‘TV to be carrier of ICE revolution'

Subhash Chandra, chairman of the Zee Telefilms Ltd, stressed on the importance of television as carrier of information, communication and entertainment on Saturday. He was delivering a keynote address on the "Role of Television in Convergence of ICE Industry," organised by Gujarat chapter of Confederation of Indian Industry.

"The television will emerge as the best interactive medium converging the Internet, audio-video and telecommunications into the television sets," he said. He added that convergence of medium would give boost to cable industry in the country, with Internet as the guiding force for the ICE industry.

Mr Chandra said that in 1991 there were only one million homes with cable connections, whereas today there are 30 million houses having cable connections. He said that television industry will register a growth rate of seven per cent while cable industry will grow by 15 to 18 per cent.

"The convergence of ICE into television will change the lifestyle of people in the country. The programmes will be more interactive in nature after advent the convergence of television medium," he said. Mr Chandra further said that it will be possible for the viewers to even change the camera angle used in their favourite soap operas.

When asked about the future of print media after the advent of television and Internet, he said that new technology has only strengthened the position of newspapers in terms of good newsprint and competitiveness. According to Mr Chandra, another sector having great potential is animation, which has been neglected so far in India. "By the end of this year, Zee Telefilms will release the first animated feature film made in the country," said Mr Chandra.

Mallika Sarabhai, CEO of Tara (Gujarati) said that ancient art and learning were illustrations of convergence, where learning, fun, conscience building and education took place at the same time. She said people learnt philosophy, ethics, mythology and related subjects by dance and drama, which was a convergence of sorts. She said it was real "infotainment or edutainment." Mr Kalyan Banerjee said that information infrastructure was redefining itself in the convergence economy. Chirag Mehta, managing director of Icenet made a presentation on role of Internet on cable in the new ICE economy. Director of Arthur Anderson, Sailesh Mukherjee spoke on "convergence and value to corporates." Subodh Bhargav, former president of the CII also addressed the seminar.

Republished from Asian Age