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  • ABU Digital Radio Convention to focus on complete digital transition

    ABU Digital Radio Convention to focus on complete digital transition

    MUMBAI: The second edition of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) Digital Radio Convention will be held in Kuala Lumpur from 14 to 17 August.

    The speakers at the convention will speak to radio broadcasters in the Asia-Pacific region on when to make the complete digital transition.

    The speakers lined-up for the convention include: KBS-BTRT director Shinil Chung, Factum Electronics / WorldDAB Forum MD Kenneth Lundgren, Broadcast Systems, STRL, NHK principal research engineer Koichiro Imamura, International Broadcast Business Development Ibiquity Digital Corp director Perry Priestley, Broadcast Electronics Chuck Kelly, AMP Radio GM Michael Blackburn, Dalet director of marketing Nicolas Hans and NPR Labs VP CTO and executive director Mike Starling.

    The four day convention and workshops not only provide updates on digital radio developments, but concentrates on the implementation and application issues – the myriad of decisions on business factors, content production facilities, transmission standards/systems, receiver developments, consumer take-up and switch-over issues.

    According to an official release, around 40 experts from Asia and around the world will contribute to the event by way of presentations, panel discussions and facilitating the in-depth, interactive workshops.

    Sponsors and exhibitors of the ABU Digital Radio Convention brings in big names, which include: principal sponsor Harris; AMP, Broadcast Electronics, Broadcast Australia, iBiquity Digital Corporation, Thomson Broadcast & Multimedia AG, Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM), Commercial Radio Australia, THL Australia Pty Limited, Go-Mobile Pte Ltd, WorldSpace, VT Communications, Klotz Digital, Digital Integrated System Sdn Bhd (DIS), on and DMB.

    “We are delighted to be supporting this major convention which keeps broadcasters in tune with the developments in digital radio,” says Harris Broadcast Communications director, Radio Products & Strategy Rich Redmond.

    “The ABU Digital Radio Convention is the key venue for broadcasters, manufacturers and others who want the full picture of the region’s burgeoning digital future. DRM is excited to play an active role in this year’s convention, and we look forward to meeting the participants in Kuala Lumpur. The ABU is a long-time member of the DRM consortium, and we are proud of its leadership in promoting digital solutions to its own members,” Deutsche Welle director and DRM chairman Peter Senger adds.

    “An increasing number of radio broadcasters in the region are embracing the transition to digital transmission. This convention will provide an excellent platform for broadcasters and industry players to network and understand the business issues as well as new technical developments. We would particularly like to address those issues that seem to be holding up the wide scale adoption of digital radio technologies in the Asia-Pacific,” points out ABU secretary general David Astley.

  • HP, Nokia & Radio Mirchi to market visual radio in India

    HP, Nokia & Radio Mirchi to market visual radio in India

    MUMBAI: Expanding their global cooperation, Hewlett Packard (HP) and Nokia have joined hands with the radio brand Radio Mirchi to market the first service in India that enables mobile phone users to receive FM radio broadcasts synchronized with interactive visuals and text on the handsets.

    Radio Mirchi listeners in Delhi can now have access to visual radio, a new music service on their Nokia mobile phones for Hutch subscribers, followed by other metros in the country.

    With visual radio, the listeners can enjoy engaging and exciting content: visuals, information and entertainment of what’s playing over the air, purchase ring tones and other mobile content of the artiste, participate in radio station promotions, polls, contests, and interact with RJs and special guests.

    The customer would be charged at the regular PlanetHutch rate of 10 paise per 10 KB and regular download charges for downloading ring tones and many other features, informs an official release.

    In 2003, Nokia had announced Visual Radio as an upcoming product for their new range of multi-media phones. In UK, Virgin Radio was the first station to make use of the interactive Visual Radio functionality.

    Nokia and HP are pushing the visual radio concept in countries like Finland, Thailand, Singapore and some European countries as well. In Singapore MediaCorp Radio’s music station Y.E.S. 93.3 FM is the first Chinese language radio station in the world to be made available on Visual Radio.

    And in Finland, SBS Finland’s Kiss FM became the first radio station in the world to begin visual radio broadcasts.

