ITV

Tag: IBN7

  • TV18 Q2 net profit at Rs 160 million, up 44% YOY

    TV18 Q2 net profit at Rs 160 million, up 44% YOY

    MUMBAI: The Raghav Bahl promoted Television Eighteen has posted its consolidated net profit at Rs 160.45 million up 44 per cent year on year (YoY) for the second quarter ended 30 September, as against Rs 111.55 million in the year-ago period.

    The company’s revenue has also witnessed a jump of 70 per cent YoY to record at Rs. 530.08 million. Revenue from news operations rose to Rs 476.92 million, from Rs 295.31 million a year ago.

    The TV18’s Internet business rose over 200 per cent YoY, according to an official release. The reveunes from the internet and software operations has gone up from Rs 17 million during the corresponding period a year ago to Rs 53.16 million this quarter. It is also worth noting that the internet business had crossed $1 million during the first quarter of this fiancial year.

    The company’s operating profit surged to Rs 249.04 million, up from Rs 172.68 million. The operating margin dipped to 47 per cent largely on account of the consolidation of CNBC Awaaz revenues and costs in P&L. 

    The consolidated revenues including CNBC-TV18, CNBC-Awaaz, moneycontrol.com and commoditiescontrol.com. The current quarter’s revenue/cost strictly is ‘not’ comparable with the same quarter in the previous year, since revenue/cost of Awaaz are being included from this quarter onwards. The TV18 consolidated revenue includes revenues from CNN-IBN, IBN7 and other Web18 Portals.

    Following the meeting of the board of directors Television Eighteen MD Raghav Bahl said: “This has been an exceptionally good quarter for us. As a Network, we have doubled revenues – while our listed entity has posted a 70 per cent year-on-year growth. We have successfully concluded our scheme of demerger, and set 24 November as the record date – this will unlock an enormous amount of value for our shareholders, who will now enjoy the fruits of ownership in all our businesses, including CNN-IBN, IBN7, Home Shopping Network and Studio18. With several exciting forays in news broadcasting, internet portals, motion pictures and other multi-media platforms on the anvil, our shareholders can continue to look forward to a period of sustained growth.”

  • NDTV to spin off internet arm into separate company

    NDTV to spin off internet arm into separate company

    MUMBAI: Prannoy Roy-promoted NDTV Ltd is all set to spin off its Internet arm ndtv.com into a separate company. This will in turn help the news broadcaster to sell of a stake to help fund new initiatives.

    The company is likely to ratify its plans about the future venture at its the board meeting, tomorrow (17 October).

    The restructuring of the company has been necessitated as it is primarily a news broadcaster, which means that regulatory norms would hamper attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) if the company were to undertake any new venture in the Internet domain or general entertainment.

    Indian government norms stipulate that a news channel uplinking out of India cannot have more than 26 per cent of foreign investment (direct or institutional). This will also help the shareholders of the company to fully unlock value for the company. The restructuring plan is subject to board approval.

    According to information doing the rounds in the broadcast market, the company has also entered into the recruitment service space. It is reported to have tied up with Thailand based Yello Media Ltd. Through this partnership, NDTV will create ndtvjobs.com in association with yellojobs.com. Yello Media also manages a classified ad site named Yello Classified. The company had earlier made an official announcement of divesting its stake during the fourth quarter of 2004-2005.

    NDTV already manages online platforms like ndtvgadgets.com, ndtvtravels.com and ndtvshopping.com.

    The company’s main competitor TV18 Network, which manages business news channels like CNBC-TV18, Awaaz and general news channels like CNN-IBN, IBN7, had recently picked up a stake in JobStreet India Pvt Ltd. The Raghav Bahl-promoted network already owns online platforms – moneycontrol.com, commoditiescontrol.com, poweryourtrade.com and ibnlive.com and is very aggressive with its plans.

  • GBN to fund Rs 708 million for Hindi news expansion and repayment of debt

    GBN to fund Rs 708 million for Hindi news expansion and repayment of debt

    MUMBAI: Global Broadcast News Ltd (GBN) will use a major part of the proceeds of its proposed Rs 1.05 billion initial public offering (IPO) for funding expansion into the Hindi news genre and repaying debt.

    The company plans to pump in Rs 458.50 million in the Hindi news genre while Rs 250 million will be towards loan repayment. GBN, a TV18 Group company, manages English news channel CNN-IBN and Hindi channel IBN7.

    On 25 July, GBN had entered into a share subscription cum shareholders agreement with the members of the Gupta family, BK Fincap Private Limited and Jagran TV Private Limited to subscribe to 76,485 equity shares, or 49 per cent, of the issued capital of BK Fincap for a total consideration of Rs 680 million. BK Fincap is the holding company of Jagran TV Limited which owns and operates the Hindi language news channel, Channel 7.

