Essel floats arm to facilitate digital content

The Essel group has launched a digital company "" Digital Media Convergence (DMCL) "" to facilitate the availability of digital content in the country.

Explaining the need to launch a digital company, Subhash Chandra, chairman of the group, said, "It's the end of TV the way we know it. Players like us will face immense complexities in this industry now and, as a result, we will stop buying films in the film industry the way we currently do. As a content aggregator, we must be ready to deliver content across all emerging digital platforms in a seamless manner."

DMCL will focus on acquiring, digitising and making available content across various platforms. This content could be special interest content sourced from outside for the home audience as well as local content for use in the country and outside. DMCL will also be engaged in creating niche content locally.

For this effort, DMCL will be collaborating with Intel Corporation, which launched its Intel Viiv technology platform for home entertainment devices in January this year.

The technology is designed to make it easier for people to download, view, manage and share digital entertainment on a variety of display screens and networked devices such as portable media players, digital TVs and routers. DMCL and Intel will work towards offering digital content over the Intel Viiv platform in India.

The former will offer an agnostic platform, by being an aggregator for other content owners, starting with Zee Telefilms content, the latter will work with other players in the industry to introduce DMCL as an Intel Viiv content service provider in India.