Cellcast given go ahead for Indian TV channels

Three new television channels in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu are to be established after Indian interactive services company Cellcast was granted government approval for new foreign direct investment (FDI). Cellcast currently provides interactive television shows for a range of channels, integrating them with mobile value added services for which premium rates are charged for messaging and accessing mobile voice portals. The company, which is funded by the Canaan partners, claims to have 5 million unique users a month on its properties and in December 2011 launched its first interactive channel, MyTV, on direct to home (DTH) platforms, partnering with Airtel and Reliance. The company says it has over 25 game show formats and hoped to reach 30% of the Hindi speaking market by the end of the first quarter of 2012. In total, the Indian Government recently approved a total of 22 FDI proposals to the tune of INR 586 crore, after recommendation from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).