ITV

Tag: Lokmat

  • Network18 reports improved numbers for Q1

    Network18 reports improved numbers for Q1

    BENGALURU: Network18 Media & Investments Ltd (Network18) reported year over year (y-o-y) growth in consolidated operating revenue for the quarter ended 30 June 2018 (Q1 2019, quarter or period under review) as compared to the year ago quarter (Q1 2018). The company reported consolidated operating profit (EBITDA) of Rs 18 crore in Q1 2019 as compared to a loss of Rs 2 crore during the corresponding year ago quarter. Consolidated operating revenue grew 10 percent y-o-y during the quarter under review to Rs 1,124 crore from Rs 1,025 crore in Q1 2018 on a comparable basis.

    Network18 chairman Adil Zainulbhai said: “We have begun the new fiscal with improved viewership across our portfolio, which shall be the foundation for our growth plans. We continued investments in regional news and entertainment and in digital. We continue to see opportunities in the media space.”

    TV18 Broadcast Limited

    TV18 Broadcast Ltd (TV18) is the listed Network18 broadcast subsidiary and the largest contributor to its numbers. Its consolidated revenues increased 11.1 percent y-o-y in Q1 2019 to Rs 1,088 crore from Rs 979 crore. TV18 consolidated operating profit (EBITDA) almost tripled (2.79 times) y-o-y to Rs 39 crore in Q1 2019 as compared to Rs 14 crore.

    TV18’s growth in revenue was led by Viacom18 and Indiacast revenue for which climbed by Rs 73 crore (a little less than 10 percent) y-o-y during the quarter under review to Rs 832 crore from Rs 759 crore. The company’s business and general news had revenue growth of 14 per cent (Rs 20 crore) y-o-y in Q1 2019 at Rs 173 crore as compared to Rs 153 crore. Regional news (Ex Lokmat) and infotainment had revenue growth of 24 per cent (Rs 16 crore) during the quarter under review at Rs 83 crore as compared to Rs 67 crore in Q1 2018.

    In its investor update, Network18 says that TV18’s subscription revenue increased 10 percent y-o-y during the period under review to Rs 301 crore from Rs 273 crore in Q1 2018.

    Growth in operating profit (EBITDA) was led by business and general news with 25 per cent (Rs 7 crore) y-o-y growth at Rs 35 crore in Q1 2019 as compared to Rs 28 crore in Q1 2018. Viacom18 and Indiacast had 13 per cent y-o-y growth in operating profit at Rs 26 crore from Rs 23 crore in Q1 2018. Operating loss of regional news (Ex Lokmat) and infotainment declined to Rs 22 crore in Q1 2019 from operating loss of Rs 37 crore.

    The numbers mentioned above have been obtained from TV18’s Investor update. It may be noted that Viacom18 and Indiacast became subsidiaries of TV18 from 1 March 2018. Hence, reported financials of TV18 consolidate these entities only from that date. Other y-o-y numbers are not comparable.

    “Our television channels reach out to 700 million people across the country, making every 1 in 2 Indians our consumer. We have 53 domestic channels across news and entertainment, making us a formidable player. The improving advertising environment and our rising viewership are positives, as we continue investing into growing our offerings across genres,” said Zainulbhai in a TV18 investor update.

    Network18 Digital, Print and others

    Network18 Digital, Print and others revenue declined 22 per cent y-o-y in Q 2019 to Rs 36 crore from Rs 46 crore in  the year ago quarter. Operating loss (EBITDA) increased to Rs 21 crore from Rs 16 crore.

  • Dilip Venkatraman bids adieu to TV18, to pursue entrepreneurial interests

    Dilip Venkatraman bids adieu to TV18, to pursue entrepreneurial interests

    MUMBAI: CNN-IBN and IBN7 CEO N. Dilip Venkatraman has decided to move on from his role in order to pursue his entrepreneurial interests. During his eight year stint, Venkatraman managed a variety of mandates on the general news side of the group. Prior to his current role, he led marketing operations for CNN-IBN, IBN7 and IBN-Lokmat and also managed IBN Focus, the customised media solutions unit for these news channels.

