'We will launch our film channel by August'

Q&A : Anshuman Misra

Active in the kids' entertainment channel space, Turner International (India) is set to start its animation film unit, a movie and series' channel and a general entertainment channel in India, all before the end of this year.

Recently, the company reportedly paid Rs 85 crore for a 30 per cent stake in Miditech, a local TV content producer. "India is the largest market for the company and the biggest revenue source for Turner in the entire South east Asian region," said Anshuman Misra, Turner's Singapore-based managing director. He spoke to Abhilasha Ojha on the company's plans for Indian audiences.

What makes India such a formidable market for Turner International (India)?

It hasn't been a recent development and India has always remained a crucial market for Turner. But of late, it seems to be ruling the roost and makes up 25-30 per cent of Turner's revenue in the Asia Pacific region.

With the Indian media and entertainment industry growing at a steady rate of 18 per cent, Turner's success in India only makes us very confident of our future plans.

What are the future plans?

Before the end of 2008, we are definitely going to bring out our general entertainment channel. This will be in partnership with Miditech, the Indian production house with which we entered into a 50:50 joint venture in December, 2007.

Our parent company, Time Warner, has achieved unprecedented success globally in the field of animation and theatrical releases. Taking note of that, we are set to release a movie channel for the Indian market by August 2008.

This channel will not just boast of Hollywood films but also dramas which have been originally produced by Time Warner. Our movie and series' channel (we are still searching for its name) will offer the best of Hollywood entertainment on Indian television sets.

We are already in the process of getting our team in place for our foray into India's movie industry by working on some world-class animation projects. If all goes well, by the mid 2009, we will have our first animation film coming out of the stable.

Is there a need for another general entertainment channel in an overcrowded market?

I see your point. There are so many dramas and reality shows in India that one wonders how different can anyone else be. But that's why an association with an India-based company (Miditech, in this case) helps. We want to include all elements of entertainment on our channel (be it reality shows, soaps, mythological series, to name just a few).

We have been successful in the kids' segment with shows on Cartoon Network and Pogo and looking at the general entertainment category was the next logical step.

By the way, did you know that Cartoon Network has a total of 20 local productions, the largest number of localised content in the kids' segment so far?

Any areas you feel Turner needs to be more aggressive in India?

We are doing well in the merchandising segment; Pogo and Cartoon Network products have clicked with children but since the retail sector in general is rather disorganised, we definitely could do much better in India.

How do you view other markets in the South-East Asian regions?

Some markets have smaller network and though we are doing well in Japan, markets like Sri Lanka and Pakistan have pleasantly surprised us. Cartoon Network in Pakistan is a big hit. But I will reiterate that India is the primary market for Turner and the pace with which we bring out content in India is extraordinary.