Breaking Bad: How Technology is Changing Media & Entertainment

Inspired by the recent Emmy awards broadcast, and with a nod to the awesome Best Drama winner Breaking Bad, this month I take a look at the impact of technology innovation on the Media and Entertainment industry and what it will take for those companies to win the “IT Emmy.”

 

As consumers, we have all directly experienced the dramatic changes happening throughout the Media and Entertainment (M&E) industry. From music to television, books and movies, new and innovative technology has been a major, and at times quite disruptive, factor in reforming the industry’s business models. It is only karmic then that M&E companies are using technology in turn to create solutions that deal with the underlying changes in long established production practices and distribution approaches. As readers of my CMSWire series might anticipate, I see enterprise information management (EIM) technologies playing an important role in those solutions.


It’s been said that the larger lesson of Breaking Bad is that "actions have consequences.” To help me take a closer look at both the actions and the consequences for M&E, I’ve invited my colleague and industry expert, Charles Matheson, to answer some top of mind technology questions for publishers, broadcasters, movie studios and advertisers alike.




Deb Miller: Charles, the Media & Entertainment industry seems to be going through a real transformation driven in large part by technology innovations. Traditional business models have been turned upside down or, in some cases, simply ceased to exist. What segments of the M&E industry are suffering from technology disruption?
 



Charles Matheson: Business model disruption has been in effect for the past 15 years and the first segment of the M&E industry to feel the sting of technology disruption was the music industry in the early 2000’s. The emergence of digital music files or MP3’s that could be shared or sold blew up the decades-old business model of recording and distributing music. In a half decade the music industry saw billions of dollars evaporate from the business with devastating results. Just try to find a record store in your town. The other segments of M&E saw what happened to Music and determined that it wouldn't happen to them, so adoption of new information technology and an innovation imperative drives their strategic planning and decisions. Media companies across the board have decided it’s safer to ride the technology wave than it is to resist and get buried by it.
Deb Miller: Each segment of the M&E industry is different and will face different business pressures and innovation challenges. Are some segments handling this business transformation better than others?
 

Charles Matheson: Each segment has its challenges, but they are not in denial or resistant to change. The two segments of M&E that took the hardest hit early on were music and newspapers in the publishing segment. The advent of a ubiquitous free network caused major disruptions in key pieces of their respective business models. Music was freely, if illegally, distributed through services like Napster and news was aggregated through portals while classified advertising moved to specialized web sites like Craigslist.com. Advertising jumped on the new technology early on and perceived it, correctly, as a tremendous opportunity. Other segments like publishing, studios, broadcasters and game developers have changed their business models to adapt and prosper.

Deb Miller: How are the segments using technology to enable this business transformation?



Charles Matheson: One key enabler has been the adoption of business process management disciplines and technology starting at the inception of a project, book, show or advertisement. Modeling and mapping a business process, even one as iterative as film production or website development, has proven to deliver results. Cost savings and performance improvements through process and case management are obvious benefits, especially those focused on serving the customer. However, increasing revenue may be the real “gold statue” winner for BPM. For example, a BPM based application that helps manage Intellectual Property and licensing can have a tremendous impact.

AKANKSHA SHANU 
PGDM 1st sem. 

Government approves Tata-Singapore Airline venture:

The government Thursday approved the setting up of a joint venture (JV) airline between industrial conglomerate Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines with an investment of about $100 million.

The two companies' plan for the launch of a new full-service private carrier based in New Delhi was approved by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), which met here.

Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram told reporters that the deal has been cleared. 

This is the third instance in which the FIPB has cleared foreign capital's entry into domestic carriers after the government last year allowed investment up to 49 percent.

Earlier, FIPB had approved the applications of Jet-Etihad and Tata-AirAsia.

This is the second such airline venture which the Tata Sons entered into this year. Its venture with Malaysian budget passenger carrier AirAsia is in the process of procuring operators licence from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

The budget airline venture of the Tatas will be based out of Chennai. However, the proposed airline is facing some legal challenges.

On the latest approval by the FIPB, a Tata Sons spokesperson said the company was yet to get any formal intimation from the FIPB.

