ITV

Tag: JV company

  • TV18’s IndiaCast, Disney UTV form distribution JV company

    TV18’s IndiaCast, Disney UTV form distribution JV company

    MUMBAI: India is witnessing a consolidation in the distribution business for television channels. In the latest round, TV18 Group and The Walt Disney Company are floating a joint venture company to distribute their television channels across analogue and digital platforms, including cable TV and direct-to-home (DTH), in India.

    IndiaCast, TV18 and Viacom18‘s multi-platform, global distribution company, will have 74 per cent stake in the JV while UGBL, a Disney UTV firm, will hold the remaining 26 per cent.

    The new entity will distribute 35 channels from the TV18, Viacom18, Disney UTV and A+E Networks, making it the second largest distribution company in terms of bouquet of channels after Media Pro Enterprise India.

    Anuj Gandhi (IndiaCast CEO) will be the chief executive officer of the joint venture company.

    The yet-to-be-named company will be responsible only for distributing the channels in India while international operations will be handled independently by the two companies.

    IndiaCast will move its domestic distribution business into this new venture, while continuing to manage its other content monetisation businesses which include international distribution, ad sales & content sales as well as the new media distribution for TV18, Viacom18, A+E Networks | TV18 and Eenadu channels.

    Disney UTV will also move its domestic distribution activities for its bouquet of all nine channels (Disney, Hungama, Disney XD, UTV Stars, Bindass, UTV Movies, UTV Action and the newly launched preschool channel Disney Junior) to the new entity.

    The joint venture will become operational post the necessary regulatory approvals and will provide the channels to cable, DTH and Headend-In-The-Sky (HITS) platforms in India.

    Says Gandhi, “This partnership will build a strong distribution company that will offer a broader and more diversified range to platforms giving us a foothold across genres – including in general entertainment, general and business news, movies, youth and kids genres. We have had a great first year for IndiaCast and this JV will give our domestic distribution business scale and wider reach.”

    Strength of the JV

    The combined entity will particularly be strong in the youth (MTV, UTV Stars and Bindass) and kids genres (with the Disney and Nick channels). IndiaCast will also get a presence in the movie genre with UTV Movies and UTV Action.

    Says MK Anand, managing director – Media Networks, Disney UTV, "There are some clear and unique synergies in this partnership. The new bouquet is a more comprehensive offering from the viewer’s perspective that gives the combined entity an edge in the marketplace."

    In the news businesss, the JV will have the TV18 group of channels including CNBC TV18, CNN IBN, IBN7 and CNBC Awaaz. The Hindi general entertainment channel Colors will continue to remain as a big driver while the niche channels will give the bouquet a wider presence. It will also have regional-language channels with ETV a part of the pack.

    "IndiaCast fills up the gap of a Hindi movie channel in its bouquet while Disney gets the support of a stronger platform. The Disney UTV movie channels, however, have to gather more steam to match the other two main distribution companies (Media Pro and TheOne Alliance) in this space. The strength of the new JV will be more obvious in the youth and kids space," says a media analyst.

    Sports will be a gap in the bouquet. Only MSM Discovery (which operates through TheOne Alliance brand) has sports in its bouquet with Sony Six and the Neo channels. Media Pro, the JV between Star Den and Zee Turner, does not get to distribute Star‘s (Star Cricket, Star Sports, etc) and Zee‘s sports channels (Ten Sports, etc).

    The fate of the Sun TV group of channels, which are distributed by IndiaCast in the Hindi Speaking Markets (HSM), is uncertain at this stage. If Sun TV agrees, then it will be the first set of external channels distributed by the JV.

    TV18 to hold majority in the JV

    TV18 will continue to hold majority economic interest in both IndiaCast and the new step-down joint venture through a combination of its direct holding through TV18 and the indirect holding through Viacom18. TV18’s effective economic interest in IndiaCast is 75 per cent and 56 per cent in the new venture.

    Says Network18 managing director Raghav Bahl, “The Indian television industry in on the throes of a transformation on the back of digitisation. The distribution joint venture of TV18 and Viacom18 with DisneyUTV is a landmark deal and will help in shaping the future course of the domestic distribution landscape. At TV18, we have always believed that as industry leaders we should not only forge and nurture successful partnerships but also spearhead initiatives that accrue benefits to all stakeholders.”

    Consolidation in the distribution business

    The trend started years ago when Zee Turner and Set Discovery (now MSM Discovery) formed joint venture companies to add strength to their distribution businesses and ramp up subscription revenues. The biggest move in this direction came in mid-2011 when Zee Turner and Star Den merged their distribution businesses to create an elephant that marginalised the smaller players.

    "With this new JV, there will almost be no space for individual players. Media Pro is at the top followed by TheOne Alliance and then the IndiaCast-Disney UTV JV so far as revenue figures go. We will see further consolidation in the industry," says a media analyst.

  • IBN Lokmat reduces Q2 loss on back of political ads

    IBN Lokmat reduces Q2 loss on back of political ads

    MUMBAI: IBN Lokmat, the JV company of IBN18 and Lokmat Group that runs a Marathi news channel, has posted a net loss of Rs 54.40 million for the quarter ending September 2009.

    The channel, which was launched in March 2008, had suffered a net loss of Rs 96.46 million in the year-ago period.

    Income from operations has jumped three-fold to Rs 25.51 million, up from Rs 6.22 million.

    The company said that on the back of the Maharashtra Assembly elections, the Q-o-Q revenue of the channel has gone up by 84 per cent.

    Meanwhile, the channel has also managed to curtail expenses to Rs 59.41 million in the quarter, as against Rs 86.39 million in the prior year period.

    Operating loss has dropped to Rs 33.91 million, from Rs 80.17 million in Q2 FY’09.

  • ‘Lord of the Rings’ producer Barrie Osborne to float visual effects JV company in Chennai

    ‘Lord of the Rings’ producer Barrie Osborne to float visual effects JV company in Chennai

    MUMBAI: Noted Hollywood filmmakers Barrie Osborne and Michael Peyser have ambitious plans in India. Along with Indian VFX producer Madhu Sudhanan, they are going to partner with a local visual effects studio to float a company, Vayu Digital.

    The company plans to pump in $20 million to create a visual effects facility in Chennai. “We are in negotiations with a domestic visual effects studio to become a joint venture partner. The company aims to go operational by May-June,” Madhu Sudhanan said.

    Vayu Digital will have an outsourcing business model, tapping Hollywood clients for carrying out the visual effects work in India. The facility initially will house 50 artists with a mix of western and local talent. It aims to ramp up the capacity to 250-300 seaters over two years.

    “We will create an international pipeline to attract outsourcing work from Hollywood. Vayu would serve as second in line to the VFX majors. We are not going to compete but create a complementary facility to the Hollywood visual effects major studios with cost-effective solutions,” said Madhu Sudhanan.

    Said Peyser,”To begin with, we are going to provide our services in VFX, mobile repurposing and animation to some of the best film makers worldwide. Long term, we also plan to produce our own content at Vayu.”

    By outsourcing visual effects from India, Hollywood studios save 30-40 per cent of their costs. “Hollywood requires communications, deliverables and quality. The biggest problem in India is the limited talent pool that we have as all of us are digging into the same well,” said Madhu Sudhanan.

    Osborne, producer of Lord of the Rings, is planning to co-produce films in India which will be targeted at the international market. Peyser, producer of Speed 2, is also eyeing at outsourcing visual effects work from India.

    Madhu Sudhanan has produced domestic movie visual effects for more than 60 motion pictures and three Hollywood films. Currently he is heading the FrameFlow facility in Chennai.