MCCS awaits licence to launch Punjabi news channel ABP Sanjha

[Deepu]

Even as it awaits licence from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), ABP Group-owned news broadcasting company Media Content and Communication Services (MCCS) is putting in place all the components for its Punjabi news channel. Christened ABP Sanjha, the logo of the channel has been finalised and news gathering has also commenced. In fact, the channel has already hired journalists who have hit the ground to report on the general election. ABP Sanjha will be the fourth channel from the MCCS stable which includes ABP News (Hindi), ABP Ananda (Bengali) and ABP Majha (Marathi). “We are ready to launch the channel as soon as we get the licence from the MIB,” says a source in the company. While the source refused to divulge anything about the channel, launching a regional news channel will require a capex of at least Rs 20 crore ( Rs 200 million), says an executive from a news broadcasting company. Given that the market is Punjab, the channel will take at least three to four years to break even, added the executive. While all the three channels from MCCS are strongly entrenched in their respective markets, the Punjab market will not be easy to crack. This market has its own set of challenges and the going could get tough for ABP Sanjha, says another executive. The biggest challenge for ABP Sanjha will be procuring distribution, particularly since the Punjab market is dominated by one multi-system operator (MSO) Fastway Transmission, in which the top leadership of the state’s ruling party is believed to have surrogate ownership. “A news channel typically has to pay roughly Rs 2 crore ( Rs 20 million) a year to get distributed on cable TV platforms. Apart from Fastway, Punjab has three leading MSOs including Hathway and Siti Cable,” says Fastway Transmission CEO Peeush Mahajan. Direct-to-home (DTH) operators too have significant presence in the market. Mahajan reckons that the DTH operators have 1.4 million customers with Prasar Bharati’s Freedish having another 400,000 customers. Another major challenge that will confront ABP Sanjha is the fact that the Punjabi market is not very well developed, with the television ad market estimated to be over Rs 500 million. Some observers estimate it to be around Rs 900 million, half of which is cornered by PTC Network, which owns and operates channels like PTC Punjabi, PTC News and PTC Chak De. PTC Network is also believed to be associated with the Badal family which indirectly controls Fastway Transmission. And this is where ABP Sanjha will have its work cut out. PTC Network enjoys great advantage since it is controlled by the same set of people who own the state’s biggest distribution platform, says the head of a news broadcasting company, on condition of anonymity. “The biggest challenge for ABP Sanjha will be distribution due to monopoly of one MSO which is Fastway. The other problem is that the market is too small and even in that the share of PTC Network is more than half,” says an ad sales executive with a leading news channel. “PTC News has a share of 75 per cent while the remaining players have to contend with 20–25 per cent share. Even if a strong player enters the market, it will be very difficult to grow as the distribution will be curtailed for a channel that competes with PTC News,” the ad sales executive added. The Punjabi news market is dominated by PTC News, followed by other players like Zee Punjab/Haryana/Himachal Pradesh, MH1 News, and Day & Night News, which was last year shut and later revived. “It’s very interesting that ABP is entering the Punjab market despite knowing the inherent challenges in that market,” the executive added, expressing surprise. It is pertinent to note that ETV News Network is also considering launching a Punjabi news channel. It has already launched a Hindi news channel for Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.

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[ssjambla]

i m waiting for it.