WSJ inks content deal with HT Media

HT’s business newspaper and website will publish WSJ-branded pages.

NEW DELHI: The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), which was earlier in an agreement with Bennett Coleman & Co for publishing the newspaper from India, has entered into a content deal with HT Media. A representative of Dow Jones, which publishes WSJ, said, “the agreement with Bennett Coleman lapsed some time back.”

HT Media, which publishes The Hindustan Times, informed Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Friday that it had entered into a content agreement with WSJ. This is not a financial deal yet, it is learnt. The possibility of Dow Jones picking up a stake in HT Media at a later stage is not ruled out.

Under the current agreement, HT’s soon-to-be launched business newspaper and its website will publish WSJ-branded pages, that will contain business and business of life news and information from the Journal. HT’s business newspaper will be edited by Raju Narisetti, who until June, was a deputy managing editor of WSJ in New York and editor of WSJ Europe, the company informed BSE.

Dow Jones had earlier found government regulations on publishing a foreign newspaper from India restrictive. In HT Media, the foreign investment is pegged at 23.63%. In print news media, the government allows foreign investment of up to 26% only. Henderson Partners Capital (Mauritius) and Citicorp are among the foreign investors in HT Media. Both are understood to have a lock-in period for their shareholding in HT Media, and the period ends on September 1.