The Hindu Business Line : GE India eyes broadcasting space

New Delhi, Dec. 13 GE India is actively looking at the possibility of leveraging its ownership of NBC Universal to foray into the Indian broadcasting and distribution space, the company’s President and CEO, Mr Tejpreet S Chopra, said.

Mr Chopra told Business Line that the company is also mulling an entirely new model of business in the healthcare segment, where it could use the synergies of different healthcare stakeholders to “improve the quality of life of the masses”.

On being asked whether it had plans to leverage NBC Universal’s expertise in the Indian broadcasting space, Mr Chopra said, “We are very much looking at this space… When you look at the global market, there is a demand for Indian content globally and obviously in India. The growth in the media sector is very large. We are interested and will look at it.”

Indicating that he had some concerns, including that there are over 45-odd players in this segment in India already, and there are regulations restricting foreign direct investment, Mr Chopra said he was positive about the macro view.

Though he refused to indicate a time-frame for fructifying plans for the segment, he said the company is eyeing the news and entertainment space, along with cable distribution. “We are looking at everything. At this point in time, everything is on the table,” he said.

He said the company was open to partnering with other players and that possibility was being also explored.

Formed in May 2004 through the combining of NBC and Vivendi Universal Entertainment, NBC Universal owns and operates a portfolio of news and entertainment networks, a motion picture company, television production operations, a leading television stations group and theme parks. NBC Universal is 80 per cent owned by GE and 20 per cent by Vivendi.

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