Alokananda Chakraborty & Prajjal Saha
Media

Times plans bouquet of channels; top management falling in place

The Times Group is stepping into the arena with a bouquet of channels, including an entertainment channel, a business channel and a spiritual channel

Speculation pertaining to the Times Group's much-talked-about foray into television programming has long since gone through the roof, but little official information on the media giant's television initiatives has been forthcoming. However, as per the buzz doing the rounds in the industry, Times is stepping into the arena with a bouquet of channels, including an entertainment channel, a business channel and - quite surprisingly - a spiritual channel. It has further been learnt that the Times bouquet would be on air in the next four to five months.

According to reliable industry sources, the media conglomerate has also put much of the senior-level team that would be in charge of the television project in place. This team consists of a mix of professionals from other television channels, as well as senior hands from within the Times Group. As per our sources, Ravi Bhatnagar (vice-president, Times Entertainment) would, in all likelihood, be heading the group's spiritual channel, while Partho Das Gupta (general manager, Times Multimedia) is likely to head the business channel. Irshwin Balvani (previously head of special projects, Times Entertainment) is also coming on board, a fact corroborated by Apurva Purohit, chief operating officer, Times Entertainment. "Irshwin Balvani would be the head of creative and internal production, as Times would also have a fair amount of in-house production," she says.

The project has also attracted talent from outside. As already reported by this website late last month, Parveez Shaikh, ex-creative director, Contract Advertising, has joined the team as creative consultant. Aparna Pande - who has had stints with Sony Entertainment Television, Channel 9 and ZEE - would be head of content and programming, and would also be responsible for the outsourcing of programmes. Joining as distribution head is none other than Hitesh Sabharwal, who has previously been head of distribution at Sony Entertainment Television. Purohit has confirmed the appointments of Pande and Sabharwal as well.

Speaking about the untapped segments of the television industry, Purohit is of the opinion that in the near future, there will be a great need for niche channels. "If DTH becomes the main distribution technology - which is likely to happen - all television companies will need to have the maximum number of channels in their bouquet," she says. "This is why there is a requirement for niche channels, be it on cooking, gardening, pets, adventure sports or even teens - which has still been a untapped target group in the country." She further adds, "The genre of niche channels will depend on whether DTH is aimed at high-end consumers, or at the villages where Doordarshan still has a monopoly, and where satellite television doesn't exist."

When quizzed about the distribution strategy of the upcoming channels, Purohit said, "We are still exploring both options - the pay model and the free-to-air model - but, most probably, we will go for the paid model." Purohit also quashed rumours of Times' television department being headquartered in Delhi, clarifying that the company would be based in Mumbai. © 2004 agencyfaqs!

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