    Visual radio is at present, available on Nokia NSeries devices (Nokia N70, Nokia N71, Nokia N72 Nokia N80, Nokia N91) and select Nokia phones (Nokia 3230, Nokia 3250, Nokia 6125, Nokia 6131, Nokia 6280 and Nokia 7370).

    ENIL (Radio Mirchi) MD and CEO A.P. Parigi says, “Visual radio provides us an exciting opportunity to involve, engage and entertain this demanding generation. Visual radio not only enhances the listener’s interaction with the station, it also provides advertisers a more dynamic platform to communicate their messages.”

    The launch of visual radio in India demonstrates a revolution in interactive mobile communications and redefines the experience of traditional FM radio, not only for the users but also for broadcasters, advertisers and mobile operators.

    This medium holds the opportunity to create new business models, which can offer access to interactive music discovery services and the ability to purchase merchandise directly from a mobile phone.

    “Since introducing the visual radio service, HP has worked with industry leaders like Radio Mirchi and Hutch to deliver visual radio to listeners around the world,” HP India HP Services VP Kapil Jain says. “We look forward to working with our partners to make visual radio a great success in India.”

    Adds Nokia India national operator and retail accounts director Vineet Taneja, “Visual radio will make listening to the radio via your mobile phone a truly multi-dimensional experience. This will offer a host of new rich music services to Nokia users allowing them to indulge their passion at the click of a button.”

    “As part of this commitment, we have already launched more than 20 Nokia devices in India that are compatible with visual radio with still more to come in the future,” Taneja concludes.

  • I&B ministry fails to list B’cast Bill for Parliament

    I&B ministry fails to list B’cast Bill for Parliament

    NEW DELHI: Indian policy-makers seem to be having second thoughts on a draft broadcasting legislation that was proposed to be introduced in Parliament session, which started Monday.

    In the list of business that Parliament is to transact during the monsoon session, the Broadcast Bill, which the information and broadcasting ministry had proposed to introduce in the House, is missing.

    A senior government official admitted that there might be some “re-think” on a draft that had been sent to other ministries for feedback and the I&B ministry now “doesn’t seem to hurry through the Bill.”

    This is an ample indication that the Bill, termed draconian by the media industry, is highly unlikely to be introduced during the monsoon session, giving the media industry to lobby more effectively against and attempt to muzzle the media.

    Still, the government official added that not listing the Bill at this juncture doesn’t mean that it cannot be pushed through in Parliament for discussion later towards the end of the ongoing session.

    “It all depends on what the I&B ministry thinks. If it thinks more consultation is needed on the draft, then it would do so. If it can complete all the work quickly and get the Cabinet’s nod, then the Bill could be introduced in Parliament this session only,” the official explained.

    Last week a senior I&B ministry official had told Indiantelevision.com that feedback from other ministries were still awaited and the compilation work would take more than 15 days time.

    The government has been facing flak from the industry and elsewhere too on the clandestine manner in which it drafted a Cabinet note on the Broadcast Bill.

    Last week, as part of government-industry interaction, I&B secretary assured Confederation of Indian Industry’s media committee that a concept note on the draft Broadcast Services Regulatory Bill would be circulated for getting views of the media industry as inputs into the government’s decision-making process.

    Arora had lamely justified restrictive provisions in the proposed Bill as ones designed to facilitate the industry’s growth and not to micro-manage its functioning.

    He had explained the need for the Bill and a proposed media regulator with wide ranging powers was to provide “legislative backing to executive decisions” taken by the government in recent times.

    This legislative backing was required, he had told captains of the media industry, as most of the executive decisions have been challenged in court and the government has been asked to show legislative sanction for its actions.

  • UTV scrip up on Disney deal buzz

    MUMBAI: UTV Software Communications’ share price has gone up by 18 per cent in the last three trading days on the talk that the Walt Disney Company is buying into Hungama TV. The market is also abuzz with rumours that Disney is picking up a small stake in UTV.

    The scrip opened today at Rs 162, touched a high of Rs 182, and closed at Rs 175. On Thursday, it had gained Rs 14.50 to end at Rs 165.65.

    UTV is making a preferential allotment to Disney, a dealer in a broking firm said. The integrated media company holds 49 per cent in United Home Entertainment (UHE) which runs Hindi kids channel Hungama TV.

