ITV

Tag: Lokmat Group

  • IBN Lokmat Q3 net loss widens to Rs 41 mn

    IBN Lokmat Q3 net loss widens to Rs 41 mn

    MUMBAI: IBN Lokmat, the 50-50 JV between TV 18 Broadcast and Lokmat Group, has finished another quarter in the red with the net loss widening to Rs 41.2 million for the quarter ended 31 December 2011.

    The company, which runs 24-hour Marathi news channel IBN Lokmat, had reported a net loss of Rs 34 million in the earlier year.

    Revenue from operations fell 10.42 per cent to Rs 43 million compared to Rs 48 million in the year ago period. Operating expense for the quarter also increased to Rs 71 million, from Rs 64 million in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

    The increase in expense was mainly because of the hike in marketing costs during the quarter to Rs 29 million. Staff costs for the quarter remained flat at Rs 21 million, while production cost came down 10 per cent to Rs 20 million.

    IBN Lokmat‘s Ebitda loss for the quarter has also gone up to Rs 27 million, from Rs 19 million a year ago.

  • Marathi new channels have potential to grow

    Marathi new channels have potential to grow

    NEW DELHI: Even if Marathi viewers understand Hindi with equal ease, the future is bright for Marathi TV news channels. And the reason behind this is that Hindi news channels fail to meet the needs of a Marathi viewer.

    Marathi TV news editors believe that viewers of Maharashtra have an appetite for hard news, which the national news channels lag behind in the state.

    Talking at the 4th News Television Summit, Star Majha editorial head Rajiv Khandekar and IBN Lokmat News editor Mandar Phanse agreed that the sensational and trivial content served by Hindi news channels is not digested by the Marathi viewer.
         
      Khandekar started the discussion saying that all the three 24-hour Marathi news channels – Star Majha, IBN Lokmat and Zee 24 Taas – strictly adhere to “news and meaningful programming”.

    “We don’t show bhoot-pret stuff on our channel, and neither sensationalise stories. Our programming also is focused on value addition, in terms of education, religion etc,” Khandekar said.

    Phanse said Marathi news channels have to focus on politics and other issues. “There are so many issues within the state and we don’t need to drift focus. IBN Lokmat has made an impact with its programming.”

    Talking about the financial aspects and business model of the channels, both agreed that being a part of a group helped in many ways. They don’t need to spend much on carriage as they are part of the bouquet; they can also get the national and international feed easily and the wide network of bureaux helps in news gathering operations.

    Star Majha is a part of MCCS, which also operates Star News (Hindi) and Star Anand (Bangla). Zee 24 Taas, on the other hand, is part of Zee News Ltd, which has Hindi news channel Zee News and many regional language news channels. IBN Lokmat is a JV between Lokmat Group and IBN18, which runs CNN IBN and IBN7.

    Phanse and Khandekar said revenues were not accurately tapped as their channels lacked in proper marketing and promotions.

    “A properly marketed Marathi news channel can attain break-even in less than three years. But the problem is our channels are not marketed well,” Phanse agreed.

    When questioned about the scope for more news channels in the same space, Khandekar cited examples of local cable channels. “In towns like Sholapur and Kolhapur there are 24-hour cable news channels. Actually, Maharashtra is so diverse that there can be news channels for specific regions – Vidarbha, Marathwada and Nagpur – and all can flourish,” said Khandekar.

    Currently, apart from these three channels, public broadcaster DD Sahyadri, ETV Marathi, Saam Marathi and Mi Marathi telecast news capsules.

  • IBN Lokmat Q3 net loss at Rs 30 million

    IBN Lokmat Q3 net loss at Rs 30 million

    MUMBAI: IBN Lokmat continues to be in losses even as it is close to completing three years.

    A joint venture between IBN18 and Lokmat Group, the Marathi news channel has posted a net loss of Rs 30 million for the three-month period ended December 2010. IBN Lokmat had reported a net loss of Rs 40 million in the year-ago period and Rs 60 million in the trailing quarter.

    Revenue has gone up to Rs 50 million, up from Rs 40 million in the year-ago period, as it coincided with the festive season. In the trailing quarter, the company reported a revenue of Rs 30 million.  
         
    IBN Lokmat has not been able to limit quarter expenses, which are at Rs 70 million in the quarter. The figure was same in the year-ago period as well as in the trailing quarter.

    The channel, however, reduced its Ebitda loss to Rs 20 million from Rs 30 million in the corresponding quarter of previous fiscal and Rs 40 million in the trailing quarter.

    IBN Lokmat was launched in March 2008 and faces tough competition from both Zee 24 Taas and Star Majha.
     

  • IBN Lokmat revenue stagnates, net loss widens

    IBN Lokmat revenue stagnates, net loss widens

    MUMBAI: Raghav Bahl is finding the regional language news space a tough nut to crack. Even after spending more than two years in the market, IBN Lokmat is in operating losses while revenue is showing signs of stagnating.

    Set up as the joint venture of IBN18 and Lokmat Group, the Marathi news channel has posted a net loss of Rs 60 million for the three-month period ended September 2010. IBN Lokmat had reported a net loss of Rs 50 million in the year-ago period and Rs 40 million in the trailing quarter.   
         
      Revenue has stagnated at Rs 30 million compared to the year-ago period. In the trailing quarter, the company reported a revenue of Rs 40 million.

    IBN Lokmat has not been able to limit quarter expenses, which are at Rs 70 million in the quarter (from Rs 60 million in earlier year).

    IBN Lokmat incurred an Ebitda loss of Rs 40 million in the fiscal‘s second quarter, higher than the earlier year period and trailing quarter (Rs 30 million).

    IBN Lokmat was launched in March 2008 and faces tough competition from both Zee 24 Taas and Star Majha.

  • IBN Lokmat Q1 narrows net loss to Rs 40 mn

    IBN Lokmat Q1 narrows net loss to Rs 40 mn

    MUMBAI: Marathi news channel IBN Lokmat has narrowed its first-quarter net loss to Rs 40 million as revenue jumps over the earlier-year period.

    A joint venture between IBN18 and Lokmat Group, IBN Lokmat had kicked in losses of Rs 70 million in the year-ago period.

    Income from operations jumped 194 per cent to Rs 40 million, from Rs 10 million in the first quarter of FY‘10.

    Revenue, however, has dropped from the trailing quarter which had seen an income of Rs 50 million.  
         
      Operating loss (Ebitda) dropped to Rs 30 million, from Rs 60 million in the prior year. However, it was higher than Rs 20 million posted in the trailing quarter.

    IBN Lokmat‘s expenses remained flat at Rs 70 million, indicating that costs had more or less stabilised.
     

  • IBN Lokmat reduces Q2 loss on back of political ads

    IBN Lokmat reduces Q2 loss on back of political ads

    MUMBAI: IBN Lokmat, the JV company of IBN18 and Lokmat Group that runs a Marathi news channel, has posted a net loss of Rs 54.40 million for the quarter ending September 2009.

    The channel, which was launched in March 2008, had suffered a net loss of Rs 96.46 million in the year-ago period.

    Income from operations has jumped three-fold to Rs 25.51 million, up from Rs 6.22 million.

    The company said that on the back of the Maharashtra Assembly elections, the Q-o-Q revenue of the channel has gone up by 84 per cent.

    Meanwhile, the channel has also managed to curtail expenses to Rs 59.41 million in the quarter, as against Rs 86.39 million in the prior year period.

    Operating loss has dropped to Rs 33.91 million, from Rs 80.17 million in Q2 FY’09.