ITV

Tag: Sun TV

  • “Govt. should come up with clear, transparent security clearance guidelines:” Dr Subhash Chandra

    “Govt. should come up with clear, transparent security clearance guidelines:” Dr Subhash Chandra

    MUMBAI: The growing number of television channels and the recent debate over the security clearance of Kalanithi Maran owned Sun TV Network has led the ‘Big Daddy’ of Indian television to come out and speak about ownership and security guidelines of the mushrooming channels.

     

    Essel Group chairman Dr Subhash Chandra said, “From the beginning, I have been of the view, which I mentioned during the UPA 1 regime to Priyaranjan Das Munshi and Dr. Manmohan Singh that licences should not be issued without proper checks.”

     

    According to Chandra, news channel licences should be scrutinized in the manner that the Reserve Bank of India scrutinizes applications before issuing any licence in financial service. “They go to the extent of finding out the ultimate source of funding as well as cleanliness of people involved and check them out before issuing licence,” he informed. 

     

    Chandra has been actively speaking about having a strict and clear guideline before issuing licences from 2001-2006. “But because no one was listening to my point of view, I decided to then remain dormant and listen to the government’s point of view,” he laughed off. 

     

    Ten days ago, Chandra had tweeted rather sensationally saying, “I will not be surprised if for some TV stations, the final money is coming from Dawood Ibrahim.” He feels that the system prevalent currently doesn’t go even one layer beyond what the person has submitted. 

     

    The minimum amount required for starting a news channel today is Rs 5 crore. “As per the guidelines today, the check is done on the person submitting the money. No one tries finding out where the money is coming from. This is eroding our credibility as media,” he said.  

     

    Chandra is of the opinion that the time has come to have strict, clear and transparent guidelines, which will expose the corporate veil and go to the real source of funding. “The government is not doing anything on the issue of media ownership and then says that all media is wrong,” he added. 

     

    Pointing out that no one so far has debated on the issue, he said, “I want the debate to be triggered and then the decision can be taken collectively.”

     

    Calling out to the government to check entities through clear guidelines, he said, “Those who are clean will come out clean, but the government hasn’t checked anyone. We are open to such scrutiny ourselves.”

     

    Stressing on the fact that not having clear security guidelines compromises with the national and economic security, Chandra said, “I want to see clean money coming into the sector.”

  • Den denies pirating Sun TV signals in Gurgaon & Ghaziabad

    Den denies pirating Sun TV signals in Gurgaon & Ghaziabad

    NEW DELHI: Den Networks has denied that it is distributing the signals of Sun Distribution Services Pvt. Ltd. (Sun) meant for Delhi, in Gurgaon and Ghaziabad as well.

     

    This assertion was made by Den counsel Gaurav Kaushik in the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Arbitration Tribunal (TDSAT) in response to an application filed by Sun.

     

    Listing the matter for 13 August, TDSAT chairman Justice Aftab Alam and members Kuldip Singh and B B Srivastava gave Den the option to file a reply to the application.

     

    The miscellaneous application was filed by Sun, which is the respondent in the pending case by Den.

     

    Sun alleged that the petitioner Den was indulging in piracy of its signals in as much as though under the interconnect agreement, it is authorised to transmit the signals only within the territory of Delhi, but it was transmitting Sun’s signals in Gurgaon and Ghaziabad, that is beyond the area under the interconnect agreement.

  • Q1-2016: Sun TV results sunny; PAT up 19%; ad revenue up 16%

    Q1-2016: Sun TV results sunny; PAT up 19%; ad revenue up 16%

    BENGALURU: Despite being in trouble recently with the Ministry of Home Affairs over security clearance for its channels, the Marans’ media behemoth Sun TV Network Limited (Sun TV) reported 9.1 per cent growth in standalone revenue (Total income from operations or TIO) in Q1-2016 (quarter ended 01 June, 2015) at Rs 691.09 crore as compared to the Rs 633.58 crore in Q1-2015 and 26 per cent more than the Rs 548.58 crore in Q4-2015. The company’s advertisement revenue in the current quarter increased 16 per cent to Rs 323.89 crores.

