FIPB clears TV18's proposal to launch South, Gujarati and Channel 3

Televisionpoint.com Correspondent | Mumbai
The government has cleared 32 proposals that will bring in Rs 845.70 crore into the country. Proposals from three media firms – TV18, Dow Jones and Lokmat Newspapers were among others taken up by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).

The proposals cleared by Finance Minister P Chidambaram on the recommendations of FIPB includes the proposal of Raghav Bahl-promoted Television Eighteen India (TV18) to launch three regional business news channels.

TV18 has proposed to launch CNBC-TV18 South, CNBC-TV18 Gujarati and CNBC-TV18 Channel 3 without any fresh inflow of FDI. Currently, the company operates business news channels like CNBC-TV18 (English) and CNBC Awaaz (Hindi).

Currently, no national broadcaster has any significant presence in the 24-hour regional language business news channel space. However, media groups such as Star India, INX Media, NDTV among others are planning foray into new markets such as West Bengal, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh among others.

However, a proposal by the US-based Dow Jones & Company to set up a wholly-owned subsidiary to carry out publishing of facsimile editions of newspapers was deferred. Dow Jones has sought an approval to acquire up to 100 per cent equity of Wall Street Journal India Publishing for publishing the facsimile edition of foreign newspapers.