PUNJABI WORLD: WHERE GOES IT?
Punjabi World TV, the Punjabi language
satellite channel, is likely to make a reappearance and
this time with a little dose of help from a former Congress
party member of Parliament, S.S. Ahluwalia.
Its original promoter and Delhi-based businessman,
K. Motiani, is negotiating with Ahluwalia to offload a 35%
equity stake in the company running the channel to a consortium
of no resident Indians (NRIs). These NRIs have been brought
to the negotiating table by Ahluwalia.
A source close to Ahluwalia and the dealmaking
said, "Motiani is asking for Rs 30 million in the initial
phase to get the channel on air. In return he is willing
to give a minority stake to the NRI investors." Despite
repeated attempts, Motiani could not be contacted and his
office over the last one week repeatedly said that "he was
out of town."
There are two factors which make Punjabi
World an attractive proposition for NRI investors and also
Ahluwalia. Firstly, Motiani has exclusive rights for six-years
to telecast religious discourses from the Golden Temple,
the most religious of places of worship for the Sikh community.
Motiani had signed the deal in the recent
past with the SGPC, the supreme Sikh body responsible for
the interest of the Sikh community and controlling the various
gurudwaras, or religious places for Sikh in India. According
to the source, as part of the gameplan, the NRI investors
have suggested that they are also interested in taking the
Punjabi-language channel to Canada and the UK, places where
sizeable Sikh populations can be found. "The plan is to
take the channel abroad and have it distributed over various
cable platforms as done by Zee TV and Sony TV in the US
and UK," the source said.
But there is a slight hitch: the prospective
NRI investors may insist for a change in the name of the
channel after they move in and also the proprietary nature
of the company. Ahluwalia stands to gain from this deal
as he can use the platform's varied programming, specially
news and current affairs, during the forthcoming general
elections to dramatic affect.
