UTV plans biz news channel

Ronnie Screwvala-promoted UTV Software Communications is in talks with the Walt Disney-owned American Broadcasting Company News (ABC News) for launching a business news channel.

Sources in the know said the foreign media company would pick up a minority stake in the venture and provide technical support. The laws allow a foreign company to pick up a maximum 26 per cent stake in a news venture.

The discussions were at an advanced stage, and the deal would be announced shortly, they said. Walt Disney holds 14.85 per cent stake in UTV as on March 31, 2007.

When contacted, an ABC News spokesperson said, "We are exploring various opportunities for our television content business in India and Asia Pacific and have nothing to announce at the moment." However, attempts to reach the UTV CEO Screwvala failed. An e-mail query sent to him on Tuesday remained unanswered.

Media buyers believe there is room for more broadcasters to enter the space. "The men-focused brands are fueling the growth of advertising. Considering that news channels, and more specifically business news channels, address the needs of these brands, entry of news broadcasters is good news for advertisers," said Manish Porwal, managing director (India-south&west), Starcom.

UTV Software Communication is into motion pictures, new media (gaming and animation), broadcast and television content. The company is slated to launch a bouquet of eight channels in a year under its subsidiary, UTV Broadcasting. Its first channel, Bindass "� a youth channel "� is expected to go on air by September. This will be followed by regional channels in the same genre. The company has already announced the launch of the world cinema channel Olive.

UTV will be the second player entering the news broadcasting space this year after the earlier announcement by INX media, led by Indrani Mukerjea, wife of ex-Star Group chief executive officer Peter Mukerjea. INX plans to launch 12 channels, with four dedicated to news (one national news channel and three city-specific news channels). As of now, there are only few broadcasters in the business news space, including NDTV Profit and TV 18's CNBC-TV18 and CNBC Awaaz.