Robust growth seen for Indian entertainment industry

Dec 17, 2007, 14:55 GMT

New Delhi, Dec 17 (IANS) The digital entertainment sector in India will witness a record growth over the next three years, resulting in more than 2,000 digital screens to view popular cinema, says a study by a leading industry lobby.

Prepared jointly with Ernst and Young, the study commissioned by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) says the bulk of these screens at cinema theatres and multiplexes will be in the non-metropolitan cities.

'The factors responsible for its popularity will include transmission of digital information at competitive price and convenience,' says the study, to be formally submitted at the two-day summit on media and entertainment beginning Wednesday.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, actor Shah Rukh Khan and a host of film-makers, producers, lyricists, direct-to-home operators, TV software houses and channels are expected to participate at the summit.

According to some excerpts of the study available ahead of the summit, while key content genres such as news, general entertainment, sports, movies and music have been growing consistently in India, the packaging has completely changed.

The study says in the TV space, 29.5 million of an estimated 100 million pay television households, led by the direct-to-home technology, would be migrating to the more-sophisticated digital platforms by 2010.

The study, entitled 'Digitisation: Paving Way for New Media', also speaks about the convergence of mobile telephony and entertainment, and says these value added services will register a growth of over 60 percent by end of 2007-08.

It predicts revenues from value added services for mobile operators to top Rs.46 billion ($1.15 billion) by end of this fiscal (2007-08) from Rs.28 billion ($700 million) last fiscal, despite the industry being plagued with rampant piracy.

© 2007 Indo-Asian News Service