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MUMBAI:
Zee News Limited (ZNL) has acquired 26 per cent stake in Sky
B (Bangla) Pvt Ltd, the company which runs Bengali infotainment
channel Akaash Bangla.
ZNL
will pay close to Rs 200 million for the stake acquisition,
a source familiar with the transaction said.
According
to the agreement, ZNL will handle the channel’s marketing,
advertising sales and programming for a fee. Sky B, however,
will continue to produce news programming for the channel.
Said
Zee News Ltd. CEO Barun Das, “At Zee News Limited we
look at East as a market of strategic importance and would
like to strengthen our presence there to emerge as the single
largest player in electronic media. Our endeavor would also
be to leverage the strong brand equity of Akaash Bangla. We
foresee extremely encouraging upside for Zee News Limited
through this arrangement.”
ZNL's
plan is to dominate the Bengali market with a second general
entertainment channel. Zee Bangla is already the leading GEC
in that market. Akaash Bangla will close this fiscal with
a revenue of around Rs 200 million in a Rs 2.5 billion market.
ZNL
has an old relationship with Sky B, having acquired a 60 per
cent stake in Bengali news channel 24 Ghanta.
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