NDTV in talks with NBC for stake sale

Indian television company NDTV is in advanced stages of negotiations with NBC Universal, a subsidiary of New York Stock Exchange-listed General Electric to sell between 25 and 30 per cent in its UK-based subsidiary NDTV Networks Plc.This would be NDTV’s first strategic partner in the broadcasting business if the deal, valued at between Rs 650 crore and Rs 800 crore, goes through.

NDTV Networks is the umbrella organisation for group companies such as NDTV Imagine (a Hindi entertainment channel), NDTV Lifestyle (an English TV channel), NDTV Convergence (web and mobile company) and NDTV Labs (software and technology company).It also holds a 50 per cent stake in NGEN Media Services Pvt Ltd, the 50:50 joint venture with Genpact for NDTV’s media process outsourcing business.

Read more in The Business Standard article.

Sun buys 48.9% stake in Red FM

South Asia FM Ltd, a unit of Kalanidhi Maran’s Sun TV Network, today said it would acquire 48.9 per cent equity in radio channel Red FM, sending the Sun TV stock up nearly 6 per cent by the close of trade today on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The promoters of Red FM – Usha Reddy, Arjun Rao and Prannoy Roy’s New Delhi Television – will hold the remaining stake. They have also got 35 per cent of the enlarged equity of South Asia FM through an investment company A H Multisoft and NDTV News.It is not clear yet whether, apart from the equity swap, any money is changing hands.

According to a joint study of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry, an industry body, and PricewaterhouseCoopers, the consultancy, the size of the radio broadcasting industry will expand from Rs 500 crore to Rs 1,700 crore by 2011 – a compounded annual growth rate of 28 per cent.

NDTV, Hyderabad-based Value Labs and Malaysia’s Astro All Asia Networks had acquired Red FM from Radio Today, a unit of Living Media, which owns India Today magazine, for about Rs 130 crore last year.Under the broadcasting norms, this is the maximum that Sun TV can acquire in Red FM for the moment.

With this deal, Sun TV, which has radio licences for 23 locations, none in the metros, and operates two radio stations, one each in Jaipur and Bhubaneswar, will get a foothold in the north, west and east of the country. Red FM is on air in the lucrative markets of Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata.

NDTV may sell 26% ent venture stake to NBC

Media conglomerate NDTV is understood to be in talks with US entertainment major NBC universal for selling 26% stake in its upcoming entertainment business.NDTV Entertainment is a 100% subsidiary of Prannoy Roy promoted New Delhi Television (NDTV) and could be valued at up to $500 million (over Rs 2,000 crore). It is likely to launch its entertainment channel soon.

NDTV and NBC, a venture of GE Group, are understood to have signed a preliminary agreement or term sheet last week for the purpose but the value for the proposed transaction could not be ascertained.

The group would launch three channels under its entertainment venture - NDTV Imagine. First, general entertainment channel in Hindi is expected by the end of this year or early 2008.

NDTV had recently got approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) for foreign investment to the tune of Rs 585 crore for its foray into entertainment and lifestyle space.Most of this investment (from Rs 585 crore) will be into NDTV Imagine, the officials had said.

Infy, TV18 set up media process outsourcing firm

Infosys BPO (formerly Progeon) and media company TV18 have entered into a strategic alliance to launch Source18, a media process outsourcing company that will offer a range of services to media and entertainment companies globally. Among its first few clients is National Geographic International (NGCI). The new firm will re-purpose current as well as archival content for the mobile platform.

This is the second such major alliance in the media BPO space, the first being the tie-up between NDTV and Genpact, announced a year ago. To begin with, there will be no equity tie-up between Infosys BPO and TV18, but the nature of the relationship could change in the future, Haresh Chawla, CEO, TV18, said. Amitabh Chaudhary, CEO and MD, Infosys BPO, said that media and entertainment would be a key growth driver for the company.

The media process outsourcing opportunity is huge since most of the existing contents worldwide are in the analogue form and they need to be digitised for new platforms.The global media and entertainment industry is expected to grow to almost $2 trillion by 2008, and in view of the proliferation of content in multiple formats across media platforms, there is a sizeable business opportunity in the media outsourcing market waiting to be tapped.