English Entertainment
‘Enter the Dragon’ at Scat India 2002
MUMBAI: The Chinese have invaded the cable industry in India. And how.
At the Scat India trade show 2002 that began at the World Trade Centre in Mumbai today, it is hardware from China that dominates. While companies from the US and UK were a regular feature of the annual three day expo each year, US brands like Scientific Atlanta and NDS are conspicuous by their absence this year. All the 85 stalls have been sold this year too, but cost effective Chinese ware, so far restricted to a few stalls, have swamped the stalls, most in partnership with Indian dealers and distributed under Indian names or brands that bear uncanny resemblance to known European brands.
US brands, held in high regards by cable ops so far, have this year been edged out by Chinese products which while not comparable in quality, offer ‘value for money’. Satellite receivers, both analog and digital, coaxial cables, Internet over cable and video software is all available for at least half the cost of Western brands. Indian brands, considered the cheapest and not the best in quality so far, are also having to contend with the Chinese offerings, which at the show, are being proffered at further discounted rates. Continued falling prices globally have added to the scenario, resulting in rich pickings for cable ops frequenting the show.
Also conspicuous by their absence are major free to air channels which marked the Scat show in earlier years. While big names like BBC and Zee adorned stalls in earlier years, the only prominent channel proclaiming its virtues at the show is Sahara. The channel, that has announced its plans to go digital by 10 November, is now trying to woo cable ops with a fresh programming line up that includes a Sridevi show and a series featuring film actor Karisma in a double role. The three news channels that will mark the first phase of the spate of regional news channels that Sahara threatens to unleash on the nation are also being touted as the next big attraction at the Sahara stall. The date of the much delayed launch, now tentatively pegged around Diwali, continues to remain a mystery, though.
Also present was Modi Entertainment Network, which distributes DD Sports, Ten Sports, Hallmark and FTV. According to industry sources, MEN’s prominent presence at this year’s fair could well be an effort to reach out to the cable trade and explain their stance on issues linked to the channels on their network. MEN has been in the news recently because of a spat it had with the Star India backed Hathway Cable and Datacom on subscription numbers as well as a legal dispute with ESPN Star Sports over the airing of highlights packages for the ongoing India-West Indies cricket series.
Among the Chinese products currently on display at the Scat show are Chengdu Guangda’s optical transmitter series and digital converters from Dayang, while the UK’s DALVI systems and Dutch Echostar with their desi partners rub shoulders with homegrown products like Bhansali’s co axial cables and E Comm’s broadband ISP solutions. “While many overseas firms backed off last year from the Scat show in the wake of the 11 September attacks on the WTC, this year’s show has drawn a better response from both exhibitors and participants,” says organiser and Scat India editor Dinyar Contractor.
UK: The aerial is losing its grip. As broadband becomes the default way Britons watch television, the UK is edging towards a decisive, and divisive, question: should Freeview be switched off by 2034? The issue, highlighted in reporting by The Guardian, has exposed deep fault lines over access, affordability and the future of public service broadcasting.
For nearly 25 years, Freeview has delivered free-to-air television from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 to almost every corner of the country. Even now, it remains the UK’s largest TV platform, used in more than 16m homes and on around 10m main household sets. Yet the same broadcasters that built it are now pressing for its closure within eight years.
Their case rests on a structural shift in viewing. Smart TVs, superfast broadband and the Netflix-led streaming boom have pulled audiences online. Advertising economics have followed. By 2034, the number of homes using Freeview as their main TV set is forecast to fall from a peak of almost 12m in 2012 to fewer than 2m, making digital terrestrial television, or DTT, increasingly costly to sustain.
But critics say the rush to switch off risks abandoning those least able, or least willing, to move online.
“I don’t want to be choosing apps and making new accounts,” says Lynette, 80, from Kent. “It is time-consuming and irritating trying to work out where I want to be, to remember the sequence of clicks, with hieroglyphics instead of words. If I make a mistake I have to start again.”
Lynette is among nearly 100,000 people who have signed a “save Freeview” petition launched by campaign group Silver Voices. She fears the government is about to “take [Freeview] away from me and others who either don’t like, can’t afford, or can’t use online versions”.
Official figures underline the fault lines. A report commissioned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport estimates that by 2035, 1.8m homes will still depend on Freeview. Ofcom’s analysis shows those households are more likely to be disabled, older, living alone, female, and based in the north of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Freeview is owned by the public service broadcasters through Everyone TV, which also operates Freesat and the newer streaming platform Freely. After two years of review, DCMS is expected to set out its position soon, drawing on three options proposed by Ofcom: a costly upgrade of Freeview’s ageing technology; maintaining a bare-bones service with only core PSB channels; or a full switch-off during the 2030s.
The broadcasters have rallied behind the third option. They argue that 2034 is the logical cut-off, when transmission contracts with network operator Arqiva expire. By then, they say, the cost of broadcasting to a dwindling audience will far outweigh the returns from TV advertising.
Ofcom agrees a crunch point is approaching. In July, the regulator warned of a “tipping point” within the next few years, after which it will no longer be commercially viable for broadcasters to carry the costs of DTT.
Others see risks beyond economics. Questions remain over whether internet TV can reliably deliver emergency broadcasts, such as the daily Covid updates, in the way that universally available DTT can. The UK radio industry has also warned that an internet-only future for TV could push up distribution costs and force some radio stations off air if PSBs no longer share Arqiva’s mast network.
“It is a political hot potato,” says Dennis Reed, founder of Silver Voices, who says he has “dissociated” his organisation from the government’s stakeholder forum, which he believes is “heavily biased” towards streaming.
The Future TV Taskforce, representing the PSBs, counters that moving online could “close the digital divide once and for all”. “We want to be able to plan to ensure that no one is left behind,” a spokesperson says, adding that rising DTT costs could otherwise mean cuts to programme budgets.
The numbers show the scale of the challenge. Of the 1.8m Freeview-dependent homes projected for 2035, around 1.1m are expected to have broadband but not use it for TV. The remaining 700,000 are forecast to lack a broadband connection altogether.
Veterans of the analogue switch-off, completed in 2012 after 76 years, recall similar fears of “TV blackout chaos”. Around 6 per cent of households were labelled “digital refuseniks”, yet a targeted help scheme and a national campaign, fronted by a robot called Digit Al voiced by Matt Lucas, delivered a largely smooth transition.
This time, the BBC is less keen to foot the bill. Tim Davie, the outgoing director general, has said the corporation should not fund a comparable support programme for a Freeview switch-off.
Research for Sky by Oliver & Ohlbaum suggests that with early awareness campaigns and digital inclusion measures, only about 330,000 households would ultimately need hands-on help ahead of a 2034 shutdown.
Meanwhile, viewing habits continue to fragment. Audience body Barb says 7 per cent of UK households no longer own a TV set, choosing to watch on other devices. In December, YouTube overtook the BBC’s combined channels in total UK viewing across TVs, smartphones and tablets, albeit measured at a minimum of three minutes.
That shift may accelerate. YouTube has recently blocked Barb and its partner Kantar from accessing viewing session data, limiting transparency just as online platforms consolidate power.
“When the government chose British Satellite Broadcasting as the ‘winner’ in satellite TV it was Rupert Murdoch’s Sky instead that came out on top,” says a senior TV executive quoted by The Guardian. “There already is such an outsider ready to be the winner in the transition to internet TV; it is YouTube.”
Freeview’s future now hangs on a familiar British dilemma: modernise fast and risk exclusion, or protect universality and pay the price. Either way, the aerial’s days as king of the living room look numbered.
