US' Avid Tech eyes regional Indian TV

Chennai, Sep 19 : US-based Avid Technology Inc, a global major in digital nonlinear media creation, management and distribution solutions, is betting big on the booming Indian regional TV industry for its future growth.

Operating in three business segments - video and film editing, broadcast and services and solutions - with a market leadership position in the first sector, Avid is now looking at the growing Indian satellite television broadcasting market.

"Our belief is that the regional satellite channels will log growth. We are targeting this segment. We are also hoping to gain on the demand for high definition television content after upgrading our product line," Krishan Sanghi, country head, Avid Technology, told IANS.

He said the Telugu channel Saakshi will be the first high definition channel in the southern region.

The company's products are used to create digital video, audio, and 3D production systems for film, video, audio, animation, video game, and TV broadcast industries.

Citing a Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PWC) study Sanghi said there are around 350 satellite channels in India, making it the third largest television market in the world, and the sector is poised to log 18 percent annual growth for the next five years.

"This in turn has created a huge market in India for professional broadcast, media technology products and services worth more than USD 200 million. This market is growing at more than 10 percent per annum providing tremendous growth opportunities for both national and international suppliers," he said.

The American company through its Indian dealer, the city based Real Image Technologies Pvt Limited, has shipped to India over 286 terra byte (TB) of central production storage systems to different Indian TV channels like NDTV, Network 18, Times Now, Star TV, Sun TV, Jaya TV, Kalaignar TV, Star Vijay and several others.

Though a leader in the post production editing segment, Sanghi said the reducing product prices is benefiting the single machine post production outfits.

"This sector is peppered with single machine outfits. Competition is gaining market share in this segment," he added.

Avid along with Real Image is planning to expand the distribution reach across the country focusing on the education sector.