Prannoy Roy-promoted news channel New Delhi Television Ltd and business process outsourcing company Genpact have formed a 50:50 joint venture to offer media outsourcing services to enterprises across the world.
Currently, 70 per cent of all media work is digital and all of this can be outsourced, Roy, who is also the chairman of NDTV, said.
Estimates suggest that the global media and entertainment industry revenue is likely to shoot up to $1,777 billion by 2009 from $1,340 billion in 2005.
Stating that the cost saving on account of doing the work in India rather than in the US could be up to 20 per cent, he said the JV would focus on providing services to global, regional media and entertainment companies in areas of editing, digitisation and closed captioning, among others.
While both the companies declined to give any financial details of the venture, Roy said: "This is the first of its kind initiative on media process outsourcing in the country and should be seen as an opportunity similar to what the 'Y2K' offered to the Indian IT industry a few years ago.
"The world is currently at an inflection point similar to Y2K phenomenon as decades of analog is being converted to digital from major process based operations to high-end functionality", he said.
"There are a number of drivers that are changing the dynamics of the industry like increasing prevalence of HDTV (high definition) digital content and on-demand programming.
The venture will offer tailored outsourcing solutions to media companies allowing them to respond to these changes quicker, faster and cheaper, he said.
Pramod Bhasin, CEO, Genpact said, "This is a landmark deal. Through our partnership with NDTV, our customers will gain access to customised solutions and cost-effective service delivery. There is pressure on media companies globally to cut costs and outsourcing is one of the means to achieve this," he said.
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