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WE
AIM TO SPREAD ENTERTAINMENT THROUGH ALL AVENUES
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Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch Chairman of News Corp, the parent company
of Hong Kong-based Star TV, was in India on five-day visit
last week. Considering the hype he generated in the three
cities that he visited --- India's Silicon Valley, Banaglore,
Mumbai and Delhi--- one can safely assume that the legal
and governmental problems being faced by him and his companies
are things of the past. The Prime Minister of India, Atal
B. Vajpayee, spent over an hour and 45 minutes at a party
thrown in the capital by Star TV, and attended by Murdoch,
to celebrate seven years of the longest running chat show
on Indian satellite TV, Rajat Sharma's `Adalat'.
Murdoch is bullish on various aspects of convergence---
Internet, broadcasting and telephony. And he wants to have
a share of the convergence pie in India. "I am amazed at
the (technological) advances made (by India) since my last
visit (about four years back)," he told a gathering of political,
corporate, entertainment and journalistic who's who in Delhi.
News Corporation has total assets as of 31 December 1999
of approximately US$39 billion and total annual revenues
of approximately US$14 billion. The media group's diversified
global operations in the United States, Canada, the United
Kingdom, Australia, Latin America, Asia and the Pacific
Basin include the production and distribution of motion
pictures and television programming; television, satellite
and cable broadcasting; the publication of newspapers, magazines,
books; the production and distribution of promotional and
advertising products and services; the development of digital
broadcasting; the development of conditional access and
subscriber management systems; and the creation and distribution
of popular on-line programming.
An excerpt from conversations that indiantelevision.com
and The Indian Cab&Sat Reporter's Delhi correspondent Anju
Mahindra had with Rupert Murdoch while he was waiting for
the Prime Minister to arrive at the Delhi party and in a
lift after he had finished his meeting with the information
and broadcasting minister Arun Jaitley.
*ON HIS VIEWS ON INDIA AS A BUSINESS DESTINATION.
I
am optimistic on various things in India. Specially the
boom in the information technology that I saw in Bangalore...there's
great potential for investments here. Though there are certain
glitches, but I think India a great destination for investments
(in the IT sector).
*ON
HIS MEETINGS WITH VARIOUS GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, MINISTERS
AND CORPORATE LEADERS LIKE THE AMBANIS, TATAS AND SUBHASH
CHANDRA
They were more or less private visits. We held some
exploratory talks and discussed the state of technology
in the world and India. Especially what technology can do
for India. For example, help in distance learning. Some
people made some presentations in Bangalore (Pradeep Kar
of Microland was one), but nothing has been finalised yet.
With Mr. Jaitley and Mr. Mahajan, the discussions were very
general. No, there were no assurances given. (But Star sources
have indicated with the Ambanis and Tatas there was an amount
of seriousness. "The Ambanis are in telecom and not in broadcasting,
while News Corp is in broadcasting and has contents, but
has no telecom interests. At some later stage, these two
interests of the two companies can converge to take form
of a business alliance," a Star source said.)
*ON HIS INVESTMENTS PLANS IN INDIA.
We
are looking at investing in the information technology (sector
and companies). We have decided to take a small stake in
a Bangalore company. Others will be finalised later. These
investments would be done through Star TV, apart from eVentures
India Ltd... it's a separate thing. Star would be investing
directly... in broadband services in India. May be a couple
of hundreds of million (dollars). I am not sure about the
figure...it can be more than that too over the next few
years. There would be some investments in broadcasting and
entertainment (business) too.
*ON KU-BAND DIRECT-TO-HOME
TELEVISION SERVICE.
I
guess the (Indian) government is looking at it. Mr Jaitley
told me a group of ministers is studying the issue. DTH
has its advantages. Everywhere you cannot lay the fiber
optics. Places where you cannot lay the cable, DTH can be
useful to disseminate a host of information from education
to entertainment.
*ON
WHETHER NEWS CORP IS CHANGING ITSELF TO BECOME AN E-COMPANY
FROM JUST BEING AN ENTERTAINMENT AND BROADCASTING COMPANY.
Things are converging together and we have to be ready for
that. Entertainment will always be a focal point. (We have
to) take advantage of convergence. Our aim will be to spread
entertainment through all the avenues available (because
of technological convergence).
*ON WHETHER NEWS CORP'S
FOCUS IS BACK ON INDIA AS CHINESE-BORN AMERICAN GARETH CHANG'S
RESIGNATION INDICATES OF STAR FAILURE'S TO PENETRATE THE
CHINESE MARKET EFFECTIVELY.
We
have loads of content today. We are looking at alliances,
acquisitions, and partnerships with various companies. We
will also take equity positions in some firms that we have
to.
*ON THE REPORTED RESTRUCUTURING
OF NEWS CORP WHERE THE BROADCAST AND SATELLITE ENTITIES
ARE TO BE BROUGHT UNDER ONE UMBRELLA COMPANY WHICH WILL
GO PUBLIC.
We
are
studying it (the restructuring). There's no time frame.
(As a consequence of speculative press reports, News Corporation
on February 14 issued the following statement in New York:
"We have under serious consideration plans to consolidate
our worldwide satellite platforms and certain related assets
under one umbrella entity. It is premature to speculate
on the final format of this umbrella entity, the makeup
of its assets, the identity of its investors or whether
the entity will be a public company.")
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