CNBC TV 18 has signed an agreement with Tata Indicom broadband to launch its video-on-demand service. As per the deal, CNBC will provide content to Tata Indicom broadband for a fixed fee, which will enable all Tata Indicom subscribers to access CNBC’s live as well as archival content.
This is the first for the “broadband consumer”. CNBC has fired the first salvo. Something seems to have happened to the high ups in Tata. They seem to have become proactive all of a sudden.
The charges are per download.
I shall be looking at the entertainment industry at a later date. Some “germ” of an idea is already forming up.
Finally, there are new options to be explored to solve the spectrum crunch. It is an open secret that spectrum is scarce. And 3G solutions are “touted” as the end all solution to this hassle. However, despite the claims of the industry, it isn’t really happening. The spectrum MAY be auctioned later this year. Remember the time when GPRS was answer to the “download hassles”? It is a dead dodo now.
Further options that are being explored are- broadband over power lines; integrating the fixed and landline numbers, WiMax et al.
What does this mean for the consumer? Frankly, I have no idea. Would this help to foray in the rural areas; increase mobile penetration?
I strongly believe that mobile telephony isn’t the answer to connectivity woes. It’s the landline. For this, the last mile access must be opened up. BSNL has no right to sit over public property. As an incentive, TRAI could allow tax concessions to operate in rural areas. Or the subsidies through the cess collected from the operators (the USO fund). It requires imaginative solutions to nagging problems.
Let’s hope.