Abu Dhabi: NDTV, which runs a bouquet of news and entertainment television channels in India, has plans to establish a local television channel in the UAE in what it views as a "very profitable market" for business, Dr Prannoy Roy, NDTV's Executive Chairperson said Wednesday.
"We are going to be here in a big way," Dr Roy told Gulf News on the sidelines of the Abu Dhabi 2010 Media Summit.
"We are only waiting for an upturn in the economy. We have a lot of synergies here in the Middle East there's a big Indian population and our channels are beaming in here," he said.
Dr Roy said at this time, NDTV is in talks with potential local partners and their local UAE channel could eventually be based either in Dubai or Abu Dhabi.
"We will start with [covering] local events," said Dr Roy when asked whether the NDTV's proposed UAE channel would be a news or an entertainment channel.
Separately, he said due to India's phenomenal econ-omic growth in recent years, its media industry has been on a spectacular growth path.
"India will probably see economic growth of 8 to 10 per cent a year for the next 20 years, so there continues to be huge interest in the media sector. There are currently about 50 news channels and 400 other channels in the country," said Dr. Roy.
He said though it doesn't cost much to start a TV channel in India these days, it's difficult to commercially sustain the channel in a rapidly expanding local market if its credibility remains low with the viewers and the advertisers.
"Satellites used to cost $3 million [Dh11 million) a year, now they cost $300,000. So, there's a 90 per cent reduction in the cost. However, in India you are able to generate higher advertising revenue only if you stick with credibility and solid journalism," said Dr Roy.
He said in India experience has shown that channels must have more local content in order to have a greater share of the viewership and advertising revenue.
Citing MTV's example, Dr Roy recalled that when they started out in India, they stuck to beaming Western music, but their advertising revenue took a turn for the better only after they took to Bollywood.
