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An
Interview with SET CEO Kunal Dasgupta
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"I
may distribute a news channel. I just do not want
to run one"
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Posted
on 3 June 2002
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Sony
Entertainment Television has secured the cable and satellite
television rights for all ICC-designated One-Day cricket
for the next seven years, which includes the next two World
Cups. But with a reported $255 million acquisition tab,
SET CEO Kunal Dasgupta has his task cut out to profit from
it. At a media briefing last Friday, Sony presented the
captain of India's successful World Cup campaign of 1983,
Kapil Dev, as its brand ambassador. Dasgupta talks of this
and other issues like conditional access, DTH, uplinking
from India to indiantelevision.com's Thomas Abraham.
What made you plump for Kapil Dev as your brand ambassador?
The point is, just as Amitabh Bachchan is the icon of movies,
Kapil Dev is the icon of cricket and we expect Kapil to
do for Sony Entertainment what Bachchan did for Star.
There is this huge investment of $255 million that has
been pumped into getting the rights to ICC-designated One
Day cricket tournaments. Recovering that is a tough ask
any way you look at it. At least as far as the ICC tourney
in September and the World Cup next March, are there any
programming initiatives that you have in mind?
There are a number of them we have lined up but I don't
want to talk about these initiatives at this juncture.
What about an outline of your overall strategy?
First and foremost, we want to take the game beyond the
male and offer it as family entertainment. The programming
initiatives that we are working on will take cricket beyond
the boundary and get the families in. There will certainly
be a focus on women in our plans.
Secondly, we have to generate interest beyond the matches
India is playing. And we will have to create devices that
provide for that.
And the ICC rights that we have include under-19 cricket
tournaments. There is no interest for this now but we will
have to generate it.
One way is to make the cricketers more media savvy. They
will need to be groomed accordingly so as to give the proper
sound bytes at the proper time. Tiger Woods is not just
a sporting success story but a marketing one as well and
this has been achieved by a great deal of coaching on how
he conducts himself.
Now that you have acquired this massive cricket property,
have you thought of an IPO. Would this not be a good time
to raise funds from the market?
My board doesn't think so.
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"The
big question is, will the law make it mandatory to
declare the subscriber management systems, which are
in the hands of the cable operators? How do you control
this is a big worry?"
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The big debate currently is around the government's determination
to introduce conditional access systems in the country.
What is your stand on this?
Well I would have to see how it is implemented. My principal
concern is that there should not be a disruption of services
which is something I am sure the government would ensure
when CAS is introduced.
The big question is, will the law make it mandatory to declare
the subscriber management systems, which are in the hands
of the cable operators? How do you control this is a big
worry?
The Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2002
is almost certain to get cleared in the next session of
Parliament in July. How long do you think the first phase
of the rollout in the four metros will take?
It should take about a year or so at the very least, I would
think.
What will happen to DTH in this scenario? The whole concept
of having tiers means that high-end services can be offered
to consumers which would incorporate interactivity and other
options like pay-per-view. Would this not make the DTH option
a non starter?
The introduction of CAS as is visualised would in fact speed
up the entry of DTH. If the customer has any way to invest
in a set top to access channels, the quality of service
that DTH provides would make it quite a feasible option
if the price is right. It should be noted that in India
what we are talking about as far as CAS is concerned is
an analog service. To digitise, massive investment is needed
for cable TV headend upgradation as well as line upgradation.
What we are looking at is costs of up to Rs 50,000 crores
(Rs 500 billion). At the moment, it is only Reliance that
is doing this kind of cabling.
The introduction of CAS would certainly alter the dynamics
of the business. What sort of scenarios do you visualise?
Bundling of packages will certainly be there. It will ultimately
boil down to who offers the best package. There will be
possibilities of a number of currently rival networks like
Sony, Star and Zee for instance coming together and offering
a shared bundle. India is a unique market. Ultimately, market
forces will settle the issue.
What other options are there available to the broadcaster?
One possibility is to supply boxes directly to the consumer.
That way we bypass the cable operator altogether by entering
into a direct relationship with the consumer.
If you are talking packages, then strong bouquets will
still be important. Have you earmarked any candidates for
joining "The One Alliance" (what the addition of the Discovery
and Animal Planet channels to the Sony Entertainment bouquet
of SET, MAX, AXN and CNBC India is called)?
An English movie channel is top of our wish list. Music
and niche channels are our other options.
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"We
will be continuously introducing new shows but they
will be short duration series. The days of the long-running
serial are numbered"
_________
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(Inset)
A 1983 file picture of Kapil Dev with the Prudential
World Cup trophy. |
How many new channels can we expect on the platform
by the end of the year?
Ask me on 20 June.
What about a news channel? There is a lot of buzz that
a news channel is also on your list.
As long as I am CEO, a news channel will not happen. We
do not want to get into issues of editorial management as
that would involve taking sides on issues. The issue we
have with running a news channel is that we prefer to remain
neutral. We have a lot of products that we promote in India
besides our channels. There is the movie business, music
and electronics goods that we have as well, so that is the
position that we are comfortable with.
That is not to say I cannot have a news channel on my platform.
I can certainly distribute a channel. I just do not want
to run one.
Now that the government has liberalised uplinking, there
is talk that broadcasters who uplink abroad will be looking
at transferring operations to India so as to bring in new
avenues for advertising. Is Sony considering such an option?
Not for the near term at least. If at some later date, we
feel there are clear advantages to be derived, then we would
have to reassess the situation.
What of programming? Is there anything new happening
on Sony?
We will be introducing a new blockbuster series slotted
for the weekend prime time. The weekend has been associated
with blockbuster movies. Now we are working on a blockbuster
series that will run for 39 episodes. With it, we expect
to carve out the weekend prime time slot.
Balaji has said it is readying a 39-part weekend series
that is going on air within the next two months, slated
to run as a one-hour show on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
And the talk is that you are doing a big new show with Balaji.
Is this that show?
Yes it is.
Still, it is the weekday programming that ultimately
decides the success of a channel. What have you lined up
for the weekdays?
We will be continuously introducing new shows but they will
be short duration series. The days of the long-running serial
are numbered.
Do you have any big ticket shows lined up?
One show we are seriously looking at is a game show called
Russian Roulette.
From whom are you acquiring the rights?
It is a Columbia Tristar property.
(Russian Roulette, produced by Columbia TriStar Domestic
Television [CTDT], is a game of chance where every question
could cause a contestant to literally "drop out" of the
game and has been a hit in countries as wide apart as Russia
and Spain. In this knowledge test, four strangers challenge
each other to answer a series of multiple-choice questions.
If a contestant answers incorrectly, he must pull the lever
potentially triggering one or more "drop zones". When only
one contestant is left standing, that person keeps all of
the money won and proceeds to the final round. In the US
version, the final winner takes home an additional $100,000.)
What about Shubh Vivaah (Sony's blockbuster marriage
reality show)? When do you see it finally launching?
There is a hearing scheduled for 8 July. After that, we
will know for certain.
But I thought the issue was settled. Didn't the Delhi
high court ruling (of 3 March) state that Taal (which
went to court over claimed copyright violation) gets a lead
time of two months if its own show Swayamvar launches
on or before 30 June, otherwise Sony would be free to launch
Shubh Vivaah?
Well, Taal went in appeal of that ruling. So the
judge has put 8 July as the date for final hearing of the
case. Basically, Taal is only employing delaying
tactics. In any case, we expect to have the show out in
the next few months.
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