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Nithya Subramanian

New Delhi , Oct. 2

WITH the burgeoning of news channels and rapid expansion of the market, Associated Press Television News (APTN) has decided to expand operations and is scouting for a local partner to enhance its distribution.

Currently foreign news agencies are not permitted to uplink directly from India and only Indian news agencies can do so. A 1956 Cabinet Resolution had restricted foreign investment in news agencies. However, after the opening up of foreign investment into news and current affairs television channels and print media, the Government has put out a discussion paper seeking views on permitting foreign investment in news agencies. Currently, ANI and Jain TV are the two video news agencies with permission for uplinking from India.

According to Mr Ian Ritchie, Chief Executive, APTN, "We are in talks with the Government and we do not think that there should be any regulatory problems. As a video news agency we only provide raw footage to broadcasters who in turn put out news reports." However, it is important for the news agency to be able to provide live footage.

Mr Ritchie said that the television network was in discussion with three or four groups and hoped to sign a deal soon. He was however, not willing to divulge names.

He said that the Indian partner would help the video news agency increase its coverage by helping it establish a larger infrastructure and also improving its distribution network. The local partner would also enable it to expand the regional cover and offer news on broadband and cellphones.

India has become an important market for APTN because there is a huge population of Indians living outside the country. "The Indian community wants to know what is happening. Also with the increasing number of news channels and rapidly growing market, we want to have a better presence in the country," he added.

As part of its other plans, APTN is looking at opportunities for providing news clips to local cable news networks. At present, almost all the major broadcasters, excluding Zee News, have been sourcing news footage from the agency.

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