Insight Media City, India's first ever city of its kind, will soon be launched in the southern state of Kerala. Also, a high definition entertainment channel “Flowers,” the first venture from the city, will go on air in February and it will be followed by transmission of the news channel in April, R. Sreekandan Nair, managing director of the city, said. Addressing mediapersons in Jeddah during the week, he said the $88 million global media venture, whose investors include several top Indian expatriate entrepreneurs, will be implemented in three phases. The media conglomerate will have 14 ventures, of which an international school of media will be the major highlight, Nair said. The global media school is expected to be operational in September 2015. “The global campus will be established, in collaboration with prestigious European universities, including UK's leading Heriot Watt University, for imparting training in various disciplines of electronic media and film industry. The media school, lead by global entrepreneur in education services Dr. Vidhya Vinod, CEO & executive director of Study World Education Holding Ltd., and Heriot Watt University-Dubai campus, will be set up on an area covering 110,000 sq. feet. This center of excellence for media studies with practical training and internship in television channels will have faculty sourced from international universities, and will be providing accredited foreign degrees, diplomas and certificates. Insight will be the third media city of its kind in the world, coming next to MediaCityUK and Dubai Media City, said Mohammed Alungal, chairman and managing director of Al-Abeer Group of Companies. Speaking to Saudi Gazette, he said that construction work of the media city on a sprawling area of 27 acres is nearing completion in the serene village of Maneed near Kochi, the commercial capital of Kerala. The Media City will be instrumental in reshaping the media industry in the country, Alungal claimed. “We are performing the corporate responsibility of presenting a new landscape in the vibrant media industry. The news channel is the outcome of an initiative to speak out truth without taking sides or cashing in on running aggressively after sensational stories,” he said. Alungal, who is also chairman of the news and current affairs television channel, said the channel will give priority to stories and reports pertaining to the Indian expatriate community around the world, especially in the Gulf. The channel will start airing from Sri Bala Theater Complex, a rented studio facility in Thiruvananthapuram, before moving into the permanent studio whose work is progressing well at the media city. The entertainment channel, headed by Gokulam Gopalan, chairman of Gokulam Group of Companies, will start transmission from a temporary studio in Kadavanthra, Kochi, he said adding that around 100 prominent media figures have already joined the city. There are plans to expand the city to the southern India states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in future. Sreekandan Nair and Gopalan were in the Kingdom to attend meetings in Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam as part of promoting the city. The media city project, which was launched by Shashi Tharoor, the then union minister of state for human resources, on July 4, 2013,will have separate zones for education, media, television, events, and synergy. It will house the largest studio complex for television production in southern India spreading over 150,000 sq. feet and an amphitheater and performance arena with a seating capacity of 6,000. Dr. B. Govindan, chairman and managing director of Bhima Jewelers, Dr. A.M. Arun, chairman of Vasan Eye Care Group of Institutions-Chennai, Devies Edakulathur, chairman of Buldan Trading-Qatar, Satish G. Pillai, executive director of Gulfar Group-Qatar and T.A. Sundar Menon, chairman, Sun International Group-Qatar are other promoters of the city.
