Krishna Menon is currently the Chief Operating Officer at QYOU Media India, India’s youngest and fastest-growing entertainment network. In his present role, Krishna maintains control of diverse business operations and is directly responsible for distribution, branding, influencer marketing, digital sales, and operations. Having been a part of the team at QYOU Media since its inception in India, Krishna strategized to increase the channel’s reach and tap rural markets thus moving beyond metros and making the channel increasingly popular.

Krishna Menon is currently the Chief Operating Officer at QYOU Media India, India’s youngest and fastest-growing entertainment network. In his present role, Krishna maintains control of diverse business operations and is directly responsible for distribution, branding, influencer marketing, digital sales, and operations. Having been a part of the team at QYOU Media since its inception in India, Krishna strategized to increase the channel’s reach and tap rural markets thus moving beyond metros and making the channel increasingly popular.

An industry veteran, Saurabh has an impressive set of accomplishments to his name. He currently holds two full time jobs. One, he is the group chief financial officer at Jio Platforms, the digital services arm of Reliance Industries Limited. And two, he is the nominee director on the boards of Reliance’s cable businesses, Den Networks and Hathway Cable & Datacom. He recently played an instrumental role in negotiating and closing investments worth $20B from 13 global leaders including Facebook and Google. Being a part of the core deal team, he helped close the funding rounds in less than nine months. In his other role, he led the turnaround of the cable business and made it profitable. In addition to this, he has also been involved in Reliance’s other key projects including Jio’s Launch, Pricing & Tariff strategy, and forging relationships with key global partners.

Prashanth is a partner at Deloitte and leads the Media & Entertainment sector for consulting. He has been involved in advising M&E sector clients in the areas of Strategy formulation, market research, operations improvement, automation, customer segmentation & retention, margin enhancement, process improvement, Digital transformation, policy formulation along with industry body & regulators and preparation of research papers on various sub-sectors across India, Middle East, UK and Africa.

Parag has been with Amazon for the last ten years and has played a pivotal role in building the device and services business in India. As the head of Amazon devices in India, he leads the entire devices portfolio including Echo smart speakers, Fire TV streaming media players and Kindle eReaders. Before this role he held leadership roles in India for Kindle Content and Appstore businesses.

Prior to joining Amazon, Parag has spent over 15 years building and launching products at eBay, Palm and HP. Parag earned his MBA degree from Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Business and has a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science from BITS, Pilani. Parag also holds two patents including one that touches over 5 billion customers that use WiFi.

Parag has been with Amazon for the last ten years and has played a pivotal role in building the device and services business in India. As the head of Amazon devices in India, he leads the entire devices portfolio including Echo smart speakers, Fire TV streaming media players and Kindle eReaders. Before this role he held leadership roles in India for Kindle Content and Appstore businesses.

Prior to joining Amazon, Parag has spent over 15 years building and launching products at eBay, Palm and HP. Parag earned his MBA degree from Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Business and has a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science from BITS, Pilani. Parag also holds two patents including one that touches over 5 billion customers that use WiFi.

Kunal Mehta is a Head Business Development, Samsung TV Plus A business leader with 18+ years of experience in Media Partnerships and Content Acquisition across DPO's and OTT platforms.

Shivaji Chatterjee is Executive Vice President and Business Head - Hughes Communications India Private Limited. He heads all the functions of the Enterprise Business Unit encompassing various areas ofSales & Marketing, Operations, Field Services, SCM, Program Management & HR at Hughes.

He is a Gold medalist in Computer engineering from Pune University. Subsequently, he did his post graduation in Marketing from NMIMS in Mumbai.

In a career spanning a total of over 27 years, he has been with Hughes for the past 25 years during which he has won several Business and Sales & Marketing accolades. He has been felicitated as the International Marketing Person of the Year at Hughes USA multiple times and was also awarded “Hughes CEO's Honor Award” – a very special Hughes global recognition.

