India has several BPOs who are into medical transcription — doctors attending the patients documented patient’s history and treatment records by dictating in a recorder, which a transcriptionist deciphered later to convert into text format. Patient care in the EMRs allows health care systems to perform better. Though the system works, doctors have to spend as much time in recording data as they do in patient consultation. There is EMR — Electronic Medical Record fatigue too.

Scribetech was into medical transcription BPO for close to two decades. They had been doing clinical documentation. They decided to leverage this expertise and introduce automation in the healthcare market.

They developed Augnito Software. It is cloud based speech-to-text software that guarantees error-free documentation. It converts human voice or doctor’s dictates to written text in real time. To do so, it uses deep learning AI trained in medical vocabulary. This transcribes human speech accurately. Thus clinical reporting is fed into their EMR systems.

The software is backed by in-depth research with leading academics in AI field. This will lead to easier adoption of this into the Indian healthcare market. It is co-designed by doctors and leading AI scientists.

Augnito’s seamless voice automation can be incorporated at every step of healthcare journey — from radiology to OPD and surgical notes to discharge summaries and lab reports. This technology recognises different accents. It has built-in vocabulary that is equipped with comprehensive medical jargon.

Dealing with data monopolies is tricky. Data monopolies do stifle competition. One of the charges against Amazon is that it uses data from its suppliers to make products that compete with the products of the suppliers. Amazon knows what sells and at what price points. This puts it at an advantage. However, thinking further, if Amazon overdoes this, who will come forward to sell on its platform.

India expects sharing of non-personal or anonymised data to an agency like Non-personal Data Authority (NDPA) on payment of a sum. Conceptually, it is easy to say and do this. However, sharing of such data leads to the emasculation of the data sharing company. MR costs a fortune but here it is free. Besides, data is collected at great cost. Thus a larger debate is necessary to study the pros and cons of whether this achieves public good.

Film and TV Institute of India has completed 60 years in 2019. The forerunner of this institute was Prabhat Studios. Though film production is concentrated in Mumbai and South, the manpower needed is being trained at FTII, Pune. Senthil Kumar of Bahubali, sound designer Rasool of Slumdog Millionnaire, Raja Ravi, cinematographer of Udta Punjab, Chandni Bar, Bombay Velvet are products of FTII. Artistes such as Shabana Azmi, Jaya Bachchan, Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Raj Kumar Rao are from FTII. Commercial movie actors Mithun Chakraborty, Shatrughna Sinha, Asrani, Danny are all from FTII. Experimental movie makers Mani Kaul, Janu Barua, Ketan Mehta and Rajkumar Hirani (Munnabhai fame), Vidhu Vinod Chopra who mixed art and commerce are from FTII. Commercial film makers such as Subhash Ghai, David Dhavan and Satish Kaushik too are from the film Institute.

Kundan Shah and Saeed Mirza also worked for TV.

Economical data packages have made over-the-top (OTT) or video streaming platforms a magnet for the masses. These have become an attractive mass medium for advertisers. They are also encourged by internet penetration which has risen from 13 per cent in 2016 to 24 per cent in 2018. Previously, only the traditional soap drew the masses to TV. The other content drivers were movies and sports. OTT era resembles cable TV universe at least in near future. There are bundled and a-la-carte models.

People in metros spend around 9.8 hours a week while those in tier 1 and 2 markets spend 7.5 hours and 7.9 hours a week respectively.

The main reasons for subscription are freshness of content and uniqueness.

87 per cent respondents watch on mobile phones, and 5 per cent on smart TVs.

All OTT channels follow the dictum, ‘ The content is the king’. It is reflected in new movies, web series and short films. By 2023, OTT market is estimated to be Rs. 11,977 crore (PWC). Every year 500 lac viewers will watch OTT by 2023 (KPMG). Indian viewers prefer to watch OTT on cell phones. OTT is spreading in semi-urban and rural areas too. It is the real market. Movies and series being made take cognuisance of the semi-urban and rural preferences.

In a couple of years there will be experiments in web series and web films. More web movies will be produces. Leading studios such as Dharma, Yash Raj and Excel have extended in web movie production. There is a separate audience for web movies on account of neat presentation and different themes. Still, there is no censorship and it gives freedom to handle off-beat topics. OTT has created a market for those movies which could not get a theatre release.

