India's News Makers

Raghav Bahl is straddling the entire spectrum of media and entertainment

Pimp My Ride and Your Stocks are two unlikely TV shows to be coming out of the same production house but last fortnight, when Raghav Bahl’s Television Eighteen (TV 18) group struck a 50:50 joint venture with Viacom, the stage was set to become big enough to accommodate both traders and rock n’ rollers. The JV with the US media conglomerate, however, will provide Bahl with multiple platforms across the entire spectrum of general entertainment (not just music and in fact not just restricted to television). The venture will be through Global Broadcast News (GBN), the group’s subsidiary that currently operates news channels CNN-IBN and IBN 7. Viacom 18 will straddle television, film and television across a range of brands. The partnership will also encompass Viacom’s existing TV channels in India, namely MTV, VH1 and Nickelodeon. A Hindi general entertainment channel is also in the pipeline. Haresh Chawla, Group CEO, TV 18, says there is a fund-raising plan for the JV; GBN has already announced plans to raise up to $200 million.
For Bahl, Viacom 18 is his third big global partnership. In 1994 TV 18 slipped into an alliance with NBC Universal, as a result of which it today has under its banner two business news channels, CNBC-TV18 and CNBC Awaaz. And last year, through GBN, the group launched CNN-IBN, a mainstream news channel, in partnership with Time Warner Inc. In early 2006, it acquired Channel 7, a Hindi news channel, and rebranded it IBN 7. “The new venture is a homecoming of sorts for us. Before we focused our energies on news, we used to produce shows for channels including MTV in the early 90s. Today, the day has come when we re-ignite our entertainment genes with Viacom 18,” says the Managing Director of the TV 18 Group.
Bahl, for his part, has been pretty busy of late. Recently he tied up with Virgin Comics to publish graphic novels and co-produce movies. In fact, cinema is proving to be pretty close to his heart. The group’s motion pictures operation, Studio 18. The projects are in the pipeline and after the projects are completed, the motion pictures business will be moved into the venture with Viacom. The group’s holding firm, Network 18 Fincap Ltd, has also taken a 9 per cent stake in the Indian Film Company – sponsored by Bahl, the founder and promoter of TV18 Group -- worth $10 million. This company, which is in the process of being listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange, will acquire rights of films and market it via theatres in domestic and overseas markets, besides using other routes like satellite TV and DVD rights. Apart from this, it will also finance films and enter into co-production tie-ups with directors. Beyond movies, Bahl has also spread himself thick in the digital space under Web 18, where he as acquired portals such as Crisil Marketwire, Poweryourtrade.com and Commoditiescontrol.com. According to company insiders, the group is also gearing to launch a financial daily, a business magazine, and foray into media process outsourcing.
Even as it stands today, The TV 18 Network appears to be in a league of its own, with more ammunition than even Rupert Murdoch’s Star network. It has two business channels, two news channels, two music channels (MTV and VH1), a kids’ channel (Nickelodeon), and a film channel that’s on its way. Star TV on the other hand has Star Plus, Star One (its second GE channel), Star Movies, Star World (English Entertainment), Channel V (Music), National Geography and History . What’s more, GBN in just two years commands a valuation of Rs 2000 crore (it got listed in February 2007). And flagship TV 18 itself has hit a market cap of $1 billion, a feat none of its peers appears likely to outdo in the near future.



A Hero Comes Along

UTV’s Screwvala is emerging the leading man of Bollywood

If Raghav Bahl is hogging the media and entertainment space, Ronnie Screwvala prefers to confine himself to entertainment – where he’s got a lot going, right from movies to gaming, and from animation to software production. And broadcasting is next on the anvil. Screwvala, Chairman & Managing Director, UTV Software, who in 2006 offloaded a 14.9 per cent stake in the company to Walt Disney, is now looking to unlock the value that’s bursting at the seams of his movie business. He’s formed UTV IOM Inc, a 100 per cent subsidiary that’s incorporated in Mauritius, which will be listed on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM. The entire movie operations have been moved into this subsidiary. “A Nasdaq listing would have been time-consuming and listing at London made geographical sense,” says Screwvala, chairman and Managing director of UTV Software. UTV IOM Inc will be listed on AIM in 1-2 months and is expected to raised $70-75 by diluting 25 per cent of its equity. “This pegs implied valuation of the business at $225 million,” says a media analyst at an Indian brokerage firm.
In the last two years UTV has released 18 films, which would explain why almost two-thirds of UTV’s total revenues Rs 208 crore in March year end 2006, came from films-Rs 130 crore. For the year ended March 2007, the company raked in a turnover of Rs 72 crore from movies alone. The total revenues of the company during this year was Rs 174.3 crore crore According to a report by Prabhudas Liladhar, a Mumbai-based broking firm, UTV has films with a budget of Rs 466 crore lined up for the next two years. Lights, camera, action.

(The article has been published in the latest issue of Business Today)