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Tag: Discovery Communications

  • TLC strengthens content library with the launch of fresh series this quarter

    TLC strengthens content library with the launch of fresh series this quarter

    MUMBAI: The Discovery Communications owned television network, TLC, is gearing up to amplify the entertainment experience of its viewers with a fascinating line-up of 18 new series this quarter.

     

    Cuisine, high-life and fashion, are some of the lifestyle themes that will be presented in TLC’s distinct and inimitable style to its viewers. Some of the new series that will be launched this quarter include Cake Boss, Celebrity Style Story, Epic, Heston’s Fantastical Food, Madhur Jaffrey’s Curry Nation, and Jamie & Jimmy’s Food Fight Club amongst many others.

     

    The thing to look out for in each of these new series will be the fact that it will be presented by world-renowned hosts such as accomplished fourth generation baker buddy Valastro (Cake Boss), passionate cook and author Lorraine Pascal (Lorraine’s Fast, Fresh and Easy Food), culinary wizard Heston (Heston’s Fantastical Food) and one of the world’s most loved television personalities Jamie Oliver (Jamie & Jimmy’s Food Fight Club).

     

    Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific senior VP & GM – South Asia and head of revenue, pan-regional ad sales and Southeast Asia Rahul Johri said in a release, “TLC has been the pioneer in presenting differentiated and aspirational lifestyle content in the country. We will continue to invest and bring in the finest quality programs from across the globe. Spread across a variety of themes and hosted by celebrated chefs, the new programming line-up will make for a splendid viewing experience.”

     

    Taking a closer look at the series, Cake Boss will take the viewers behind-the-scenes to witness the process of creating edible art out of flour and sugar in the form of remarkably modern cakes. Celebrity Style Story delves into the world of fashion uncovering the style secrets of celebrities like Jennifer Lopez, Sarah Jessica Parker, Angelina Jolie, the Oslen twins, Cameron Diaz, Halle Berry, Hudson, Nicole Kidman and Lindsay Lohan among others.

     

    In the show, Heston’s Fantastical Food, he will bring back the wonder and excitement of childhood days by creating supersized versions of meals and treats. Madhur Jaffrey will explore the curry nation of Britain in Madhur Jaffrey’s Curry Nation to uncover how Indian food has been transformed and embraced in the UK from restaurants to places of worship to homes of British South Asians.

  • Animal Planet to have Hindi programming blocks from April 2

    Animal Planet to have Hindi programming blocks from April 2

    Animal Planet, a 24-hour channel which comes under Discovery Communications India, will also be providing Hindi programming from April 2, 2001.

     

    The Hindi programmes will air as a half-hour block from Monday to Thursday, 2 pm to 2.30 p m, and a one-hour block on Saturday and Sunday, from 12 noon to 1 PM

     

    Commenting on the new initiative, Discovery MD Kiran Karnik says: “We are delighted to add a Hindi audio to selected programmes. This will provide an opportunity to our present audience to enjoy the best of Animal Planet’s spectacular and high-quality programmes in a language that many of them may prefer.”

     

    Launched in 1999, the channel already reaches 7.5 million homes, according to a company press release.

  • FoodFood appoints SK ‘Raj’ Barua as CEO

    FoodFood appoints SK ‘Raj’ Barua as CEO

    MUMBAI: Food and lifestyle channel FoodFood has appointed former Freemantle Media India managing director SK ‘Raj’ Barua as its CEO.

     

    Though no formal announcement has been made, an industry source has confirmed the report.

     

    Barua has more than two decades of experience in the broadcasting business, starting out with Discovery Communications India where he was VP finance from 1995-2007 and then elevated to CFO- Asia Pacific which he served from 2007 to 2009.

     

    He joined Fremantle Media India in August 2009 where he was part of the start up team, which successfully got it going after a couple of false starts prior to that. It was under his watch that Fremantle Media India got shows like Indian Idol, India’s Got Talent, X Factor, among others off the ground.

  • Discovery Q3 results buoyed by international revenues

    Discovery Q3 results buoyed by international revenues

    MUMBAI: Discovery Communications President/CEO David Zaslaw has been quite clear about what’s going to drive revenues at the company: international expansion. He has stated that more than once and he did so at the industry’s leading get together MipTV in Cannes in 2013. If one goes by the financials for the broadcaster for the third quarter ended 30 September 2013, he seems to be living up to that statement.

