Under the deal, Doordarshan will pay Nimbus for the supply of six-and-half-hour content. Doordarshan will get payment of a telecast fee from Nimbus only after the first six months. In addition, a 50:50 revenue sharing model will be arrived at after Nimbus meets a specified production cost.

The two-year contract will, thus, move from a commissioned to a sponsored category. DD's logic: It has to popularise the slot before it can earn revenues. Several companies, it is learnt, had expressed interest for supplying content and building up the day slot. Prominent among them include Business Standard TV, IN TV and Pioneer Telemedia. DD News has, thus, decided to soon step into CNBC's turf with a six-hour day-part business and stock market coverage, through the supply of content from Nimbus. The coverage is expected to start in late March. "The channel has no day-part driver. Business news can generate viewers during the day. Prime-time audiences can capitalise from this," said Nimbus Communications chairman and managing director Harish Thawani.

Some media analysts, however, questioned DD's commitment to business programming for such long fixed hours. "For a general news channel, it is a disadvantage to devote six continuous hours for business and stock market coverage. It is logical for a business channel like CNBC to take such an approach. But for DD News, it makes little sense. It destroys the flexibility of the channel to respond to general news, which has a wider interest, to a more geographically spread-out audience," said a media analyst.

DD, Mr Thawani said, has a right to do `hot switching' when there is an important non-business development. "They can tune away from our business coverage if there is a major news break," he added.

Nimbus will supply live stock market coverage and business news on weekdays for six hours from 10 am to 4 pm. Besides, it will also feed a half-hour round up of business and economy news in the evening. The slot will be branded Business Day.

Mr Thawani felt the business news coverage would attract urban audiences and drive penetration of the satellite news channel in other centres. The coverage shall include stock, commodities, forex, metals and precious metals besides business and economy.

Nimbus is investing Rs 4 crore in electronic news automations systems, digital NLEs, graphics automation software, DVC equipment and on-air IDs.

The company will use Doordarshan's studio in Mumbai and is paying market rates to avail of the facilities. Nimbus has entered into a string of editorial alliances and data and syndication arrangements. "We have an arrangement with Financial Times for global news besides getting the usual wire services," said Mr Thawani.