Even as I launch this today ( my 80th Birthday ), I realize that there is yet so much to say and do. There is just no time to look back, no time to wonder,"Will anyone read these pages?"
With regards, Hemen Parekh 27 June 2013
Now as I approach my 90th birthday ( 27 June 2023 ) , I invite you to visit my Digital Avatar ( www.hemenparekh.ai ) – and continue chatting with me , even when I am no more here physically
I reproduce below, excerpts from an Economic Times report (Jan. 12, 2011) titled,
“TV–internet marriage awaits blessings of all” :
“The blending of television and the internet is inevitable. But will it happen in concert with the major cable and satellite distributors, or in spite of them?
All involved know that connecting the Internet to television and vice-versa could solidify the distributors’ place in the food chain — or greatly erode it.
‘We want to use all this technology to make a better consumer experience,’ Glenn Britt, chief executive of Time Warner Cable, said in an interview after speaking on stage here.”
A better experience, it stands to reason, will help Time Warner Cable and other cable companies retain customers, protecting the lucrative subscription TV business from the prospects of cord-cutting.
In Job Alert Channel, we are talking of a marriage of:
Some 10 years ago, Reliance gave away a mobile handset FREE(approx. price Rs. 1000/-) to anyone subscribing for 18 months in advance.
And set a world-record of 100,000 customers on a single day!
All because of an “unfilled” need.
That Monsoon Hungama record remains unbeaten till date.
Most likely today, a BigTV Installation Kit costs about the same, viz. Rs. 1000/-, 2 months from now, it may drop to Rs. 500/-.
To promote Job Alert Channel, could you consider giving away the Installation Kit “free”, along with a long duration subscription for 20 months (@ Rs. 50/- per month)?
With such an offer, each of the 235 Reliance World stores selling just 5 long-term subscriptions/day would total 1175/day.
Bringing in Rs. 11.75 lakhs/day.
It is obvious that any jobseeker opting for this “Job Alert Channel Pack” would certainly buy another entertainment / news pack as well.
With 10,000 graduate jobseekers entering the job-market every day, a target of 1175/day does not seem all that daunting.
And no other DTH operator is better placed than Reliance to launch a Winter Hungama!
For most capital investments, a pay-back period of one year is considered “Excellent”.
Generally speaking, corporate finance managers will approve any project with a pay-back period of two years.
During our meeting, you mentioned that it would require a capital investment of approx. Rs. 50/- lakhs(bandwidth cost) to launch a TV Channel.
If Job Alert Channel manages to recoup Rs. 5/- lakhs per month, it would mean a pay-back period of just 10 months!
This means getting a total of 10,000 subscribers @ Rs. 50/- per month(spread over next 3 months i.e. ~100/day).
I believe BigTV has a current subscriber-base of 3 million. So this certainly looks like an achievable figure – a mere 0.3%!
I would not be surprised if BigTV is aiming to add 10,000 new subscribers everyday during 2011.
Of course, you are the best judges, with your vast experience of DTH platform’s paid channels.
These projections must be viewed in the perspective of Naukri’s claim of registering 10,000 new jobseekers everyday! (similar claims by Monster and TimesJobs – which is understandable knowing that every jobseeker does register on all the 3 jobsites.)
With Indian Universities churning out 3,500,000 fresh graduates every year(12,000/day), this sounds believable.
If their parents have invested a few lakhs of rupees on their 4-year education, would they grudge Rs. 50/- per month?
Maybe they are already spending Rs. 100/- per month on their mobile phone bill!
My son Nirmit and consultants of www.3pconsultants.co.in regularly use Reliance Webworld at Andheri, to video-interview candidates living in other cities.
They request the candidate to be available at a given Reliance Webworld in his city. Often, HR Manager of our client company joins in such interview.
Apart from saving a lot of time for everyone concerned, this also saves the client company a lot of money that they would have had to spend on travel / hotel expenses.
This time / cost saving encourages HR Managers to video-interview borderline candidates whom they would never think of interviewing in the normal course.
Can we leverage BigTV Job Alert Channel to encourage video-interviewing amongst HR Managers, using Reliance Webworld network across the country?
Entirely possible. Here is how:
“Jobseeker Registration Form” on www.bigtv.co.in will require the candidate to enter (optional):
BigTV unique Subscriber No. / Set-top Box No. (to be able to deliver daily job alerts)
Reliance Webworld IP address (for conducting video-interview)
Now, when a registered jobseeker:
Applies thru mobile (SMS “jam_apply job id” to 9756510001)
Blasts his resume
his resume (being emailed by our server to the concerned HR Managers) will boldly display the Reliance Webworld IP address from where the registration took place.
That will enable HR Managers to locate the nearest Webworld from where the candidate can be video-interviewed.
