The Hindu Business Line : Essel Shyam scouting for more uplinking biz

ARMED with an investment plan worth nearly Rs 150 crore, Noida-based media content management company Essel Shyam Communications Ltd (a joint venture between Subhash Chandra owned Essel Group and Shyam Communications) is scouting for more business within and outside India.

"We have bagged the mandate for uplinking all the three new channels being launched by the Times Group. We will also uplink UTV's proposed channel dedicated to kids. We are already providing service to Sab TV and Asianet. In addition, we are exploring contracts from international companies based in Singapore and other places," the Essel Shyam Director, Mr Lalit Jain, told Business Line. The company is, however, likely to lose the Zee TV account as the television group is in the process of setting up its own uplinking services. Other broadcasters such as NDTV and TV Today's Aaj Tak have their own uplinking infrastructure while Star and Sony uplink from Hong Kong.

Claiming to be the only independent common service provider for broadcasters in India, Essel Shyam is exploring options in Singapore - the hub for most Indian broadcasters when direct uplinking from India was not allowed. Essel Shyam is participating at the ongoing Infocomm Media Business Exchange (IMBX) conference here.

"We have been providing turn-around services to clients like Ten Sports, CNBC and ESPN for specific events. We are here to explore the possibilities of long-term relationships," Mr Jain said.

The company, which has already invested Rs 35 crore in upgrading its teleporting and play-out service infrastructure in the last couple of years, claims to have helped Indian broadcasters increase their revenues and reduce operation costs by directly uplinking from India.

"After Indian broadcasters were allowed to directly uplink from India using our infrastructure, they have attracted more advertisements, especially from smaller companies who found obtaining Reserve Bank of India approvals for placing international advertisements rather cumbersome and expensive. In addition, they have been able to reduce their operation costs and gain more flexibility in terms of last minute insertions of advertisements," Mr Jain said.

Apart from teleporting, play-out and turn-around services, Essel Shyam also has a fleet of out-door broadcast (OB) vans, which it leases out for live coverage of specific events.

"We have provided eight vans to Doordarshan news on a long-term contract. Our vans were out in Gujarat after the Bhuj earthquake. We also provided OB vans for the Agra summit when Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf had visited India," Mr Jain said.

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