Reuters to buy 26% in Times of India

Reuters Group PLC has agreed to buy a 26% stake in the broadcasting arm of the Times of India Group, part of the British company's effort to expand into India's fast-growing television market, report newswires. 

Reuters, a global news and information provider, will acquire the stake in the Times Global Broadcasting Company for about $20 million (15.3 million euros), according to a person familiar with the matter. As part of the transaction, Reuters will supply branded programming to a news and current-affairs channel that the Indian company plans to launch later this year. The 24-hour channel, which will initially be broadcast in English, is mainly aimed at India's urban audience.

The move comes as Reuters is starting to benefit from a reorganisation effort intended to offset sluggish growth in the financial-data market. "It's our first real significant investment for some time in consumer media," said Chris Ahearn, President of Reuters Media. "It's part of our new strategy to reach out to urban professional individuals."

Though Reuters has operated in India for almost 140 years, its presence has been low key. It mainly gathers and distributes news. Lately, it has begun moving jobs to lower-cost regions in India. In late 2003, it set up a financial-data center in Bangalore. Currently employing 600 people in India, it is expected to hire an additional 900 over the coming 18 months. The latest transaction is Reuter's first foray into India's rapidly expanding cable-TV market, now the world's third largest, with 44 million subscribers, according to Reuters. Reuters will supply news and other content from news bureaus it runs around the world.

The Times of India's broadcasting unit already runs one cable channel, Zoom, launched in late 2004 and now available in 22 million Indian homes. The company plans to launch three more, including the new one on current affairs. The Times of India Group is one of the largest media conglomerates in South Asia. In addition to publishing the largest English-language broadsheet newspaper in the world by circulation, it owns interests in magazines, radio and music.

In 2004, Dow Jones & Co, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, and the Times of India announced plans for a joint venture to publish the Wall Street Journal India.

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