Having started out his career at Hughes as an Account Manager in 1997, he has grown to head the Enterprise Business Division, and has spearheaded many achievements for Hughes and for the VSAT industry in India. His areas of expertise include satellite communications, broadband networking, managed services and business solutions – across diverse industry segments with many firsts in the areas of Digital Divide, Banking,Digital Cinema, e-Governance and Distance education.

Gaurav has been a satellite professional with 22+ years in the Satellite Communications and Satellite Broadcast markets with exposure in the Asian markets. Currently he is the Managing Sales Director for South Asia, at Intelsat. Beyond his understanding of business and technology, he has experience in regulatory affairs and public policy. Having worked across Hughes, Viasat, and now with Intelsat, Gaurav has the right mix of experience across the different aspects of a satellite communications service.

Hemant has been associated with Lokmat Media Pvt. Ltd. since 2016 as Sr.EVP & Head of digital business. At Lokmat, Maharashtra's No.1 read newspaper, Hemant is responsible for building the largest community of Marathi speaking audiences across a diversified portfolio of digital products and platforms, content genres and hyperlocal experiences, thereby creating an ecosystem for brands to connect with local communities in their local language.

Hemant is an entrepreneurial leader with over 2 decades of digital experience in delivering step function growth for leading companies in the digital media and mobile entertainment space. Pivoting into digital in the late 90's allowed Hemant to play an evangelist' role in shaping the digital media and entertainment industry in India. Hemant leverages his understanding of digital technologies, product development, multi-media content creation, digital distribution, content monetization and marketing in digital age - to build & scale businesses within a competitive framework. Fosters a winning attitude, leading as a "Player-Coach".

Hemant's professional journey in digital began in 1996, with the launch of indianexpress.com. During the period 1997 to 2002, he was part of the founding team which set up digital media division for some of the leading advertising agencies in India - TBWA, Euro RSCG & DDB Mudra. As part of the start-up team at Reliance WebWorld (2002-2006), he was instrumental in launching broadband services across 241 retail outlets in 105 cities and towns in India. At RadioCity91.1FM (2006-07), Hemant evangelised India's first social music site (www.planetradiocity.com) and launched alternate revenue streams. As Sr. VP & Head of India Business (2008-2014), Hemant led the growth transition at Hungama Digital Media Entertainment from a content licensing to a managed services company, responsible for scaling up the revenues 4x within a quick span of 3 years. In 2014, he started his own venture in the food tech space & launched Happitoo, India's No.1 nightlife app. He joined Lokmat in 2016 to lead the group's foray into digital business.

Anuj is a seasoned, tenured and statured business leader in the Media & Entertainment, Digital Media and CableTV/ISP world in India. He brings in a distinct understanding of the Distribution Infrastructure Ecosystem (Traditional and New Media), Business Development/Deal Making, platforms (Cable/ Broadband/ OTT) businesses and Licensing/ Content management. He is a senior leader who is very well respected in the industry for his views and tech exposure/ understanding in the Media world.

Anuj has more than 30 years’ experience and is currently pursuing an entrepreneurial journey and working on a MediaTech company. He is focused on Consumer and MediaTech ecosystem to provide easy to use and discover content in the new OTT world.

Given his vast experience in Distribution world, he is one of the more knowledgeable executives in new media/Cable/ISP and content industry. He possess a strategic mind, the ability to build rapport, is extremely relationship oriented and can get things done through influence.

Rajeev Gambhir is a seasoned broadcast media and telecom professional with a career span of over three and a half decades, working with optical, coaxial, terrestrial wireless and satellite based access businesses for video and data delivery. Prior to SIA-India he was Vice-president at Reliance Jio. He is currently Sr. Director - Technology and Policy at Satcom Industry Association."

Direct-to-mobile broadcasting allows broadcasters to distribute their linear channels to mobile devices without using internet thus reducing the load on spectrum. India has way more mobile users than any other media/technology device so direct-to-mobile broadcasting services will reach more people. They can consume content in low connectivity areas without buffering. Even OTT content would be available over mobile.

