Zee News to launch two 24-hour channels

Zee News, to be hived off as a separate entity from Zee Telefilms soon, will launch two round-the-clock news channels in the regional languages this year. It will also acquire channels in a bid to double its turnover to Rs 800 crore in the three years.

The company is growing at 40 per cent a year and expects to touch Rs 400 crore turnover this financial year.

The demerging entity "" Zee News Ltd "" has lined up Rs 100 crore to fund its growth plans.

The two new channels will be in south Indian languages. Zee News is very enthused with the response it has received for its Bengali news channel, 24 Ghante.

"We expect the group revenue to touch Rs 400 crore by the end of this financial year and we are looking to double it in a few years. An investment of Rs 100 crore has been set aside for the purpose", says Lakshmi Goel, director, Zee News.

Out of the Rs 400 crore revenue, about Rs 100 crore would come from the its news channels like Zee News, Zee Business and 24 Ghante and the rest would be from its general entertainment channels like Zee Marathi, Zee Gujarati, Zee Bangla, Zee Kannada and Zee Telugu.

The company expects regional news channels to be a major revenue driver, says Goel but declines to give the details.

"There is a lot of scope of consolidation in the Hindi and English news genre. We are open to acquisitions but then it depends on the product on the block", he said.

The news genre has about 30 channels and generates Rs 800 crore in advertisement revenues. Sharing of this booty makes many channels potential acquisition targets. Channel 7 was acquired by CNN IBN for Rs 60 crore, from the Jagran Group earlier this year.

Commenting on the foreign investment into the company, Goel said, "We have moved an applied to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board but it will not entail any infusion of cash."