     

    Discovery Communications’ international betworks’ revenues climbed 59 per cent to $ 620 million, as advertising revenues were up 127 per cent to $282 million and distribution revenues were up 29 per cent to $322 million. Overall, international revenues almost equaled US domestic revenues which grew a snail like 10 per cent to touch $733 million. Ad revenues grew 12 per cent to account for $383 million of that, while distribution fees went up 10 per cent to touch $329 million.

     

    Overall, Discovery saw a 28 per cent increase in revenues to $ 1,375 million; adjusted OIBDA rose 20 per cent to $ 597 million and net income climbed up by 24 per cent to $ 255 million. And while these numbers were lower than the Q2 2013 of 1,4
    On the international front, distribution revenues, excluding newly acquired businesses, in local currency terms grew 14 per cent mainly from increased subscribers, most notably in Latin America, and from higher rates, particularly in Latin America and Asia Pacific, as well as from additional contributions due to the consolidation of Discovery Japan.

    Zaslav had this to say on the occasion of the results: “As we continue to build new avenues of growth across the more mature US business, the bigger opportunity remains the potential of our international portfolio, where we are diligently applying our targeted investment approach to exploit our unparalleled market position and capitalise on those areas with significant upside from the evolution of pay television and the developing global advertising landscape.”

     

    International advertising revenues, excluding newly acquired businesses, were up 29 per cent in local currency terms, primarily due to increased viewership in Western Europe and higher pricing in Western Europe and Latin America.

     

    “Discovery’s thoughtful investment over the last two decades in securing distribution and establishing relationships with key affiliates, suppliers and advertisers in each market has given us a huge head start internationally. But it’s the additional steps we have taken over the last several years to take advantage of our market position that is driving such strong results today and will allow us to continue to grow even as pay-TV penetration growth begins to slow eventually,” Zaslav added.

     

    Adjusted OIBDA increased 34 per cent to $232 million on a reported basis and was up 17 per cent excluding newly acquired businesses and foreign currency fluctuations, reflecting the 18 per cent revenue growth partially offset by a 19 per cent increase in operating expenses. The higher operating expenses were primarily due to increased content amortisation, personnel costs and marketing expense as well as costs related to consolidating Discovery Japan.

     

    As markets have developed, Discovery Communications has aggressively opened new offices in key countries, like Turkey, the Ukraine and India, to closely connect with an evolving middle class. At the same time, it has established in-house sales functions in markets where the revenue opportunity dictated a more hands-on approach, such as Russia, Colombia and Argentina.

     

    On the content side, the network has increased its programming spend internationally by over 80 per cent since 2010 to capitalise on market opportunities, including broadening the reach of its female flagship, TLC, into over 165 countries, making TLC the most distributed women’s brand in the world from a standing start 24 months ago.
    It has also been expanding the footprint of its successful investigative and forensic channel Invesitgation Discovery (ID) into 150 countries, and expecting to approach 180 countries in the year ahead; or launching the kids network recently across Asia. All in, over the last three years, the network has launched over 60 new feeds and five new languages to satisfy the growing demand for its content, and the strong revenue growth Discovery Communications is delivering currently is certainly due in a large part to the targeted investment.

     

    “While it is certainly difficult to predict how the various international markets will perform going forward, we remain optimistic about our long-term growth prospects, given the platform we have built; the investments we have made and the growth we are delivering today, despite a relatively slow economic climate in many of the countries we operate in. As we continue to invest in our organic growth initiatives, we’re also making significant strides integrating our recent SBS Nordic acquisition. The joint ad sales team we’ve assembled is closing deals in the spot market, while preparing upfront presentations to message during the first quarter that lay out the compelling content offering and value proposition we can deliver to ad clients,” expounded Zaslav.

    Zaslav had in July 2013 downgraded its revenue expectations for the full year from 5.58-5.70 billion to $5.55-5.63 billion, following Discovery said it expected 2013 revenue of $5.55 billion to $5.63 billion, below its previous forecast for $5.58 billion to $5.70 billion. The company blamed unfavorable currency fluctuations and costs from its $1.7 billion acquisition of Scandinavian media company SBS in December 2012, apart from the 20 per cent investment in European sports network Eurosport.

     

    But it is quite likely that it is these very investments which will start adding oodles of revenue and cash to its bottomline going forward. We can only wait to discover if that will happen.

