[icernet] Star TV shortlists Indian partners

[Arul Selvan]

Star TV has shortlisted two potential partners for its new 
Hindi-language news channel and hopes to conclude negotiations and 
resubmit its licence application ahead of the deadline in three months. 
Peter Mukerjea, chief executive of Star India, said a large number of 
business groups had expressed interest in a partnership, but the 
pan-Asian broadcaster was now in "detailed negotiations with two 
credible people of stature in Indian industry". He did not rule out a 
three-way arrangement between Star and the two Indian parties. "The 
encouraging thing is that we're talking to parties that have a long-term 
interest in the health of India's media industry."

Advertisement 
<http://ads.ft.com/click.ng/site=ftcom&pos=box&sec=6ind&artid=6meenar&ind=MEDI&13=IND&14=IND&17=INDKA&18=&transId=1049381646580&params.styles=artimg,arthtml> 



This week, Star launched its Hindi-language news service, but 
transmitted from Hong Kong. A successful application would allow Star to 
uplink news transmissions from India. This would not only erase the 
short time lags that accompany uplifting from outside India, but also 
give the company access to local rupee-based advertising. Star's 
experience of partnerships in India has not been a happy one. A 
relationship with Zee TV ended acrimoniously in 2001.

Source:
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1048313422938