News Broadcasting
DVD player base to increase five-fold in Asia-Pacific
LONDON: After having claimed dominance in the US and European markets, the DVD (Digital Video Player) is now poised to sweep the video business in the Asia-Pacific region as well.
In South East Asia, the only competition that the digital format faces is the disc-based video format – Video CD, states a study by Screen Digest.
Screen Digest’s senior home entertainment analyst, Helen Davis Jayalath explains, “In the shorter term, the VCD player will continue to prove popular with many Asia-Pacific consumers due to its low cost and the widespread availability of cheap VCD software. However, DVD is already becoming the format of choice in the mature markets of Japan, Australia and New Zealand. In the longer term, the DVD Video player will become increasingly important throughout the region; our forecasts indicate that by the end of 2006 139m Asia-Pacific homes will have a DVD Video player or recorder – more than five times as many at the end of 2002 and almost 20 per cent of all TV households in the region.”
According to the report, India, South Korea and the Philippines are likely to be of particular interest to the US studios and other video distributors over the next few years. The distributors’ revenues from India, is expected to to increase by almost 130 per cent between 2001 and 2006.
The study however reveals that, new hardware indicates additional software sales and simultaneously total consumer spending on DVD software to increase by 165 per cent over the same period, thus generating an estimated $8.2bn by 2006. This will be fuelled in part by an anticipated fall of 16 per cent in the average retail price of a DVD during the same period.
Interestingly, the expansion of the DVD sector will help boost total consumer spending on all video software (DVD, VCD and VHS) by over 40 per cent, the report says. By the end of the forecast period, DVDs will account for almost 70 per cent of consumer spending, up from just over one-third in 2002.
According to the author of the report, David Scott, the sheer size of the Japanese market means DVD will continue to dominate the Asia-Pacific video business. “Japan remains the world’s second largest single territory video market after the US, and the third largest (after the UK) for Hollywood product. However, China and India boast two of the largest potential consumer markets worldwide and demand for legitimate video product is growing in these territories”.
Piracy, however continues to pose a major threat to the potential of the Asia-Pacific business. The lack of copy protection on VCDs ensures that vast numbers of counterfeit discs flood the market at rock-bottom prices, making it impossible for rights holders to raise the price of legitimate discs. Meanwhile the availability of DVDs offers criminals a perfect digital master for copying, ensuring that the quality of counterfeit products is improving, adds the report.
The bottom line is that ultimately, the DVD will replace both VHS and VCD. The speed at which this occurs in each country will depend on how quickly DVD hardware and software prices decline, combined with the effectiveness of efforts to combat the trade in counterfeit discs.
Equally important, however, will be the rate at which consumers in the region become more discerning in their attitudes toward software quality. As a result, Screen Digest foresees a period of co-existence between both disc-based formats before DVD eventually predominates across the whole Asia-Pacific region.
News Broadcasting
CNN-News18 to air live counting day coverage for five state election results on May 4
The channel is rolling out its biggest election coverage machinery yet for results day on 4th May
NOIDA: The votes have been cast. Now comes the reckoning. CNN-News18 is pulling out all the stops for results day on 4th May, when counting begins across five battleground states — West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry — in what promises to be one of the most closely watched electoral verdicts in recent memory.
The channel’s coverage, titled Battle for the States: The Verdict, kicks off at 7am and runs through the day across linear TV, connected television and YouTube. It is the culmination of CNN-News18’s multi-format editorial initiative, Battle for the States, which has tracked the polls from the beginning under the theme Road to Power.
At the operational heart of the coverage will be the Live Results Hub, the channel’s central command centre built to collate, verify and process real-time data flowing in from reporters stationed at counting centres across constituencies. The hub combines newsroom intelligence, analytics and on-the-ground reporting to deliver what the channel promises will be the fastest and most accurate results coverage in English news.
Leading the on-air charge will be primetime anchors Rahul Shivshankar, Anand Narasimhan, Aman Sharma, Nabila Jamal and Shivani Gupta. They will be joined by a wide panel of commentators including author Chetan Bhagat; GVL Narasimha Rao, senior leader of the BJP; Smita Prakash, editor of ANI; activist Saira Shah Halim; political analyst Sumanth C Raman; Abhijit Iyer Mitra, senior fellow at IPCS; Amitabh Tiwari, founder of VoteVibe; columnist Abhijit Majumdar; Nalin Mehta, managing editor of MoneyControl; political analyst Tehseen Poonawalla; senior journalist Subir Bhaumik; and political analyst Manojit Mandal.
Shivshankar, who serves as editorial affairs director at CNN-News18, set out the stakes plainly. “Counting day is one of the most watched events in the electoral cycle, where speed and credibility are tested in real time,” he said. “Battle for the States: The Verdict is built on that promise, combining ground reporting, sharp analysis and cutting-edge election technology to give viewers the clearest and fastest route to the verdict. On May 4, CNN-News18 will once again be the nation’s most trusted channel to witness democracy in action.”
Smriti Mehra, chief executive of English and Business News at Network18, framed the coverage in broader terms. “Elections are defining national events, and audiences turn to brands they trust in moments that matter,” she said. “CNN-News18 has consistently led from the front in every election coverage, and this special programming reflects the scale of our ambition and editorial strength.”
The channel has form here. It claims to have been India’s most preferred English news destination for election results for the past 20 years, covering everything from the 2024 general elections to the Delhi, Maharashtra, Bihar and BMC polls on the back of what it calls an “Always First, Always Right” record. Five states, one day, and a nation waiting for answers. The clock starts at 7am on 4th May.