There is competition among Amazon Prime, Voot, Zee 5, HotStar, Jio TV and AltBalaji. Apple and Flipkart too have newly entered. Discovery too is thinking of entering OTT space.

Digital content is created specially for young viewers, e.g. Myntra Fashion Superstar. The team had experience of creating content for TV. They had to curate a programme that could be viewed and then acted upon within the app ecosystem. Reality content for digital has to be curated differently from TV reality shows. People do not want to watch a digital show that looks like the TV show recreated for digital.

Digital viewers want bold, edgy, youthful and trendy content. They look for engagement and interactivity.

Unscripted shows for digital is a growing trend. There is massive opportunity for non-fiction content for digital platforms.

There is demand for both scripted and unscripted content.

The cost of a TV show which on average runs for 25-30 episodes per season cannot be compared to an OTT show which has fewer episodes, say 8-10. An OTT show’s cost per episode is higher. It could be 2-3 times more than a TV episode.

OTT apps began mainly as online destinations for catch-up TV. These days they desire to upgrade themselves to super apps that combine entertainment of all kinds on one platform. The core offering of these video streaming platforms were originals, TV shows and movies. They have now introduced gaming to their platforms. It’s a bouquet of HTML 5 hyper-causal games. HotStar has Watch N Play to accompany cricket enabling viewers to predict the result of every ball and win rewards with the right answers. Voot has brought educational content to the platform. They may introduce hyper-short form of user generated content and hyper-local news too. They may introduce health and wellness-related content too.

Online news consumption is increasing. Four of the top 10 mobile news brands in the world are Indian — Times Internet, Network18, India Today Group and Dailyhunt. Among 25 top news brands worldwide, we find Zee Digital, The Indian Express Group and HT Media.

The top video streaming brands are as follows:

You Tube

HotStar

Mx P;ayer

Zee 5

Netflix

Amazon Prime Video

Prime Video

SonyLiv

Voot

The top multiplatform news entities are:

Times Internet

Network 18

India Today

Zee Digital

Dailyhunt

H T Media

The Indian Express

NDTV

Jagran News Media

ABP Network

Microsoft News

A good amount of traffic of HotStar comes from cricket. Disney Star owns most of the large cricket properties, including IPL. Even if OTT is not sports dependent, it is definitely linear TV dependent. Half the OTT traffic is catch-up TV.

Netflix and Amazon Prime have huge global libraries on offer. Amazon keeps on acquiring films. Netflix has many originals. Both are subscription-driven brands.

OTT brands in India has gone up from 36 in 2017 to 60 in June, 2020. OTT revenues would continue to remain at Rs. 8000 crore. Google’s YouTube has the largest market share — 43 per cent followed by Disney HotStar and Netflix which are distant second and third . Online video’s growth rate is expected to be 25 per cent (compounded) and would reach to Rs. 29000 crore or $ 4 billion by 2025.

The linear broad casting industry is estimated to be at Rs. 79000 crore. It is the largest of the entire media business in India. Thus, though demand for online video expands, demand for TV remains intact.

By 2020 June, India had 60 OTT players. India has 662 million broadband connections. India’s top 10 OTTs are YouTube, Mx Player, Disney+HotStar, Amazon Prime Video, Zee5, Netflix, SonyLiv, Voot and AltBalaji. OTTs are investing more in programming. New players with content such as Orange is the New Black (Lionsgate) are entering India directly.

In June 2020 the total audience for straming Video remained at 395 million. Subscriptions grew to 31 million. The TV business of Rs. 79000 crore is 10 times larger and more profitable. In India, five large OTT players account for 63 per cent of the total viewership and roughly half the industry’s revenues. TV took 20 years to reach the scale. OTT will probably gain scale faster on account of two reasons — video-on-demand will land on TV screen and the availability of broadband will improve. In the US, the bulk of OTT viewing is on TV screens. Besides, broadcasters are the biggest OTT players in India and in the viewership 50 per cent is accounted for by catch-up TV.

There are two kind of OTTs — tech-driven and studio-driven. Many fall in-between. They will find it difficult to survive.

There could be a need for aggregators as apps multiply and everything becomes a walled garden. In key markets, there could be Hulu and Roku type platforms.