     

    The company reported 19.1 per cent higher profit after tax (PAT) in the current quarter at Rs 197.28 crore (28.5 per cent margin) as compared to the Rs 165.64 crore (26.1 per cent margin ) in the corresponding year ago quarter. PAT in the immediate trailing quarter (Q4-2015) was 2.8 per cent higher than Q1-2016 at Rs 202.99 crore (37 per cent PAT margin)

     

    PAT in Q1-2016 would have been higher, but for the operating loss of Rs 56.61 crore by the company’s IPL franchisee SunRisers Hyderabad in the current quarter. The company’s Broadcasting segment reported EBIDTA of Rs 465.77 crore (78.3 per cent margin) on revenue of Rs 594.54 crore in Q1-2016. The company’s EBIDTA was Rs 409.61 crore (59.21 margin) because of the negative EBIDTA by Sun TV’s SunRisers segment.

     

    Note: 100,00,000 = 100 Lakhs = 10 million = 1 crore

     

    All figures in this report are standalone.

     

    The company’s subscription revenues continued to grow with cable TV revenue growing q-o-q by about 13 per cent and DTH revenue growing q-o-q by nine per cent. 

     

    The board of directors of the company has declared an interim dividend of Rs 6 (120 per cent) per equity share of face value Rs 5 per equity share.

     

    Let us look at the other numbers reported by Sun TV

     

    Sun TV’s total expenses (TE) in the current quarter at Rs 412.10 crore (59.6 per cent of TIO) was 1.8 per cent more than the Rs 405.00 crore (63.9 per cent of TIO) in Q1-2015 and 56.3 per cent more than the Rs 263.74 crore in Q4-2015.

     

    The company’s TE in Q1 includes IPL Franchisee of Rs 85.05 crore (12.3 per cent of TIO), which is a non-recurring item during the other three quarters of the year. Sun TV’s ‘Other Expenditure’ (OE) is a major expense head that has changed q-o-q by a huge margin. OE in Q1-2016 at Rs 91.65 crore (13.3 per cent of TIO) declined 1.8 per cent as compared to the Rs 93.33 crore (14.7 per cent of TIO) in Q1-2015, but was more than three times (3.2 times) the Rs 28.26 crore (5.2 per cent of TIO) in Q4-2015.

     

    Sun TV’s Employee Benefit Expense (EBE) in Q1-2016 increased 19.1 per cent to Rs 54.51 crore (7.9 per cent of TIO) as compared to the Rs 45.77 crore (7.2 per cent of TIO) in Q1-2015 and increased 4.5 per cent as compared to the Rs 52.16 crore (9.5 per cent of TIO) in the immediate trailing quarter.

  • ENIL moves HC to postpone FM auctions; case deferred to August

    ENIL moves HC to postpone FM auctions; case deferred to August

    NEW DELHI: Entertainment Network India Ltd (ENIL) has filed a petition in Madras High Court seeking a direction for postponement of the e-auctions for FM Radio Phase III slated to begin from 27 July. 

     

    The petition was filed in response to an interim order passed by the court allowing Sun TV’s FM channels to participate in the auctions while its petition was awaiting a decision.

     

    ENIL, a subsidiary of Times Infotainment Media, is the holding company promoted by Bennett, Coleman & Company, owns Radio Mirchi. In its application, the company said it had no objection to the participation of Sun TV companies in the auctions, but only to the conditions imposed.

     

    “It is the conditional nature of participation that causes harm to the applicant, not the participation per se,” the company said in the petition. “Auctions scheduled for 27 July 2015 may be postponed enabling this court to hear this matter finally and order auctions to take place without any conditionality,” ENIL pleaded.