The connected TV space is evolving rapidly and the next few years will be characterized by a shift from traditional TV advertising to programmatic TV, hence, Programmatic TV is poised for success for many reasons as It offers advertisers an opportunity to reach their desired audiences in a more cost-effective way and its techniques can be applied in many ways - not just on linear TV channels but can also be applied on video-on-demand services, digital video players and live television broadcasts.

DTH players have been losing subscribers over consecutive quarters. At the same time competition pressure is forcing them to invest in capex (capital expenditure) to be future-ready in terms of technology. On the other hand, OTT services and DD Free Dish platform are offering content at vastly discounted rates or for free. The economy is also facing pressure due to inflation, Ukraine-Russia war leading to low consumer spends. Cable is also facing such pressures.

How to emerge from such challenges? Reinvent the business model?

Bundled broadband plans, bundled devices that offer broadband and linear TV services, DPOs (distributed platform operators) launch their own OTT services. M&A activity. Fund raising activity (Vodafone-Amazon).

Mr. Prashant Chothani, co-founder and CEO of Travelxp, the world's leading travel channel, is a media entrepreneur and globally respected broadcast tech evangelist who has given the world its first 4K HDR linear channel, Travelxp 4K HDR. He also is the co-founder and CEO of Media Worldwide Limited having music channels portfolio of Music India, Sangeet Bhojpuri and Sangeet Marathi.

Viacom18 has launched a sports channel on DD Free Dish called Sports18 Khel. There's only one other sports channel DD Sports offered by the public service broadcaster Prasar Bharati. Massive untapped audience of 43 million. Content affinity towards cricket.

There are so many streaming platforms and options that it has challenged consumer stickiness. No one player can offer all the content hence aggregators touchpoints must exist at telco, ISP, OTT and device (smartphone, smart TV). What kind of business model can be explored such that all stakeholders in the value chain benefit and consumer also wins?

Telcos like Vi (Vi Ads), Bharti Airtel (Airtel Ads), Reliance Jio (Jio Ads) are building their own ad-tech platforms. How can DPOs (cable and DTH services) build a robust advertising business. Business realities. Scale. Opportunity.

India still has 350 million 2G users (as per Google). Players like Jio, Airtel and Vodafone are trying to migrate them to 4G. 5G spectrum auction are valued at Rs 7.5 lakh crore. Most telcos are in debt. What is the financial viability of 5G in India? Are there enough use cases and will they be mostly on the B2B (business-to-business) side or the B2C (business-to-consumer side)?There's also question about 5G readiness in terms of existing infrastructure (equipment).

Use cases of blockchain in media distribution. Airtel has acquired stake in blockchain platform Aqilliz. There are other blockchain platforms like GuardianLink.io that have partnered with Viacom18 to create unique non-fungible tokens. Film industry is also looking at NFTs. It is a way of merchandising.

Most gaming in India is happening on mobile devices/smartphones. Yet most gamers are playing casual games. If you want to play a AAA Games (high quality desktop game) or high-end mobile game you cost of ownership of a high-end smartphone or desktop/laptop goes up. Cloud gaming is a mechanism to deliver high quality games over the internet. It is very nascent in India. But it has potential to reach scale as it offers low-cost subscription gaming without need for owning a high end device.

There are 27.25 million wired broadband subscribers in India (fixed broadband) as per latest Trai data. This number needs to grow bigger for adoption of OTT services, connected TV and bring high quality video to audiences. Will broadband-over-satellite services improve this? Will ISPs continue race to bottom in terms of pricing to increase subscribers or innovate services (Airtel Black)?

With potential for new avenues of growth through collaboration & providing additional services, what do Msos & Lcos see as the future of distribution for the next 5 years. What are different additional services like broadband & content can dpos look at?

