SABe TV, Sony near brand deal

Media firms get into the partnership game.

Sri Adhikari Brothers Television Network Ltd, promoter of the Hindi entertainment channel SABe TV, is inching closer to a deal with the Rs 600 crore Sony Entertainment Television.

Under the deal, Sony will buy the SABe TV brand name. Media reports had earlier suggested that Sony was looking at buying a controlling stake in the company.

The companies have been negotiating the deal for the last six months and have looked at two options: either Sony picks up a 51 per cent equity in the company or just buys out the brand name. Sony insiders say that the view in the company is now veering towards buying the brand name alone.

Analysts put the value of the brand at roughly Rs 100 crore though there was no independent confirmation of the figure. The merchant bankers had valued the 51 per cent stake in Sri Adhikari Brothers at between Rs 250 crore and Rs 300 crore.

Sony and Adhikari Brothers have time till March 31 to freeze the deal. A media industry source said that if the deal went through, Sri Adhikari Brothers would not be able to run an entertainment channel again though the company would be free to start a news channel.

When contacted SET CEO Kunal Das Gupta said that the negotiations with Adhikari Brothers were still on and "when the deal is through we will announce it." Markand Adhikari, managing director of Sri Adhikari Brothers also refused to comment.

A media industry source pointed out that the company had earlier approached Rupert Murdoch controlled Star TV for its four year old humour channel SABe TV. The channel reaches 23 million homes in India.