Kartikeya Sharma-led India News’ parent co in talks to buyout NewsX

English general news channel NewsX may have finally found a buyer. The company that has been on the market for a while is said to be in advanced stages of conversation with Kartikeya Sharma-led news company ITV Media (Information TV) that operates Hindi news channel India News. A part of Piccadilly Group, ITV is the parent electronic media company for the Group. It also has presence in Haryana and Bihar through region-specific ‘India News’ channels.

Kartikeya Sharma is the Managing Director of Piccadilly Group of Companies. Ever since the company’s launch in late 2008, Sharma has been vocal on the company’s growth plans with various region and language specific news channels in its fold. The core markets for the group have been Northern and Central India.

If the NewsX deal goes through, it will give ITV instant foothold in the English news domain. As is known, NewsX was launched originally as part of INX News on March 28 2008. Following the slowdown of 2008, in January 2009, INX news owners had to sell NewsX to Indi-Media Network, a partnership between the Former NaiDunia CEO Vinay Chhajlani and Former Businessworld Editor Jehangir Pocha.

In the last three years, NewsX has stayed focussed on the English news domain only. A deal of this nature will finally allow NewsX to be a part of a news network, which given the current Indian market dynamics can be crucial to the very survival of a news channel.

Neither Kartikeya Sharma nor NewsX owners responded to exchange4media’s email on the subject. Sources close to the development, however, confirmed that the deal is in its final stages and is expected to be announced soon.

Some of the other companies that NewsX has been in conversation with included Zee News. For the record, Piccadilly Group also owns GMI (Good Morning India), which is its print division that publishes daily Hindi newspaper ‘Aaj Samaj’ and weekly political and social affairs Hindi magazine ‘India News’. Aaj Samaj is published from Delhi, Chandigarh, Gurgaon, Ambala, Panchkula, Mohali and is in the process of launching multiple editions all over Northern India.