    Meanwhile, an earlier deal that was to go through with Malaysia’s Astro All Asia Entertainment Networks has not yet closed, another dealer said. Astro was to take 26.01 per cent in UHE for a consideration of $7 million (Rs 310 million), putting the enterprise valuation at a little under $28 million (Rs 1.24 billion). While UTV was to hold 49 per cent, the balance was to be with UTV founder-promoter Ronnie Screwvala.

    The market buzz is that Disney would hold at least a controlling stake in Hungama TV, a dealer said. UTV had earlier in its FY06 results announced that the capital employed in UHE was Rs 840 million. This was used to fund Hungama TV’s operations. UTV has made investments of Rs 680 million into the channel till then.

    Neither UTV nor Walt Disney Company (India) Ltd were available for comment. UTV had earlier denied a report in a leading financial daily, stating in a notice to the stock exchange that it was not in talks with Walt Disney to sell 30 per cent stake in UHE.

    MTV Networks India had also been in talks with UTV but the two parties could reach no common grounds on valuation. The plan was to have a second channel along with Nick, which was struggling to get audiences. MTV, sources say, was interested in buying out Hungama TV.

    UTV, meanwhile, is planning to merge United Entertainment Solutions Ltd, a post production subsidiary company, with itself. In a move to consolidate the post production business, the company had acquired Western Outdoor in 2002. UTV also has a strong presence in movie production and is into animation business.

  • Sun TV in for a consortium with Red FM

    Sun TV in for a consortium with Red FM

    MUMBAI: Kalanithi Maran’s Sun TV Ltd. is expected to enter into a consortium with Red FM, the operators in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, for its radio business.

    The alliance will offer a joint platform to advertisers, making it a formidable bouquet against the biggies like Radio Mirchi and Radio City. Brand promotions will also be a part of this exercise, market sources say. Both Red FM and Sun TV Ltd were not available for comment till the time of filing this report.

    Malaysia’s Astro All Asia Networks plc, which is one of the three stakeholders in Red FM, recently said that it was in advanced discussions with strategic partners on various initiatives in India, including participation in a nationwide consortium of FM radio networks. “We expect to finalise partnership arrangements in the coming months. Appropriate announcements will be made in due course,” Astro Group CEO Ralph Marshall told reporters after the company’s AGM in Kuala Lumpur.

    Maran, who made an aggressive nationwide bid in the second phase of FM radio expansion, had excluded Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, the cities where Red FM operates. While Kal Radio (where Sun TV owns 89 per cent) would confine its operations to the southern language states, South Asia FM (Sun has 94.91 per cent equity) would carve out stations in the other regions.

    Joining hands with NDTV and Hyderabad-based Value Labs to acquire Red FM from Radio Today for around Rs 1.3 billion, Astro is eyeing a major presence in the FM sector in India. “We expect that we would have a 20 per cent interest in a nationwide radio licence as soon as we receive the approvals,” Marshall had told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.

    Apart from Red FM, Astro is already managing two FM radio stations in Kolkata through AMSI (Airtime Marketing & Sales India). The company, working with its local Indian partners Power107.8 FM and Aamar 106.2 FM, provides studio facilities and airtime sales and marketing services to the two FM radio stations in Kolkata.

    Sun TV Ltd, which raised Rs 6.03 billion through an initial public offering (IPO), has bet big on radio to scale up revenues. A consortium with Red FM would particularly help Sun in the newer markets, analysts say. In the southern language markets, Sun has the advantage of dominating ownership of movie rights which it can leverage for its radio business.

    Before the IPO, Sun had taken clearance from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) for issuing equity shares to foreign investors. The company, in its application, had said that it was intending to issue this either by “way of a preferential allotment prior to the IPO” and/or by “way of an initial public offering of its equity shares of the face value of Rs 10 each of 10 per cent of its post IPO paid up equity capital, subject to the maximum foreign investment limit as prescribed.”

  • Asianet looking to launch educational channel

    Asianet looking to launch educational channel

    MUMBAI: The Thiruvananthapuram-headquartered media house Asianet Communications Ltd is planning to launch two more channels in the Malayalam television space. One of these two projects will deal with a television channel covering the education genre.

    Speaking on the occasion of the second anniversary celebrations of the media firm’s youth-oriented entertainment channel Asianet Plus, Asianet chairman Reji Menon revealed the company’s long term plans. “Asianet targets to have a total of five television channels and one of these will be an educational channel,” he said, without offering any time frame on the plans.

