The news tycoons are rapidly being added to. The March 31 divorce of Star TV and NDTV is now a done deal and everyone is cashing in on the imminent turmoil in the broadcast news market. Not one to be left out of the loop, Venugopal Dhoot has once again decided to get his foot in the door. The chairman of the Videocon Group has decided that if others can try and get their piece of the pie, he shouldn’t be left behind. For him the corporate logic is that as a TV giant, he has every business producing a channel. It’s his version of vertical integration. The channel will be introduced at the same time as the Budget and Assembly Polls. And what’s unique is Dhoot’s way of working out the financing and not wanting to sweat it out thinking about costs, Dhoot has simply consolidated his funding for the channel. His existing business will subsidise costs for the channel for the first 3 years, by then, at least Dhoot hopes the channel will be bringing in enough revenue to fund itself. You can’t help but appreciate the fact that Dhoot has as usual realised when the market is ripe for the taking. With the cost of programming and infrastructure coming down to Rs 1,000 per hour, it’s cheap to produce news, Dhoot has obviously realised that he might as well strike while the iron is hot.Khaitans bid for concreteThe Khaitans of the Williamson Magor group are fast expanding their interest in real estate. Recently a group company, DSK Real Estates Ltd, was made a wholly-owned subsidiary. While Deepak Khaitan was not available for comment, it is learnt that DSK Real Estates will now also develop property. Word also has it that the Khaitans own property spread across the country. No wonder than that apart from DSK Real Estates, the Khaitans have other real estate that are all subsidiaries of the Williamson Magor group. These include Woodside Parks Ltd, Portside Estates Ltd, and Majerhat Estates & Developers. One of the major projects that the group developed recently is a city property which houses prestigious outlets like Westside, Pantaloons, Pizza Hut etc. With yet unresolved problems in the tea industry it is no wonder that Magors who are giants in that industry are turning to real estate. Maybe that will ensure the group a more concrete future.(Dilip Cherian, runs a public affairs firm Perfect Relations. He is an economy watcher and tycoon tracker. None of the people he writes about are his clients. Your insider tales are welcome at dilipcherian@now-india.net.in)
