Kolkata, Aug 24: Confusion over the post-CAS environment notwithstanding, veteran movie maker Vijay Anand is eyeing a sizeable chunk of the small screen with plans to roll out as many as four channels in a phased manner next year. The wannabe television baron, who was earlier hoping to launch the first project -- an entertainment channel -- by Diwali this year, had to defer his plans for want of a green signal from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in the new licensing regime.
"We are now looking at a Republic Day launch. However, that could also be deferred a little bit since we had proposed to use a foreign transponder to beam the channels. This will not be possible under the new policy," Anand told here today.
The film maker has been appointed the managing director and creative head of the company proposing to float these channels backed by a Rs 250 crore corpus from NRIs based in USA.
The maiden television project of the company, to be named only after the launch date was finalised, included a rich repertoire of telefilms, serials, films, documentaries and music-based programmes, Anand said.
The company was earlier planning to utilise a powerful US transponder capable of beaming all the four channels simultaneously, but after the announcement of the new policy, is now exploring Indian satellite link-ups.
Bureau Report