Costing and economics of TV and OTT are different. The cost of content on OTT is seven to ten times of TV. TV is a very contained format; everything is largely shot in a studio. It can amortise the cost of the set, as TV shows run longer. An OTT show cannot be contained. It is more like a film at the pre-production stage and shooting stage. It uses film cameras. OTT content is film-like. There are fewer episodes of OTT content, and hence per episode cost is higher. There is less scope to amortise. TV is regulated and is dependent on advertising. OTT has no such limitations, and therefore provides creative freedom. Every OTT platform need not do film-mounted dramas. There are options of short-form. It is necessary to match the audience size and the cost. OTT can bank on niche topics where the cost of content is virtually nothing, say a sole cameramen recording yoga sessions and meditation. You have to think about costing when you enter the GEC area.

OTT Regulation

OTT content is much bolder and should be regulated. This is one view. However, this is not a holistic view. Trai in India recommends that there is no need to regulate OTT players at this time. It is the first body in the world to champion this approach.

It all started with the concept of net neutrality. It implies all websites and apps must be made available to all internet users at the same speed and cost without interference by the internet providers or telecom operators. Internet was being used for local and international calls — through OTT services such as WhatsApp. There was the issue of internet telephony. Some telecom operators felt that consumers must be allowed to place calls on internet networks to compete with OTT players. There were issues of privacy and security of the data transmitted over the OTT networks. The essence of all this was the need to regulate OTT industry.

OTT regulation was advocated on the basis of substitutability — are OTT services a direct replacement of telecom service operators? Some felt that this is true. However, a close comparison indicates this is not so. Telcos have spectrum, interconnect with PSTN, network infrastructure, and they obtain numbering resources. OTT players do not have these privileges. They are dependent on telecom operators to reach their audience.

India is a young and competitive market. If we hasten to regulate it, if may lead to economic waste. OTT players and telecom operators have symbiotic relationship. OTT’s expansion leads to extensive use of telecom infrastructure, network and spectrum. That makes telecom grow. OTT too flourishes by app downloads on smart phones and video streaming.

India has voracious appetite for OTT services. It leads to growth in streaming services. Video-on-demand market too is growing. There is increase in app downloads.

Trai would like to wait till all complexities and market forces are understood at the global level before deciding about the regulation of the OTT.

There is a feeling that OTT players must share data whenever it serves the legal purpose. However, data accessibility overrides encryption which protects the individuals or communities who own the data. Data owner should not be exposed to interception. It means more research is necessary before outright regulation.

India is expanding its telecom and OTT market. It means more apps, videos and games.

There was a demand from media companies for payment against the use of their content by social media firms such as Google. Google has now set aside $1 billion plus to cover such payments for the first three years. It will pay publishers to provide blurbs for its news app and paywalled articles. Brazil and Germany will witness the launch of this programme. Branded story panels curated by partner publishers will be displayed. Panels will also link directly to publisher’s website. It is the initiation of a licensing programme to pay publishers for high quality content. Google News Showcase lets the publishers curate stories on the news that matters. It generates a new revenue stream for the publishers. 200 plus publishers in Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Canada, the UK and Australia have tied up with News Showcase Programme.

All publishers cannot come on board, as the content may not be suitable for this product. The partners will be decided on market-by-market basis.

Licensing fee will be fixed as a flat fee for a period of time and is negotiable on the basis of the volume of content and its quality.

Some publishers have misgivings about the programme. Such a programme can dictate terms. Besides, it undemines the legislation created to bring an element of fairness.

News Showcase will be launched on Android app and at later stage on iOs.

Geographical indications (GIs) is a concept under the IPR relating to products from a particular geographical region, situated in a particular state or a country. GIs may be indications or destinations of origin. The trademarks (TM) arise with GIs in the distinctive market. GIs help small native producers. Nature gifts resources on the earth. Human beings are invested with imagination and creativity to produce various articles for need and comfort. The owner’s right over these assets should be awarded, rewarded and protected.

This is governed by the GI Act, 1999. The Controller General of Patents, Designs and TM is empowered to register GIs under the TM Act, 1999. Many treaties globally deal with GI protection. GIs can be registered under the headings of agricultural products, natural goods, foodstuff, manufactured products and handicrafts.

GI is applicable to goods and services considered by the place where they are created. They promote products commercially and generate wealth and value.

Certified prints of the map of the territory are submitted. Number of producers are mentioned. Particulars of producers are given. The special human skill involved, if any, is mentioned. The characteristics and special features are also given. Textual description is submitted.