    “Asianet will be launching India’s first ever educational channel. We are still working out the plan and the project is presently in its preliminary stage,” Asianet managing director K Madhavan told indiantelevision.com.

    According to market sources, Asianet is seriously looking at expanding its presence in the Southern television space by entering the non-Malayalam (Kannada, Telugu and Tamil) market. “The fifth channel might possibly target one of these three languages,” says a source.

    Flagship entertainment channel Asianet, the youth channel Asianet Plus and the news channel Asianet News constitute Asianet’s television force at present.

  • Hathway rolls out broadband services in Chandigarh

    Hathway rolls out broadband services in Chandigarh

    MUMBAI: The Rajan Raheja promoted Hathway Cable & Datacom, in which Star India has a 26 per cent stake, has launched its broadband service in Chandigarh.

    Apart from cable internet services, Hathway is also planning to launch digital cable in the city.

    The company has launched a mix of pre-paid and post paid packages to provide choice to the customers. The packages will be available from 256 kbps for Rs 250 per month (download limit of 400 mb) and 512 kbps for Rs 500 per month (download limit of 1 gb), according to an official release.

    The company is targeting residential, small medium enterprises and corporates. Hathway’s broadband services are available in the cities of Mumbai, New Delhi, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Pune, Nashik, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mysore and Chandigarh.

    “We are planning to launch our cable internet services in Kanpur as well. We have close to 90,000 broadband subscribers,” says Hathway & Cable Datacom CEO K Jayaraman.

  • Motorola, Yahoo! expand global alliance

    Motorola, Yahoo! expand global alliance

    MUMBAI: Motorola and portal Yahoo have announced a new multi-year agreement to distribute Yahoo! Go for Mobile on tens of millions of new Motorola mobile devices.

    TThe deal brings an integrated suite of Yahoo!’s services including Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Search, Yahoo! Address Book and Yahoo! Local into a single application that connects consumers to their personalized Internet experience through their mobile device.

    As part of the agreement, Motorola will pre-load and prominently feature Yahoo! Go for Mobile on optimised handsets worldwide starting in the first half of 2007, giving consumers quick and easy access to their Internet content and services. The devices will be available to consumers in a number of markets across the Americas, Europe, and Asia.

    Motorola corporate VP product and Xperience invention, mobile devices Scott Durchslag says, “This agreement is an important next step in showing the world the best of what can happen when Motorola’s Seamless Mobility meets Yahoo!’s Connected Life services,” said “Our collaboration with Yahoo! on exciting future versions of Yahoo! Go for Mobile will ensure that our customers and consumers get the most optimized Yahoo! experience possible on the coolest mobile devices.”

    Yahoo senior VP connected life Marco Boerries, “Consumers are no longer tethered to just accessing Internet on their desktop computer, so we are bringing the best of Yahoo!’s services to the device they always have with them and use multiple times every day – their mobile phone.

    “Together, Yahoo! and Motorola are making it easier than ever before for consumers to seamlessly access their favorite web services, information and content across both their personal computer and mobile phone.”

    Motorola and Yahoo! had announced their global alliance in July 2005 and have worked closely over the past year to deliver on their commitment to make it easy for consumers to access and use Internet services on Motorola devices. The companies will jointly market the Motorola devices with Yahoo! Go for Mobile pre-installed through their online networks, device packaging and other targeted channels.

  • Television sports agency Sportfive put up for sale

    Television sports agency Sportfive put up for sale

    MUMBAI: European sports television agency Sportfive will be sold.

    Media reports indicate that Sportfive’s owners – US private equity firm Advent International, media firm RTL, and investment bank Goldman Sachs – are hoping to take advantage of the interest in sports rights businesses in the wake of the Fifa World Cup. Goldman and Morgan Stanley are looking for a price in the reange of €800 million and €1bn.

    Private equity firms like Equity Partners, Apax Partners and Blackstone are said to be eying Sportfive.

    Advent and Goldman them own 65 per cent of the company. RTL has a 25 per cent stake and management has the remaining 10 per cent.

