James Murdoch, Chairman and CEO of the STAR Group, will probably visit India to discuss the financial restructuring for its 24-hour Hindi news channel Star News.
The channel has been running on a temporary licence extension, but has to comply with the Indian government regulation according to which any news channel uplinking from India should not have more than 26 per cent foreign equity. And the single largest Indian shareholder must now hold at least 51 per cent of total equity. With the government deadline of 28 September approaching, Murdoch is expected to discuss the final negotiations with the potential partners for taking a 51 per cent stake in Media Content and Communications Services (MCCS), the company through which Star News is being uplinked from India.