DTH players seek removal of eight per cent license fee as Department of Telecommunications contemplates waiving licensee fee for broadband operators. Distributed platform operators want parity in pricing in broadcast services/content across digital and linear platforms.

New Regulatory Framework 2020 - All stakeholders want to address issues in pricing of channels and bouquets.

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has spoken about need to revisit licensing framework for broadband, broadcasting and IT sector in lieu of convergence of technology.

What needs to happen to ensure a level playing field between different players in media distribution?

Vynsley Fernandes is the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of NXTDIGITAL Limited, the media vertical of the global Hinduja Group. The media verticalcomprises digital content distribution platforms via digital cable and satellite (HITS); India’s 4th largest private ISP (OneOTT Intertainment Ltd.) and a content syndication arm (IN Entertainment Ltd.).

Vynsley is a veteran media executive and one of India’s foremost technocrats – with three decades of experience in delivering &managing global assignments - including DTH & HITS platforms; digital cable networks; and news & entertainment channels.He joined the media business of the Hinduja Group in August 2018. Since then, he has been instrumental in driving a new vision for the organisation and transforming it into a technology-driven business – focusing on building emerging solutions like broadband-over-satellite and the award-winning NXTHUB concept. Vynsley has been associated with the Group since 2013, first consulting to launch India’s only HITS platform. Prior to joining NXTDIGITAL, Vynsley was the Executive Director at CastleMedia; a leading technology, media & entertainment consulting-to-delivery firm which he co-founded.Prior to that, Vynsley had managed high profile assignments for leading blue-chip media organisations including 21st Century Fox (then News Corporation), TATA SKY, ABP News and the 9X Network.

With an academic background in Mass Communications and Media, he is considered a thought leader in the media & entertainment space. Vynsley continues to represent the industry at various international and national forums and has several accolades to his credit including being recognized with the prestigious “CEO of the Year” award presented by World Leadership Congress in 2021.

Vynsley Fernandes is the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of NXTDIGITAL Limited, the media vertical of the global Hinduja Group. The media verticalcomprises digital content distribution platforms via digital cable and satellite (HITS); India’s 4th largest private ISP (OneOTT Intertainment Ltd.) and a content syndication arm (IN Entertainment Ltd.).

Vynsley is a veteran media executive and one of India’s foremost technocrats – with three decades of experience in delivering &managing global assignments - including DTH & HITS platforms; digital cable networks; and news & entertainment channels.He joined the media business of the Hinduja Group in August 2018. Since then, he has been instrumental in driving a new vision for the organisation and transforming it into a technology-driven business – focusing on building emerging solutions like broadband-over-satellite and the award-winning NXTHUB concept. Vynsley has been associated with the Group since 2013, first consulting to launch India’s only HITS platform. Prior to joining NXTDIGITAL, Vynsley was the Executive Director at CastleMedia; a leading technology, media & entertainment consulting-to-delivery firm which he co-founded.Prior to that, Vynsley had managed high profile assignments for leading blue-chip media organisations including 21st Century Fox (then News Corporation), TATA SKY, ABP News and the 9X Network.

With an academic background in Mass Communications and Media, he is considered a thought leader in the media & entertainment space. Vynsley continues to represent the industry at various international and national forums and has several accolades to his credit including being recognized with the prestigious “CEO of the Year” award presented by World Leadership Congress in 2021.

Sameer Kanse, Chief Business Officer at One Broadband - a subsidiary of NxtDigital, has over 20 years of experience across Telcom, Media and Technology domains. He has worked in building out new business verticals and launching emerging technology solutions.

At One Broadband he was instrumental in launching the first of its kind successful launch of Broadband over Satellite solution - NxtSkyFi . this is a unique Content Lead model for Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland. Sameer is an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management & is passionate about the role that emerging technologies play in solving complex problems.