     

    Apart from his leadership role in building CNN-IBN into one of the country’s most reputed news brands, Venkatraman is well-known for conceptualising benchmark properties at the IBN News Network. Network18 COO Ajay Chacko will oversee the operations of the IBN News Network in the interim.

     

    Speaking on this development, Network18 group CEO B. Sai Kumar said “Dilip has played a pivotal role in building our general news network, right from the outset. Today, CNN-IBN, IBN7 and IBN-Lokmat are benchmark brands in the general news space and Dilip has contributed significantly to laying such a strong foundation for the future. We thank him for his invaluable contribution and commitment to the group.”

     

    Commenting on this, IBN News Network editor-in-chief Rajdeep Sardesai added “Dilip’s passion and leadership has been instrumental in making the IBN News Network into one of the most trusted news voices in the country today. He has been a great colleague and we wish him the very best for his future endeavors.”

     

    N. Dilip Venkatraman added “The past few years have been one of the most fulfilling and exciting phases of my professional career. I’m thankful to all my colleagues who have been a part of this enriching journey and I now look forward to taking on newer challenges.”

     

    Venkatraman has over two decades of corporate experience and prior to joining TV18, he held leadership positions at the India Today Group and Zee Network. Venkatraman is a graduate in public administration and holds management qualifications from IIM Bangalore and Harvard Business School.

  • TV18’s national news biz achieves break even in FY’12

    TV18’s national news biz achieves break even in FY’12

    MUMBAI: The national news business of TV18 Broadcast continues to be operationally profitable, even if the bottom line is in red. The company said that the national news business of TV18 Broadcast has attained break-even status while losses continue to kick in from regional news operations.

    General News (CNN-IBN, IBN7 & 50% of Lokmat)

    TV18’s general news operations on a combined level posted an operating loss of Rs 17 million for the fourth quarter, narrowing it from Rs 22 million in the earlier year. However, this is marginally higher than the fiscal-third quarter when the operating loss was Rs 16 million.

    Revenue rose to Rs 916 million, from Rs 705 million in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

    For the full-fiscal, revenue stood at Rs 3.03 billion, up from Rs 2.52 billion a year ago. The operating loss stood at Rs 44 million, narrowing from Rs 122 million in FY’11.

    “Our general news operations performed particularly well in a highly competitive market and our revenues for the full year grew by 20 per cent. Our national news operations are now break-even,” the company said.

    Business News (CNBC TV18 and CNBC Awaaz)

    Operating profit from the business news segment for the final quarter of the fiscal has narrowed to Rs 157 million, from Rs 289 million a year ago.

    Revenue stood at Rs 1.03 billion, up from Rs 950 million.

    For the full-fiscal, revenue tood at Rs 3.32 billion, up from Rs 3.06 billion a year ago. Operating profit was down to Rs 604 million, from Rs 880 million.

    “Business news operations delivered a strong quarter driven by the Union Budget quarter. Our flagship coverage of key events such as the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos in January and programming around the Union Budget in February and March as well as coverage on the Budget Day itself was very well received by our audiences,” the company said.

    TV News biz as a whole (CNBC TV18, CNBC Awaaz, CNN IBN and IBN7)

    On a standalone basis, TV18 posted a net loss of Rs 83 million for the quarter compared to Rs 114 million a year ago.

    Income from operations jumped to Rs 1.92 billion, from Rs 688 million. Advertising revenue stood at Rs 1.48 billion (from Rs 641 million), while subscription revenue was Rs 321 million, up from Rs 38 million.

    Operating expenses jumped to Rs 1.77 billion, from Rs 687 million as its spend on marketing, distribution and promotional expenses and production expenses surged almost three times.

    The company has not provided the financial results of Lokmat18, where it holds 50 per cent stake and Lokmat the remaining half, separately this time.

