Last week, senior executives from the Media business met in Delhi to discuss industry issues at ASSOCHAMs Focus 2009 conference. Excerpts of comments made at the conference, where discussions spanned the state of the market, often repeated issues of not enough advertising, among others: Back To 2007-08 Levels: Rajesh Sawhney, President, Reliance Entertainment, when asked about the next big thing, in terms of percentage growth, said that normal service has resumed: "2009-10 revenues have been rerated to 2007-08 revenues. If you take the impact (of the boom) out, we've come back to the normal growth patterns. Excessive money drove valuations and revenues. The bubble has been left behind" As an example, he pointed out that if a movie was selling TV rights for Rs. 10 crores in 2007-08, it went to Rs. 20 crores in 2008-09, and has now come back down to Rs. 10 crores. Herd Mentality, Investors Cautious: Sawhney added that he's not sure if investors are positive, though. "They've taken a step back and are trying to understand that is working and what isn't. We've seen the herd mentality in broadcasting, multiplex, media, and not everyone's got a story. Most people rush in like Gurgaon developers trying to get a landbank, and get into excessive price wars. But what's working? To me, the one trend is that entertainment is becoming big. In Hollywood, the movies that are working, they are all big spectacles. Studios have decreased the number of movies, but increased the budget per movie." On Broadband:…
