MUMBAI: The man who pioneered private satellite television in India is looking to launch a global English news channel, a venture that will require oodles of cash, guts and vision.
Essel Group chairman Subhash Chandra boasts all three of these elements. He has loads of cash to carry out his ambitious experiment. The market cap of the four media outfits that Essel Group controls is Rs 51,636.55 crore (516.37 billion). While Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) has a market cap of Rs 36,789.99 crore (Rs 367.9 billion), Dish TV’s stands at Rs 11,647.62 crore (Rs 116.48 billion), Siti Cable’s at Rs 2,236.18 crore (Rs 22.36 billion) and Zee Media Corporation’s (ZMCL) at Rs 962.76 crore (Rs 9.63 billion). Outside the media business, the group has its tentacles spread across packaging, infrastructure, education and precious metals.
Chandra’s competence as a fearless fighter was visible in his early days as a media entrepreneur, when he took on the might of Rupert Murdoch to pitch a battle against Star India with his Zee brand of channels. He also bought out News Corp’s stake in multi-system operator (MSO) Siti Cable and ran India’s first direct-to-home (DTH) business under the Dish TV brand. Even in later years, he floated the Indian Cricket League (ICL) as a rebel T20 league to challenge the cricket establishment under the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Nobody can question the vision of Chandra. He got into ventures when other media entrepreneurs in India had not even thought of them. Realising that T20 would catch youth audiences and take away viewership from Test and One-Day International (ODI) cricket, he came up with ICL ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL). He was also the first national broadcaster to move into regional-language TV markets.
In talks with CNN to give Zee news brand global teeth
To pursue his new ambition, Chandra wants to give his Zee news brand more teeth. He is planning to collaborate with a global TV news brand, get the news content engine operating on a wider sphere, and present an Indian slant in coverage.
Chandra saw an opening when Mukesh Ambani-controlled TV18 Broadcast and Turner International’s CNN decided not to renew their 10-year brand licensing and news service agreement beyond January 2016. He initiated talks with CNN for a strategic alliance, including a possible equity stake participation.
“Discussions are on with CNN for having an all-encompassing partnership. I am not averse to an equity relationship. Even if it is without equity, we are looking at a wider partnership than just using CNN brand for the Indian market,” he says.
For Turner Broadcasting System (which owns CNN) to hold a stake in the new channel, Chandra will most likely float a subsidiary of ZMCL as the news company already runs two Hindi and eight regional news channels (two through subsidiaries). ZMCL also owns English newspaper dna.
Chandra has long been toying with the idea of launching English news channels catering both to general and business news. An international partnership with CNN will help Zee to foray into English television news as it is a credible international news brand, several media analysts say.
Why deal with CNN is possible
Chandra has a fair chance to strike a deal with CNN. He shares an old-running relationship with Turner in the distribution space. It started in 2001 first as a television distribution JV company, with Zee holding 74 per cent and Turner 26 per cent. Zee–Turner then went on to form Media Pro Enterprise India, a 50:50 JV with Star DEN, in 2011. Three years later, Media Pro got killed, after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) disallowed bundling of television channels from more than one broadcaster. Though the Zee–Turner JV also had to dissolve, Taj Television India, a wholly owned subsidiary of ZEEL, continues to distribute HBO, Cartoon Network, Pogo, CNN, and Warner Brothers as an authorised agent of Turner International.
How will CNN gain? For international channels like CNN, the only way to grow in India is by tying up with local partners. Indian TV news outlets are very popular and there is little space left for outside channels.
CNN took that strategic alliance approach when it tied up with TV18. In its brand licensing agreement with TV18, chalked out under the stewardship of founder and old owner Raghav Bahl, CNN was to be paid a fee based on the net revenue of the channel CNN–IBN, or the annual minimum guarantee, whichever is higher. The minimum guarantee was in the range of $500,000 to $850,000.
With Zee, CNN may be looking at a much broader partnership, which would enable it to reap higher returns. Getting into local partnership is nothing new to CNN. In Indonesia, it has partnered with local media group Trans Corp to launch CNN Indonesia TV, a localised version of Turner’s global news channel.
Chandra’s plan is to launch the channel in the next fiscal, with or without CNN. “We may or may not tie up with CNN,” he says. “But we will launch the channel in the next fiscal.”
The channel will be modelled on the lines of CNN, the BBC, and Al Jazeera. “We are looking to launch a news channel for a global audience with an Indian point of view. It will not only serve the Indian diaspora. Today, we receive outside news from agencies like Reuters. The Indian point of view is completely missing. We intend to disseminate news to the global community with our point of view. It will require big investments,” elaborates Chandra.
