Broadcasting bonanza
Essel Shyam adds new channels and services to its portfolio
| First off the block will be UTV's kids channel, Hungama. It will be followed by Zoom, Bennett, Coleman & Co's non-fiction entertainment channel. |
| "We will handle four channels from the Times Group stable," says Vyas, currently busy with expanding his "playout" facilities to accommodate the new business. |
| ESCL will, in a layman's terms, take care of the entire broadcasting and transmission of the proposed channels. |
| "Basically it means that we convert the channel's content into a digital format and control its flow on air, including advertising," says the company's vice president (marketing) Sanjay Duda. The company will also uplink the channels from its teleport. |
| Needless to say, a slate of new TV channel launches augurs well for the Rs 45-crore ESCL, that was among the first non-broadcasting companies to have got the teleport licence in 2001 and set up its earth station in February 2002. |
| "ESCL offers a great opportunity for stand-alone channels which may not find it cost-effective to put up their own earth stations," says Leena Sharma, the distribution head of SAB TV. The channel has been using ESCL's Noida facilities for playout and uplinking for the last two years. |
| Outsourcing playout helps a broadcaster save on capital cost (an earth station could cost up to Rs 10 crore-Rs 12 crore), maintenance and manpower cost as the system needs highly skilled engineers. |
| Vyas expects to sign on a few more clients as more national and local channels are launched. "Some Mumbai-based companies are talking to us," says Vyas without divulging any details. |
| To cater to clients across the country, ESCL is putting up an earth station in Mumbai. "We are also deciding between Chennai and Hyderabad to set up one more earth station," informs Vyas. |
| The expansion includes adding antennae to cover more satellites: currently, its high-powered antennae face satellites such as Panamsat, Asiasat and Insat. |
| "We are looking at adding more hot birds such as Thaicom and GE Americom to our portfolio," says Duda. "The idea is to go into the service business in a big way and provide facilities at an affordable price," adds Vyas. |
| Interestingly, teleports were not on the company's horizon when it launched in 1996 as a 50:50 joint venture between the Essel Group and Shyam Telecom. |
| It started out as a Vsat service provider for the media sector and set up the news-gathering networks for NDTV and Eenadu. It set up a Vsat network for the Maharashtra police department and linked up Madhya Pradesh's treasury offices . |
| Duda says that while the Vsat business is growing, the market is crowded comprising big players like Tatas, Bharti and HCL, and the margins in the business are shrinking. |
| The company discovered another niche in mobile uplinking through OB vans and supplied them to NDTV and Aaj Tak. It built a personal fleet of 12 vans for hire. But what about competition? |
| "Becil, India Sign and Bharat Electricals make OB vans, but it's difficult to find a company offering the entire gamut of services "" from Vsat to teleport to mobile uplinking solutions, under one roof," says Duda. |
| And now ESCL wants to focus on the Internet. "We already have an ISP licence and want to get into webcasting," says Vyas. "To beat competition, we must keep looking at niches," adds Duda. |
| The company plans to dilute its equity through an IPO as the 50 per cent equity held by Essel, that owns the Zee brand, is often viewed in conflict with ESCL's other media clients. Such worries and expansion should keep Vyas and his 150-employee company busy in the coming months. |