MAM
Viacom CEO Tom Freston to deliver valedictory address at Frames
MUMBAI: The sixth edition of Frames, the convention for the Indian media and entertainment industry takes place in Mumbai from 22 to 24 March 2006. It will have several tracks and high profile speakers.
Viacom CEO Tom Freston will deliver the valedictory address on the final day. Frames will have three tracks – film, television and animation.
In the television track one session will see Star COO Samir Nair talking about Attraction in an age of Distraction. He will dwell on the challenges of creating programming for a mass audience. This audience has multiple options in an increasingly fragmenting environment.
Another session will look at the emerging television platforms like DTH, digital cable, IPTV and the options these will offer consumers. Business World associate editor Vanita Kohli will moderate the session. The speakers will include Zee’s Jawahar Goel and Abhijeet Saxena, Reliance Entertainment president Rajesh Sawhney and HTMT executive VP Ashok Mansukhani.
On the radio fornt there will be a session called Radio: Tuning in Again. The oldest electronic medium in the world is one of the newest in India. Radio will be the hottest thing to
hit the media industry in the next few years. Radio Tuning In Again talks to the key players who will make or break the industry, from broadcasters to advertisers to content providers.
The speakers include WorldSpace COO Andy Raswork, Entertainment Network India MD A P Parigi and Win Radio CEO Gautam Radia. A plenary session deals with Digital Entertainment Living. In the emerging convergence paradigm, the boundaries between tech and media companies are getting increasingly blurred. Entertainment – anytime, anywhere is the new mantra.
In advanced countries such as the US, we are already witnessing cable, telecom companies and broadcasters going beyond their traditional roles and offering triple play of voice, data and video. A similar situation is inevitable in India.
Digital technology is driving the development of new types of content, a variety of media distribution options and innovative digital devices, all of which point to the emergence of a new digital entertainment industry. The speakers include Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin and Essel Group chairman Subhash Chandra.
MUMBAI: In India’s fast-moving payments race, Visa has just swiped in a new leader. The company has named Suresh Sethi as its India country head, marking a key leadership shift as it sharpens its focus on digital payments growth in the market. Sethi steps into the role following his recent exit from Protean eGov Technologies, where he served as chief executive officer. He succeeds Sandeep Ghosh, who has moved on after more than four years at Visa to pursue an external opportunity.
The appointment comes at a time when Visa is doubling down on its expansion strategy across India and the wider region, deepening partnerships and accelerating adoption in an increasingly competitive digital payments ecosystem.
Sethi brings with him a broad, cross-market perspective shaped by decades of experience across corporate banking, retail financial services, mobile money and large-scale government technology initiatives. He began his career at Citigroup, where he spent 14 years working across India, Africa, South America and the United States, focusing on transaction banking services within the corporate bank.
His appointment signals a blend of institutional experience and market familiarity qualities that could prove critical as Visa navigates a landscape where fintech innovation, regulatory evolution and consumer adoption are all accelerating at once.
As digital payments in India continue to scale rapidly, the leadership change underscores a simple reality, in a market where every tap, scan and swipe counts, who leads the charge can matter just as much as the technology itself.
