Reliance Broadcast in JV with RTL group

Anil Ambani promoted-Reliance Broadcast Network (RBN) is going for a 50:50 joint venture with Europe’s leading television and radio network, RTL group to launch a series of television channels in India.

A major share of the $15.5-billion group is owned by German media conglomerate Bertelsmann AG, which also owns the publishing giant, Random House.

The agreement is similar to the deal with CBS signed by Reliance last year. The JV will operate a portfolio of television channels in the general entertainment space in English. The venture will start operations from August- September and compete with STAR World, AXN, Fox Entertainment, Zee Café and also with channels from BIG CBS.

It will start with syndicated content from RTL, which owns several hit shows such as Idols, Got Talent, The X Factor, Good Times-Bad Times and Family Feud. The company may also launch a reality shows based-channel and action channel, said a person familiar with a development.

In the next phase, the venture will explore the Hindi as well as regional language space, which corners most of the television ad revenues.

In the quarter ended December RBNL posted the highest ever consolidated income of Rs 70 crore, with a consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) margin of Rs 6.5 crore. RBNL has raised around Rs 283 crore by allotting 33.3 million shares to investors and promoters of the company. Recently, it also received approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board of Rs 45.47 crore.

In the television space, RBNL currently operates BIG Prime, targeting the English speaking audience and plans to roll out BIG CBS Spark for the youth channel and BIG CBS Love for women. The company had recently acquired Imagine Showbiz Limited (ISL) from Cinestar advertising, which marked their entry into Hindi Entertainment space.

The company also has presence in Radio (92.7 Big FM), Experiential Marketing (Big Live), Out of Home (Big Street) and Digital (Big Digital) and specialises in creating and executing integrated solutions for clients, across the country.

For RTL, it will join a clutch of multinational media companies with interest in India’s burgeoning media and entertainment space.

The television industry is estimated to be worth Rs 58,700 crore in 2010, according to the Ficci- KPMG report on media and entertainment industry. Other multinational entertainment majors doing business here include The Walt Disney Co, Bloomberg, Viacom, News Corp, and Time Warner.