"We are yet to hear from FIPB. However, we are delighted with the reports of clearance given to the proposed airline by the FIPB," the spokesperson told IANS.

Both the companies last month signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to launch an airline by investing $100 million and sought the FIPB's approval.

“This sends very positive signals to the global investor community," said Amber Dubey, partner and head, aerospace and defence at global consultancy KPMG.

"If they play it well, Tata-SIA has the potential to be among the top three airlines in India by 2015."

The majority stake in the proposed new airline will be held by the Tata Sons, who will own 51 percent, while the rest 49 percent will be with Singapore Airlines.

Initially, the board of directors of the proposed airline will have three members, including two nominated by Tata Sons and one nominated by Singapore Airlines.

 Interestingly, this is the third time the two business groups are trying to start an airline in India. In mid-1990s, Tatas and Singapore Airlines tried to launch a joint airline.

Then again in 2000-2001, both the parties made another bid to take a stake in the erstwhile Indian Airlines. However, that deal never came through due to stringent foreign investment norms that existed at that time.

Informatively, India's first passenger carrier was Tata Airlines, which took flight in 1932. In 1953, it was nationalised and renamed Air India. 

Currently, there are six scheduled domestic airlines in the country -- Air India, Jet Airways, JetLite, SpiceJet, IndiGo and GoAir. The operating licence of Kingfisher Airlines was suspended last year. 

Some salient features:

-- Tatas and Singapore Airlines to start new full service carrier

-- The new airline to be based in New Delhi

-- Tatas to hold 51 percent, while Singapore Airlines to have a 49 percent stake

-- Both the parties to invest $100 million in to the proposed airline

-- Now the management has to satisfy Civil Aviation Ministry norms

-- This will be the second proposed airline venture of Tata Sons this year

-- Tata Sons has also applied with AirAsia to start a budget airline

Gauri Kesarwani.

PGDM- 1st(sem) 

 

 

Siddharth Varadarajan quits The Hindu; family rift resurfaces

New Delhi: New battlelines were drawn and some old ones revived at Kasturi and Sons Ltd (KSL), publisher of The Hindu, after chairman N. Ram used his casting vote to effect a change in top management after the 12 member board of the company voted 6-6 on the move.

Arun Anant is no longer the chief executive of the company and Siddharth Varadarajan, who was re-designated contributing editor and senior columnist, has resigned, The Hindu said in an announcement on its website.

The announcement added that N. Ravi has taken over as editor-inThe KSL board which had two years ago decided to keep the family out of editorial control and run the paper more professionally has changed its mind. In this new set-up, it is best that I leave,” Varadarajan The KSL board which had two years ago decided to keep the family out of editorial control and run the paper more professionally has changed its mind. In this new set-up, it is best that I leave,” Varadarajan said.

The announcement on The Hindu website spoke of “recurrent violations...on the business side”, and “defiance of ... the mandatory code of editorial values...”

Anant declined comment.

The surprise changes, which followed a board meeting on Monday, came two years after another flare-up of occasional hostilities between family members resulted in the family deciding to remain mere shareholders and directors, and run the company through professional managers and editors 
pratima kumari 
pgdm 1sem

Bill Gates snaps up stake in Spanish builder: company

US billionaire Bill Gates snapped up a 113.5-million-euro ($155 million) stake in Spanish construction and services group FCC, sending its shares soaring more than 10% on Tuesday.

   
FCC stock leapt 11.74% to 17.55 euros in the first half hour of trade in Madrid, the first market reaction to Gates' purchase of a 6% stake in the company, making him the second-largest shareholder.
    








Gates' investment was announced by FCC several hours after the close of trade on Monday.   
The international construction and water and waste services group said the stake had been bought by "one or more entities linked to William H. Ga tes III".
   
FCC shares had already climbed 5.42% on Monday before the Gates investment was officially revealed to the stock market.
   
Gates' funds are now the second largest investor in FCC after the group's president, Spanish philanthropist Esther Koplowitz, said a spokesman for FCC.
  
FCC won in July a 6.07-billion-euro project to build three metro lines in Ryadh.
   
Among its other worldwide projects, FCC is rebuilding the historic 1960s Gerald Desmond bridge in Los Angeles and building a metro in Panama, the first in Central America.




