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The size of the deal is approximately Rs 300 million. FIPB is yet
to take a view on this proposal that is aiming to bring in additional
investment in the TV venture, which has been started with an initial
investment of about Rs 700 million.
According to Indian government guidelines, news channels uplinking
from this country cannot offload more than 26 per cent equity stake
to foreign companies or investors.
Channel 7 from the media group Jagran went formally on air early
April, promising different treatment to its programming tilted towards
non-fiction and hopped on to a DTH platform at the same time to
increase its reach, which is supplemented by the cable networks
it is managing to ride on.
The launch of Channel 7 marks the entry of Dainik Jagran, a dominant
print medium player, into the TV broadcasting arena. The free-to-air
Hindi satellite channel is also confident of securing a presence
in 28 million households, across 300 cities in the first month of
operations itself.
The promoters of the channel include Mahendra Mohan Gupta, managing
editor and chairman Jagran Prakashan Pvt Ltd and MD Jagran TV; Sanjay
Gupta, editor and director Jagran Prakashan Pvt Ltd and Shailesh
Gupta, director, marketing, Jagran Prakashan Pvt Ltd.
The Jagran group, according to media reports, is also believed
to be planning a foray into the den of another print medium powerhouse,
Dainik Bhaskar, in Madhya Pradesh.
Jagran Prakashan has already roped in a foreign partner for the
newspaper business, announced earlier. The foreign investor is The
Irish Independent, which picked up a 26 per cent stake in the Indian
media company.
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