After waiting patiently in the wings, India’s biggest private company – Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) – has made its formal entrance into Indian media, releasing US$680 million to take over one of the country’s biggest news and entertainment groups, Network18.

Control by RIL, which made US$3.7 billion in net profit as of March 31, gives resource-constrained Network18 new heft in a broadcast market increasingly dominated by 21st Century Fox run Star India.

RIL first financed Network18 through a US$744 million rights issue two years ago, providing much needed capital at the time while articulating Mukesh Ambani’s media ambition.

The long-term goal is clear: content and services housed within Network18 to shore up RIL’s bet on 4G mobile broadband.

Commerical launch for Reliance's service is still around a year away after some initial delays, but remains a potential game-changer in the long term for a TV industry grappling with a multi-year transition from analog to digital cable.

RIL's existing ventures in sports and retail also stake out new battlelines in a country where economic growth is giving people more things to do in their spare time than watch TV.

In the meantime, new resources from RIL could also raise the competitive tempo in at least two areas of Indian media: news, a heartland genre for Network18 across TV and online that will ramp up rivalry with Zee, India’s second biggest broadcaster; and sports, a notable gap in Network18’s lineup so far, with RIL likely to leverage its domestic JV with rights and talent agency, IMG.

As mobile broadband gains traction, this foray could extend to securing some top-tier properties, taking the fight to Star, which has recently placed its own big bets on multiscreen sports rights.

Network18’s broadcast stable, TV18, also includes Colors, one of India’s most popular general entertainment channels, run via a JV with Viacom called Viacom18, as well as youth and music brands that are part of the same partnership, plus infotainment in a separate JV with A+E.

TV18 and channels distribution business IndiaCast, a JV between TV18 and Viacom18, will remain intact for now, although three new board members from RIL will join each company.

Eenadu Television Network (ETV), a group of non-Hindi Indian language channels, will join TV18 later this year as part of the earlier deal with RIL, giving Reliance both content breadth and depth in its nascent media property.

An Unclear Roadmap

Some important details are missing however. Key to success is, who will orchestrate the next stages of development, how deep these changes will run, and what impact all this will have on Network18’s employees and commercial partners.

Shortly before RIL’s announcement late yesterday afternoon, news broke in quick succession that Network18 Group’s CEO (Sai Kumar), COO (Ajay Chacko) and CFO (RDS Bawa) were all leaving the company.

Founder and chairman Raghav Bahl followed earlier today. More senior exits are likely, especially on the news side. A new senior management tier will be announced next week.

The long-serving executives are leaving the business in good shape, notes Mihir Shah, VP of India for industry analysts Media Partners Asia, publisher of Media Business Asia.

Thanks to IndiaCast, rising subscription revenues are driving broadcast profits.

At the same time, a buoyant stock market should energize valuations for the group’s online properties and investments.

The prospect of synergies with RIL’s telco network will whet the appetite for these assets further. One, Network18’s home shopping and ecommerce business HomeShop18, is being prepared for an IPO.

With resources on the way to realize more of its ambitions, it seems all Network18 needs to do now is hold its course. The devil, however, is lurking in the detail.

“It’s an established, diversified network that’s doing well,” Shah notes.

“The challenge for RIL will be drawing synergies between the various small JVs here and there, between ETV, which has yet to be merged, between the digital assets and 4G.”

Shah continues: “Everything is clear on one issue, the majority holding, and who the parent is. What is not answered is who will be the next management. That will determine the future of Network18.”