With R Basu joining Star TV as its chief executive in India, a peace move has been initiated by Star TV. A proposal has been put before Zee TV's co-promoter, Subhash Chandra, to join hands with Star TV in launching a direct-to-home (DTH) television network in India instead of both pursuing independent DTH routes.
The move comes close on the heels of two recent developments: Former director-general of Doordarshan and department of electronics secretary, Rathikant Basu, joining News TV India Ltd (NTIL) as CEO and Chandra telling a satellite conference in Mumbai that he is independently pursuing a DTH project.
NTIL handles the affairs of Rupert Murdoch-controlled Star TV in India.
Star TV has asked Chandra if he is interested in jointly launching an integrated DTH network in India instead of fragmenting the market and giving other interested parties like US-based Hughes Electronics and Doordarshan a chance to be the first entrant in the field. The projected figure for DTH subscribers here in the first year is one million.
Hughes and Pan Am Sat Corporation""- operators of PAS series of satellites, including PAS-4 on which Murdoch was seeking KU-band transponders for a DTH network""- recently agreed on a merger. Hughes through a subsidiary, Direc TV, is exploring Indian collaborators for a DTH network.
Confirming Star TV's offer to Chandra, NTIL's managing director in India, Gene Swinstead, told Business Standard, The offer to jointly launch a DTH network in India was made last month and Chandra's response is awaited.
However, he was hopeful of a positive response from Chandra, who could not be contacted in Mumbai for comments.
Highly placed corporate sources said Basu's agenda includes Indianisation of the Star channels and paving the way for a DTH network for India. As per internal projections, Star has set itself a March '97 deadline for the DTH network, they said.
The olive branch offered by Star TV to Chandra gains significance as, last month, speaking at the Kagan International-organised conference on the 'Future of cable and satellite TV in India', Chandra made it clear that both he and Star, amongst eight players, are independently pursuing DTH routes and there is place for only two DTH players in India""- the first entrant being a clear winner.
Swinstead, however, was not forthcoming on whether a new joint venture company between News Corp and Chandra would be floated for the DTH project if both sides decide to join hands as in the case of Zee Cinema, Zee TV, El TV and Siti Cable.
Moreover Star TV cannot go the full hog in Hindi. Reason being that according to the existing joint venture agreement which Murdoch's News Corp has with Chandra, any new Hindi-language channel from the Star stable can only be launched in association with Chandra, Swinstead says.