     

    The Court adjourned the matter to August, while directing Sun TV to file a counter.

     

    Unless the Information and Broadcasting Ministry extends the permission of broadcasters whose licenses are slated to expire on 30 September, they may be forced to go off-air. “This will be a compounded and useless exercise in case the bidding has to be held all over again if the present writ petitions fail and finally the entire process of auctions shall have to be carried out all over again, thereby resulting in wastage of time and resources of the bidders as well as the Government,” the petition said.

     

    As was reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, Sun Group was not given security clearance by the Home Ministry, resulting in its companies approaching the Delhi and Madras High Courts for relief.

     

    In Madras, the Court granted an interim relief to Kal Radio’s Suryan FM and South Asian FM and allowed them to participate in the auction, while directing that the result of the auctions may be kept in a sealed cover and produced before the Court. Today, the Delhi High Court reserved its orders for tomorrow (26 July) on a similar petition by Red FM.

     

    ENIL has said that other bidders are likely to face grave and irreparable injury in case the auctions are allowed to be held with a conditional participation of the Sun TV and its companies.

     

    ENIL also explained that in the event, the e-auction process necessarily entails that each broadcaster shall have a separate computer terminal where it can follow its own progress on whether or not it has won the auction for a particular city or not. Hence to the extent the result is already public and no useful purpose would be served by keeping the results in the sealed cover.

     

    At a later date, the petition said, the results of the auction, inasmuch as they pertain to telling all broadcaster bidders of the outcome with regard to be the other bidders, will be kept under wraps and the bidders may get to know about the successful nature of bids much later, second as the bid prices will determine the Non-Refundable One Time Migration Fee for all existing license holders to pay in order to migrate to phase-III of FM radio, such an order would keep the entire migration process in suspended animation, thereby leading to a complete chaos and uncertainty about the future of the present licensees. 

  • Regional TAM: Malayalam GEC genre witness 7% growth

    Regional TAM: Malayalam GEC genre witness 7% growth

    MUMBAI: In the south general entertainment channel (GEC) space, it was the Malayalam GEC genre that saw maximum growth. The genre rose by seven per cent recording 1,682 GRPs, up from 1,568 GRPs that it had registered in week 28.

     

    In week 29 of TAM TV ratings, Asianet garnered around four per cent of its viewership levels registering 901 GRPs, up from 866 GRPs. Mazhavil Manorama captured the second position with 257 GRPs, down from 259 GRPs. While, Surya TV garnered 29 per cent of growth recording 255 GRPs, up from 198 GRPs.

     

    To achieve its average threshold level in week 29, Tamil GEC genre observed the second slot in the category. Despite shedding numbers, Sun TV continued to dominate the chart with 1178 GRPs, down from 1201 GRPs. Sun TV’s fall was Vijay TV and Z Tamil’s gain. The channels notes 395 GRPs, up from 341 GRPs and 129 GRPs, up from 125 GRPs at number two and third respectively.

     

    Z Telugu has been on a growing trend and witnessed a rise of eight per cent in viewership levels with a leading position in the Telugu GEC genre. The channel marked 555 GRPs, up from 512 GRPs. Gemini garnered second position from its third spot last week with a rise of 13 per cent in viewership levels. It scored 551 GRPs, up from 489 GRPs followed by ETV with 426 GRPs, up from 402 GRPs at number three.

     

    Kannada GEC genre stood at the bottom most position with 1,441 GRPs, down from 1,445 GRPs. Udaya TV witnessed a minimal rise in viewership and scored 482 GRPs, up from 471 GRPs. On the other hand, Colors Kannada at number two reported 402 GRPs, down from 421 GRPs. Suvarna stood at number three with 256 GRPs, up from 253 GRPs.

