Zee Media Corporation is in advanced
talks to acquire Business Broadcast News, an Anil Ambani owned company that
operates English Business News channel BTVi. Zee Media could pay between Rs 80
crore and Rs 100 crore for the company.
In November last year, Zee
Entertainment Enterprises, another Essel Group company, acquired the television
broadcast business of Ambani owned Reliance Broadcast Networks (RBN). At the
time, Zee Media had picked a 49% stake in Radio business, operated under Big FM
umbrella, with an understanding to acquire the remaining 51% after March next
year.
While RBN ran entertainment
channels Big Magic and Big Ganga, the news channel, BTVi was part of a
different company, Business Broadcast News, while Ambani had acquired from
former UTV boss Ronnie-Screwvala. English business news is a small genre in the
TV space with two strong players: Times Group-owned ET Now and Mukesh Ambani
owned CNBC TV18.
After suffering losses for many
years, Prannoy Roy's NDTV shut down its English business news channel, NDTV
Profit, in June this year. BTVi continues to remain on air. BTVi was launched
by Screwvala in April 2008 as UTVi and soon it was renamed Bloomberg UTV, after
the company signed a content and licensing deal with American media and data
company Bloomberg. In 2012, when Screwvala sold UTV to the Walt Disney
group, the Reliance Group acquired Screwvala stake in Business Broadcast News
and renamed the channel Bloomberg TV India.
In January last year, Business
Broadcast News and Bloomberg decided not to renew the licensing agreement. On August
1 Bloomberg TV India was renamed BTVi. Bloomberg, meanwhile, entered into a
joint venture with Raghav Bahl owned Quintillion Media to launch a business new
channel, Bloomberg Quint. Bahl is awaiting the broadcast license from the information
and broadcasting ministry to launch the channel.
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