India, the largest provider of international revenue for Sony Pictures Television (SPT), is about to become even bigger, with another US$271 million put down in June to buy out minority owners in its domestic channels business, Multi Screen Media (MSM).

The move, which should receive the regulatory go-ahead by the end of the year, boosts Sony’s stake in MSM from 62% to 94%, adding another US$150 million in revenue according to estimates from Media Business Asia (MBA) publisher, Media Partners Asia (MPA).

It also underlines the dominance of the subcontinent in Sony’s market mix, with the rest of its international revenue base fairly evenly spread across Asia, Europe and Latin America.

Andy Kaplan, SPT’s president of worldwide networks, spoke with MBA at MPA’s Asia Pacific Pay-TV Operators Summit before the investment was announced. Although he did not mention the upcoming deal, he highlighted the importance of India to the company as a whole.

“The bigger India gets, and the more important the contribution becomes to the company, the brighter the spotlight gets,” he said.

“It probably continues to be the biggest growth opportunity, and promises to be where a lot of our upside is.”

Beyond the Hindi heartlands

The investment follows two missed opportunities for expansion in India: the possible purchase of regional broadcaster Eenadu, commanding a premium (that Sony was reluctant to meet) as the last sizable independent non-Hindi network; and broadcast rights for international cricket matches played in India, which Sony made a serious play for but was beaten to the post by News Corp’s Star India.

Both cricket and Eenadu could help drive national expansion, and Sony’s India future now seems more closely aligned to Hindi markets.

Sony already owns the rights to one premium cricket property, the Indian Premier League (IPL), which will serve as the cornerstone property for Six, a new sports channel. The IPL runs for only two months in the year however, and another big cricket deal would provide an invaluable second prop for viewing in the rest of the year.

“The good news about the sports part of India is we’re not solely and heavily reliant on it,” Kaplan said. “We’re pretty well diversified and are trying to diversify in a lot of other ways.

“As important as the IPL is, and we certainly will be investing in sports rights for our sports channel, it’s not where the biggest investment is and not the sole investment. Our fortunes don’t rise and fall on just that business.”

Growth outside India

At the same time, Kaplan is keen to broaden Sony’s revenue base in Asia, expanding distribution for its current suite of channels while looking for areas where it can stand out from rivals that also rely heavily on content from the US.

Sony already includes two non-US channels in its portfolio – Animax, an anime channel that was hatched in Japan, and One, a Korean entertainment channel with a strong footprint in Southeast Asia since launch two years ago. Kaplan wants more.

“Differentiation is really important, otherwise it’s just a question of who has the best American show at a given time period,” he said. “That just ebbs and flows.”

High on his priority list are plans to double down in Japan, an already profitable market, and increased investment, including possible JVs, in Indonesia.

He is looking to ramp up production in Asia, weighing up regional opportunities with the economics of deeper investment in big markets such as Indonesia and Korea.

“The real differentiator is original production – but you have to be able to monetize it,” he said. “The ad community on the one hand wants it and appreciates it, but doesn’t always pay for it.”

[Note: Kaplan spoke about India without mentioning the increased investment in MSM. The story has been edited to highlight this]