The Hindu Business Line : It's business on channel front

THE news channels space is witnessing action. After a host of Hindi and regional news channels hitting the television screen, it now seems to be the turn of business news channels.

Channels from Television Eighteen (TV 18) India, Jagran, NDTV and the Zee Group are expected to go on air in the forthcoming months.

Even the Times Group's new channel is expected to carry substantial business content.

According to Mr Haresh Chawla, Chief Executive Officer, TV 18 (which owns CNBC-TV 18), "We will launch our channel in the next four-six weeks. We have already set up a separate edit team and we expect that it will target a wider audience."

The company expects the new channel to bring in substantial additional revenues.

Sources in the broadcasting industry said that burgeoning middle-class that is part of the `credit economy' is the target audience.

"Also the increased interest in stock markets is also a factor for launching such channels," they added.

In fact, during the last few months, a substantial part of the day-time on NDTV India was devoted to business news.

"By going Hindi, channels are able to broadbase their advertisers. Also, the launch of additional channels could help improve the company's valuations," said an analyst tracking the sector.

"People have realised that there is a niche and are targeting that space. Earlier, the kids channels space was dominated by just one channel, now there are several channels. A similar situation is unfolding within the business news sphere," said a Mumbai-based media planner.

Also, it has been found that news channels are breaking even faster than other genres.

"The investments required for a business news channel is lower than a general news channel as most of these are studio-based shows. The cost of production is, hence, much lower," said industry sources.

Mr Atul Phadnis, Vice-President, TAM India, said, "What we are seeing now is the fragmentation of the news genre. In the US, there are speciality news channels such as the weather channel."

But with the pie getting fragmented, it is not going to be easy for the channels to sustain itself. "If the pie manages to grow faster than the segmentation, then these channels will be able to survive. And so far, that has been happening," he added.

Also, the focus is likely to remain on personal finance.

"These channels are likely to try and connect with the audiences by having programmes on general investment, home loans, insurance, stock market and mutual fund investments," said an official in a news channel.

The market for news channels is estimated to be at Rs 500 crore and is growing at about 20 per cent.