area of the media. One day, 100 per cent foreign equity in ad agencies is allowed. Another day, it is not. One day it is said that foreigners will be allowed to invest in television here. The next day it is said that there will be tremendous restrictions.
The Broadcasting Act has been pending for ages. The Prasar Bharati Act has been done, redone and then undone to the point of sending AIR and DD into a state of near paralysis. It is about time Indian politicos got their act together in the area of television and broadcasting. Otherwise China, which is seeking to open up its media sector even further (both Rupert Murdoch and China's president Jaing Zemin have been displaying an amazing amount of camaraderie in recent times), may well beat it in this sector too.
IndusInd's foray into music
The Hinduja-runIndusInd Communications has signed up with European music channel MCM for a 50:50 joint venture international music channel. The channel will definitely add programming weight to the group's cable network In Cablenet as it is likely to be exclusive to it. Industry watchers are hoping that IndusInd is serious this time about its broadcasting business and will not utilise MCM as a whip to extract carriage fees from other music channel broadcasters such as Channel V and MTV.
Bigger the better
Size counts. Otherwise, what explains the full-page ads that ad agency Lintas took out in select newspapers for its client global satellite handheld telephone service provider, Iridium. Not many readers will have missed the ads with the huge headline "Now Geography is History" and footprints in the sand walking into a golden sunset (or is it sunrise?). The copy, too, is pretty clear and crisp: "Iridium is here. It's the end of boundaries on this planet. Now on you'll have a single phone number and you'll never beout of touch. Wherever on you earth you many be."
And the baseline speaks a lot: "Calling planet earth." Some may say huge ads are a waste of money. But there's no denying that they have worked well in this.
The writer can be reached at wanvari@giasbm01.vsnl.net.in or television@hotmail.com
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
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