    Out of the total consideration of Rs 680 million, GBN has already paid Rs 336.5 million. GBN is also under a contractual obligation to infuse Rs 115 million in BK Fincap before 31 December, 2006. So GBN will have to make a balance investment of Rs 458.50 million. “We propose to fund the entire expenses for the project through equity, which will be utilised from the net proceeds (0f the IPO),” the company said in its draft red herring prospectus filed with the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

  • Web 18 to acquire three internet companies

    Web 18 to acquire three internet companies

    MUMBAI: Television Eighteen India Ltd’s internet arm, Web 18, will be acquiring three internet companies — Cricketnext.com, Compareindia.com and Urban Eye, a web design and technology firm. The acquisitions will help the group consolidate its focus on the internet business further.

    “We are acquiring significant majority stakes in these three companies. With our financial portal Moneycontrol.com, we have built a global scale and size. We plan to soon replicate this with the new portals we have acquired,” says TV18 Group CEO Haresh Chawla.

    TV18, it is learnt, will allow the operations to be run by the old management. CricketNext.com co-founder and managing director Sanjay Jha agrees investments will be pumped in to scale up operations. “With our new partner, we will be able to considerably upscale our operations. We have parted with majority but will continue to run the operations,” he says. Cricketnext.com was in talks with strategic investors including TV broadcasters to dilute its stake. “We have commenced negotiations with TV channels. “We are also in negotiations with horizontal portals and telecom operators. Our role as a content aggregator has strategic value for the other media companies and telcos,” Jha had indiantelevision.com in May this year.

    TV18 is also eyeing acquisition of a matrimonial site as it plans to create a bouquet of vertical portals, a source in the company says.

    Cricketnext.com and Compareindia.com are in the retail consumer space. Cricketnext.com is a sports portal with a user base of over five million people whereas Compareindia is a product comparison site, with a user base of over two million people and offers a comprehensive product comparison engine with thousands of products over 50+ categories.

    These two portals will be able to complement some of the key television and internet properties of the TV 18 Group. Cricketnext.com will complement the group’s online news portal, ibnlive.com, and also CNN IBN and IBN7 television channels. Compareindia.com will synergise with moneycontrol.com. It will also draw synergies with Awaaz, the TV 18’s Hindi consumer-business offering on television.

    Urban Eye is a web design and technology firm, with over 50 specialised internet technology professionals, which will help Web18 scale up its operations rapidly.

    The companies are currently being restructured so as to align their operations to Web18. The two portals will be relaunched shortly.

    This is the second round of acquisitions that Web18 has announced. The company acquired a significant stake in Yatra.com and Jobstreet.com India a few months ago.

    The Indian Internet industry is on the verge of explosive growth. By 2008, the online user base is expected to grow to 100 million. TV 18 has been consistently growing its internet presence organically as well as through relevant acquisitions in the consumer internet space.

    “These acquisitions are in line with our strategy to strengthen our position in the consumer internet space. Web 18’s vision is to be the leader in the consumer internet space. We expect consumer focused services like online recruitment, financial services, travel services, product comparisons and home shopping, sports etc to drive the growth of the internet in India. We expect significant synergies and competitive advantage to emerge from this move,” adds Chawla.

    BMR & Associates acted as transaction advisors for TV 18 on this deal.

  • Channel7 news channel renamed IBN7

    Channel7 news channel renamed IBN7

    NEW DELHI: What had been earlier put off has finally happened. Channel7 has been rechristened IBN7 and has been sporting the new name from India’s Independence Day, 15 August.
    This has been done to integrate the synergies between English language CNN IBN and the Hindi Channel7, in which the Television Eighteen Group bought controlling stake earlier this year.

    The on-air look of IBN7, including the channel ID, programme stings, on-air graphics, will give the channel a contemporary look and feel. The logo of IBN 7 in red, black and white reflects the brand identity and corporate philosophy of Global Broadcast Network (GBN), which is in sync with CNN IBN, an official statement said.

    Eight months ago, the Television Eighteen-controlled GBN had presented CNN IBN, which over the period has become a leading English news channel, driven by the spirit of Whatever it Takes.

    Now this spirit extends to IBN 7, which would embark on the principle of delivering khabar, har keemat par or Whatever it Takes, the statement added.

    Highlighting the philosophy behind this move CNN IBN and IBN7 chief editor Rajdeep Sardesai was quoted in the statement as saying, “We are delighted to launch IBN 7, our 24-hour Hindi news channel for the benefit of the Hindi news viewers. With the introduction of IBN 7, GBN attempts to expand its reach in India.”

    He added: “We are confident that CNN-IBN and IBN 7 together will bring to the discerning viewers a holistic approach to news delivery.”

    According to IBN 7 managing editor Ashutosh, the channel will present multi-genre news programming package for the Hindi news viewers and the focus will be on building a channel that broadcasts news as it happens, when it happens, wherever it happens.

    It was 19 January 2006 that Indiantelevision.com first broke the news that GBN, owners of English news channel CNN IBN, were in talks with Jagran TV, parent company of Channel7, aimed at making the Hindi news channel a part of the GBN stable through a joint venture.