TV 18 signs distribution deal with ABC

News broadcast player, Television Eighteen India has signed a exclusive distribution deal with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) to bring its infotainment channel 'Australia Network' to 68 million cable homes across the country.

The Australian public broadcaster, on the other hand, will share content with TV18 Group as well as assist it in taking their channels to Australia.

The TV18 Group, which already has CNBC TV 18, CNN-IBN, Awaaz and IBN 7 as part of its bouquet, will be leveraging its distribution strengths to launch the foreign channel "" a strategy that the group is willing to adopt at large.

"It showcases our distribution abilities in the Indian media space. There is a demand for niche content in India and with new streams like Direct-To-Home Conditional Access System and Internet Protocol TV coming up, an increasing number of foreign broadcasters may want to enter...we'll be open to distribution deals with them too," said Piyush Goel, vice-president (distribution), Television Eighteen India Ltd.

Declining to specify the financial details of the agreement except that it was a annual fee, Goel added that they are targeting access to over 5 million households in the first year of the deal.

The agreement is for a period of three years.

"We will be sharing content across our news platforms as well as assisting TV18 Group in marketing and distribution its channels in Australia..however, it is not a reciprocal distribution arrangement," said Ian Carroll, chief executive, Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

The $ 780 million ABC network will be investing atleast $ 2 million initially in its efforts to break into the extremely "competitive Indian media market".

The Free-to-Air channel will is looking to bring on board domestic advertising eventually and not right away. "India is a big market where we want to be present. As for advertising, most of our advertisers are global players and would want to be beamed in India," added Carroll.