| MUMBAI:
US media conglomerate CBS and Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd (RBNL) jointly announced
their entry into the Indian television market, floating an equal joint venture
company that would initially roll out three English entertainment channels in
October. The
venture, called Big CBS Networks, intends to own and operate a portfolio of primary
linear pre-programmed television channels in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka,
Bangladesh, the Maldives and Pakistan. "We
are launching the channels in October. We have got the government approvals,"
said RBNL CEO Tarun Katial. The
themed channels will be targeted at India's fast-growing, upwardly mobile population
and will be branded Big CBS Prime (English general entertainment channel), Big
CBS Spark (English youth channel) and Big CBS Love (English entertainment channel
for women). The
joint venture, signed between RBNL, a Reliance ADAG company, and CBS Studios International,
a division of CBS Corp, plans to launch the English entertainment channels customised
for the Indian market to coincide with the festive season. When
asked why it took over three years for Reliance ADAG to foray into broadcasting,
Katial said they were waiting for the Adlabs demerger to be complete.
The English GEC space has so far been restricted to just three players, making
it the smallest genre in Indian television. "There
are two reasons for this. US media companies did not sufficiently invest in India.
Also there was not enough supply of quality content for Indian companies to launch
channels in this space. Digitisation is making quality content available for viewers,"
said Katial.
Big
CBS Networks has plans for airing local shows and will be
tapping production house Big Synergy, where Reliance holds
a majority stake, for this. CBS
has formats that can be successfully exploited for the Indian
market.
Commenting
on the broadcasting venture, CBS Studios International president Armando Nunez
said: "The growing subscription revenues and the youth market make India
attractive for us. We couldn't, however, have done it alone. We had to find the
right partner." Shows
that will air include 90210, CSI, NCIS, America's Next
Top Model, The Defenders, Blue Bloods. The channels will draw
from CBS' library which has 70,000 hours of content. It will also acquire content
from third party suppliers. Reliance,
controlled by billionaire Anil Ambani, and CBS plan to launch a wide spread of
channels in several languages. Reliance already has a presence in FM radio, outdoor,
digital advertising, multiplexes, movies, television content production, DTH,
cable (through Digicable acquisition) and gaming businesses in the media and entertainment
space. International
media heavyweights have been aggressively eyeing the Indian market. News Corp,
Sony, Viacom, Turner, and Disney have been expanding in India. | 
