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Tag: multisystem operator

  • Hathway Cable & Datacom acquires 61.15 per cent shares of its Nanded subsidiary

    Hathway Cable & Datacom acquires 61.15 per cent shares of its Nanded subsidiary

    MUMBAI: It’s acquisition  and consolidation time in cable TV land. Multisystem operator Hathway Cable & Datacom informed the BSE on 27 November 2024 that it had acquired the balance 61.15 per cent  equity stake ( 20,54,832)  equity shares from the existing shareholders (including Hathway MCN Pvt Ltd  – a Hathway offshoot) of Hathway Cable MCN Nanded Pvt Ltd  (“Hathway Nanded”), a subsidiary of the company for an aggregate cash consideration of Rs. 11 (Rupees eleven only). 

    The acquisition of equity shares is for consolidation of business operations. Post-acquisition, Hathway Nanded has now become a wholly owned subsidiary of Hathway Cable & Datacom.  

    Hathway Nanded, incorporated in India on 11 March 2008, runs cable TV operations and has a presence in Nanded, Maharashtra. It had a turnover of Rs 5.58 crore in FY 2023-2024, Rs 7.08 crore in FY 2022-2023 and Rs 8.79 crore in FY 2021-2022.  

    It informed the stock exchange that one of the transferors (out of eleven), namely  Hathway MCN Pvt Ltd, is a related party of Hathway Cable  and the acquisition is on an arm’s length basis. None of the company’s promoter / promoter group / other group companies have any interest in the above transaction.  No governmental or regulatory approvals were required for the acquisition.

     

  • Don’t place a TV channel under multiple genres, TRAI warns MSOs

    NEW DELHI: Coming down heavily on the practice of listing television channels under multiple genres (LCN), the Telecom Regulatory Authority today told multisystem operators to strictly comply with the regulatory framework in letter and spirit.

    The regulator warned MSOs that action would be taken against MSOs under the TRAI Act if they failed to comply with the regulations in this regard.

    TRAI said that the MSOs have been mandated to create genres in the electronic programme guide (EPG) and to place the channels in the genres as directed by the broadcaster.

    The press note said this makes it easier for the subscriber to find the channel of his or her choice and is therefore consumer friendly.    

    At the outset, the regulator said it had taken several measures from time to time to protect the interests of consumers as well as service providers of the broadcasting and cable services sector. For providing a level playing field to service providers and to ensure orderly growth of the sector, the Authority issues regulations, orders and directions from time to time.

    For the cable TV service  provided through digital addressable systems,  the technology provides for a ‘Electronic  Programme  Guide  (EPG)”  wherein  the channels being carried  on the operator’s network  can  be arranged  and  indexed  in a simple. easy  to understand  manner  so that the consumer  can easily  go through this guide and select the channel  of his choice instead of  flipping  through a ll the  channels. This display of channels in EPG can be genre-wise where all the channels of  a particular  genre  are  listed under that genre.  

    The extant regulatory  framework provides that every  broadcaster  is required  to declare the genre of its channel  and such genre shall be either ‘News and Current Affairs’  or  ‘Infotainment’  or  ‘Sports’  or ‘Kids’ or ‘Music’ or   ‘Lifestyle’ or ‘Movies’ or ‘Religious or Devotional’ or ·General Entertainment  (Hindi)’  or ‘General Entertainment (English)’ or ‘General  Enter1ainment (regional language)’.  The MSOs carrying a channel on its network, has been mandated to place that channel in the genre so declared by the broadcaster of that channel.  The MSO is required to ensure that a ll the channels falling in a particular genre appear in its network’s EPG under that genre. 

    Also Read: 

    English TV news channels to return to BARC fold from midnight 26 May

    NBA urges BARC not to release Republic TV viewership data until LCN issue is resolved

    Republic TV, TRAI, NBA and the case of multiple LCNs

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  • Ortel IPO closes; goes through by a whisker

    Ortel IPO closes; goes through by a whisker

    MUMBAI: It was meant to be a test of whether investors have confidence in the media – and more specifically in India’s relatively nascent cable TV sector. And the verdict is that while retail and HNI investors don’t, institutional investors definitely do.

     

    We are referring to the Ortel Communications IPO which closed today. The regional cable TV MSO which approached the market to raise funds for its growth plans, said in a statement, quoting a Kotak Mahindra Capital spokesperson: ““The Ortel IPO has been successfully closed today. Ortel has successfully raised its entire primary capital requirement as stated in the IPO Red Herring Prospectus, along with providing partial exit to New Silk Route (NSR). The QIB segment has been fully subscribed with participation from  Mutual Funds and Insurance companies.The net under subscription in the HNI and Retail segments will reduce the offer for sale component by NSR.”

     

    Simply translated the latter part of that statement means that NSR – its private equity investor – had decided to cut back on the amount of shares it was offering to the public.

     

    At the time the IPO commenced with the price band at Rs 181-200, 12 million shares were on offer for investors. Six million of these were coming from the NSR stable, while Ortel was issuing another six million freshly. With Kotak Mahindra Capital as the issue manager, Ortel managed to rope in  Axis Mutal Fund and ICICI Prudential came in as anchor investors. Both picked up 2.55 million shares (0.9 million to Axis and 16.55 million by ICCI) for Rs 46.2 crore at the lower range of the price band.

     

    That left about 9.45 million shares on offer to qualified instituitional bodies (QIBs) and retail/HNI investors. Bids were received for 7.12 million shares of these by day three of the issue. Thus the public offer was subscribed up to 0.75 time. Overall,  9.68 million shares, including the anchor component,  were lapped up totally or 81 per cent of the issue. The QIBs totally subscribed to what was available for them.

     

    NSR, which was making a secondary sale, decided to lop off the the  shares it was selling 3.67 million, meaning only 61 per cent of its offer was subscribed. It was aiming to raise Rs 108-120 crore through the offfer.

     

    Ortel, on its part, was was looking at raising  Rs 120 crore through the fresh issue.

     

    The Kotak Mahindra spokesperson told indiantelevision.com that the retail investors don’t really understand the potential of cable TV while institutional investors do. “Hence, the QIB portion has been totally subscribed. Ortel has managed to raise all the growth capital it needs for the next two to three years,” he said. “Hence, retail investors who missed this IPO will have to opt for secondary market purchases.”

     

    Estimares are that Ortel would end up raising around Rs 175 crore crore through the IPO. But the final tally totted up to Rs 175 crore-odd, according to Press Trust of India reports.