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Ex-Zee CEO, Vishnu Patel heads Headline Entertainment Group
He was shown the door by Zee on charges
of corruption almost a year ago. But Vishnu Patel, ex-head honcho of Zee’s
programming, quietly moved out of Zee and maintained a low profile. And
now Patel is all set to make headlines as the CEO of Headline Entertainment
Croup (HEG), a conglomerate of four companies namely Headline Entertainment,
Headline Media Services, Headline Film and Headline Technologies.
“After working as the head of programming in Zee, I didn’t want
to work in a similar position elsewhere. What I was looking for was a
top job in a media company involved in diversified activities,” says
Patel who recently joined hands with Ajit Pal, an actor-turned-ad filmmaker
cum TV serial maker who owns Headline Entertainment. Patel says it was
Ajit who gave him the offer to head HEG.
As CEO of HEG, Patel is heading a fairly financially sound entertainment
company as Headline Entertainment is a ten-year-old outfit with more than
350 ad films under its belt and a client base comprising all the major
multi-national companies besides more than 150 hours of television software
to its credit. On a turnover of Rs 7 crore last year, its net profit margin
was a healthy 25 per cent.
Each subsidiary company of HEG will be involved in a different media-related
activity. Headline entertainment will make ad films and provide content
to satellite channels and Doordarshan. “There is a great need for
content because there are so many channels now,” says Ajit Pal who
is the managing director of HEG. Adds Patel, “So it is important
to generate good quality software if you want to grow and stay ahead in
this competitive business.” Patel has signed six directors to make
software under Headline Entertainment. While Harshad Khan and Ajit Pal
will work exclusively for Headline, directors like Pawan Kaul, Shivam
Nair and others will freelance for Headline. Work has already begun with
two pilots having been made and six more to be shot next month.
The software being made is backed by research as Patel says the whole
idea is to develop innovative programming. The targeting has already been
done - six shows for satellite channels and two for Doordarshan in a year,
to start with. And in the next one-and-a-half years Patel hopes to reach
an output of 300 hours of programming a year besides anything between
50 to 60 ad films. Moreover, Headline Entertainment will also undertake
contract jobs for countdown and game shows, thus contributing an additional
output of 75 hours of programming.
Headline Films, as the name suggests, will produce six big and small films
in a year. Ajit says already two mega projects with major starcast have
been finalised and the same will be announced soon. On the other hand,
under Headline Nadia Services he plans to launch three subscription-driven
niche channels catering to the hospitality industry. These channels will
be launched over a period of three years at the cost of Rs 65 crore.
According to Patel, work on this front has already started. And lately
eadline Technologies will provide cost-effective interactive programming
to various portals. But Vishnu says the Web TV venture will take some
time to take-off though the content development process will start soon.
Besides Patel as the CEO and Ajit as the managing director, Rajesh Mishra
who was with Patel in the unceremonious exit from Zee, is the president
in charge of marketing and commercial. Two more president will head the
HEG but he will have a fixed percentage share in the net profit. Regarding
finance he is raising funds to the tune of $ 2.5 million through private
placement. As regards IPO he says the picture will become clear in the
next few months.
Vishnu claims that he aims to make Headline Entertainment the largest
production house in the country two years down the line. And he is confident
of succeeding in his endeavour as he reasons, “Given Ajit’s
expertise in production and ad filmmaking and my expertise in programming
and management I have no doubt that not only we will have a bouquet of
channels, but we will also be a big player in Web TV as well as a leading
production house of software.” But that only time will tell.
A L Chougule