100+ new channels for approval in India

[BGonaSTICK]

There are reportedly up to 150 new channels waiting in the wings in India for government approval.

India’s broadcasting ministry has received formal applications from more than 50 companies representing 130 channels, planning to launch over the next 12-18 months. Applicants include Zee TV, BAG Films, INX Media, Viacom-18, NDTV, and UTV Broadcasting. If approved, and most international applicants have their local partners in place to ensure success, the number of channels available to viewers will jump from today’s 200 to around 300.

Local reports suggest that there’s more than $1bn of potential investment ready to be made on infrastructure, and a commensurate amount on new programming and content to fill the inevitable quotas which the ministry is likely to impose. UTV alone says it is planning for nine channels and has lined up $200m to fund the operation. That is spurred on by forecasts that suggest India will be Asia’s most lucrative pay-TV market by 2015, growing from today’s 110m TV households, of which some 70m are connected to cable, to nearer 140m paying in one way or another for their TV.

But income for international players is modest, with the average amount currently paid for “pay-TV” as being just $3 a year. More programming, plus the ever-expanding Indian middle class, is seen as key to the growth of pay-TV, and helped by the growing number of new DTH aggregators on the scene. The Indian pay-TV market is predicted to be worth about $10.5bn by 2015, helped by spectacular annual advertising growth of 13%-15% pa.

Source: World Media