"There could have been a conflict of interest as Sony and Star TV are interested in running their Hindi movie channels.

Besides, the Star network has its own music channel, Channel V," B4U India chief executive officer Ravi Gupta said.

Incidentally, B4U has tied up with Sony in UK and Europe where it offers its movie channel as a package with Sony TV.

The channels for distribution include the proposed launch of B4U Music (music channel) and B4U Movies (a premium Bollywood movie channel), besides Fashion TV and MCM.

B4U will be launching B4U Music simultaneously in India, UK, Europe and Middle East on May 6. "We will be the first digital Indian music channel in the international market. We will be a free-to-air channel," Gupta said. B4U Music will then be launched in the US and Canada.

B4U also plans to introduce its Bollywood movie channel in the country by July. Though it is under the pay-TV system in the UK and other markets, in India it will start as a free-to-air channel. The two channels will be on the Pas-4 satellite for the Indian market. In UK, B4U Music will be on the Astra platform and will be packaged along with B4U Movies and Sony TV.

B4U will also launch a South Indian language movie channel called B4U South for the overseas market at an investment of $20 million. This will be outside the $100 million the company has earmarked towards media investments. "We are looking at a launch in August. It won't be introduced in the Indian market but for the South Indians living abroad. It will be a pay channel," Gupta said.

The programming mix will vary, Gupta said, for the different territories. In Europe, for instance, there will be a predominance of Tamil movies. In the Middle East, Malayalam movies will be aired as Keralites are a dominant migrant group in the region.

B4U will launch in July two e-commerce entertainment portals at an investment of $4 million. While the Bollywood portal will be called Bollywoodforyou.com, the fashion portal will be named B4Ufashion.com. Both will have e-commerce facilities. The fashion portal will provide information about designers. "There will be a linkage between Fashion TV and the portal to generate e-commerce. Customers can order their fashion wear after seeing it on the TV channel," Gupta said.

B4U has tied up with Fashion TV for developing a one-hour fashion band through 30 satellites across the world. This will help develop a synergy with its fashion portal.