The channel will launch in India first and then move outwards. “While the BBC has a British angle to it, CNN has an American point of view. We want our channel to have an Indian slant,” he explains.
Is Rohit Gandhi the ideal fit?
In this global drive, Chandra’s other need is to build a strong editorial team to match the stature of other leading news outlets. He has recruited Rohit Gandhi, who has worked in global news outfits, to spearhead the initiative. In a way, he has taken a new position by going for a face outside the popular names of Arnab Goswami, Rajdeep Sardesai and Barkha Dutt.
English TV news in India is anchor-led. Arnab drives Times Now to leadership position, India Today (earlier Headlines Today) has Rajdeep, and NDTV has Barkha. Chandra is relying on a different news strategy and is getting inspired by CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera models of global coverage. He is planning to launch a news network for global audiences who want coverage from an Indian point of view.
Gandhi, who is appointed as editor-in-chief – English News Broadcast and Related Content, has over 23 years of experience across 40 countries. He has worked with CNN, CBC, BCTV & Global TV, Canada, and NDTV, covering many war zones including Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003. He has worked on various international field projects in the areas of international relations, politics, socio-economic empowerment, human rights, environment, civil rights and social action and highly sensitive terror investigation, amongst others.
He has won several international trophies. In 2006, he won the DuPont Award given by Columbia University for coverage of tsunami in South Asia for CNN. In 2008, American Women in Radio And Television awarded him with Gracie Award for ‘Who Cares About The Girls’ on National Geographic Television. In the same year, he also won Edward R. Murrow Award for ‘Child Brides-Stolen Lives’. Gandhi’s documentary ‘Afghan Warrior’, which was aired on National Geographic, won the Emmy Award and Golden Cine Eagle in 2010.
Gandhi will work closely with the business head and revenue resources team and report directly to Punit Goenka, Chandra’s son who also heads ZEEL. On joining ZMCL, he said: “It is a phenomenal opportunity for me to work with Zee and Punit to deliver world-class coverage to viewers at home. We want to continue on the path of providing in-depth, textured coverage across platforms to address the ever-changing needs of the global audiences.”
Why Chandra can launch global news channel
In the commercial world of television news, Chandra could have been the only Indian to strive for a presence in the news genre across geographies. As the trend in the US shows, major news networks are run by entertainment conglomerates. Global news channels are expensive to run and pure news organisations in India do not have the capital to start this experiment. News business in India is not highly profitable as there are too many players and carriage fee to MSOs is draining. The only other Indian who could have launched a global news channel is Mukesh Ambani, whose Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) controls TV18 Broadcast.
Chandra’s task is by no means easy. Apart from CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera, there aren’t any widely popular international news channels. In India, his two national channels, Zee News and Zee Business, are not leaders in their respective genres.
Is the timing right?
Chandra is jumping on the global news wagon at a time when India’s importance in the outside world is growing, its economy is getting increasingly globally linked, and when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is following an aggressive foreign policy. “India must have a news product that is global in nature. The Indian point of view is completely missing and needs to be put out,” avers Chandra.
In the jam-packed news channel scenario, the Essel Group boss is looking for a different positioning. Both CNN and Al Jazeera have made a mark with live coverage of international news, which can be an expensive affair. If the Gulf War established CNN’s popular form of TV news coverage, the war in Afghanistan defined Al Jazeera’s style. Al Jazeera has also played a distinct role by presenting an alternative perspective on global issues, different from the American or western viewpoint. The BBC, on the other hand, has a long heritage of credible news.
Finding a political role for the channel will, perhaps, be easy. But the challenge will be how to make its form, style and substance globally acceptable. In the case of Al Jazeera, there was an interest to get news about the Arab world from networks outside the CNN or the BBC. Al Jazeera’s popularity also grew from animated studio debates and talk shows.
It is not clear yet what kind of global outing Chandra’s channel will have. Will it hunt for news around the globe the way global networks like CNN and Al Jazeera do? The haemorrhaging in the TV news business of this kind can be detrimental. Al Jazeera reportedly used to spend $100 million each year to sustain the network. What Chandra is probably looking at is a news channel of a different and varied role. Probably, it will not chase live news as exhaustively as CNN or Al Jazeera do, but study the news incidents from an Indian point of view.
“It is an expensive experiment and it may fail,” he says.
Whatever the outcome, Chandra will be the first in India to launch a global news network. Unlike his other first-mover ventures, this one might prove to be the toughest to crack. For a man who has had so many successes, he may just defy the odds and surprise us by winning again.
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