You have bought Murdoch's stake in Asia Today Ltd. (ATL), SitiCable and Patco. What has been your biggest gain?

All the assets put together make a gain for Zee Telefilms Ltd. Now ZTL will have ATL as its 100 per cent subsidiary. 100 per cent of the earnings of ATL will come into the ZTL fold. Investment in SitiCable will reflect ZTL as its owner. ZTL can now harness the value locked in SitiCable for years and in the emerging areas of Internet delivery through cable. Patco, anotherprogramming company, will also become a subsidiary of ZTL. This is a historic deal of its kind where both the seller and the buyer have expressed happiness in equal measure. This also completes the process of consolidation which is already underway in ZTL.

You are looking at a foreign strategic partner in Zee Telefilms Ltd.(ZTL). Why didn't you consider Rupert Murdoch's Star TV itself? It would have given you a platform in the other Asian countries and widened your global presence as you have already made a mark in the UK, the US and Africa.

Platforms are not important. We have made inroads into Africa and the US without having to be on the Star platform. Music Asia is another initiative of the group which is not on the Star platform. Besides, we are not giving a 10 per cent stake in ZTL to a single partner. Today, ZTL has the privilege of short-listing strategic partners not essentially based on their money power but more on the strength of their strategic competencies and value addition whichthey could offer to the group. We are marching into the areas of sport, film production, Internet, information technology, education, multiplexes and e-commerce. We want to obtain value additions from strategic alliances and are prepared to give equity up to 10 per cent.

Will foreign partners help you in grabbing more eyeballs around the world? Is that what you are looking for in a foreign ally?

We are looking at synergy. Different partners will provide different values in the field of software skills, distribution and other strategic advantages. Besides, they can provide access to some of our channels which we are launching for the global market.

The competition between you and Star will soon stretch to the pay TV market when you start the direct-to-operator service. They are launching new channels and already have a driver in Star Sports. Where do you think you will have an edge? Will it be regional channels?

Competition is the essence of life and the market. But every time there hasbeen competition, Zee has emerged stronger. My management team earlier attributed significant growth in Zee in the overseas markets to the moves by competitors in those markets. These companies should understand that where the people's vision and inspiration is strong, they will always have an edge over other competitors, notwithstanding their deep pockets. I do not think Star will have an edge over us in any of our envisaged business plans.

For advertising revenue, you will compete more with Sony than with Star. What will your strategy be?

I do not think there is any competition between Zee's bouquet of six channels as of now, (compared to) one of Sony or one Star channel so far as Indian programmes are concerned. I do not believe in `built' sales. I believe in sales realised. I tell my team that a "sale" is that which turns into cash. I am not sure how far the sales of the other channels can pass this test.

Will you be investing now more on launching new channels to expand your bouquet thanin programming?

Digital capacities are becoming cheaper. Our new investments in regional channels are obviously in content.

With the DTO service, which new markets are you looking at? Do you feel regional channels will enable you to snatch the market from Doordarshan?

Ultimately, Content is the king. You may call it DTO or DTH, but we continue to build content in our initiatives on regional channels. Zee's regional offerings are more of entertainment value whereas the national channels' initiatives are more documentary in nature. The two will complement each other.

Now that you have full control over SitiCable, what are your expansion plans and how much are you investing? What role will you play in the convergence of technologies? Are you looking for a foreign strategic partner for this?

We have plans to lay an optical ring in the major cities to further strengthen SitiCable's infrastructure. SitiCable can emerge as yet another exciting and highly valuable media asset. Excitingthings are happening in the global arena. AT&T is going all out to buy media assets. The acquisition of TCI upwards of $60 billion, followed by Media One, upwards of $40 million, are pointers in this direction. SitiCable will play a vital role in the convergence phenomenon. We have installed cable modems and set-top boxes in Bangalore on an experimental basis. It has been successful and we are willing to make substantial investments in SitiCable for new endeavours in the area of Convergence and Internet delivery. SitiCable can emerge as a company providing broadband applications. After the buyout, the investments will be on our initiatives and the benefit would go 100 per cent to our shareholders.

How will you benefit from ATL's and Patco's acquisition? What is the strategic gain?

ZTL will benefit from the acquisition of ATL and Patco as much as it does from the acquisition of SitiCable. As the owner of ATL, Zee Telefilms will be free to decide which channel should go digital and when, whichplatform to operate from, which technology to be used and which SMS software to select. Besides, the effort of its executives, which had gone to the courtroom, will from now on go to the boardroom.

What are you doing to strengthen your brands? Star is investing substantially on building Star News as a brand.

The Zee brand continues to show itself on the screen round the clock, not only on Zee but through several other windows. Zee continues to hold events. It is stepping up a number of events it is hosting. This will further enhance the brand standing of the company. Increasing the spends on brand-building exercises do not necessarily mean adding more brand value, a fact which the foreign channels would have realised by now.