MUMBAI: Star TV CEO Michelle Guthrie could well be the star attraction at the fourth edition of Frames, that gets underway in Mumbai on 15 March this year.
Guthrie will deliver an extensive presentation on 17 March on the topic Building a Valuable Television Industry - The Global experience. as well as be part of a roundtable on lessons learnt from the Asia Pacific pay television markets. The Federation of Indian Chambers, Commerce & Industry's (Ficci) convention for the entertainment industry will be held, as in earlier years, at the Renaissance Convention centre in Powai in suburban Mumbai.
In an attempt to foster better co-operation in the fields of film and other forms of entertainment between India and other countries, three country specific sessions have been designed.
These involve the UK, Australia and the Asia-Pacific. Doing Business With the UK will speakers such as Pathe Pictures' Mike Runagali and UK Film Council's international department head Clare Wise. Despite the fact that India and the UK have been doing business for years, films form a meagre portion of this business. The panel will cover different aspects related to film such as raising finance, legal issues, distribution setups and marketing strategies.
The Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (Casbaa) will conduct a session on lessons learnt from the Asia Pacific pay television markets. Casbaa's CEO Simon Twiston Davies will chair the session. The speakers include Celestial Pictures' CEO William Pfeiffer, CNBC Asia Pacific's CEO Alexander Brown, Star TV CEO Michelle Guthrie.
The session Doing Business With Australia will be hosted by Filmandcasting Temple's Anupam Sharma. On the domestic front, there will be a session with policy makers on 15 March. This will feature representatives from the governments of ten states including Maharshtra, Goa, Punjab and Karnataka.
In addition to all this activity, Ernst & Young will present its report on the status of our entertainment industry in the inaugural session. It will look at the consolidation taking place as well as the qualitative aspects of the different segments. E&Y conducted an Internet survey asking key industry people to dwell on the crucial issues and challenges they face as well as gains made. The firm also conducted interviews with officials from the I&B Ministry on what the government is doing in terms of policies.
While Ernst & Young's report will have a segment on FM radio, Frames will not have a session dedicated to the medium. News and sports broadcasters are also absent from the seminar list.
The three days will have the three major themes of India Outbound, Making It Possible and Vision 2020. Future Perfect? respectively. One of the keynote speakers on 16 March is Walt Disney Intl's president Andy Bird. Nielsen media research Intl's chairman and CEO Robert Mc Cann will talk about the role research plays in today's media world. The Telecom Regulatory Authority Of India's (Trai) chairman Pradip Baijal will deliver a special address the same day.
