Monday, September 03, 2012

CAN RONNIE SCREWVALA FINISH WHAT SUBHASH CHANDRA STARTED?

UTV IS NOW ONE OF THE LARGEST PRODUCTION HOUSES IN ASIA...BUT NOT THE BIGGEST YET! CAN RONNIE SCREWVALA AND HIS TEAM MAKE UTV THE FACE OF INDIA TO THE MEDIA WORLD? B&E’S SHEPHALI BHATT PROVIDES A DEEP INVESTIGATION FROM RIGHT INSIDE UTV WITH EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS FROM UTV’S TOP MANAGEMENT

It was a period that saw two little known entrepreneurs make what can be considered their first indelible impressions in the business arena; albeit in markedly different ways. The year was 1981 when a very young man called Ronnie Screwvala started a three-hour cable video channel for households in Maker Towers in Cuffe Parade, one of the suave areas of Mumbai. He charges subscribers `200 per month and realises that there is money in the making. He expands beyond the towers; and within no time, Network, his cable service, gets thousands of subscribers. Within five years, after having made the money he wants to, Ronnie sells off his business and in 1986, convinces a staid old monopoly government television channel to take his services in providing programming content. Doordarshan takes up his offer; and Ronnie even starts presenting shows himself. In 1990, having had enough of the government association, he jumps ship and forms UTV, a company focused on provided content to satellite and cable channels globally.

Interestingly, even Subhash Chandra’s story started more or less in 1981, when he set up Essel Packaging Company after visiting a packaging exhibition. While rigmarole business was pretty satisfactory, Chandra saw a latent opportunity in the television arena, where India had only one Doordarshan. In 1992, Chandra, realizing the potential of television and cable, takes a huge risk and launches Zee TV. With no past experience of content programming, Chandra starts looking out for outsourced suppliers of world-class content. He searches for people harbouring a similar vision to him; and purely on gut feel, hands over a mammoth 520 episode contract to a young, highly enthusiastic man whose only experience is starting a local cable network and working for Doordarshan. The twain between Chandra and Ronnie Screwala becomes indelibly inseparable.

Within 6-7 years, Zee TV becomes one of the most popular TV channels in India and expands its reach across continents. What CNN was to America then, Zee becomes for India. And then competition from South Asia enters, with Murdoch owned channels like Star TV trying to ride over the Indian satellite TV space hook, line and sinker. Zee TV takes up the challenge superbly and with its fantastic programming, becomes the ultimate epitome of Indian business aspirations and Indian enterprise in the media and entertainment industry in the home market at that time. But despite being in the same business, there was something that characteristically differentiated Ronnie Screwala from Subhash Chandra.


Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,