Mumbai, April 5th, 2005 — The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) today announced that in line with a regional strategy it is launching a CASBAA India Chapter. The CASBAA India Chapter will comprise all members of the Association that currently have representation in the India market.
“Our objective is to highlight the real value of the multi-channel television industry in India,” said Marcel Fenez, Chairman of CASBAA, speaking at the FRAMES conference in Mumbai. “As an industry sector we need to better articulate our central role within the broad communications market. More than this, it is time for India to take its rightful place in the international community and showcase its achievements to the world.”
Deepak Shourie, the MD of Discovery Networks India, will chair the CASBAA India Chapter with Peter Mukerjea (CEO, STAR India) as Vice Chairman. The Steering Group will also consist of Kunal Dasgupta (CEO, Sony Entertainment Networks India), Rajat Jain (MD, Walt Disney Television International C India) and R.C. Ventakeish (MD, ESPN Software India).
“By some estimates the pay-TV industry in India is worth up to US$5 billion today, providing employment to thousands of highly skilled workers,” said Mr Shourie. “To fully benefit from this platform we need to ensure that the next stage of our development includes a robust regulatory environment and advanced technologies.
“Meanwhile, we also believe it is essential that the pay-TV industry in India has a clear voice. We hope that the CASBAA India Chapter will be joined by many other organisations with our common goals of developing a robust and advanced pay-TV market.”
Beyond dealing with day-to-day issues, the CASBAA India Chapter will also promote initiatives such as the launch of a pay-TV sales and marketing training scheme in India by the CASBAA Media College and a series of CASBAA seminars on new technologies supporting the pay-TV industry. CASBAA will establish a full-time office in India in the coming months.
“We need to actively recruit new companies to join CASBAA within India so that we reflect the existing profile of the Association in other parts of the region,” said Alexander Brown, the CASBAA Board Director Responsible for India Issues, and the CEO and President of CNBC Asia Pacific.
“CASBAA is about more than broadcasters. It represents the interests of a wide range sectors, including the MSOs, the satellite operators, the hardware providers and the original creators of our content. This will be the strength of the CASBAA India Chapter.”
For further information, please contact:
Ms Rebecca KENNEDY
Communications Manager, CASBAA
Mob: (852) 9138 8890 Tel: (852) 2854 9913 Email: pr@casbaa.com
ABOUT CASBAA
The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia is an industry-based advocacy group dedicated to the promotion of multi-channel television via cable, satellite, broadband and wireless video networks across the Asia-Pacific. CASBAA represents some 120 Asia-based corporations, which in turn serve more than 3 billion people. Member organisations include AsiaSat, ASTRO (Malaysia), BBC Worldwide, Discovery Networks Asia, ESPN STAR Sports, HBO Asia, Hong Kong Cable Television, IBM, Irdeto Access, Juniper Networks, Lockheed Martin, MTV Networks Asia Pacific, Nokia, NDS Asia Pacific, Nielsen Media Research, now Broadband TV (HK), PanAmSat, SkyVision Corp., Sony Pictures Television International, STAR Group, Starhub (Singapore), Sun Microsystems,Turner International Asia Pacific, UBC (Thailand) and Walt Disney Television International.