ITV

Tag: Sun Network channels

  • Tata Sky to pump in Rs 20 billion, expects break even in 5-7 years

    Tata Sky to pump in Rs 20 billion, expects break even in 5-7 years

     MUMBAI: Tata Sky will take 5-7 years to break even and plans to further invest Rs 20 billion to ramp up its direct-to-home (DTH) business.

    “We have already invested close to Rs 10 billion. We will pump in a further Rs 20 billion,” says Tata Sky CEO and MD Vikram Kaushik.

    There is a hardware and content subsidy and it will take us 5-7 years to break even, he adds. Tata Sky charges Rs 3999 for hardware and installation cost while the subscription fee is Rs 300 per month.

    The DTH service provider has a subscriber base of half a million and expects to benefit largely from the ICC cricket World Cup with its free subscription promotional scheme for the next three months.

    It has roped in actor Hrithik Roshan for its new marketing campaign where select viewers would get to watch the World Cup final match with him.

    “We are on course to achieve our target of one million subscribers in our first year of operations. We have activated half a million boxes. The World Cup should give us a spurt as we have interesting value-added features. In the Cas (conditional access system) areas, we have also seen a rise in demand for our service,” says Kaushik.

    Tata Sky hopes to add on the Sun network channels soon. “There was a hearing in the court today. The final hearing will be before the first half of March,” says Kaushik.

  • Saregama to launch entertainment portal

    Saregama to launch entertainment portal

    MUMBAI: As part of its restructuring strategy, India’s oldest music company Saregama is increasing its digital presence. The RPG Group firm is launching an entertainment portal where it will make available music, movies and a whole host of other products.

    Consumers can download music through the portal and movies will be added on. “We will have a subscription and ad revenue model as well. The portal is likely to be called saregama.com. The aim is to make the portal the digital supermarket of entertainment,” says RPG Enterprises – Entertainment Sector president and CEO Subroto Chattopadhyay.

    Saregama generates 15 per cent of its revenues from the digital format. The company’s turnover stood at Rs 1.19 billion during the fiscal ended 31 March 2006.

    Saregama has also digitised 190,000 out of the 300,000 tracks it owns. “We will have the remaining content digitised. We will start work on it by April-May. We have a vast library of content. During the digitisation process, we discovered that we had 30,000 tracks in Tamil. The challenge is for us to go out and make our products locally relevant,” says Chattopadhyay.

    The company is making a re-entry into films and has taken on board BR Sharan of Lalita-ji Surf ad fame and noted film actor-director Aparna Sen who will look after the Hindi and Bangla movies. “We will be producing movies in these two languages initially. We have taken in Sharan and Sen for this purpose,” says Chattopadhyay.

    Saregama is also going to produce TV content in Hindi and Bangla. Sharan, Sen and noted cinematographer Vijaylakshmi will be taking care of the TV content business as well. The company already produces 14 hours of programming per week for the Sun network channels.
     

  • ‘K’ show rate hikes: Balaji expects 8% rise in turnover

    MUMBAI: Balaji Telefilms Ltd. is targeting a 7-8 per cent growth in turnover to around Rs 3.1 billion this fiscal on the back of a rate hike on four of their popular TV serials and an increase in programming hours.

    The investment in capital expenditure for the year is estimated at Rs 250-300 million. “We are adding two more studios this year. The capex is also towards equipments and sets,” a source in the company says.
    Of the four serials that will come up for an upward rate revision, three are expected from Star India and one from Zee Telefilms. Balaji makes a prime time show, Kasamh Se, for Zee TV.

    The paid up capital for Balaji’s wholly owned subsidary company at Sharjah will be Rs 40 million.

    The company is making a serial for ARY which will go on air by the first week of November. “The serial will air four days a week. If demand for our shows increase, we will invest in ramping up our facility. We don’t expect revenue inflows getting reflected this fiscal,” the source adds. The subsidiary company will produce serials aimed specifically at the Middle East market.
    Commissioned programming in the year is eexpected to increase by 7-8 per cent while exposure in the sponsored category will reduce. Revenue from the southern market is also estimated to reduce from Rs 320 million to Rs 200-250 million. Balaji has an exposure on the Sun Network channels.

    “The average revenue realisation per house will see a further rise this fiscal,” the source says. Balaji’s realisation per hour of commissioned shows rose from Rs 1.7 million to Rs 2.2 million for FY06.

    The company is adopting a cautious approach towards movie production. It will not be releasing any movie this year and is taking the co-production route for the next three films. “We are taking safer bets. There is no pressure on us to take risks. Our bottomline will stand even stronger this year,” the source says.

    Balaji Telefilms saw a robust growth in FY06 with topline increasing 43 per cent to Rs 2.8 billion. Net profit rose 44 per cent to Rs 594 million.