| MUMBAI:
Freeing of cash flow and focus. That primarily is what the split of Viacom into
two entities at the beginning of the year means in practical terms for the MTV
Networks India team headed by Amit Jain. What Jain has before him is a five-year
growth plan that sees India contributing "significantly" to the global
revenues of Viacom Inc. That Viacom president and CEO Tom Freston is an "Indophile"
seems to be a huge plus as far as Jain is concerned, particularly because India,
South America and Europe (in that order) are seen as the key growth markets for
the media conglomerate over the next five years. Questioned as to how and
where he saw revenues coming considering that music channels have been steadily
losing share of voice and mind in the broadcast space, Jain had this to offer.According
to Jain, broadcast would remain the key revenue source for his network in India
but its share would go down to two thirds in the course of the next five years.
The remaining one third revenues will come from new media platforms like mobile
and broadband and also from the movies business (Paramount's acquisition of Dreamworks
will mean significant ramp ups on the animation side as well, particularly as
India is seen as a strong outsource hub). MTV BRAND TO BE LEVERAGEDThe
three channels that MTV has launched in India will pretty much set the template
as far as the network's broadcast script unfolds. First there is Brand
MTV, which will be at the centre of a slew of undertakings ranging from market
activation, creative solutions, youth understanding, client branding. The central
premise of all this is that "Viacom brand solutions can be devised and tailored
to unique brand needs".
NICK TO GET MAJOR PUSH From
a long term channel growth perspective, it is Nick that will provide the momentum,
not MTV. And while Jain admits that the kids channel in his network, despite early
mover advantage, has singularly failed to make an impact, he believes that is
all about to change. And sooner rather than later. The first task, according
to Jain, is to get back to the basics and get the programming, scheduling, packaging
and distribution on track. Once these issues have been sorted out and "cleaned
up", then budgets for driving the channel forward will not be an issue, he
asserts. The fact of the matter though is that a home grown channel like
UTV's Hungama and an international powerhouse like Disney, despite having entered
the Indian market years after Nick first made its debut, have all gone ahead.
So its going to require a committed and sustained effort for Nick to be anywhere
in the reckoning. Whether Viacom will seriously show Nick the money is the moot
point. VH1 WILL ULTIMATELY BE A DTH STORY It's been 18 months
since international lifestyle and music channel Vh1, which targets an older TG,
launched in India and the management is more than satisfied with its performance,
asserts Jain. Vh1 is on target both as regards advertising and distribution revenues,
he points out. "By the end of the year (Viacom has a January to December
fiscal) Vh1 will hit break even," says Jain. But Jain does admit that
Vh1 and other niche offerings from the MTV Networks stable like Comedy Central,
CMT: Country Music Television, Spike TV and the like can only offer any real returns
if they are on addressable platforms. For these channels therefore, it will be
the rollout of DTH in the country that will likely determine their arrival.
MOVIES
AND NEW MEDIA
Jain's reference to the movies ties in with what Freston
had to say while speaking at the Ficci Frames media convention in Mumbai earlier
this year. Which was that Viacom was looking to co-produce films in India instead
of merely exporting its films in to the country through its partner United International
Pictures (UIP).
The India movies picture remains a hazy one at present
though, considering that about the only products of note have been the spoofs
dished out by MTV's movie making unit (and aptly titled) Fully Faltoo Films. Its
most recent offering Ghoom, which was a spoof on last year's action hit Dhoom
from the Yash Raj Films banner, only serves to emphasise the quirky nature of
MTV India's movie offerings. As for mobile and broadband, it will depend
again on bandwidth capacities that telecom players in particular will be able
to roll out. While MTV Asia Pacific has been able to enter into a collaboration
with Korean multimedia developer Wizmax to launch a customizable on-demand music
and entertainment broadband and mobile community platform in Korea called MTV
BoomBox, something similar in India looks to be a while away. Having said
that, it is MTV BoomBox that will serve as a model for customisable MTV platforms
in the broadband and wireless content services arena in India as well. | 
