Kolkata TV set for revival under Jain group

Company to launch three more channels this financial year, on sports, entertainment and music.

Kolkata-based Jain Group of Industries, which has a presence is realty, infrastructure, steel and energy sectors, has diversified into entertainment business through acquisition of 80 per cent stake in Kolkata TV, the 24-hour Bengali news channel.

Manoj Jain, chairman, Jain Group of Industries, has purchased controlling stake in Kolkata TV and will assume managerial control, said Jain group sources.

"The terms of agreement were decided last week. We will sign the final agreement on December 13," official sources said.

Following the investment in Kolkata TV, the channel management would initiate negotiations to make the channel available on the direct-to-home (DTH) platforms by January 1, 2008, so as to push up viewership of the channel further.

Sources in Kolkata TV, one of five Bengali news channels now, confirmed the development though some formalities remained to be completed.

Star Ananda is the Bengali news channel market leader now in terms of viewership.

The other news channels are NE Bangla, 24-Ghanta and Tara News.

According to sources at Jain Group, the entertainment industry is one of the highest growth sectors in India at present, and this was the reason why the group decided to diversify into entertainment business.

Post the acquisition of Kolkata TV, Jain Group also plans to launch three more channels this financial year on sports, entertainment and music.

Funds will be raised through internal accruals and surplus from other group companies, confirmed Jain group sources.

When contacted, Bhaswati Dutta, business development manager of Jain Group, confirmed the development but refused to divulge further investment details.

According to estimates provided by TAM Peoplemeter System, Star Ananda currently is the market leader in West Bengal at 40.5 per cent share among Bengali news channels, with 24 Ghanta second with 33.3 per cent share, while Kolkata TV with 13.5 per cent was third, followed by Tara Newz with 12.6 per cent share.

According to Siddhartha Mukherjee, vice-president-communications of TAM Media Research, news channels currently represent approximately 10 per cent of overall television viewership, up from 1 per cent share three years ago.

Growth in news channels viewership is driven by superior news presentation and diversified content.

Kolkata TV was launched on March 27, 2006, backed by strategic partnerships with APTN, ANI and Reuters, with Sumon Chattopadhyay, formerly of ABP/Star Ananda, as editor, and film personality Aparna Sen as creative director. It was promoted by the Xenitis group but the promoters had problems with Chattopadhyay and Sen and both quit.

By then, it had become the Bengali news channel market leader.

Subsequently, Xenitis itself split, and Kolkata TV fell to the share of Tathagatha Datta, former managing director of the undivided Xenitis Group, as proprietor of SST Media, but financial problems eroded content quality and reach, hitting viewership.