The Hindu Business Line : Channel 7 to tap overseas market, beef up sports content

"We are already talking to parties and plans are still at a nascent stage. These are distribution companies, which we will partner to take the channel to more places in the US and the UK," said Mr Piyush Jain, Chief Operating Officer, Jagran TV Pvt Ltd.

Currently, the channel is available through the Internet as part of the channel's licensing agreement with NumTV.com.

"Through NumTV, we have taken the first step in making the channel available through broadband; but now we are looking at distributing the channel in countries where there exists a substantial Hindi speaking population," says Mr Jain.

Launched in April, the free-to-air channel reaches 40 million cable and satellite TV viewers across the country, according to the latest NRS findings.

The 24-hour Hindi news channel is trying to beefup its `infotainment' offering by airing reality shows to perk viewer interest.

"We are trying to differentiate ourselves from other news channels, and are calling ourchannel `news plus'. This is in addition to the existing baseline `Zindagi Life'," says Mr Jain.

In the process of giving the `plus' advantage to its news content, Channel 7 has decided to focus on sports coverage by bringing in reality shows.

"We feel our sports coverage can be enhanced and have decided to bring in the country's first reality-based sports show. In fact, this will be the platform for our future sports shows," says Mr Jain.

The channel forayed into sports reality shows through Scorpio Speedster — the hunt for India's fastest bowler across ten cities. Channel 7 has roped in former Indian cricket captain and the channel's sport expert, Ajay Jadeja, for the talent hunt.

The channel is open to subscribing to more than one currency for measuring its audiences' preferences. "While we do subscribe to TAM, we have not turned away from aMAP and might consider subscribing to it in future," says Mr Jain.

The channel plans to break even in two years. Says Mr Jain, "Today, while the cost of technology in setting up a channel has come down, the distribution costs have moved up. In this scenario, we should be able to break even in two years."

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