Month: August 2014

Disruptive Broadcast Technology : Aereo

Shabbir Chunawalla

 

Chaitanya (Chet ) Kanojia has put forward a disruptive technology which enables to pick up the broadcast signals off the air with an antenna of the size of a postage stamp. People can watch the TV programmes on lap top computers, smart phones and other portable devices. Most Americans access free-to-air TV through cable companies that pay heavy re-transmission fees to major US broadcasters. Chet’s company is called Aero. Its services costs $ 8 to $ 12 a month as it has not to pay the heavy retransmission fees to major US broadcasters. The broadcasters say their revenue loss is so vital that they will have to remove their signals from the airways if Aero is allowed to continue like this. It is also infringement of copyright. It may give a death blow to  the broadcasting  as we know it. Aero contends that it allows subscribers to do what they have been able to do since they used the rabbit-ear antenna and watch free broadcast if it caught signals over the  public airways. Aero only provides the equipment. The case is in the US supreme court and the judgment will have a bearing on cloud computing services such as Google and Apple.

The US supreme court ruled on Wednesday, June, 25, 2014 that Aero violates the copyright laws by capturing signals mid-air with its thumb-sized antennas and delivering them to the subscribers for a fee. It is a 6—3 decision and is a massive relief to the established broadcasters. Aero argued that it is cost-effective at $ 8 as compared to $80 plus people pay for cable services. The service is the same but the technological manner Aero provides the service is different.

University Research

Shabbir Chunawalla

 

We are mesmerised by the innovations in the corporate world but behind the success of these corporate laboratories is a busy underpaid university scientist. In the corporate sector, there is little room for fundamental research, and that is why most Nobel laureates are from the universities. In university set up, you are prepared for years of failure, and risks can be taken. In corporate world, if you do not deliver in time, you will be asked to take risk. It is not always the Ivy League universities which corner all the glory but many  non-Ivy League universities scattered all over. All chemistry research has been facilitated by Norman Allinger who is a guru to all those who use computer to figure out chemistry. The federally-funded National Institute of Health (NIH) of the US added to our understanding how the transport system in the cells work. This facilitates so much research in medicine. Though Steve Jobs was brilliant and audacious, yet without Alan Turing of National Physical Lab, UK and then the university of Manchester, there would neither be computer science, nor formalisation of the concept of  ‘alogorithm’. Mask Zuckerberg may have leveraged the Web, but the web was put in place by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN in 1989. CERN, Geneva is funded by 12 European countries and Berners-Lee is today a professor in the University of Southampton, UK.

As the Indian universities are in bad shape, we do not think of pure science research in India. Though IIT, Mumbai is the best but ranks 251st in the world. Some other Asian institutes happen to be in the first 100.

Vijay Govindarajan’s Analysis of Indian Consumers

Shabbir Chunawalla

 

According to Vijay Govidarajan, India can be classified into three sections:–

Developed India: Those who live in 15 major cities with a population of 100 million.These are targeted by the companies as their consumers.

Developing India: These people live in 6000 small towns with a population of 300 million.

Under-developed India: This is the bottom of the pyramid.It is a population of 700 million living in 6 lac villages.

Almost a billion people in India in developing and under-developing sections remain non-consumers. Their needs and problems are the same as those of the consumers. The question is that of affordability. If we have to tap them, we have to innovate in such a way that the innovations become affordable.

McDonald’s

Shabbir Chunawalla

 

It entered the business in 1995 by setting up joint ventures with two partners-turned-franchisees Hardcastle Restaurants and Connaught Plaza Restaurants.

McDonald’s India is growing fast and plans to expand its outlets from 275 in 2012 to 500 by 2015.

They adopted a policy of glocalization –- bring in its expertise in supply chains and restaurant operations from abroad and combine it with local requirements and culture.

The products and pricing for India were specially designed. They did not allow items with beef and pork. India is the first country to do so. Except fries, beverages, sandwich and the Filet-O-Fish, there is little in common between an Indian and a US outlet.

They practise here  ‘branded affordability’.  Some items on the menu cost Rs 20. They focus on safe food and one-minute service. They focus on cost reduction.

McDonald’s spent six years and Rs 450 crores to set up a supply chain in India well before opening its first outlet.

Lean Thinking in Marketing

Shabbir Chunawalla

 

Here you have to think big but start small. Then iterate quickly and scale fast. It is advisable to have a simple prototype and see how it works. There can be experimentation. This is done on a shoe-string budget. Cash is preserved. One buys time needed to crack the success formula. It is better to test assumptions and hypotheses by market experiments than a ‘spray and pray’ approach.

