The regulatory policies including MIB and DoT are for good. But unfortunately they are not implemented the way they should be, says Pankaj Gupta, Managing Director, Digital Broadcast India Pvt. Ltd.

On current scenario in the turnkey solutions market

The very concept of turnkey solution is almost nonexistent in the present Indian broadcast scenario. In most cases the RF part is segregated from the studio part and so is the DSNG part. There are very few cases where the entire channel infrastructure building activities are carried out by a single vendor.

On market and technology trends

The market in general is rising slowly but steadily. The slump due to recession last year is fading out. Technology trend is HD, MPEG-4 and compact economical solutions. Due to huge competition, most channels are concentrating on limited capital investment and choosing to settle for a combination of both technical and commercial factors.

On factors driving the market

It is simply who can extend the most competitive technical solution. The competition has become tougher and unfortunately a few are extending solutions which are not desirable. They are not customer-friendly and can become hindrances after a short span of operations. The cost factor, which drives the market at times, deprives the customer from getting the quality and the proven technology for smooth running for years.

On key challenges facing the industry

It is the changing over from SD to HD. Many national channels are considering the transformation and a few have already started migrating to HD before the Commonwealth games. The HD will certainly improve the quality tremendously, but the challenge is the availability of spectrum and TV sets with the viewers. Even if spectrum gets available, how will the masses view an HD broadcast without HD ready TV set? This is a big challenge which this industry is going to face shortly.

On major policies or regulatory issues

The regulatory policies including MIB and DoT are for good. But unfortunately, they are not implemented the way they should. There are too many loopholes, roadblocks, and other factors which are not very channel-friendly. The system is excessively slow and lacks transparency at times. But, with time, we all hope that these regulatory systems will get streamlined. A single window system is desirable, if possible.

On future outlook for the industry

Undoubtedly it is bright. But there will be a fallout and only those players with specific targets and right focus will be able to survive. It will grow, but not the way it did in the last five years. Quality will matter in times to come. Once the so called ‘less costly' but sub standard products get exposed and start giving problems, the proven products will prevail and the quality will matter in the long-run.

On projects in the pipeline for 2010

We have 5-6 good projects in India and 2-3 abroad, where we are nicely placed. We hope to start these projects soon. One has already started recently.