ITV

Tag: 24 Ghanta

  • Slowdown halts Zee News Ltd’s expansion plans

    Slowdown halts Zee News Ltd’s expansion plans

    MUMBAI: Television news broadcaster Zee News Ltd (ZNL) has halted its expansion plans due to a slowdown in the economy.

    After demerging from Zee’s entertainment broadcasting business, ZNL had chalked out a plan for more channel launches after spending a year in consolidating its operations.

    “Our focus last year was on consolidation. But for the slowdown, we would have expanded our bouquet this year,” said Zee News Ltd chief executive officer Barun Das in an interview with Indiantelevision.com. 
       
    News broadcasters will have to increase their fleet of channels if they have to scale up their revenues. “It is difficult for established existing channels to post ad revenue growth beyond 10 per cent. Expanding the bouquet and strengthening it is key to a TV news broadcaster’s growth strategy,” said Das.

    ZNL is looking at launching regional news channels but an English general news channel is also on the cards. “It would preferably be regional news channels first but we have not ruled out an English news channel. It all depends on the fund position and the extent of the slowdown. When we are looking at growth, we can’t take the market for granted anymore,” averred Das.

    ZNL is looking at posting a revenue of over Rs 3 billion this fiscal even as it forecasts a sluggish growth for the industry in the next two quarters. The company had reported a revenue of Rs 1.43 billion for the six-month period ended September 2011.

    “The next two quarters are not going to be easy. But we expect to outgrow the market by at least 5 per cent,” said Das.

    ZNL owns and operates seven channels including Zee News, Zee Business, Zee 24 Taas, Zee Punjabi, 24 Ghanta, Zee 24 Ghantalu and Zee News UP.

  • Zee News Ltd posts 19.5% ad rev growth in shaky environment

    Zee News Ltd posts 19.5% ad rev growth in shaky environment

    MUMBAI: Zee News Ltd (ZNL) has posted second-quarter advertising revenue growth of 19.5 per cent but has cautioned that the economic environment is still shaky and could turn worse after the festive spending is over.

    The television news broadcasting company‘s ad revenue for the three-month period ended September stood at Rs 486.5 million compared to Rs 407.2 million a year ago, constituting 61.5 per cent of its total revenue.  
         
      “Given the current market conditions, we have done well. News channels had a dismal second quarter last year and this time the festive season has advanced. Going forward, the ad scenario looks bleak. But we are preparing ourselves for the impending recession and will come out with innovative solutions. Even during the thick of the recession in 2008, we did better than the industry. We expect to outgrow the market by 5-10 per cent,” Zee News Ltd chief executive officer Barun Das told Indiantelevision.com.

    ZNL‘s subscription revenue has de-grown during the quarter due to the transition to Media Pro, a distribution company formed by Star Den and Zee Turner, but would look up in the subsequent quarters. Pay-TV revenues stood at Rs 160.1 million, down 17.5 per cent from the year-ago quarter.

    “The subscription revenue figures showed degrowth as they have been booked net of expenses. This change has been necessitated due to the formation of Media Pro, which pays subscription revenues to Zee, net of expenses. But as things settle down, we should be seeing a growth of 10 per cent in our subscription income,” Das averred. 

    Consolidated net profit stood at Rs 34.82 million compared to Rs 2.24 million a year ago.

    Ebitda was at Rs 85.1 million, up 21.2 per cent from Rs 70.2 million.

    ZNL‘s revenue jumped 28.5 per cent to Rs 791.3 million. This included a one-time transaction of sale of programmes and film rights from Zee Tamil to Zee Wntertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) of Rs 124.2 million. Without this, ZNL‘s revenue would have grown by eight per cent over the year-ago period.

    “The sale will also be captured in the next two quarters of the fiscal,” said Das.

    Operating expenses rose 29.4 per cent to Rs 706.2 million. ZNL said that subsequent to Zee Tamil discontinuance, the company transferred part of inventory of programmes and films related to Zee Tamil. Accordingly, Other Sales & Services as well as Cost of Goods & Operations are higher by this amount.

    The existing news channels (Zee News, Zee Business, Zee 24 Taas, Zee Punjabi and 24 Ghanta) reported Ebitda of Rs 146 million, while Ebitda loss from the new channels was at Rs 60.9 million.
      

  • 24 Ghanta tops Bengali news channels

    MUMBAI: ’24 Ghanta’, the 24-hour Bengali news channel from Zee Aakash News Private Limited, has proven its excellence in the Bengali News genre within a very short span of its existence. Now, the Channel’s excellence is apparent on the TRP charts also, a press release from the channel claimed today.

    The recent data of TAM (w.e. 30th Dec’06, C&S 15+, Mkt – WB+Kol) shows that ’24 Ghanta ‘ is the clear leader in the Bengali news channel market.

    The channel achieved remarkable market share of 40, said the statement, adding that this is considerably above Star Ananda. With its swift and in-depth reporting, the channel is enjoying the status of favourite Bengali News channel in the region.

    The latest figures suggests that ’24 Ghanta’ is leading the pack in Kolkata with a market share that is 26 per cent higher than that of Star Ananda.

    The sustained and relentless efforts by high quality professionals, who worked round-the-clock lead to the success story of the channel. They made sure to report authentic and accurate information with lightning speed.

    24 Ghanta’s strength lies in its innovation-led content, information without bias, bold exposes and its incisive analysis with supportive visuals.

    The channel marks a watershed in television journalism in Bengali language. It has redefined journalism in the region, at a time when television journalism was fast degenerating into a medium for dishing out cheap sensationalism and distorted information laced with figment of imagination.