    Infotaiment (History18)

    The operating loss from intotainment channel History18 (AETN18 is a 50:50 JV between A&E TV Network and TV18 which runs History18) stood at Rs 154 million.

    Revenue from infotainment channel History18, which was launched in the third quarter of the fiscal, stood at Rs 63 million.

    TV18’s combined operating loss from news operations and infotainment was Rs 14 million, reversing from a profit of Rs 259 million in the earlier-year quarter. Revenue grew to Rs 2.01 billion compared to Rs 1.65 billion a year ago.

    Consolidated results

    On a consolidated basis, TV18 Broadcast (the name of the listed company) posted a net loss of Rs 334 million for the fiscal fourth quarter, mainly due to new channel launches (Sonic, Comedy Central and Colors HD). The company’s consolidated net loss in the same quarter of the earlier year stood at Rs 132 million.

    Revenue jumped to Rs 5.12 billion, from Rs 2.06 billion a year ago. Advertising revenue (including TIFC and motion pictures) was at Rs 3.12 billion (from Rs 1.64 billion), while subscription revenue stood at Rs 646 million, from Rs 241 million in the year ago period.

    Expenses during the quarter jumped to Rs 5.58 billion, from Rs 1.98 billion.

    For the full fiscal, consolidated net loss widened to Rs 738 million, from Rs 174 million. Revenue stood at Rs 14.23 billion (from Rs 8.04 billion). For the full fiscal, advertising revenue stood at Rs 10.50 billion, while subscription revenue was at Rs 1.90 billion.

    Expenses during the fiscal doubled to Rs 14.72 billion, compared to Rs 7.57 billion in the previous fiscal.

    TV18’s consolidated numbers include 100 per cent standalone and AETN18, 50 per cent share of Viacom18 and 50 per cent share of IBN Lokmat. 

    The company’s shares closed Wednesday at Rs 25.4 on the BSE, up 0.99 per cent.

  • GBN to change name to ibn18 Broadcast

    GBN to change name to ibn18 Broadcast

    MUMBAI: Global Broadcast News (GBN) will be changing the name of the company to ibn18 Broadcast. For this purpose, the members of the company are going to have an extra ordinary general meeting (EGM) on 10 March.

    GBN currently operates English news channel CNN-IBN and Hindi news channel IBN 7. It has already entered into an equal joint venture with Lokmat to launch a Marathi language news channel. GBN is also launching a general entertainment channel (GEC) in a joint venture with Viacom.

    Meanwhile the GBN board has approved a proposal to raise up to Rs 6 billion through qualified institutional placement (QIP). The company has also got FIPB (foreign investment promotion board) clearance to raise up to Rs 5 billion.

  • GBN, Lokmat in JV to launch Marathi news channel

    MUMBAI:Global Broadcast News Limited (GBN), a TV18 group company, has entered into an equal joint venture with the Lokmat group to launch a 24-hour Marathi language news and current affairs channel.

    Indiantelevision.com was the first to report that GBN would foray into the regional news space and would partner with a media company to launch a Marathi news channel.
    The Lokmat Group are the owners of Lokmat which is a widely circulated newspaper in Maharashtra, and other publications including Lokmat Times and Lokmat Samachar.

    “The launch of the Marathi channel is a continuation of the growth momentum gained by GBN since its launch and is in line with the company’s strategy of becoming an integrated media platform both nationally and regionally,” says TV 18 group MD Raghav Bahl.

    Adds GBN joint MD Sameer Manchanda, “We see the regional language space powering the next phase of growth in the Indian television industry. Our partnership with Lokmat will be driven by these opportunities and also be in line with our quest to transform into a full play media house.

    Commenting on the joint venture, Lokmat group chairman Vijay Darda has this to offer. “The joint-venture will combine GBN’s world class standards with Lokmat’s reach and understanding of the Marathi mind. Lokmat already owns the Marathi space due to its intimate connectivity with the Marathi heartland over the last three decades and this relationship will further expand and strengthen this base.”

    Already in the Marathi news space is Zee’s 24 Taas while Star is planning a launch soon.