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Discovery to invest $ 13 million in India, plans to launch pay-channels

Discovery Communications Inc of the United States has decided to infuse $ 13 million into its Indian subsidiary -- Discovery Communications India -- and is planning to beam various sector-specific pay-channels.

Besides, the media giant is also exploring the feasibility of increasing its presence in the regional markets of India by dubbing its programmes in several regional languages like Tamil, Bengali, Telugu, etc, according to Discovery Channel India CEO and managing director Kiran Karnik.

''We are presently exploring if the regional presence makes good business sense or not. It is still in the business planning stage and we are seriously exploring the option,'' Karnik said, adding that the company might also tie up with a regional channel for the purpose.

''The tie-up and the dates have not been finalised as yet but a regional tie-up could be explored. We can start with a limited air-time initially and then later might float several parallel regional language channels.''

Discovery had in 1996-end launched the channel in Hindi. The Hindi language channel is presently being aired parallel and accounts for around 60 per cent of Discovery's total carriage.

Regarding the fresh equity infusion, Karnik said with this, the total investment would be hiked from $ 12 million to $ 25 million. The investments would be phased over a period of three years and would be used to meet its working capital requirements and other business needs in India.

''We have not started making profit as yet in India and hence require capital investments from the parent company for our needs.'' Though he refused to state the time-frame for breaking even in India, Karnik said, ''It is not likely to happen in the 1999 calendar year.''

''This is a long-run business and we are here for a long haul. We feel five years is a reasonable time to break-even,'' Karnik added.

He further stated that the company has already received the Foreign Investment Promotion Board approval for going ahead with the fresh equity infusion.

The company, he said, is planning to beam a host of new sector-specific channels in India. ''Internationally, we have spcific channels dealing with science, travel, aviation and health. We are looking at airing similar channels in India but a time-frame for the same is yet to be finalised. We are also yet to finalise the specific channels which would be beamed into India.''

However, he was firm that all the new channels would be 'pay- channels'.

Discovery is also working towards customising Indian content in its programmes without compromising on quality.

As part of its efforts to increase visibility in India, Discovery has recently launched a pay-channel called Animal Planet. But the company is not in favour of acquiring or even picking up stake in any local media company or channel.

UNI

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An interview with Kiran Karnik

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