• Atul Saraf and Associates Group is promoted by Atul Saraf, an early entrant in this sector
• He has grass-root level hands-on experience as well as management expertise of over 32 years in the cable and satellite industry.
• He is the Vice President of All India Cable Association and has been involved in formulating policies and guidelines for the cable industry
• Mr. Saraf has expanded vertically in the entertainment and media sector by starting ventures engaged in broadcasting, content creation, distribution, MSO, ISP, OTT and advertising.
• He has been part of the convergence revolution and is a founder of "7 Star Satellite Network"
• Honored with BCS Ratna Award in March 2010 for remarkable contribution and outstanding achievement of Indian broadcasting & cable tv services by avishkar magazine.
• 1 st to start all India cable advertisement for all MSOs.
• Had a vision of the satellite cable Industry and diversified from the family business of real estate Construction.
• A technologist, a visionary, a creative head, and a hardcore seller has created many identities / opportunities within the cable & satellite industry.
• ABS group as taken carriage, distribution, revenues of all Sahara group channels. E.g Sahara one, Filmy, Sahara Samay and 7 more channels of the Sahara group.

Pieter drives global business development activities for Broadpeak, a company specialized in scalable video delivery solutions. Before joining Broadpeak Pieter held various senior positions at respectively THEO, Mediakind, Ericsson, Velocix/Nokia, and Alcatel-Lucent. Pieter holds a PhD in Applied Sciences from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium, and an Engineering degree from the same university.

Vikram Chande is currently General Manager at Samsung Ads to build the connected tv practice in the India market. Prior to Samsung, Vikram built & lead Advertising business Search & Programmatic for Adobe India, Programmatic Practice at GroupM&Dentsu and Performance Marketing with Logicserve Digital.

An accidental marketer, he thrives in the spirit of the highly dynamic space of digital marketing harbouring a gripping confluence of media, analytics, data and technology. Now in 15th year of his career Vikram has been part of many firsts in market building digital & ad tech business practices starting as quality analyst, search consultant, performance & product lead & Business Head.

Vikram is a firm believer of one of the sturdiest faith-lore by Steve Jobs - "Stay Hungry Stay Foolish". An entrepreneurial mindset drives me to be collaborative in my approach were people, process & technology combine to build symphony for achieving business goals & success.

Anil NM Wanvari, is the founder, CEO, and editor in chief of the Indiantelevision.com group & AnimationXpress.com group. He has spent more than 37 years in the media industry and is considered India's foremost analyst, consultant, and catalyst for the media sector.

He is also a well-known Television/Digital Producer known for producing The Indian Telly Awards for the last 16 years and oodles of digital content.

The Indiantelevision.com group and AnimationXpress.com group were set up with a mission to educate, engage, entertain and enrich the audiences it serves via their various verticals.

It achieves this through its various B2B and B2C portals: indiantelevision.com (for the cable, satellite, OTT, production, advertising, marketing, media industries), tellychakkar.com (TV show and actor news for TV fans), AnimationXpress.com (for the VFX, comics, gaming, and animation segments) and radionandmusic.com (for the FM radio, digital and music industry).

It engages with the industry by organizing thought leadership forums under its various verticals: Video and Broadband Summit, VidNET - The largest OTT summit, RadioConnex Awards, News Television Awards BrandVid, The Content Hub, Kids Animation & More, and Ann Awards.

Business professional with a technical background and a vivid experience of over 30 years in managing Business and Profit centres in Telecom, Broadband, IT & OA industries.

Harbinger in the launch & growth of Broadband Business in northern India for the last two decades.

• Launch of first NGN Services in the region (High Speed Broadband, Smart Telephony, IPTV & OTT Services).
• Successful launch and operation of futuristic FTTH Services.
• Lead the launch & operation of first of its kind Wireless Broadband Services.

Have lead his organization to dominant market leadership position through an unprecedented growth path amongst the fixed line Broadband operators in India. Have lead & inspired a team of 3500+ in their journey from "Good to Great".
Active member of ISPAI, APAN & regional chapter of CII.
Advisory board member for many leading Universities in the region.
Mentor and motivational speaker at many elite National & International forums.