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Multicultural panel of programming: Internet offers a space for the distribution of content

June 19, 2012

Berto Guzmán, VP Affiliate Sales and Marketing, nuvoTV

For Berto Guzmán, VP of Affiliate Sales and Marketing for nuvoTV, it’s really important to identify language and culture. “It’s really difficult to identify who is who in this audience, but what’s important is to recognize habits, what they see and what they do with the remote control” Guzman said during the Content Programming and Distribution panel in the multicultural television discussion which took place at the Cable Show in Boston. Along with Guzmán were Suresh Bala Iyer, CEO of Zee Americas and Veria Media; Glenn Goldsmith, VP of Programming for Mediacom; as well as Rajan Singh, EVP of International Business for News Corp Star US.Bala Iyer, who represents channels in Southern Asia, emphasized that 75% of the content distributed by the paid TV systems in the US corresponds to the general market. He explained the limitations that the multicultural channels endure in getting distribution within the traditional means. “There is a tremendous competition for distribution. The reality is that our market will always be underserved. We should find other ways of distribution” said Singh, who represents channels from India. Bala Iyer mentioned the opportunity to offer content online. “Subscribers of paid TV haven’t grown, but the affiliates of these channels online have. About 600% of content is VOD, non-lineal services. There is business there for those channels and distributors of non-lineal content”.