News Broadcasting
IT’s walking the ‘animated’ talk or is it?
MUMBAI: FICCI Frames 2004 is abuzz with the ‘A’ word – animation. With two sessions dedicated to animation on day two yesterday, prominent Indian and international personalities met again today to talk about the buzzword.
“Animation will outperform IT,” that’s what Crest Communications CEO AK Madhavan would have you convinced. Other than that one IT v/s animation statement, the FICCI Frames 2004 seminar on IT and Animation: Walk the Talk was mostly about developing the nascent animation business as an IT enabled business on the lines of BPO, SCM and ERP businesses.
The seminar that was held today on the third and last day of FICCI frames 2004 was hosted by Vijay Mukhi and on the panel were Crest Communications CEO AK Madhavan, iGate president and co-founder Ashok Trivedi, Jadoo Works CEO Rajiv Marwah, and Alias Wavefront South Asia Pacific regional manager Paul Cousen.
Develop animation as an IT enabled business
Create sustainable business models
Utilize the best practices of the IT industry
The industry is starved for money and this is where IT can help
Lack of adequate manpower and formal training
However, before a PIXAR comes out of an Indian IT giant, there would be many a teething troubles to deal with.
“This industry is starved for money and this is where IT can help,” said Trivedi adding that while the animation businesses had weak and flexible processes, they could utilize the best practices of the IT industry especially as to managing the human capital. He further emphasized that for Indian IT companies to graduate to animation, sustainable business models would have to be created.
The main concern of panelists across the board was prominently the lack of adequate manpower and formal training available to establish a resourceful pool of talent unlike the IT industry where quality certifications and credentials exist.
Fortunately for the animation businesses, there are more opportunities available in this date and age – for instance the Bangalore based Jadoo Works is using the open source engine to develop its business which is something that even a PIXAR did not have 10 years ago, informed Marwah.
While on the ground, the animation business is yet to take off, panelists at Frames 2004 sounded buoyant about the future of the industry. “Animation is an emerging market – it is just a matter of time (before it grows into a full fledged one),” said Marwah. And as Madhavan put it, “We are at the beginning of the curve.”
DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT IS A DEAD DUCK
Meanwhile, in another seminar on digital rights management (DRM), one thing that was crystal clear was that unless effective legislations to enforce digital rights were brought in and unless these legislations entailed adequate civil and criminal liabilities, DRM would be dead even before it breathes its first.
While India has its set of copyright laws, in the age of convergence, what is needed is a greater understanding of the control of intellectual properties (IP) and DRM technology that is embedded across different end user products like PCs, mobile phones, wireless devices et al.
“Interest in the PC related DRM is now dead. What people are talking about now is DRM for wireless devices and set top boxes,” said Quentin Staes Polet of IBM Digital Media Solutions Asia Pacific.
The seminar was held today on the third and last day of FICCI frames 2004 and was hosted by Amarchand & Mangaldas managing partner Shardul Shroff. On the panel were Quentin Staes Polet of IBM Digital Media Solutions Asia Pacific, WIPO counselor Carole Croella and Bertrand Moullier of FIAPF, France.
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.
