New Vistas

At a time when vernacular channels are at their peak in India, News Corp's
plans to invest $100 mn to start six regional television channels in the next 12
months has not only given a hope, but has also hinted that advertising space in
its regional aspect is set to increase its pie.

Star India, a wholly owned unit of News Corp, broadcasts enter-tainment and
music on channels, including Star One and Star Plus, and has 26% stake in Media
Con-tent & Communications Services India, the operator of three news channels.
News Corp, which has media properties including the 20th Cen-tury Fox movie
studios, MySpace, and the Times of London newspaper, has decided to join the
race of regional broadcasters at a time when its shares are among the worst hit
media stocks.

During his recent visit to India, Rupert Murdoch, chairman, News Corp
unveiled his plan to venture in to the regional domain. “Our advertisement on
television and the Internet is very, very good, except for local television,”
Murdoch said, adding that he was convinced of the long-term opportunity in Asia,
where India is set to become the top pay-television market by 2012, despite
increasing fragmentation. According to researchers the annual revenue for
television in India is forecast to more than double to $11.6 bn by 2012.It is
not News Corp alone that is making efforts to enter the niche market of regional
channels. NDTV Imagine, the entertainment wing of Prannoy Roy-led NDTV group
best known for its news channels, is contemplating to launch regional language
channels next year. For the purpose, NDTV group may consider acquiring some
regional players.

Recently Mahuaa Media (MMPL) also launched MAHUAA TV, India's first GEC. The
group is reported to have spent close to Rs 10 crore to-ward marketing to ensure
maximum visibility for the newly launched channel.

Global Broadcast News (GBN), the company that looks after the main-stream
broadcast of media conglom-erate Network18, has consolidated its position in the
mainstream news broadcast space with CNN IBN in English and IBN-7 in Hindi.
Further, IBN-7, is now eyeing aggressive ex-pansion through diversification into
regional markets. The group is envis-aging plans to put in place at least 10 to
12 regional channels.

Industry pundits believe that regional markets are hugely un-derserved at
present. And at the same time assure that with both subscriptions and
advertising look-ing up, it makes eminent sense to go regional. The regional
broadcast space requires low entry-level in-vestment of Rs 5-20 crore but the
returns from revenue point of view is quite high.

According to media buyers, region-al TV channels earned Rs 4,500-5,000 crore
in advertising revenue last year against the total TV ad spend of around Rs
20,000-22,000 crore.

Heena Jhingan

heenaj@cybermedia.co.in