CBS and Reliance plan to launch Indian TV channels

[June 21, 2010]  MUMBAI, India (AP) -- A unit of CBS Corp. and Reliance Broadcast Network, a subsidiary of India's powerful Reliance-ADA Group, plan to launch television channels in India together, Reliance said.

The joint venture is a first for both CBS Studios International and Reliance Broadcast Network, known until last week as Reliance Media World, as they try to tap India's fast-growing TV market.

The companies signed a preliminary, nonbinding agreement Sunday to establish a 50-50 joint venture to operate a portfolio of TV channels and hope to close the deal within a month, Reliance said in a June 20 letter to Indian stock exchanges.

They would begin with an English language general entertainment channel that would distribute primarily existing CBS content via cable or direct-to-home satellite broadcasting and later explore owning or operating channels in Hindi and other regional languages, the company said.

CBS's hit shows include "CSI," "America's Next Top Model" and "The Oprah Winfrey Show," but Reliance spokesman Gaurav Rahi told The Associated Press on Monday that it was too early to say which shows would be picked for India broadcast.

The venture would have programming rights across India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Maldives and Pakistan, with the potential for further expansion.

CBS joins foreign companies like Viacom Inc., Time Warner Inc., Walt Disney Co. and News Corp. that have jumped into India's TV market, which is expected to grow at 15 percent a year to become a 521 billion rupee ($11.4 billion) business by 2014.

Television is the largest segment of India's entertainment industry, with revenues of 257 billion rupees ($5.6 billion) in 2009 -- nearly three times what the much-hyped Bollywood film industry pulled in, according to KPMG.

KPMG says India's TV audience has grown to 500 million viewers -- still just 60 percent of households -- and the number of channels has mushroomed from 120 in 2003 to over 460 in 2009.

Reliance-ADA Group is run by Anil Ambani, one of India's richest men. Another subsidiary, Reliance Big Entertainment, last year paid $325 million for a 50 percent stake in Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks Studios.

[Associated Press; By ERIKA KINETZ]

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