Global Broadcast News (GBN), part of the TV 18 Group, is considering a $125 million global depository receipt (GDR) issue to fund its expansion plans. It is also likely to raise $75 million through issue of foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCB), sources say.
The GDR issue size could be in that region. It would, however, depend upon the market situation and we haven't taken any final decision yet," says TV 18 Group chairman Raghav Bahl.
According to sources, Viacom-18 has plans to launch a Hindi movie channel. It would utilise movies produced and acquired by the Indian Film Company (IFC) which has raised around Rs 4.45 billion on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange.
IFC plans to invest into 35-40 Indian movies in a year. Out of these, the JV company plans to produce 10-12 movies per annum
Viacom-18 is also exploring possibilities of
launching an English movie channel, sources say. Viacom could provide movies from the library of
Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks for the channel.
We are still in the planning stage. Our focus right now is to come up with the general entertainment channel. We will, however, come out with another 4-5 channels in our bouquet," says Bahl.
On replying to how the JV is going to benefit from the IFC, Jain says some of the
film projects of IFC may be handled and produced by Studio 18 which is moving to Viacom-18. "A significant part of Viacom-18 is the joint ownership of the management company for the IFC. In the coming months, Viacom’s Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks studios will explore additional opportunities for collaboration with Viacom-18," he adds.
Source: Indiantelevision
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