NDTV, which was once considered as the foremost news broadcaster in the country, has been undergoing a period of financial turmoil of late. Besides operating in the broadcasting domain, NDTV also has interests in the digital and e-commerce space. However, the digital business of the company is the only silver lining, at least right now, given that the other two segments are in deep loss.
Top sources have told exchange4media that the broadcaster is in preliminary talks with some parties to sell the TV channel. Interestingly, sources say that yoga guru and founder of Patanjali Ayurved- Baba Ramdev, is among the interested parties and he recently had a preliminary discussion with some stakeholders regarding the acquisition of the channel.
There was no reply from the channel when we tried to reach out for their version on these developments. Multiple messages to KVL Narayan Rao, CEO, NDTV, did not elicit any response at the time of filing of this report.
Interestingly, when KVL Narayan Rao took over as the CEO of the company last year, he stated that he will work for “the financial turnaround of the company” by delivering both in terms of top line and bottom line growth. However, in the fiscal year 2016-17, NDTV’s revenues dropped from Rs 396.03 crore to Rs 368.32 crore during the first three quarters.
After the jolt of demonetisation, the company had pinned its hopes on lucrative sponsorship deals to make up for the fall in revenues from advertising, but nothing seems to have worked in its favour till date.
Now what remains to be seen is if Ramdev baba’s business acumen will also allow him to enter the Indian broadcasting space and if yes, will he make a success of it.
- See more at: Baba Ramdev in preliminary talks to buy NDTV
