NDTV, the Prannoy Roy-controlled television news broadcasting company, is likely to set a price band of Rs 63-70 for every share with a face value of Rs 10 in its forthcoming initial public offering.

The issue size is around Rs 109 crore (Rs 1.09 billion) and is slated to open on April 21, merchant banking sources told Business Standard. Senior NDTV executives refused to comment on the issue.

The New Delhi-based broadcaster has appointed ICICI Securities, Kotak Mahindra Capital and JM Morgan Stanley as financial advisors, industry sources said. The company has recently filed its prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India recently.

The company has received the nod from the Securities and Exchange Board of India for its domestic IPO, which would remain open for subscription for a week, investment banking sources said in Mumbai on Sunday. The road shows for the IPO would be held throughout the country beginning next week.

Sources close to the development said that the NDTV offer could be a combination of fresh issue and offer for sale by other investors such as the US investment bank Goldman Sachs.

Prannoy Roy, along with his family, is the majority stakeholder in the company.

According to the draft Red Herring prospectus filed by the company for its proposed IPO, NDTV, along with its subsidiaries NDTV World, NDTV News and NDTV Media, reported a net loss of Rs 47.53 crore (Rs 475.3 million) on a turnover of Rs 45.94 crore (Rs 459.4 million) during the nine months ended December 31, 2003.

For the year ended March 31, 2002, it had posted a net profit of Rs 17.11 crore (Rs 171.1 million) on a turnover of Rs 104.03 crore (Rs 1.04 billion).

The company attributed the sharp contrast in its financial performance to the change in its business profile during the last financial year.

NDTV was  primarily a television software production house till 2002-03. It provided content to Star India for its Star News channel.

TV Today, which owns the Hindi and English news channel Aaj Tak and Headlines Today respectively, recently completed its public issue to raise around Rs 130 crore (Rs 1.30 billion) through the book-building route.

Its initial offering of 14.5 million shares was  subscribed 36 times.