Sources close to the deal confirmed the development, saying that these channels were slated for a phased rollout beginning 2008.
R-ADAG has taken on board Ashutosh, the business head of Sahara One and Entertainment's Hindi movie channel Filmy, as the COO for its upcoming movie channels.
Sources said the company also planned to launch news channels and channels in different genres such as general entertainment, movies and music. An R-ADAG spokesperson declined to comment. Anil Ambani's foray into television broadcasting will make his company a one-stop shop for media and entertainment.
The company has a presence in the radio business (BIG 92.7 FM), releasing music under the BIG Music label, and will soon release home videos. It has been producing, distributing and screening movies through Adlabs Films, in which it holds a majority stake.
R-ADAG has also announced plans to enter the direct-to-home business under Reliance Bluemagic.
Reliance Communications has a collaboration with Microsoft in the internet protocol television initiative. The company is all set to enter consumer homes with broadband internet through its fibre optic backbone.
As if this wasn't enough, R-ADAG has been shopping for stakes across media platforms.
Adlabs, early in 2007, bought a controlling stake in Siddhartha Basu's television production company, Synergy Communications, which has produced such successful programmes as Kaun Banega Crorepati for Star Plus and Jhalak Dikhla Ja for Sony Television.
In April, the company's stake in TV Today went up by 15 per cent, after which Reliance Capital announced an open offer for shareholders of TV Today at Rs 130.50 a share. However, the offer did not succeed as the price was lower than the market rate. Anil Ambani's foray into the television broadcasting space comes at a time when a handful of media companies are gearing to hit the tube with their entertainment and news channels.
Sample this: Sources say Ronnie Screwvala-promoted UTV Software Communications is to launch a news channel soon, having launched a youth channel last month. It has plans to launch multiple channels in different languages in India and Southeast Asia.
INX Media, led by Indrani Mukerjea, wife of Peter Mukerjea, a former Star Group chief executive officer, will launch 12 channels in entertainment and news. In the first phase, INX plans to launch a music, Hindi entertainment and a news channel each. In the second phase, it will launch three regional channels, three regional music channels and three city-specific news channels.
TV18 and Viacom's joint venture Viacom18 will roll out a Hindi entertainment channel in addition to several niche channels. TV18 will launch a Marathi news channel (IBN Lokmat) in association with Maharashtra-based Lokmat group of newspapers. BAG Films & Media, promoted by Anuradha Prasad, is also in the race. The company is planning entertainment and lifestyle channels under BAG Glamour and news channels under BAG Newsline.
In 2006, NDTV too announced its partnership with filmmaker Karan Johar for non-news channels, starting with Hindi General Entertainment and expanding into movies, regional, youth and kids programming. These will be spearheaded by former Star India CEO Sameer Nair. PricewaterhouseCoopers has estimated the worth of the television industry at Rs 19,100 crore and this is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 22 per cent over the next five years.
The total television ad industry is expected to grow from the present Rs 6,600 crore to Rs 12,300 crore by 2011, 13 per cent cumulative annual growth over five years.
