SRI ADHIKARI BROTHERS GETS BACKER

Sri Adhikari Brothers which is slated to launch a Hindi family entertainment television channel Sabe TV by the first quarter of 2000 has signed up with management and accounting firm KPMG to help it raise funds. The Bombay stock exchange listed company's share has climbed to Rs 500 on the back of news of its satellite television plans.

Sabe TV's business plan calls for Rs 1,300 million in funding for the first three years, following which it will break even and start generating profits. KPMG is approaching funds - venture and investment - to pump in money for the channel. KPMG has already valued Sri Adhikari Brothers' 1,500 hour strong television software library at Rs 530 million. The company has been a major supplier to state-owned broadcaster DD.

The brothers Markand and Gautam Adhikari, who floated the company a decade or so ago, are believed to be interested in leasing a transponder on Asiasat-3. Their choice of the satellite has led to speculation that Sabe TV will join hands strategically with Star TV. Sabe, it is rumoured, will act as the mass-viewer driver for the Star TV network, filling the gap left by Zee TV.

Markand is non-committal on this front. He however says that the channel will be successful. "We are already functioning as a channel as we provide 21 hours a week of programming to DD," he says. "That's more original programming than many television channels produce every week. So we have the expertise." No expense will be spared on promoting the channel: Rs 50 million has been kept aside as the launch marketing budget.

75% of Sabe TV's programming will be sourced from other production houses and some such as TV18 have already been commissioned. 25% will be provided by Sri Adhikari Brothers. The channel will be floated under a 100% subsidiary company. Earlier on the plan was to float it as a 50:50 joint venture with a foreign/domestic partner. But that has since been dropped.

"I am not afraid of competition," says Markand. "The Indian market is big enough for another Hindi entertainment channel. See how many magazines and papers are flourishing in India."

The company is expected to announce many new hires in the coming weeks, right from a president (the buzz is that one of the founding members of Zee TV Karuna Samtani will join) to cable TV affiliate managers to ad sales to programming executives.