  • Sun Group challenges denial of permission to bid for FM Phase III auctions in Chennai & Delhi High Courts

    Sun Group challenges denial of permission to bid for FM Phase III auctions in Chennai & Delhi High Courts

    NEW DELHI: The Sun Group’s challenge to denial of permission to participate in auction for Phase-III of FM radio broadcasting licences is expected to be heard both by the Madras and Delhi High Courts on 21 July, 2015. 

     

    The Group, in the petitions filed today (20 July), has also sought a stay on the order of the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry in this regard. The Ministry had last week issued a list of 21 bidders, which did not include the Group’s Red FM, and then sent a formal communication to the Group on 15 July that it had been denied permission. 

     

    The Court has been asked to direct the Centre to permit Sun Group to migrate to the Phase-III regime by allowing it to resubmit the application dated 20 March, 2015 to participate in the auction.

     

    When asked how case on a similar issue could be filed simultaneously in two High Courts, a spokesperson of Sun Group said the petitions have been filed by different companies which are part of the Group.

     

    A set of six writ petitions, which include three each by the company and the shareholders, has sought permission to resubmit its application to participate in the tender.

     

    The petitions also said the company was not involved in any dispute with the nation’s security, nor had it broadcast anything that affected the security of the nation.

     

    The petition alleges that the order denying permission had been issued “carelessly, with total non-application of mind and in a cavalier fashion, totally unmindful of its consequences and repercussions not only on Sun TV but also on the entire broadcasting and media industry.”

     

    Apart from the denial to participate in Phase III FM auctions, the order also implied that the sister companies of the Sun Group would be compelled to close down FM radio stations, totalling 45 across the nation, the petitioners said.

     

    “Non-inclusion of the company’s name on the list is nothing but closing the entire FM stations run by it for extraneous, illegal and mala fide reasons,” the petitions said.

     

    It has pointed out that the Indian Telegraph Act does not make any mention of security clearance, and licence can be terminated or denied only if there is violation of the terms of the agreement including any defaults in payment.

     

    Clause 2.2(b) of the Information Memorandum and Clause 3.2(b) of the Notice Inviting Application says only a company controlled by a person convicted for an offence involving moral turpitude or money laundering or drug trafficking or terrorist activities or is declared as insolvent will not be eligible to apply. The petitioners said there was nothing in the rules to deny permission the the Sun Group, which is controlled by the Maran brothers.

     

    Some financial cases – with no relation to the nation’s security – are pending against the two brothers but nothing has been proved, a Sun Group spokesperson told Indiantelevision.com.

  • Sun TV to move HC on denial of permission to bid for FM Phase III auctions

    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.

  • TAM: Kannada GECs sole regional genre to witness rise

    TAM: Kannada GECs sole regional genre to witness rise

    MUMBAI: In week 28 of TAM TV ratings, Kannada was the only general entertainment channel (GEC) genre to witness a six per cent growth in viewership levels compared to last week. 

     

    Udaya TV garnered a rise of 12 per cent with 471 GRPs, up from 421 GRPs. Colors Kannada at number two, observed a growth by five per cent in viewership levels with 421 GRPs, up from 399 GRPs. Suvarna TV maintained its third slot with 253 GRPs, down from 248 GRPs.

     

    All other GECs witnessed a drop in viewership levels. 

     

    Despite shedding numbers and witnessing a six per cent drop in the viewership, Sun TV from the Tamil genre was the top contributor with 1201 GRPs, down from 1277 GRPs. Vijay TV noted a drop of seven per cent drop and registered 341 GRPs, down from 366 GRPs. Z Tamil stood at number three with 125 GRPs, down from 128 GRPs. 

      
    Overall, the Malayalam GEC genre witnessed a drop of five per cent in viewership levels in this week. Asianet was the most affected channel with seven per cent drop in viewership levels. It reported 866 GRPs, down from 928 GRPs. Mazhavil Manorama at number two recorded 259 GRPs, down from 266 GRPs. Lastly, Survya TV observed 198 GRPs, down from 205 GRPs at number three.

