Warring in the East

Competition for eyeballs kicks in on the run-up to the elections in West Bengal.

If you have any doubt about elections being  auspicious for the launch of news channels, take a look at West Bengal's market. Two Bengali news channels have launched in the last 48 hours, and at least one more is in the pipeline.

Kolkata TV is a new channel from the Xenitis group, which is better known for providing  low-cost personal computers, while the other one, Chobbees Ghanta, is a 60-40 joint venture of Zee News and Akash Bangla. Add the two news channels that are already dishing out 24-hour Bengali news "" Tara Newz and Star Ananda "" and the market begins to look crowded.

Not just yet, feel those who are pouring in money into these channels. A fifth news channel is on the cards from producer Dibyojyoti Basu who plans to replicate the successes of shows like Khoj Khabar and Khaas Khabar on a full-fledged 24-hour newswheel.

The obvious question to ask is if the market can sustain so many players. "Yes," says Amitava Sinha, vice-president, Rediffusion DY&R, though he feels that the increasing number of players is going to add to the fragmentation of the market.

There is another question which can be asked? Can advertising revenues get any lower? "No," says Rathikant Basu of Tara Newz, who also feels that Bengali news channels are very low in the priority list of media planners.

The new kids on the block are obviously seeing only the silver lining. "The Bengal market may be small, but the Bengali diaspora presents a huge opportunity," says Kolkata TV's Suman Chattopadhyay.

Star Ananda's  chief executive Uday Shankar feels the market will concede space to anyone who can come up with a unique value proposition for the viewers. Star Ananda is a joint venture between Star and the ABP group.

There are those like Siddhartha Mukherjee, director, communications at TAM Media Research, who see the appetite of the advertisers changing towards under-penetrated markets.

"The markets in the major metros have reached saturation point, so advertisers are increasingly looking to diversify into untapped markets. Kolkata is also taking a U-turn as far as the purchasing patterns of people here is concerned," he says.

Meanwhile, the channels have to cope with increased costs for distribution (20-25 per cent) as carriage fees are renegotiated, and for pulling in the right journalistic talent (salaries up 150 per cent).

The race has begun. The pace is just picking up. It's too early to say how many of the racers will reach the finish line (read profitability).

Watch this space for more.