  • DISCOVERY communications reports third quarter 2013 results

    DISCOVERY communications reports third quarter 2013 results

    MUMBAI: Discovery Communications, Inc. (“Discovery” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) today reported financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2013.
    David Zaslav, Discovery’s President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “Discovery’s strong third quarter results once again demonstrate the breadth and depth of our brands and the myriad of opportunities across our global distribution platform. We are translating the consistent viewership gains we are delivering globally into strong advertising growth both domestically and internationally, while at the same time further leveraging our unique distribution footprint by capitalizing on the pay television evolution in many of our markets worldwide. As we invest in the organic growth opportunities across our diverse portfolio, we are also focused on the integration of our recent acquisitions. Building additional long-term growth prospects remains a priority as we deliver sustained financial results and return additional capital to shareholders to further build shareholder value.”

    Third Quarter Results

    Third quarter revenues of $1,375 million were up $299 million, or 28%, compared to the third quarter a year ago, led by 59% growth at International Networks and 10% growth at U.S. Networks. Adjusted Operating Income Before Depreciation and Amortization(1) (“OIBDA”) increased 20% to $597 million, as International Networks were up 34% and U.S. Networks were up 10%. Excluding the impact of licensing agreements, newly acquired businesses(2) and foreign currency fluctuations, total company revenues increased 12% and Adjusted OIBDA
    increased 11%.

    Third quarter net income available to Discovery Communications, Inc. stockholders of $255 million ($0.71 per diluted share) increased $50 million compared to $205 million ($0.55 per diluted share) for the third quarter a year ago, primarily due to the strong operating performance in the current year and improved earnings from equity investments partially offset by increased amortization associated with purchase price allocation for the SBS transaction. Adjusted Earnings Per Diluted Share(3), which excludes the impact of the amortization of acquisition related intangible assets, was $0.80 per diluted share during the third quarter compared with $0.55 per diluted share in the same period a year ago.

    (1) See the full definition of Adjusted Operating Income Before Depreciation and Amortization on page 4.

    (2) Newly acquired businesses include SBS Nordic acquired in April 2013, Switchover Media acquired in December 2012 and a TV station in Dubai
    acquired in December 2012. See page 11 for reconciliation to results excluding newly acquired businesses.

    (3) See the full definition of Adjusted Earnings Per Diluted Share on page 4.
    Free cash flow was $438 million for the third quarter, an increase of $85 million or 24% from the third quarter of 2012, primarily due to increased operating performance and lower tax payments. Free cash flow is defined as cash provided by operating activities less purchases of property and equipment.

  • Twitter acquires social TV analytics co Bluefin

    Twitter acquires social TV analytics co Bluefin

    MUMBAI: Micro-blogging platform Twitter has acquired leading social TV analytics company Bluefin Labs that provides data products to brand advertisers, agencies, and TV networks.

    Bluefin Labs started out as an academic pursuit in cross-modal machine learning that Mike and Deb brought out of the MIT Media Lab. It has worked with companies like P&G and PepsiCo, and TV networks such as CBS, Turner Broadcasting, Fox Broadcasting, and Discovery Communications.

    “We believe that Bluefin‘s data science capabilities and social TV expertise will help us create innovative new ad products and consumer experiences in the exciting intersection of Twitter and TV,” Twitter COO Ali Rowghani.

    Rowghani said the acquisition reflects Twitter‘s commitment to the social TV market, and builds on the exclusive partnership with Nielsen to create Nielsen Twitter TV Rating.

    “We intend to honor existing Bluefin customer contracts, but we will not continue to sell Bluefin‘s product suite beyond the existing contracts. We plan to collaborate closely with Nielsen and SocialGuide on product development and research to help brands, agencies, and networks fully understand the combined value of Twitter and TV,” Rowghani assured.

    Founded in 2008, Bluefin also measures whether people online are making favorable or unfavorable comments.

  • FremantleMedia deploys Artesia DAM solution to hasten access to TV shows

    FremantleMedia deploys Artesia DAM solution to hasten access to TV shows

    MUMBAI:The international creators and producers of television programmes FremantleMedia has implemented Open Text’s Artesia Digital Asset Management solution (Artesia DAM) for a new Web-based system that will dramatically speed up access to programmes for broadcast customers in countries around the world.

    The international creator has deployed the Digital Asset Management to speed up access to television shows globally.

    The announcement was made at the National Association of Broadcasters conference, NAB 2006, the electronic media show at Las Vegas.

    The Open Text’s Artesia Digital Media Group has a major presence at the event as sponsor of the Digital Asset Management Pavilion and the DAM Theater.

    According to an official release, with this Web-based application, all of FremantleMedia’s regional offices have the ability to preview more than 1,000 hours of programming as well as new shows in more than 20 countries where FremantleMedia has production offices.

