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DISCOVERY BOSS SPEAKS HER MIND
Discovery's service in India is doing
very well, thank you. That's the view of Discovery Network
International president Dawn McCall who was in India
last week on a whistlestop visit. She said that the
channel's performance was in keeping with its business
plan and it would break even within the next three years.
According to her, the more immediate
success has been that of Animal Planet, its joint venture
channel with the BBC. "We've got into 5 million Indian
homes within 12 weeks of launch which is a figure others
have taken a year to achieve," she says.
McCall believes that the Indian market
too will evolve towards addressability when the Indian
viewer decides he is not willing to pay for certain
channels. Currently, cable operators have been averse
to paying fully the Rs 5 and Rs 2.50 basic subscription
fee for Discovery and Animal Planet.
"We have seen this in other markets
too," she says. "These are passing phases in developing
television markets."
She says the government nod allowing
it to pump in additional equity taking it from $5 million
to up to $25 million over the next five years will go
a long way in strengthening its infrastructure and help
it develop its services for the Indian viewer. "We want
to produce local programmes. Besides we have a travel
channel property, a health channel and a people & arts
channel. We could decide on bringing one of these to
India," she says.
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