NBC Universal Takes Major Stake In India's NDTV for 'Nine Figure Sum'

NBC Universal (NYSE: GE), through its international arm, has taken a major stake of around 30 percent in NDTV’s UK arm, ContentSutra has learned. This has been rumored for a few months now, and we have now confirmed that the deal is done. We don’t have the exact amount of investment, but can confirm it is in nine figures — at least $100 million and likely more. The stake is in NDTV Networks Plc, the UK-registered company which owns five subsidiaries of NDTV: NDTV Imagine Limited, NDTV Lifestyle Limited, NDTV Convergence Limited and NDTV Labs Limited and 50 percent in NGEN Media Services Private Limited. A source familiar with the deal said NDTV gets capital, content (wonder if we’ll see an Indian version of Law and Order a la the UK remake in the works) and some value validation.

Earlier this year, NDTV did a $120 million foreign placement for the same UK subsidiary, and brought in PE investors including Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, for a nearly 24 percent stake; ComVentures, now Velocity Interactive Group, is also an investor.

This is the third such major deal of a major U.S. media conglom taking a stake in a TV network in India recently: Viacom’s (NYSE: VIA) has a JV with TV18, and Disney (NYSE: DIS) picked up up a stake in UTV.