   
The group announced a loss of 607.6 million euros in the first half of this year, compared to a 53.4-million-euro net profit a year earlier, largely because of the collapse of its fully owned Austrian subsidiary Alpine Bau.

VIKASH CHANDRA MISHRA
PGDM 1ST 

   

We go hands-on with the new iPad Air and iPad Mini

We go hands-on with the new iPad Air and iPad Mi

(CNN) -- There is nothing terribly surprising in Apple's refreshed line of tablets, but that's OK.

We spent some time testing and touching the new iPad Mini and iPad Air after Tuesday's press conference. As promised by Apple executives, the new devices were lighter, thinner and seemingly faster -- just like many incremental product upgrades from the past.

iPad Air

There were no major new features, such as the fingerprint scanner or camera upgrade that came with the iPhone 5S.

Apple unveils the new iPad Air

New iPad Air thinner, lighter

Tuesday means tablets

The most unexpected news of the day was a new name for the $499 fifth-generation iPad, which is now the iPad Air. The iPad line has been a bit wishy-washy with names.

It began by counting each version, but then dropped the number and asked only to be know as "iPad," like Cher. The iPad 2 kept its number and a spot in stores, where its slightly lower price tag (now $399) might appeal to someone considering a cheaper Android or Windows tablet.

Physically, the iPad Air is indeed lighter and thinner than its predecessor. It's 20% thinner than the third generation iPad, measuring in at a slight .29-inch. An ad shown at the press conference showed an iPad Air lying flat on a tablet, hiding discretely behind a No. 2 pencil. It has also dropped a bit of weight and the Wi-Fi version is now exactly 1 pound (the cellular version is 1.05 pounds).

Unfortunately, I didn't have an older iPad on hand to do a weight comparison, and I'd picked up an iPad Mini first. Nothing makes a regular iPad feel hefty like holding an iPad Mini. You can't unfeel a Mini; it's just so delightfully wee.

The iPad Air has a 64-bit A7 processor, the same chip recently introduced in the iPhone 5S. The A7 should benefit graphics heavy programs such as iMovie and iPhoto, and Phil Schiller claimed it would double the performance of the previous chip.

Who's talking about iPad Air? View more in this chart showing who was mentioning "iPad Air" in their Facebook posts, both in the U.S. and around the world, beginning the afternoon of the announcement.

It is difficult to judge speed increases during a few minutes in a crowded room without proper tests and an equally empty previous generation device to use for comparison.

Fresh Apple products always feel zippier than previous generations. Part of that is the steadily improving processors inside, but its also the benefit of working on a new device that hasn't been gradually slowed down by pages of apps, hundreds of cat videos and the latest operating system upgrade.

MD.AQUIL ALAM 

PGDM 1ST SEM             

Stop identifying food scheme beneficiaries: Election Commission

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission has asked the Delhi government to stall the process for identifying beneficiaries under food security scheme till December 5 when the poll process in capital will be over. The EC directive came in reply to a request from Delhi government to continue with the identification of beneficiaries as the scheme has already been launched in Delhi.

The poll body has said that identifying beneficiaries would be a violation of the model code of conduct, which is in force in Delhi. The capital goes to polls on December 4 to elect its 70-member assembly.

Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit had claimed that her government will provide benefits under the scheme to 73.5 lakh people. Under the scheme, two-third population of the country will have the right to get 5 kg foodgrains every month at highly subsidised rates. While per kg price of rice will be Rs 3, wheat and coarse cereals will be given at Rs 2 and Rs 1 per kg respectively. Congress president Sonia Gandhi had rolled out the ambitious and "game changer" scheme in three states of Delhi, Haryana and Uttarakhand on August 20. Delhi aims to include 32 lakh people belonging to 5.10 lakh families in the scheme in the first phase covering all BPL families, above poverty line card holders and jhuggi ration card holders besides beneficiaries under Antodaya Anna Yojna ( AAY).

The city government has also decided to include homeless people, daily wage-earners, rag-pickers, people living in resettlement colonies and slum clusters in the first phase of implementation of the scheme.

MD NAUSHAD ALAM

PGDM 1 SEM.