TV9 Group completes 86% buy-out in Kolkata TV

Anurag Basu - Televisionpoint.com | Kolkata
Associated Broadcasting Company Ltd (ABCL), which operates news channels under the brand name TV9, has completed the acquisition of a 86 per cent stake in Kolkata TV, a Bengali news channel, for Rs 25 crore.

Kolkata TV would now be a part of TV9 network of channels. TV9 is a dominant regional player in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat. Earlier this year, the company has launched two city-centric news channels - TV9 Mumbai and News 9 in Mumbai and Bangalore respectively.

KVN Murthy, vice-president, operations, ABCL, says, "Due to local management problem Kolkata TV has not been performing well. We are in the process of finalising a new investment plan which will rejuvenate this channel. The details of further investment plan will be announced within a week."

In February 2009, Tathagata Dutta, chairman and managing director, Kolkata TV, had announced that it was on an expansion spree with investments of more than Rs 20 crore flowing in from ABCL. In addition to a pan-India presence, Kolkata TV was planning a Bengali general entertainment channel as well as opening a bureau in London.

Dutta's Bengali entertainment channel was supposed to share regional feeds and jointly garner sales and advertising revenues from ABCL's TV9. However, the plans fell flat due to internal management issues.

Earlier, Kolkata TV had tried to collaborate with Kolkata-based Jain Group of Industries, but that initiative too fell apart. Jain Group was a fast growing business and it had planned to diversify into entertainment segment through acquisition of Kolkata TV. The deal did not materialize due to differences in basic understanding.

Manoj Kumar Jain, managing director of Jain group, had said earlier, "We wanted to foray into the entertainment segment with the acquisition of Kolkata TV, unfortunately the deal fell through. Our plans for entering this segment have been put on hold for an uncertain period of time."

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