News Broadcasting
TV9 in talks to buy 26 per cent stake in Indiavision
MUMBAI: Hyderabad-based Associated Broadcasting Company Pvt Ltd (ABCL), which operates under the TV9 brand, is in talks to acquire a 26 per cent stake in Malayalam news channel Indiavision.
ABCL and Indiavision have had the first round of discussions but couldn’t agree on the valuation, a source familiar with the negotiations says. Indiavision was valuing the company at Rs 1 billion but ABCL is agreeable to a much lower figure, he adds.
The move is seen as a counter to the aggressive plans drawn by national broadcasters to step into the regional space. Zee News Ltd has already launched a Marathi news channel and others like Raghav Bahl’s TV18 Group are waiting in the wings.
ABCL already runs a Telugu and a Kannada news channel. The company plans to launch a string of channels including a Mumbai-centric Hindi news channel. It is planning to raise Rs 2.5 billion from private equity funds to support all its expansion plans.
Senior executives of ABCL will be visiting Indiavision office next week to thrash out some form of deal, the source says. If talks on equity participation break, discussions on forming a strategic alliance will be pursued.
“ABCL could take up the marketing of Indiavision and an arrangement on infrastructure sharing could be worked out. Both the regional news networks realise that they need to strike an alliance as new competition is going to come from the bigger players,” the source adds.
When contacted, Indiavision chairman and political leader Dr M K Muneer declined to comment.
ABCL is 80 per cent owned by iLabs, a venture fund, and Unified Group. The balance 20 per cent is held by Ravi Prakash and five other professionals.
News Broadcasting
Rajesh Sundaram joins NDTV Profit as senior editor, assignment
The 32-year newsroom veteran has launched channels on three continents and covered everything from 9/11 to South African television
MUMBAI: NDTV Profit has bolstered its newsroom with a hire who has done rather more than most. Rajesh Sundaram, a journalist with over three decades of editorial, managerial and consultative experience across India and international markets, joins as senior editor, assignment, tasked with sharpening the network’s newsgathering and real-time response.
Sundaram’s career reads like a tour of Indian media’s most formative moments. He began at Businessworld in 1994, moved to Zee News as bureau chief across Mumbai and Chennai, then joined NDTV in 2002 as part of its political bureau during a particularly febrile period in Indian politics. A stint as India correspondent for Al Jazeera International followed, where he covered key geopolitical developments and got his first serious taste of the global newsroom.
What sets Sundaram apart, however, is his serial channel-launching habit. At NewsX, he helped get the operation off the ground. At Headlines Today, part of the India Today Group, he served as editor. At News Nation, he helped launch the Hindi news channel and its digital ecosystem. He then crossed continents to lead the launch of ANN7 in South Africa as editor-in-chief, overseeing both television and digital. Back in India, he launched Tamil news channels News7 Tamil and Cauvery News, and later served as principal consultant for the launch of Marathi channel Lokshahi. Most recently, he helped build and lead the Press Trust of India’s video service and content studio, before stints consulting for Business Today and The Himalayan Times.
Rahul Kanwal, chief executive and editor-in-chief of NDTV, left little doubt about what Sundaram is expected to deliver. “The assignment desk is where a newsroom’s intent becomes action,” he said. “Rajesh brings a rare combination of field experience and leadership in building news operations at scale.”
Sundaram has reported from across India and the world, covering elections, civil conflicts, the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the 2008 US presidential election.
At NDTV Profit, he will lead the assignment desk, driving editorial coordination and real-time response across markets and breaking developments. For a business news network sharpening its focus on speed and multi-platform delivery, it has hired a man who has built newsrooms from scratch on three continents. The assignment desk is in good hands.
