Just a few days into his new role as Star TV's India face, adman Suhel Seth, 40, is doing a pretty good job.
In keeping with Star's group policy, he's already spouting government-is-good lines, putting a new spin to his anti-government rants ("I'm not a critic, I've just critiqued some policies"), explaining how Star's operations through content provider Media Content and Communications Services India Ltd (of which he now owns 30 per cent) will be truly Indian, and generally ducking all uncomfortable questions.
While day-to-day operations "will be run by Indians", Seth says he will be part of a three-member board, with one more representative each from Star TV and Hemendra Kothari, the other major shareholders of MCCS, the content provider for Star News. No, he says, they haven't decided on a chairman (that means it won't be him).
He insists it doesn't matter, and there is no such thing as a chairman's casting vote anyway. And, as a shareholder with more than 26 per cent shares, he will have veto power in certain areas. Pressed for whether he will use this to influence Star's policies and coverage, Seth parries, "Listen, we haven't come together to disagree."
Seth insists he's part of Star because the returns on investment are going to be very high. "As an investor, as a human being, I've never been interested in control... I look at returns on investment ... I've seen Star's numbers, and they look very good, very robust. In the last three months alone, they've earned Rs 20 crore (Rs 200 million)." Seth tells you, defending his Rs 1.3 crore (Rs 13 million) investment, that this is not the first time he's put in money in a company he believes in.
He invested Rs 200,000 in Amit Judge's coffee chain Barista (dotcom venture, brandquiver.com, with Judge ended in some acrimony), and Rs 500,000 in Digital Talkies' Moving Pictures. He also owns a fourth of marketing firm Quadra Advisory.
Seth refuses to get into the specifics of the deals between Star News, MCCS and Touch Telecontent India (a fully-owned Star firm which will own the infrastructure required for Star's operations).
Who will decide what price Star will pay MCCS, or the price that Touch Tele will charge MCCS-Star or MCCS? "Let me be honest," Seth says. "I've just got into this... but we've had some discussions, and the valuations will be fair."
Why was Seth chosen as Star's public face? "I'm the only person who's got nothing to do with their operations," Seth says. "I'm not even an anchor-the only anchoring I've done really, has been on (Star's rival) Zee TV, when I did the Aap Jo Kaho Haan, To Haan...." He swears his ad firm will not be the agency-on-record for Star, nor will Quadra Advisory do any work for it.
Since there is no lock-in period for his investment, and he is there purely for the money, does this mean Seth will sell his stake to Aaj Tak's Prabhu Chawla, if the price is good enough?
Seth laughs. Uncomfortably.