  • Zee Telefilms’ Q1 consolidated net slips 28% at Rs 562 million

    Zee Telefilms’ Q1 consolidated net slips 28% at Rs 562 million

    MUMBAI: Zee Telefilms has posted a 27.8 per cent fall in consolidated net profit at Rs 562 million for the first quarter ended 30 June, 2006, as against Rs 779 million in the corresponding period last fiscal

    Total income, however, rose 24 per cent to Rs 3.884 billion, up from Rs 3.131 billion.

    The consolidated operating profit stood at Rs 726 million, after factoring in initial investments in new activities viz. Zee Telugu, Zee Smile, Zee Sports and others, amounting to Rs 571 million (14.7 per cent of consolidated revenues). As a result, consolidated operating profits of continuing businesses were Rs 1.297 billion. These are higher by 8.4 per cent as compared to the corresponding quarter last year.

    “The growth rate is subdued mainly due to investments in programming and marketing focused on long-term buildup of mainline channels. Profit before tax for the first quarter of the fiscal 2007 was Rs 672 million while net profit was Rs 562 million,” Zee said in an official release.

    On a standalone basis, Zee Telefilms has posted a 50.8 per cent fall in net profit to Rs 156 million for the quarter ended 30 June, 2006, as compared to Rs 306.80 million for the corresponding period last year. Total income has increased to Rs 2.440 billion for the quarter ended 30 Jun, 2006, up from Rs 1.777 billion for the corresponding period last year.

    Commenting on the results, ZTL chairman Subhash Chandra said, “We are pleased to report the strong recovery in our market position and continuing uptrend in ratings on the flagship channel. The performance reflects our success in delivering superior content to viewers and stronger relationship with our consumers.” “We are also happy about some recent developments relating to our business. The Delhi High Court has ordered the Union Government to issue a revised notification for implementation of CAS in the notified areas of Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata by 31 December, 2006. This will additionally help in bringing about addressability on cable. On DTH, DishTV enhanced its offering from June when The OneAlliance bouquet was also made available to subscribers. Also, the TDSAT order has directed Star to provide their content to DishTV within 15 days. All these have extremely positive and long term impact on our business,” Chandra added.

    Commenting on the restructuring exercise, Chandra continued, “The restructuring exercise is expected to be completed by September/ October 2006, subject to necessary approvals. This shall create four focused, pure play, listed companies ready to exploit the vast emerging opportunities in each line of business. It would result in streamlined operations in each area and would also clear the ground for acquisitions and strategic or financial partners in the demerged businesses, apart from unlocking shareholder value. The next several years would provide tremendous growth opportunities for all these four businesses.”

    Punit Goenka, Zee Telefilms whole time director and responsible for content creation, said, “Zee TV continued to increase its viewership share from 21 per cent in 4Q FY2006 to 25 per cent during 1QFY2007, along with a significant growth in time spent. During the quarter, average gross ratings points (GRPs) of Zee TV have crossed 200 and for the last week it was at 240 GRPs, giving Zee a channel share of 29 per cent. The growth momentum has been led by widespread success of Saat Phere and Kasamh Se, which rank 5th and 6th among the top programmes on television, across genres. Zee TV now has leadership in the 9 pm to 10 pm time band, for the last six weeks.”

    “Zee Cinema continues to be the number one movie channel, and increasingly is becoming a reach channel for advertisers. Zee Marathi has also considerably narrowed the gap with its competitor (ETV Marathi). Zee Sports continues to build on the back of Football and ODI Cricket matches. We will continue to reinforce our competitive advantage and deliver more value to viewers and shareholders,” Goenka added.

    Elaborating on the performance, Zee Telefilms CEO Pradeep Guha said, “During FY2006, the yield per spot of ten seconds was the lowest in the history of Zee TV. Zee TV has introduced many initiatives, which focus on improving inventory utilization, attracting higher yielding categories of business and increasing effective rates across time bands. These efforts have resulted in a revenue growth faster than that of industry. Also, we have been able to establish Zee Cinema as a reach channel instead of a frequency channel, which will help us garner more advertising revenues.”

    The Board of Directors in its meeting held today, has taken on record the unaudited consolidated financial results of Zee Telefilms Limited and its subsidiaries for the quarter ended 30 June, 2006.

