MSM Asia is one of the world’s premier pay-
TV networks for Hindi-language content.
Neeraj Arora, the company’s EVP, Head of
International Business, was involved in Indian
pay-TV at the inception stage and early years
and then in international markets for the last
15 years. We asked him about his journey and
how he is positioning MSM to face the
challenges of a changed distribution dynamic
and business models in the digital world
started in the consumer
goods industry in India first
before I accidentally landed
in the TV and media
industry – simply through a
call from an ex-colleague.
This was in the very first
years of the Indian TV industry
opening up and private broadcasters
being allowed in. India’s first
private broadcaster was Zee
Network, which I joined way back
in 1996. I helped them with the
distribution in India’s first pay-TV
channels – which in those days was
a novel concept for Indian cable
operators and the distribution
system in general.
I came to MSM in 2004, when
Sony asked me to help them
establish and build distribution of
their Hindi channels. I’ve been very
fortunate. Ever since I’ve come into
the TV industry, I haven’t had to
write a CV.
What is MSM Asia’s relationship to
Sony?
MSMAsia Limited is part of Sony’s
entertainment business. It’s now a
100% Sony-owned company
responsible for their Hindi channel
entertainment business. We’ve got
six channels in total. We distribute
four of them outside India. Those
are Sony Entertainment Television
(SET), which is the flagship channel
of the network, a 24/7 Bollywood
movie channel called Max, Sab TV
which is a Hindi comedy channel,
and a music channel called Mix. The
two channels we don’t distribute
internationally are the sports channel
and the English movie channel,
because we don’t have international
rights for those channels.
How do you see MSM Asia
developing?
We’ve been in business for nearly
two decades. Historically our
strength has been our distribution
across all major platforms pretty
much all around the world. Today
our reach is well over 100 countries.
But in the last few years, digital
technology has been changing the
canvas completely and has opened
up new avenues and challenges
with it. Right now our key focus is
how to transition so we maintain
our traditional strength but also
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