    The solution initially supports the worldwide drama department and will soon scale across other departments.

    “This is already one of our most important sales tools, letting broadcasters around the world tap into the breadth of our programming quickly and easily. We look forward to expanding the system across all of our departments,” said FremantleMedia Production executive VP production Worldwide Entertainment Rob Clark.

    An important aspect of FremantleMedia’s business is identifying and selling “formats” globally. For example, the company reviews programmes when they are aired and determines whether the programmes have potential for remarketing in other markets.

    A recent example is The Apprentice, which FremantleMedia brought to the UK and other international markets. A traditional format like The Price is Right, the world’s number one game show, took about 40 years to get to the point where it is now broadcast in 40 different countries.

    Today improved communications and digital broadcasting mean that a format like Pop Idol in the UK has reached 30 countries in three years. By using Artesia DAM, the company is compressing this time even further.

    “From the outset we were looking for a DAM solution that could meet our needs for at least the next five years. That meant it had to scale in two dimensions by volume and by the nature of the content used,” said FremantleMedia information systems & technology head Nigel Dixon.

    “Other critical factors that led to the selection of Artesia DAM were the ability to integrate into our existing systems and other products, and production deployment within a six-month timeframe. We worked closely with the Artesia team to deliver the solution on time and under budget, ” briefs Dixon.

    The initial implementation of Artesia DAM will give the company’s sales staff and broadcasters around the world immediate access to shows shortly after they are broadcast. At present, this is done by the distribution of DVDs which results in significant delays.

    The company is already seeing a significant time-to-market advantage using the new system. In addition, more than 1,000 hours of FremantleMedia’s extensive programming archive is available in Microsoft Windows Media format through the Web application.

    “FremantleMedia is leading the trend globally toward central management of program content and distribution using digital asset management along with Web-based user interfaces,” said Open Text’s Artesia Digital Media Group president Scott Bowen.

    “Across the board we’re seeing that Artesia DAM delivers significant business value, helping to lower operational costs and improve the bottom line.”

    Artesia DAM is a leading solution for managing large volumes of digital content, such as video, audio and graphics files, in global organizations. The solution helps customers manage this content more efficiently, and helps them to reduce costs, safeguard copyrights and derive new revenue streams by re- expressing and reusing existing content. It complements every phase of the video asset lifecycle including production, review and approval, distribution, and content preservation.

    The company has a cliente based which includes leading media and entertainment companies, such as Comcast, Discovery Communications, DreamWorks, HBO, and MLB.com, informs the release.

  • Discovery’s revenue grows by 13 per cent

    Discovery’s revenue grows by 13 per cent

    MUMBAI: Global media firm Discovery Communications has announced its results for 2005. DCI’s revenue for the fourth quarter increased by 11 per cent to $772 million and 13 per cent in 2005 to $2.7 billion. DCI’s operating cash flow increased by one per cent in the quarter to $184 million and four per cent in 2005 to $687 million.

    In the US, its revenue increased by eight per cent in the quarter to $444 million and nine per cent in 2005 to $1.7 billion. Operating cash flow increased by six per cent in the quarter to $148 million and eight per cent in the year to $643 million. The growth in revenue was due to increases in distribution revenue for both periods combined with a five per cent decrease in ad revenue in the quarter and flat ad revenue for the year.

    Net distribution revenue increased by 24 per cent in the quarter and 22 per cent for 2005 as the US networks had a 10 per cent increase in paying subscribers in 2005 combined with contractual rate increases. Operating expenses increased by eight per cent in the quarter and 10 per cent in the year due to an increase in programming expense as the company continued its investment across all US networks in original productions and series and specials.

    Internationally, its revenue increased by 25 per cent in the quarter to $214 million and by 24 per cent in the year to $731 million. Operating cash flow increased by 27 per cent in the quarter to $33 million and 10 per cent for the year to $109 million. The increases in revenue were due to growth in distribution and advertising revenue. Net advertising revenue increased by 26 per cent in the quarter and 28 per cent in the year primarily due to higher viewership in the UK and an increased subscriber base in the UK and Europe.

    Net distribution revenue increased by 29 per cent in the quarter and 25 per cent in the year due to increases in paying subscription units in Europe and Asia combined with contractual rate increases in certain markets. Operating expenses increased by 25 per cent in the quarter and 27 per cent for 2005 due to an investment in the lifestyles category designed to develop and grow that market opportunity combined with an expected increase in headcount as the business expands.