World –Class Cartoon Characters

Shabbir Chunawalla

 

In India, many foreign cartoon creations have a fan following. Mickey Mouse has featured in everything from pencil boxes to wrist watches. However, there are no India-created characters having pan-India appeal. Yes, the Maharaja of Air India and the Amul girl could be the candidates having all-India appeal. But they are advertising characters. The common man of Laxman has been a witness of the vagaries and variety of socio political life since 1951. There are attempts in the past to create such characters, say the mustachioed Chacha Chauhary or Dabbooji. Howerver, we do not see much of Chacha these days and Dabbooji has disappeared. In a multi-cultural country like India, it is difficult to create a character with an all-India appeal. Even characters created abroad have taken almost a century of brand building to turn into global characters they are. India is taking baby steps through mythological characters to crate brands as big as Iron Man and Spiderman. We can look forward to a Krrish too. It requires a strong imagination, conscious effort on detailing and quality backed by robust marketing and branding effort to push us into world class cartoon heroes.

Death of Comic Characters

Shabbir Chunawalla

 

Many of you must have wondered how Archie’s story would end. The maximum one could think of was whether he would end up with Veronica or Betty, or some surprise character waiting ahead. Instead Archie has died. It is too morbid. Millions of fans worldwide are sad with the demise of freckled boy-next doo. In the 36th issue of Life with Archie  comic series, Archie takes a bullet for his gay best friend Kevin Keller, which leads to his death.  The 37th issue will focus on other characters including Reggie, Betty, Veronica and Jughead. It is an end of an era.

Some other popular comic characters were also killed off. In Blue Cat Blues, Tom is bent on committing suicide and Jerry tries to prevent it without success. The little mouse thanks his stars for having a loyal girl friend but is deeply pained to see her going with another mouse in a car with ‘just married’ plank on it. The episode ends with the lovable characters ending their lives by coming under a moving train.

Spider-man is the web spinning hero. He faced death at the hands of Doctor Octopus who was a scientist turned villain. Spider-man gives back all his memories to Doctor Octopus and makes him realise how he has wasted his life in villainy. Peter dies , but the principles of Spider-man live on with the transformed  Doctor Octopus. All this is the content of the Amazing Spider-Man # 700.

In The Death of Superman, the super-hero is shown to have died after succumbing to his injuries. He fights the Machine Man Doomsday, but loses his own life too. Later Superman Doomsday  has a plot where a robot resurrects Superman.

Difference between Cinematography Style Of Adi and Karan

Shabbir Chunawalla

 

According to Nikhil Advani, Karan Johar’s style of filmmaking consists of taking most shots as mid or close shots, as he would like to come close to the audience.Karan goes wide for dramatic scenes.On the other hand, Adi Chopra has a different style.He shoots mid and wide.Only for dramatic effects, Adi comes close to the audience.Temperamentally, Karan likes to be close to people, and Adi likes people to keep people away.Therefore, Adi likes his actors to be seen from a distance, while Karan wants to see actors close.

BBC

Shabbir Chunawalla

 

Here is the news. These are the four words with which the BBC anchors introduce the regular bulletine. It has 47 million British radio listeners and TV viewers. It has an additional 239 million people tuning in around the world. It does not just do news. It makes dramas, soaps and comedies and covers spectator sports and Westminister debates. It was founded in 1922, and makes first radio broadcast from London on November 14, 1922. In 1932, it starts World Service, and moves into the Broadcasting House. In 1953, it covers Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation. Life on Earth, BBC national history programme comes in 1979. In 2012, it covers the London Olympics. It is in international model for public broadcasters. By law, most British households with a TV pay $ 231 a year to support BBC. The charter that provides the BBC’s constitutional basis and guarantees its independence is up for renewal in 2016. Some unpalatable facts have dented the BBC’s repute. A journalistic maxim holds that a reporter should never become a part of the story, but the BBC could not avoid this.

Live TV Debates

Shabbir Chunawalla

 

Media business today is less about delivering the news, and more about the live TV debates.Generating original news content is expensive.Comparatively, live debates are economical.They also provide the element of drama and tension.These are hard times for TV reporters.

ANI is the TV news agency that provides bytes across the channels, and deprives the reporters of the chance to do ambush journalism.As social media is more speedy, the TV reporters have also been deprived of the big advantage of speed over print.

The guests in live TV debates are now managed by Guest Coordinators ( GCs ). Politicians who wish to get on air now stay in touch with the GCs.