NEW DELHI, JAN 3: While it is easy to arrive at back-of-the-envelope estimates of market potential of cable channels, it requires concerted efforts to be more accurate. Even more difficult is to realise this potential. It goes without saying that a cable channel can attract and retain advertisers and marketers only if it is able to attract viewers.pToday, movies are the staple of cable channels. "Its audience-attracting capacity is related to the new movies it shows. But with the film industry facing a recession, it won't be long when the government gets its act together in checking the illegal showing of new movies which cable operators do quite regularly," says T S Mohan Krishnan, senior project director, Business and Industrial Research Division, Indian Market Research Bureau.Also, technology is likely to aid in curbing piracy, as options will soon open up for directly beaming digital prints to cinema halls. The current DVD format is also aimed at checking piracy. So, within two to three years, latestmovies may be available to viewers through home DVDs or through pay-per-view movie channels. In such a case, exclusive cable movie channels may need to develop with set-top box monitoring methods to tap revenue.
However, given the prominence of the cable channel, there is a need to develop this further. "In the long run, cable distribution will be a better bet for film distributors, as it eliminates the cable operator from the scene," says Krishnan. Cable channels can really come of age if they can cash in on their competitive advantage--the local programming content. It's a niche that satellite segments cannot take advantage of. For this, the cable operator has to think as well as act local.
Krishnan suggests that a tiered approach to programming may be attempted. There can be programmes covering local, city-level and state- or region-level events. "It is also possible that operators opt for scheduled time slots for airing different tiers of programme on a given channel, as Doordarshan deals with itsregional channels," Krishnan adds. It is emphasised that such a tiered approach will definitely help in tapping the large local advertisement market.
A common funded software house in various cities should be able to churn out programmes suited to local tastes. Live events in cities could be a key attraction of this channel. Other areas that can be explored include drama, ballets, dance and seasonal events like school/college festivals, local sports, news, etc. In doing all these, care need be taken to develop standardisation of programmes, scheduling, etc, so that independent rating agencies may perform the task of measuring viewership levels. All this may not happen throughout the country in the near future, but the time is ripe for independent ground-based cable channels at least in metropolitan cities.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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