Tarun Katial takes over as head of IAMAI's digital entertainment committee

Zee5 India CEO Tarun Katial has been appointed as the head of Internet and Mobile Association of India's (IAMAI) Digital Entertainment Committee.

Katial takes over from Ajit Mohan, Managing Director, Facebook India.

Along with Katial, Gourav Rakshit, Viacom 18's Digital Ventures COO, is the new Vice-Chairman. He succeeds Uday Sodhi, Senior Partner, Kurate Digital Consulting.

IAMAI's Digital Entertainment Committee represents members of the video on demand and audio on demand companies including Netflix, Zee5, Prime Video, Hotstar, Sony Liv, Gaana, Saavn, among others.

"The Digital Entertainment sector, similar to the rest of the economy, is going through challenging times due to COVID-19. Our immediate task at hand would be to seek support from the government, policymakers, local authorities to resume production activities at the earliest. This would go a long way in supporting various supply chain linkages, citizen's livelihood and contribution to the national exchequer," said Katial.

Due to the lockdown, a step taken to curtail the spread of coronavirus, the entertainment industry is suffering as there is a halt on shooting. It is not just films or TV serials that are kept on hold, even production of web series is delayed. Hence, the digital entertainment industry too is hoping to resume operations soon. The association has urged the government to suggest an industry SoP (Standard Operating Procedure) for the sector.

Kerala and Tamil Nadu has allowed post production work. Recently, Federation of Western India Cine Employees urged Maharashtra government to allow them to resume post production work. It could be a tall order for Maharashtra to give permission for any kind of production work for films, TV and web content as the corona spread in the state especially Mumbai is rapid.

Along with halt on shooting, the pandemic has resulted in many issues for the digital entertainment sector and these will be raised by IAMAI with Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) on priority.

The IAMAI has been in communication with Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY), MIB and MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs) during the lockdown period as the liaison between the industry and Government officials.

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