ITV

Tag: INS

  • India TV CEO Chintamani Rao quits

    MUMBAI: Chintamani Rao has resigned from the post of CEO of Rajat Sharma’s Independent News Service (INS), which owns and operates Hindi news channel India TV.

    While confirming his resignation, Rao refused to give any indication as to where his next port of call would be. “I will reveal my plans within the next four weeks,” was all he was willing to offer.

    Rao’s exit comes close on the heels of India TV managing editor Rohit Bansal’s elevation last week to INS COO. The post is a newly created one.

    India TV chairman Rajat Sharma said , “India TV has achieved the big league in the Hindi News genre in the last one year on the back of innovative news programming and a strong distribution push. A strong team is ready andeager to achieve the next level in sales and branding.”

    Rao, an advertising veteran of more than three decades before he joined India TV said, “It will be very satisying to see India TV and brand Rajat Sharma becoming bigger.”

  • Shyam Equities takes 20% stake in Rajat Sharma’s INS for Rs 1 billion

    Shyam Equities takes 20% stake in Rajat Sharma’s INS for Rs 1 billion

    MUMBAI: Rajat Sharma’s Independent News Service Private Limited (INS), the holding company of India TV, has announced the offloading of 20 per cent stake to Bangalore-based Shyam Equities Private Limited. Shyam Equities is paying Rs 1 billion for the stake, which gives INS an enterprise valuation of Rs 5 billion.

    According to a company release, INS’s enterprise valuation is up a whopping 86 per cent from Rs 2.7 bilion nine months ago.

    Since Shyam Equities is a 100 per cent Indian entity, the foreign individual, foreign company, NRI, OCB, FII and PIO holding in INS remains unchanged.

    The investment information has been filed with the information and broadcasting ministry.

    Sharma expressed “excitement over the strategic growth blue print that will be executed 2008”. The blue print, Sharma said, includes large investments in key strategic areas beyond India TV. This includes a bouquet of channels, a distribution blitz in key international markets, and a significant entry into non-news and non-television media.

    In March last year Fuse+ Media, an entity of ComVentures, a leading Silicon Valley-based venture capital and private equity group with over $1.5 billion of assets under management, had placed an equivalent of Rs 509 million of FDI in INS for a 19.17 per cent stake.