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Indian TV news junkies happily overdose

Television news in India was revolutionised five years ago by Prannoy Roy who liberated Indians from the etherising effect of Stalinist-style bulletins on fertiliser production, steel output and family planning which they had been force-fed by state-run television for 50 years.

Roy, bearded, good looking and charming, is a household name - India's equivalent of American ABC's Peter Jennings. His news company, New Delhi Television (NDTV), is respected for its high standards of reporting and professionalism.

When India's elite want to know what is happening in the world, they switch on NDTV, which is shown on Rupert Murdoch-owned Star TV Hong Kong.

Now Roy is at the vanguard of a second revolution - a great boom in news channels. Indians are known for their passionate interest in politics but now the embarrassment of riches is truly excessive. The country's 43 million subscribers can watch about a dozen domestic news channels, double the earlier number.

This television news explosion has partially been triggered by the divorce in the five-year marriage between Mr Murdoch's Star TV and NDTV. Star used to pay NDTV US$20 million (HK$156 million) a year for newscasts but decided not to renew the contract because it wanted to go it alone with its own Hindi-language news channel.

That forced Roy to launch his own Hindi and English channels. At the same time, other broadcasters - the Zee TV network, Aaj Tak and Sahara - also started English cable news channels to supplement their Hindi ones.

Television manufacturer Videocon is also entering the fray.

The reason why the news bandwagon is so overloaded is that India is one of the world's biggest future media markets. About 200 million Indians watch cable, compared with 110 million four years ago. Last year, subscriptions grew by 40 per cent.

News programmes grab less than 3 per cent of the US$2 billion in advertising and subscription revenue in India. But news viewership has surged by 250 per cent since September 11. Annual advert spending on news shows has shot up from US$8 million to US$50 million in two years, and is expected to double by 2005.

All the new channels are optimistic about getting advertising because they know advertisers want exposure on news channels for their premium brands. Last year, for example, Samsung spent 8 to 10 per cent of its advertising budget on news channels.

It has been a frenzy getting all the channels launched. Reporters were poached for fat salaries from rival channels amid much heartburn. Trainers were flown in from the BBC, Sky TV and Channel 4 in Britain and from News Corporation, Star's parent company. Composers were sent off to devise catchy signature tunes.

The tabloid approach of the networks has not impressed some critics. One television critic said most of the new channels were 'made by children for children'.

Some channels have even more serious problems. Star News still lacks government permission to become the first wholly foreign company to transmit satellite signals to India.

While it used to outsource its news content to NDTV, this was not a problem, but when it decided to produce news in-house, it suddenly became a national concern.

'So far TV news has been in Indian hands,' said Minister of Information and Broadcasting Sushma Swaraj. 'For the first time a foreign television network is coming into the picture, and this has certain implications.'

Foreign ownership of news and current affairs has always been a delicate issue in India: the fear is that in times of crises, a foreign-owned channel might twist the news and become anti-national. This argument infuriates those who support 100 per cent foreign ownership.

Star's application is with the cabinet. Analysts expect the approval will come.

Not every channel is likely to survive. Analysts predict the field will consolidate and will probably be led by Star News, Aaj Tak, NDTV, and Zee.

While the struggle for survival goes on, Indian news junkies can happily overdose.

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