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Delhi, December 18th 2007 Network18, India's leading media conglomerate
and Jagran Prakashan (JPL), one of India's most acclaimed print
majors & publisher of India's largest read daily 'Dainik Jagran'
have announced a 50:50 joint venture initiative in the business
print space. The primary mandate of this JV will be to launch a
Hindi business daily for the Indian market in 2008. Subsequently,
this will be followed by other Indian language dailies focused on
financial and economic news.
This
JV will in effect create a new category of local language business
dailies within the India print space, as this will be the first
Hindi business paper to hit the market nationally. This venture
also marks an expansion of print offerings from Network18 into the
dailies space, post the recent announcement of its magazine publishing
arrangement with Forbes media and ownership control of Infomedia,
India's leading publishers in the B2B media space. This venture
is also a reiteration of JPL's intent and commitment to provide
its readers news and information in all its genres.
The
venture has been positioned to benefit from the respective competencies
of TV18 & Jagran Prakashan. Television Eighteen (TV18) is a
recognized leader in the business media space, with a roster of
brands across television, online and information terminal platforms
such as CNBC-TV18, CNBC AWAAZ, which are India's leading business
channels, Moneycontrol.com which is India's No.1 financial news
& information portal and Newswire18, India's leading real time
news & data platform. Jagran Prakashan Limited publishes "Dainik
Jagran", India's largest read daily besides recently launched
youth oriented compacts "I-Next" and "City Plus".TV18
shall bring forth its expertise in business content to the JV, while
JPL shall bring forth its print competencies including operational
expertise, print and related infrastructure and distribution to
the venture. Both TV18 & JPL have agreed to co-promote the offerings
under the venture and exploit cross platform synergy opportunities
present from both sides. It is noteworthy that 3 years ago, TV18
had launched CNBC AWAAZ, a consumer focused business channel, to
cater to the needs of the Hindi business viewer and in a short time
it has emerged as a leader in the Hindi business news segment &
a major contributor to the expansion of business audiences in the
country.
Mr.
Mahendra Mohan Gupta, CMD, Jagran Prakashan Limited said "Our
leadership in the Indian print space will further be strengthened
with the launch of business dailies. This venture is based on a
commonness of vision we share with TV18 on a strong need for a high
quality business print offering in Hindi and other languages. Our
experience in the language media space has revealed a growing interest
in specialized business news & information, which, this vehicle
will enable us to cater. I am confident that we will live upto the
expectations of our readers as hitherto and expand the financial
market in the geographies that are going to play a crucial role
in the economic growth of the country in times to come".
Commenting on this announcement, Raghav Bahl, MD, Network18
added "The fact that 'Bharat' is rapidly emerging as the key
driver of the Indian economic opportunity is fairly evident. In
recent years, business audiences have grown immensely in the Hindi
heartland and regional markets, reflecting a democratization of
enterprise & wealth creation across the nation. The leadership
of CNBC AWAAZ is a strong affirmation of this new reality as well
as indicative of a great need for language products across the business
media spectrum. We are delighted to partner Jagran Prakashan as
it will allow us to fulfill this need powerfully in the print space
by combining TV18's strengths in business content with Jagran's
intimate understanding of print markets"
The JV will be governed by a board comprising of representatives
from TV18 & Jagran Prakashan and will oversee management plans
and execution. The operational specifics in terms of brand name
for the business daily, selection of the editorial and business
team and so on is in the process of being formalized. The JV will
be funded through an initial equity infusion from both sides followed
by internal accruals & debt financing in the later stage.
ABOUT JAGRAN PRAKASHAN
Jagran
Prakashan Limited is a leading media house of India which publishes
Dainik Jagran, India's largest read daily with a total readership
of 53.6 million readers (IRS 2007 R2). It was also voted the most
credible and trusted newspaper in India, according to a survey by
Globscan, conducted in 10 of the world's leading countries, including
the US, UK, Germany and Russia. In addition to Dainik Jagran, Jagran
Prakashan is also a publisher of I-Next, a fast growing daily, City
Plus an English infotainment weekly, Sakhi a monthly magazine targeted
at women and various other journals and statistical compilation.
Jagran Prakashan Limited provides outdoor advertising through Jagran
Engage, event management services through Jagran Solutions, and
IVR/AVR/SMS services through short code 57272 across the country.
Jagran Prakashan Limited has its presence in web space through its
dedicated arm J9 and has in association with Yahoo India co- branded
Hindi news portal jagran.yahoo.in, which has enjoyed the status
of most visited Hindi news portal in the world.
ABOUT
NETWORK18
Network18
is one of India's leading full play media conglomerates with interests
in television, internet, filmed entertainment, mobile content and
allied businesses. Through it's holding in Television Eighteen India
Ltd (TV18), Network18 operates India's leading business news television
channels, CNBC-TV18 and CNBC Awaaz. It also runs India's leading
Internet company Web18, as well as one of India's leading real time
news terminal providers, Newswire18. Through its holding in Global
Broadcast News Ltd (GBN), Network18 operates in the general news
and entertainment space with general news channels CNN-IBN and IBN7,
and operates a joint venture with Viacom, called Viacom18. This
JV operates the MTV, VH1 and Nickelodeon channels in India - as
also Studio18, the Group's filmed entertainment operation and will
be launching a Hindi general entertainment channel. Additionally,
Network18 holds the Group's online & on-air retail venture,
Homeshop18. The group has recently acquired Infomedia, which is
a leading player in the Indian publishing space with several magazines
& runs one of the largest printing operations in the country.
The Group has announced forays, organic and inorganic, into event
management, regional news and other areas.
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