UTV, Future in talks for retail JV
Entertainment and media company UTV Software Communications and Kishore Biyani’s Future Group (Pantaloon Retail) are in talks to float a retail venture together.
By Sonali Krishna, TNN |
MUMBAI: Entertainment and media company UTV Software Communications and Kishore Biyani���s Future Group (Pantaloon Retail) are in talks to float a retail venture together. The blueprint for the project is to open Cafe Lounges as a brand extension to UTV���s upcoming youth centric channel in June.
The Cafe Lounges targeted at the youth will be a fusion of entertainment, gaming and a lounge where youngsters can relax. While UTV will use its strength in the entertainment and broadcasting space, the Future group will use its expertise in the retail domain to jump start this venture.
The Cafe Lounges will be a brand extension of UTV���s youth centric initiatives and will use these to attract the youth both in terms of footfalls to these outlets as well as to ensure eyeballs on the channel. Top sources at UTV said that work on this front has already begun, and placement agency sources also confirmed that UTV has started recruiting people from the retail and cafe space. An official UTV spokesperson refused to comment.
Kishore Biyani, who joined UTV���s board about 10 days ago, said, ���The relationship with UTV is only 10 days old, and there are currently no such plans on the table.��� However, informed sources revealed that the retail outlets planned would not be me-too Cafe Coffee Days or Baristas, but would be about 2500 sq feet each, which would act as entertainment zones encompassing all the youth initiatives including the channel.
Twenty two cities have been identified, and currently locations for the outlets are being tied up. The partnership between UTV and the Future Group would either be a lease and profit sharing model or a joint venture company, which is still being discussed by both parties.
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UTV has partnered with Malaysian Broadcaster Astro to tap the youth entertainment space. Astro is believed to be pumping in Rs 90 crore and UTV will put in RS 60 crore for the joint venture. The idea is to offer entertainment across multiple platforms, thereby ensuring to engage the youth at all points. The initiative will go beyond television and will extend itself in terms of live events, gaming and the web to as to provide an integrated entertainment product in the target group ranging between 17 - 25 years.The roll-out of the retail Cafe Lounges will take place after the launch of the channel, and about five such outlets will be operational by the end of 2007. Executives involved in setting up the venture said that phase one will comprise 50 such outlets with an investment of Rs one crore per outlet. While all the different offerings across different platforms will be part of the same company, they will function as different business units.
UTV is now conducting extensive research on this target group as an input to its programming and marketing plans. The first television channel in Hindi is slated for launch in the second quarter of 2007. The company will follow it up with the launch of multiple channels across languages in India and Southeast Asia.
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