Rotana turns to Bollywood to spice up group's profits

Rotana Media Services will be cashing in on the global appeal of Hindi feature films and broadcast them on their Arabic channel LBC with subtitles in Arabic language, said the top executive of Rotana Group in Dubai.

"Starting early next year, most likely in January itself, we will start broadcasting Hindi feature films on LBC – our leading Arabic channel," said Nezar Nagro, President of Rotana Media Services, in an exclusive interview with Emirates Business.

He was speaking on the sidelines of announcing a major alliance with Walt Disney and Rotana Media, one of the largest media groups in the entire region.

The strategic partnership between the two heavyweights is worth more than Dh100 million to acquire licensing rights to broadcast Walt Disney Company content on Rotana Group channels – including Fox International Channels (FIC), the international television channels arm of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.

This spells out their expansion plans that are triggered by "more than 25 per cent increase in the group's revenues". "Yes, we have seen a considerable drop in advertising just like the rest of the industry, but our horizontal expansion with new channels and services has added to increase in revenue streams and we have recorded as much as 25 per cent increase in revenue for the group," said Nagro.

Keeping in view the growing trends in emerging markets, Rotana group is making inroads in that area and is expecting another 25 per cent increase in revenue based on their expansion plans.

Stating his expectations for the coming year, Nagro said: "As far as advertising as such is concerned, it will be a flat run and I don't expect any miraculous recovery in the market."

He said: "This will in fact be the base for the future and we should look at building our businesses on the 2010 figures."

Despite this substantial low figures of advertising revenue, the Rotana Group is going ahead with its expansion plans after the launch of two English language channels, Fox Movies and Fox Series.

Elaborating on this approach, Nagro said: "We are investing in our future. The group doesn't look at short-term plans.

"All our plans are based on our long-term strategy and in five years we intend to be the leading TV channel and a media company with investments in every platform.

"Our ambitions are also based on the fact that we have invested very wisely in content – be it in western movies or Arabic series including the Arabic music," added Nagro.

"We also have made large investments to acquire Khaleeji music."

He attributes the firm's strength to the fact that the group has acquired a major chunk of TV software. "Almost 99 per cent of the content on Rotana Movies is owned by the group.

"The same is true of Rotana Music as the group has made large investments in producing and acquiring Arabic movies and music," said Nagro.

Rotana group boasts of being a complete media establishment with broadcasting in radio and television, along with a production studio and an acquisition section. The group also has a media buying unit that deals in all aspects of media including print, electronic, digital and even outdoors.

On talks with Murdoch's News Corporation, Nagro said international companies can do much better with the support of local companies and in tandem, they can grow much faster.


The deal

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp is in final discussions with Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal about buying a stake in broadcaster Rotana Media, said a Rotana executive recently.

"We are in the final discussions with News Corp for the deal and the results will be out by the last week of January," said Nezar Nagro on the sidelines of a conference in Dubai, declining to say how big a stake the company plans to sell.

In September the Wall Street Journal said the stake being discussed was 20 per cent. With this announcement, viewers in the region will be presented with a range of Disney's most popular movie releases, including the box office hits.

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