Business News
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February 2012
The Reliance Industries - TV 18 - ETV deal is a landmark development and heralds Mukesh Ambani's entry into the media and entertainment sector in a concerted way. A week later, Reliance also separately purchased a substantial number of shares in DEN. This is in addition to the DEN share holding he has through the TV-18 transaction. In a single swoop, RIL now has a strong presence in English language news and entertainment channels, Regional channels, Print media and .com properties. The purchases point to a focused strategy that will see Reliance Industries' closer involvement in our sector.
There are already rumours that the elder Ambani is eyeing another MSO that his younger brother had planned to buy in September 2011, but that sale had been aborted.
Digitisation will almost certainly provide greater attention - and hopefully greater investments into Cable TV, not only from Indian corporates but also international players. The I&B ministry has hinted that FDI of upto 74% will be allowed in Cable TV. Enabling changes for this are eagerly awaited, as they will infuse much needed capital into the Cable TV sector.
It is a crying shame that the I&B ministry has not used 70% of its allocated funds during the past 5 years! Clearly poor performance by the ministry has not been due to lack of funds, but simply due to poor vision, implementation & monitoring. A Parliamentary Committee has asked the ministry to pull up its socks.
Last month, the I&B ministry also declared its 'Citizen's Charter.' This outlines the I&B ministry's vision & the timelines that the ministry promises to attend to various applications. This is certainly a welcome step in confirming accountability and commitment to action. However, several other ministries had declared their Citizen's Charter earlier.
The SCaT Digitisation Workshop has received a tremendous response. Several International experts will be visiting India to conduct technical sessions at the Workshop. The workshop will cover practically all aspects of migrating to digital CATV. Seats are limited. Do enroll early to avoid disappointment.