    REVENUE STREAMS:
    Zee’s advertising revenues increased to Rs 1.729 billion, a 31.5 per cent growth as compared to the corresponding quarter last fiscal. “This growth in advertising revenues was a result of higher average rates on most of the network channels. During this quarter, Zee Sports telecast the two One Day (ODI) Cricket matches played between Indian and Pakistan, which has
    contributed to the growth in advertising revenues,” the company said.

    Overall, subscription revenues stood at Rs 1.798 billion, registered an increase of 2.8 per cent over the corresponding quarter last fiscal. Domestic pay revenues, including Siticable, stood at Rs1.039 billion. Other sales and services grew to Rs 357 million.

    EXPENDITURE:
    Overall, the cost of goods and operations went up 60.6 per cent compared to a year-ago period, mainly due to investments made in new channels like Zee Sports, Zee Smile, Zee Telugu and Zee Jagran. A large part of the incremental cost was on account of programming cost of Cricket rights on Zee Sports, states the company release.

    Personnel cost were also up, 26 per cent higher than the corresponding period last year. Other costs, particularly marketing costs have increased by 23.2 per cent. As a result, total expenses were higher by 47.6 per cent.

    From FY2006, the Company has accelerated its investments in the development and expansion of its network. There have been substantial marketing and content improvement initiatives on one hand, and on the other, number of new channels have been launched.

    “As a result, Zee is in a phase in which the initial investments have been made and expensed fully, while the corresponding revenue build-up is to be realized in the next several quarters. The immediate impact is on operating profits, which we hope to recover in successive quarters through increasing revenues and progressive reduction in costs, the release adds.

    Zee’s Q1 segment-wise revenues are indicated in the table below:

    *Content Business includes all Broadcasting and content production companies in India and abroad of Zee Telefilms
    Limited, ETC Networks Limited.
    # Access Business includes Siticable, Zee Turner and distribution segment of ZTL.

    OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

    Sports
    During the first quarter, Zee Sports telecast two ODIs between India and Pakistan played at Abu Dhabi. These were the first two matches in the contract with BCCI for overseas Cricket. In football, National Football League matches were telecast during the quarter. Building on the Football World Cup fever, Zee Sports commissioned ‘Goal 2010’, an initiative to see India in the World Cup of 2010.

    Cable Network
    The cable business is poised to pursue new technology opportunities with renewed focus including digitization of cable, broadband and ‘triple play’ offerings. As per the Zee release, Siticable is the only MSO that would be deploying state-of-the-art Headend In The Sky technology, which would allow it to cover the entire country, not just the CAS notified areas. The recent regulatory and legal developments look set to lead to a roadmap for digitisation initially in the metros. The Delhi High Court has ordered Union Government to issue a revised notification to implement conditional access system (CAS) by 31 December 2006 in the notified areas of three metros i.e. Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. There is more visibility now on the path of transition in the cable business towards digitisation, which would result in greater transparency and accountability, the release further adds.

    Direct Consumer Services business
    DTH services continue to make inroads into Indian homes. The service offerings have been expanded by adding SET Discovery’s The OneAlliance bouquet from June 2006. The service revenues from DishTV continue to generate good response.

    The subscriber numbers have crossed 1,200,000 and are growing at the rate of about 3,500 per day. We are poised to execute market expansion strategies which would lead to a ramp up of subscription from the urban markets, based on value added services not presently available on cable.

    Recently the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) came out with an order, instructing Star to provide its channels to DishTV within 15 days. This would further enhance the present content offering of DishTV, Zee said in the release.

    Restructuring in Zee Telefilms
    Application for the restructuring has been made to the High Courts. The scheme of arrangement would require approval of shareholders of Zee and of Bombay High Court. The whole process is expected to be completed by September / October 2006. Zee News Limited, ASCEL and WWIL would be listed on all stock exchanges where ZTL is listed.Based on the unaudited results of ZTL (consolidated), Zee News Ltd. and ASCEL, the following table sets forth the proforma financials of each line of business for 1Q FY2007, as they would appear in a demerged scenario.

    The company’s investment in 25 FPS Media Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary engaged in production of television programming for the Zee Telefilms, is intended to be disposed off. Accordingly, its financials are not consolidated in these results. Previous year’s figures are also not comparable to that extent, the company said in a posting on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

    At the Bombay Stock Exchange today, the Zee scrip opened at Rs 251.70 and closed at Rs 249.75, down Rs 1.95 from the previous day’s close.