Event Coverage
“Star India will prove to be a game changer for us”: James Murdoch
CANNES: 21st Century Fox co-chief operating officer James Murdoch has lots of hopes from Star India. During his keynote on day one of the ongoing MIPCOM 2014, he said, “If we continue to innovate and lead in India, it will prove to be a game changer for us. It is the number one network in India.” He further stressed that the India business is really doing well for them and so was Sky in the UK.
Murdoch believes in giving freedom and creating a company which backs talent. “At 21st Century Fox, we aspire to be one of the biggest homes for creativity and storytelling. We want to be a place where we can attract some of the best talent and encourage them to take risks, when they can’t take it anywhere else,” stressed Murdoch.
21st Century Fox which is in different businesses, right from television to movies to cable and satellite, believes that the main business at the end of the day is of digital video and about story telling. “A lot of barriers in different lines of our business is breaking down. The challenges in terms of strategies and customer behaviour is similar from place to place and business to business,” he added.
The biggest media giant believes in giving its executives and talent the freedom to think and create. “The culture that we are creating is that right from Mumbai to LA, the executives should have the confidence for risk taking and do great story telling,” he said. The company believes in empowering people to do great business.
Murdoch laid a lot of emphasis on taking risks. “Larger companies have the ability to take risks. We learn lessons along the way. As a company we have made investments in challenging businesses. We are trying to create a culture where people understand that it is better to take risks, even if you get it wrong, at least you have tried. Great successes come from great risks. We have a culture where we do not get traumatised with failures. We want to be a place where people feel that they can be backed,” he announced.
He feels that all of Fox’s business is of risk. “Investing in original programming is the biggest risk we take, as investing in original programming means delaying some profits for the company,” he said while giving example of Simpsons, which they made and then acquired for cable syndication in the US. “When we took the step, we didn’t know how customers would react to it.”
“These are the sort of risks one needs to take. I love the moment in the business when you say, ‘Holy Cow, we did it!’” he stressed.
The son of media baron Rupert Murdoch, also spoke about the Shine and Endemol joint venture. “We saw opportunity in merging with Endemol. This is a business which will benefit from scale, breadth and diversity of creativity. Both Shine and Endemol have a great future.”
Murdoch feels that in a creative business, one cannot over-synergise. “You have to allow people to run their own show.”
According to Murdoch, consolidation in infrastructure business of cable and television has begun. “The upstream business will see further consolidation. People will seek to invest more in programming, because they see value in it,” he said.
He also touched upon the most talked about collaboration between Time Warner Cable and 21st Century Fox, which did not take place. “We had thought that the combination could be exciting. It was an opportunity at a moment in time. Given the nature of these things, we didn’t want to get into things like hostile takeovers and so moved out.”
The company will soon be completing the merger of its three Sky businesses in Europe: UK, Germany and Italy. So why merge the three, he said, “Each one of them in their lifecycle has done really well. There are a lot of common things they do. We feel that together there is a huge opportunity to accelerate the business. Also with this they can create great stories. In Europe there is great opportunity for studio business.”
According to Murdoch, consumers like bundling, because that drives down prices and consumption up. “People will bundle things in different ways and the stack will be re-ordered. Subscription TV is alive and kicking, and it is changing, driven by competition,” he said.
He is happy when customers surprise him. “We need to create authenticity in the content. Customers are being better served today.”
He concluded by saying, “TV industry has been very progressive and we need to be pacesetter.”
Event Coverage
Anime India announces Amazon MX Player as co-presenting partner for Anime India Kolkata 2026
MUMBAI: Riding high on the success of its blockbuster Mumbai debut, Anime India is accelerating its nationwide expansion with the announcement of Amazon MX Player as the co-presenting partner for Anime India Kolkata. The partnership marks a significant step forward in the festival’s mission to deliver large-scale, accessible, and fan-first anime experiences across the country.
Scheduled for 14 and 15 February 2026 at the iconic Biswa Bangla Mela Prangan, Anime India Kolkata will launch the first regional chapter of what is set to be a year-long, multi-city tour. As the curtain-raiser for the 2026 circuit, the Kolkata edition aims to fuse the energy of global Japanese pop culture with India’s fast-growing community of anime, manga, and pop-culture fans.
A household name in digital entertainment, Amazon MX Player brings unmatched reach and cultural relevance to the Anime India platform. With its expanding focus on anime and youth-driven content, Amazon MX Player’s involvement as co-presenting partner reinforces Anime India’s vision of making anime culture more inclusive breaking barriers of language, geography, and accessibility to connect with fans nationwide.
Anime India Kolkata 2026 will showcase cosplay competitions, interactive zones led by the Indian Gunpla Community, India-39 Vocaloid Community, The Japan Curry, and Adda-o-Otaku by The Otaku Guild. Fans can join tournaments across fighting games, Pokémon VGC, and more. Acclaimed Japanese director Susumu Mitsunaka (Haikyu!!) will attend as guest of honour, appearing in panels and live sessions. Positioned as an immersive celebration of fan culture and industry collaboration, the Kolkata edition marks the beginning of Anime India’s nationwide expansion.
Sharing their perspective on the partnership, Amazon MX Player director Aruna Daryanani expressed, “Anime in India has evolved from a niche interest into a mainstream cultural movement, driven by an increasingly engaged and passionate fanbase. At Amazon MX Player, our focus is on expanding access by bringing anime to audiences across the country for free and in multiple local languages. Our association with Anime India reflects our commitment to supporting the growth of anime in India and deepening connections with fans, while continuing to build Amazon MX Player as a trusted destination for free, high-quality entertainment.”
“Anime India Kolkata is a celebration of how anime has grown beyond entertainment into a powerful cultural and creative force. By bringing fans, creators, and industry leaders onto one shared platform, the festival is helping define the future of pop culture in India,” said Anime India co-founder and director Neha Mehta.
The debut edition of Anime India 2025 in Mumbai attracted over 29,000 fans, quickly cementing its status as a landmark celebration of anime and Japanese pop culture. Riding on this overwhelming response, the Kolkata chapter is projected to draw more than 40,000 visitors across two days, positioning it as one of the biggest anime conventions ever held in eastern India.
Anime India is focused on bringing together fans from across the country to create a truly pan-India celebration of anime, manga, cosplay, gaming, and Japanese culture. With plans to expand into four key metropolitan hubs in 2026—east (Kolkata), north (Delhi), west (Mumbai), and south (Hyderabad)—the festival seeks to deliver globally benchmarked experiences while supporting and uplifting creators, artists, and fan communities throughout India.
