Mukesh no more in Mukherjea’s TV show

MUMBAI: Mukesh Ambani, who was close to investing $100 million in former Star CEO Peter Mukherjea’s entertainment venture, has seemingly backed out with Kotak being the new investor among a clutch of other private equity players. The new venture, floated via Mukherjea’s wife Indrani, plans to launch a new TV network through two companies — INX Media and INX News. Currently, Peter Mukherjea’s name figures nowhere, considering he is currently in the non-compete period with Star India until July 2007.

INX Media, promoted by Indrani, has received funding from Temasek Holdings via Dunearn Investments, New Silk Route, New Vernon, Kotak and SREI Group, amounting to a total investment of nearly $300 million. The news company, INX News, will be 26% owned by the entertainment company and, in accordance with government regulations, by a single Indian entity drawn from the INX Group.

According to sources, Mukesh Ambani, who was keen on investing in Peter Mukherjea’s venture, backed out at the last moment as he did not want to be a part of a venture in which Kotaks too were investing, say sources. It is perceived that Mr Kotak’s proximity to Anil Ambani may have driven Mukesh Ambani to change his mind. While both INX and the Mukesh Ambani Group have denied any conversation, insiders said the deal between INX and the elder Ambani went sour with Kotak coming in as a significant investor.

Channels being rolled out include a Hindi entertainment channel, an English news channel and a music channel. The Hindi general entertainment channel, the music channel and the English news channel are slated to be launched by the last quarter of the year while the other channels will be rolled out over the next two years.

The news channel, INX News will be headed by Vir Sanghvi, the former editor of Hindustan Times, who will continue to play an advisory role at HT. Dilip Ghosh, an ad filmmaker, has joined as creative head for the group, former Star employee Arun Mohan will come on board as head of distribution and Shankar Narayan, also a former Star hand and Whirlpool CFO, will join as group director, finance.

On Wednesday, the two companies applied for necessary permissions, including from FIPB and the I&B ministry. Indrani Mukherjea said, “The broad construct is that no single fund will own more than 25% of the entertainment channel. A portion of the equity will be kept aside as sweat equity for key employees.” INX wants to offer a full-fledged bouquet, which will include regional entertainment channels, music channels and other news channels.