|
Murdoch on India visit this
weekend?
Is global
media baron Rupert Murdoch coming to town? If reports are
to be believed a visit is being planned for the News Corp
chief to visit Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai, (if possible)
over this weekend. Murdoch last visited India, if reports
are to be believed in a hush-hush meeting with the then
Congress (I) strongman, Sharad Pawar in 1996 at an army
base in Pune.
His earlier visit to India was in 1993-94 which was much
hyped up when he was seen with various politicians, dignitaries
and businessmen. He was feted wherever he went. Since 1996
he has been unable to fly into India because of a flimsy
obscenity case that was pending against him for the airing
of a bit of skin on Star Movies. The case apparently took
an ugly turn when summons were sent to his residences/offices
in Australia and the US, and an arrest warrant issued against
him. The situation was so bad that he was not permitted
to enter the country and declared a criminal because he
did not attend court when he was summoned. He would have
been arrested had he landed in the country. Since then,
however, the case has been set aside and Murdoch can visit
India.
During his current visit - if it takes place over the weekend
- he is expected to meet the Prime Minister, information
technology minister, Pramod Mahajan. His focus is expected
to be on the information technology sector, in which he
has suddenly begun to see lots of promise. He is also expected
to give a direction to Star TV India CEO Peter Mukerjea
as to how much he is willing to commit to India and in which
areas. And obviously, he is going to be tomtomming Star
TV's forays into the information technology and convergence
sector.
Currently, hectic preparations are on within Star TV and
his once Indian partner in Star TV's Indian DTH project
Pramod Mittal who is trying to smoothen his visit out here.
Obviously, a meeting with his old mate Zee Telefilms chairman
Subhash Chandra is planned. For sure, he is going to thank
him, Chandra has helped Murdoch make more money on his investment
in Zee Telefilms than he has made through his entire Star
TV operations in the past six years, thanks to an appreciation
in Zee's share price over the past six months.
Meanwhile, the media can expect to have a rollicking time.
Murdoch is eminently quotable as we have known him to be.
See
more headlines
|
