Discovery Channel - Discovering India

Consolidating The Presence Contd...

It planned to source world-class programs from Discovery's 14 channels across the globe. Analysts pointed out that none of the programs were produced in India by Discovery. Commenting on why none of the Discovery programs were produced in India, channel sources said that producing one program for Discovery cost around $1.5 million and that revenues in India did not match the costs incurred for producing programs. According to Shourie, "If you incur that kind of cost, the revenues just don't come in India." In 2000, NGC entered into a distribution and marketing agreement with STAR network in India.

According to analysts, this move helped it successfully increase its reach. It was reported that while Discovery was strong in northern India, NGC was strong in South India.

To increase its presence in South India, Discovery announced that it would launch a 24-hour feed in Tamil. In March 2002, it snapped its ties with Vijay TV and announced that it would air Tamil programs in the family time band (8 p.m. to 10 p.m.) on weekdays.

It was reported that the channel would offer programs on the basis of themes – history on Monday, science on Tuesday, forensics on Wednesday, health on Thursday and premiers on Friday.

Commenting on the channel's decision, Shourie said, "With Tamil, we hope to capture a large Tamil-speaking viewer base to the channel and expand viewership in south India." In June 2002, in order to enhance its distribution reach, Discovery entered into a joint venture with Sony Entertainment Television (Sony), known as SET Discovery, with an equity structure of 74:26.

The majority stake was held by Sony. Commenting on the joint venture, Shantonu Aditya, Head (Distribution), SET India, said, "With Discovery joining our existing bouquet of channels, the One Alliance partnership,¹⁸ announced earlier this year, is in place to offer viewers an enhanced genre of programming supported by combined distributed strength.

We are now strategically positioned to be the No 1 television network in the country." According to reports, the alliance would help Discovery increase its reach from around 21 million homes (in 2002) to around 28 million homes.

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18] The One Alliance brand consisted of a bouquet of six channels, including Sony, Sony Max, AXN, Discovery, CNBC and
Animal Planet, for Rs 40 per subscriber.

Case Details

Case Code : MKTG052
Themes: Differentiation
Case Length : 10 Pages
Period : 1995-2003
Organization : Discovery Channel, Sony Entertainment Channel
Pub Date : 2003
Teaching Note : Available
Countries : India
Industry : Media and Entertainment

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