Tag: SL Narayanan

Sun TV promoters have no intention of divesting stake

MUMBAI: Contrary to what has been reported in certain section of the media, Sun TV promoters Kalanithi Maran and his wife Kaveri Kalanithi have no intention of divesting their stake in the company.

In response to market speculations that Marans were looking to exit the company by divesting their shares to two private equity firms, Sun TV group chief financial officer (CFO) SL Narayanan rubbished reports while addressing the media at the company’s annual general meeting (AGM) in Chennai.

“The promoters have no plans to either divest or dilute their stake in the company. They will not cash out or exit Sun TV,” Narayanan firmly stated.

What’s more, the network is also expecting an increase in subscriptions while the Phase III and IV of the TV digitisation continues, as per Narayanan. Sun TV’s subscription income for the year ended 31 March, 2015 was Rs 738 crore as compared to Rs 644 crore during the previous year.

The company’s ad sales revenue also witnessed a growth of 6.5 per cent at to Rs 1,136.09 crore during the year ended 31 March, 2015 as compared to Rs 1,067.04 crore during the previous year.

Apart from the case that Maran is fighting against charges of money laundering, the Sun TV Network was also in the news for being denied security clearance by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Moreover, according to media reports, Sun TV’s AGM also saw a shareholder raising concerns over the huge disparity in income of Kalanithi Maran and the company’s independent directors. It was reported that Maran and his wife took home a salary of Rs 61 crore each in the year ended 31 March. Juxtaposed to that, Sun TV’s independent directors get a fee of up to Rs 26,000.

Despite the trials and tribulations that the company has been facing over the last few months, Narayanan remained optimistic about the company’s future. “We have been through difficult times and will come out completely unscathed. I am confident, at the end, truth will prevail and we will come out (with) flying colours,” he said.

September 25, 2015
Sun TV to move HC on denial of permission to bid for FM Phase III auctions

NEW DELHI: The Sun TV Group is planning to move the High Court in Delhi or Chennai on Monday (20 July) to challenge the denial of permission to Red FM to bid in Phase III of FM auctions.

Sun Group chief financial officer SL Narayanan told Indiantelevision.com that the Group had received a formal communication from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry on night of 16 July that it would not be allowed to bid in view of pending cases against the Maran brothers.

Narayanan said that the Group had so far refrained from commenting as “we do not want to fight in the media,” but was not reacting as the Ministry had given it a cause of action for a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution.

The list of 21 bidders, which had got the go-ahead on 15 July did not contain the name of Red FM, which is a strong contender.

Narayanan also said that the cases against the Marans were not linked to security issues and had in any case not been concluded. Further, he said that a company could not be asked to close down merely because it had some cases pending against it.

Expressing his gratitude to the manner in which the Indian media had taken up the cause of freedom of the press on behalf of Sun, he said that no plans had been drawn up for moving the Courts on Sun TV since there was no cause for action as the government had so far failed to send any communication relating to the security clearance issue pending with the Home Ministry.

He was particularly grateful to Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) president Uday Shankar and Association of Radio Operators in India’s (AROI) Uday Chawla for writing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as Home Minister Rajnath Singh and I&B Minister Arun Jaitley.

In addition, political parties Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and PMK had also issued statements condemning the delay by the Government in taking a decision.

July 17, 2015
Sun TV slams reports about stake sell to Reliance Industries

MUMBAI: Kalanithi Maran owned Sun TV network has slammed media reports suggesting a possible sell out to Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Limited (RIL).

As was reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, media reports published on 20 March, 2015 claimed a possible takeover of Sun TV by Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) had sought clarification from both the companies, which are listed on the bourse.

Responding to the clarification notice from BSE, Sun Group CFO SL Narayanan said, “There is absolutely no truth in the news report that Sun TV is considering a stake sale.”

Echoing the same, RIL in its reply to the BSE has said, “We wish to state that there is no truth in what a website in question has chosen to write. Do please note that the reporter did not ask us about the facts.”

In a notice to both, BSE had earlier in the day said, “The Exchange has sought clarification from Sun TV Network Ltd and RIL with respect to news article appearing on ET Now on 20 March, 2015 titled “Tehelka reports – RIL considering acquiring Sun TV, RIL officials meeting at Chennai office to work out deal & deal in works for last 3 months.”

March 20, 2015
Sun TV Network signs ‘pay per view’ deal with iTunes and YouTube

MUMBAI: In a major initiative, the south Indian broadcasting giant Sun TV has signed a mega deal with YouTube and iTunes to monetise its vast content libraries. The group’s proprietary content will be available to people across the globe on a ‘pay per view’ basis.

“Sun TV has a wide ranging repertoire of content, with its channels offering almost every genre of entertainment with the exception of sports and business news,” Sun TV group CFO SL Narayanan told indiantelevision.com. He also added that a total of more than 25,000 hours of content would be available for viewing on both the platforms.

In a growing internet world, Sun TV is looking at creating a mark for itself through its variety of programming.

“This initiative positions Sun TV very well and much ahead of the shifts anticipated in buyer behavior with regard to consumption of entertainment services. More and more people are accessing content through mobile devices while on the move and over the internet. We believe that the revenues from these new formats could accelerate rapidly once smart phone penetration picks up in India,” says Narayanan.

Apart from these two distribution platforms, Sun TV has also inked a deal with Mumbai based Purple IFE to license its popular Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu programmes as in-flight entertainment on leading airlines such as Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Air India, Etihad, Jet Airways, Oman Air, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Gulf Air and Qatar Airways.

The broadcaster says these airlines carry a lot of south Indians who would consume its content.

According to industry sources, the network would be looking at making approximately Rs 15 to Rs 20 crore through both the deals depending upon the kind of content that it offers to viewers and its currency.

“What’s called as catch up TV – which is episodes being uploaded as soon as they go on air – has good revenue generating potential as compared to catalogue content which adds to the volumes,” says a media observer. “Many of the TV shows are available on torrent sites online at no cost, which viewers download and watch. Sun TV can optimise its revenues on Youtube if it can attract viewers to its legitimate content – and away from these torrent sites.”

March 19, 2014