Introduction

The Indian Media and Entertainment industry continues to grow at a healthy pace. The rising rate of investments by the private sector and foreign media and entertainment (M&E) majors have improved India's entertainment infrastructure to a great extent. Producing more than 1,000 films yearly, India is the largest producer of films in the world and there are over 500 Television (TV) channels in the country.

Digitisation and technological improvements across the value chain have provided the required impetus for improving the quality of content and its ability to reach the masses. Growing broadband penetration is expected to attract more content online. As the second-largest mobile telephony market in the world, India has provided a new platform for content delivery.

The Government, has also taken various positive measures including liberalization of the foreign investment regime and is currently working on other policy initiatives to boost the Media and Entertainment industry.

Television

The television industry is estimated to grow by 12.9 per cent cumulatively over 2009-14, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Growing popularity of the direct-to-home (DTH) services is an interesting concept in the Indian television industry.

By 2012, Indian Railways will redefine the travelling experience of passengers on premium trains by providing live television services on-board.

Discovery has received permission from Government of India to launch four new channels, but their launch in India is expected to take more than a year. Discovery Kids, Military Channel, ID and Discovery Home and Health are the channels that have received the permission.

Music

The music industry is projected to benefit from consumption through mobile value added services (VAS) and phase three of FM radio licensing. It is expected to grow from Rs 950 (US$ 205.38 million) crore in 2010 to CAGR of 17.6 per cent to touch Rs 2,140 crore (US$ 462.69 million) in 2015.

Radio

Many radio stations are encouraging their radio jockeys (RJs) to reach out to listeners using social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter and Orkut in order to build up a fan base for the radio station. This allows the listeners to engage with their favorite RJs even after the airtime. Furthermore, the FM stations have their fan page where the listeners can connect with the station. My FM is one such station which has taken these initiatives and has elicited an extremely favorable response. Radio City’s online venture Planetradiocity.com has launched their internet radio station some time back.

In order to increase the reach of private radio channels, the Union Cabinet has approved e-auction of licences under the third-phase expansion of FM radio.