     

    The Telugu GEC genre witnessed a drop of four per cent in viewership levels in week 28. Z Telugu witnessed a growth of four per cent in viewership levels and garnered leading position among the Telugu GEC genre. It noted 512 GRPs, up from 493 GRPs. Maa TV secured the second position with a drop of three per cent in viewership levels and registered 494 GRPs, down from 508 GRPs. Gemini dropped to the third spot from its leading position with a seven per cent fall in the viewership and recorded 486 GRPs, down from 521 GRPs.

  • MIB seeks Home Ministry reply on Sun TV case; SC to hear 2G case against Marans on 25 July

    MIB seeks Home Ministry reply on Sun TV case; SC to hear 2G case against Marans on 25 July

    NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has sought a detailed report from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on the reasons for denial of security clearance to Sun TV Network channels.

     

    Noting that the reasons given by the MHA in an earlier communication were vague, an MIB official said that it would need to know full details in the event of Sun TV moving the courts on the issue.

     

    The MIB had earlier written to the Home Ministry seeking the reasons for denial of security clearance to the Sun TV network promoted by Kalanithi Maran and his brother Dayanidhi Maran against whom other cases are also pending. However, the official said that the reply was vague and hence more details had been sought in view of a possible challenge in court.

     

    The MHA had rejected the opinion of Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi that security clearance can be granted as agencies are probing cases related to corruption and not security. Hence, he said, corruption cases cannot be the ground to deny security clearance. The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) is also learnt to have told the two ministries to sort this out among themselves.

     

    Meanwhile, on 25 July the Supreme Court will hear the petition of Sun TV whose assets are threatened to be attached in the 2G-related scam. 

     

    Chief Justice H L Dattu, while hearing the petition, asked the specially appointed prosecutor in the scam not to proceed against the firm till then. 

     

    Kapil Sibal, who appeared for the beleaguered firm of the Marans, sought injunction against attachment, stating that Rs 14,000 crore worth of assets are involved. 

     

    The Chief Justice accepted his argument that only the Supreme Court Bench monitoring the 2G affairs was competent to hear the case. 

  • TAM TV Ratings: Sun TV tops regional genre

    TAM TV Ratings: Sun TV tops regional genre

    MUMBAI: The regional genre observed maximum traction coming from the Tamil general entertainment channel (GEC) space in the week 27 of TAM TV ratings. The genre witnessed a rise of 2 per cent in viewership levels in this week.

     

    Registering a 4.5 per cent rise in the viewership level from the previous week, Sun TV was the top contributor of the genre as it registered 1,277 GRPs, up from 1,221 GRPs. Vijay TV spotted the second position with 366 GRPs, up from 346 GRPs followed by Z Tamil which noted 128 GRPs, up from 124 GRPs.

     

    Overall Malayalam GEC genre witnessed a rise of 7 per cent in viewership levels in this week. Asianet and Mazhavil Manorama were the major contributors with 4 per cent and 19 per cent rise respectively. Asianet at number one reported 928 GRPs, up from 890 GRPs followed by Mazhavil Manorama which registered 266 GRPs; up from 224 GRPs. Surya TV garnered the third spot with 205 GRPs, up from 196 GRPs.

     

    In the Telugu space, Maa TV dropped to the second spot from its leading position with a drop of 8 per cent in viewership, this week. Gemini with 521 GRPs took the leading position with a rise of 3 per cent in viewership levels.  Maa TV recorded 508 GRPs, down from 555 GRPs. Z Telugu stood at number three with 493 GRPs, up from 460 GRPs.

     

    Lastly, the Kannada GEC category has maintained its viewership threshold level with a minimal drop this week. Udaya TV garnered 5 per cent rise in viewership this week when compared to last week and registered 421 GRPs, up from 402 GRPs. Colors Kannada spotted the second position with 399 GRPs, down from 404 GRPs. Suvarna TV maintained its third slot with 248 GRPs, down from 251 GRPs.