Disney to Acquire India TV Channel Geared to Children By GEOFFREY A. FOWLER Wall Street Journal
July 25, 2006; Page B6 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115379555204816215.html?mod=home_whats_news_us Walt Disney Co. announced that it will acquire Hungama, a popular Indian children's cable-TV channel, as it plays catch-up in the growing Indian entertainment market. Disney will pay about $30 million to acquire Hungama from United Home Entertainment, a company owned by Indian media conglomerate UTV Software Communications Ltd. and its chairman and chief executive, Ronnie Screwvala. In addition, Disney will spend about $15 million to buy a 14.9% equity stake in UTV, which produces television programming, animation and Bollywood films. "India is a long-term strategic priority," said Andy Bird, president of Walt Disney International. "It is very important that we grow our business locally as well as through exporting U.S.-originated content." Mr. Bird said Disney will use television as an entry point to build the brand's reputation and is looking to develop its consumer-products business in India. A theme park in India could come a "long time down the road," he said. India's TV market for children is still a niche part of the country's cable-television industry, itself only a $1.02 billion market, according to analysts Media Partners Asia Ltd. But analysts expect it to grow considerably in the coming years as the ad industry expands and India's growing middle class spends more money on children. In the 2004-2005 fiscal year, advertisers spent about $26 million advertising on Indian children's TV, an increase of nearly 16% from the previous year, according to TAM Media Research. Hungama will join two other Disney-branded cable-TV channels, which the company owns and has operated in India since December 2004. Hungama, which also launched in late 2004 and reaches about 30 million homes, will break even for the first time later this year, Media Partners Asia estimates. One challenge for Disney, of Burbank, Calif., will be finding a way to differentiate its Disney Channel, Toon Disney and newest channel so they don't steal one another's audiences and ad dollars. But Disney's bigger worry is competing with Time Warner Inc., of New York, which has been in the Indian market for a decade and has a first-mover advantage. In June and July, Time Warner's Cartoon Network and Pogo channels had almost half of the market share, trumping both Disney and Hungama, according to TAM. ================================ George Antunes, Political Science Dept University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204 Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927 antunes at uh dot edu Reply with a "Thank you" if you liked this post. _____________________________ MEDIANEWS mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
