ITV

Tag: TV18

  • TV18’s IndiaCast, Disney UTV form distribution JV company

    TV18’s IndiaCast, Disney UTV form distribution JV company

    MUMBAI: India is witnessing a consolidation in the distribution business for television channels. In the latest round, TV18 Group and The Walt Disney Company are floating a joint venture company to distribute their television channels across analogue and digital platforms, including cable TV and direct-to-home (DTH), in India.

    IndiaCast, TV18 and Viacom18‘s multi-platform, global distribution company, will have 74 per cent stake in the JV while UGBL, a Disney UTV firm, will hold the remaining 26 per cent.

    The new entity will distribute 35 channels from the TV18, Viacom18, Disney UTV and A+E Networks, making it the second largest distribution company in terms of bouquet of channels after Media Pro Enterprise India.

    Anuj Gandhi (IndiaCast CEO) will be the chief executive officer of the joint venture company.

    The yet-to-be-named company will be responsible only for distributing the channels in India while international operations will be handled independently by the two companies.

    IndiaCast will move its domestic distribution business into this new venture, while continuing to manage its other content monetisation businesses which include international distribution, ad sales & content sales as well as the new media distribution for TV18, Viacom18, A+E Networks | TV18 and Eenadu channels.

    Disney UTV will also move its domestic distribution activities for its bouquet of all nine channels (Disney, Hungama, Disney XD, UTV Stars, Bindass, UTV Movies, UTV Action and the newly launched preschool channel Disney Junior) to the new entity.

    The joint venture will become operational post the necessary regulatory approvals and will provide the channels to cable, DTH and Headend-In-The-Sky (HITS) platforms in India.

    Says Gandhi, “This partnership will build a strong distribution company that will offer a broader and more diversified range to platforms giving us a foothold across genres – including in general entertainment, general and business news, movies, youth and kids genres. We have had a great first year for IndiaCast and this JV will give our domestic distribution business scale and wider reach.”

    Strength of the JV

    The combined entity will particularly be strong in the youth (MTV, UTV Stars and Bindass) and kids genres (with the Disney and Nick channels). IndiaCast will also get a presence in the movie genre with UTV Movies and UTV Action.

    Says MK Anand, managing director – Media Networks, Disney UTV, "There are some clear and unique synergies in this partnership. The new bouquet is a more comprehensive offering from the viewer’s perspective that gives the combined entity an edge in the marketplace."

    In the news businesss, the JV will have the TV18 group of channels including CNBC TV18, CNN IBN, IBN7 and CNBC Awaaz. The Hindi general entertainment channel Colors will continue to remain as a big driver while the niche channels will give the bouquet a wider presence. It will also have regional-language channels with ETV a part of the pack.

    "IndiaCast fills up the gap of a Hindi movie channel in its bouquet while Disney gets the support of a stronger platform. The Disney UTV movie channels, however, have to gather more steam to match the other two main distribution companies (Media Pro and TheOne Alliance) in this space. The strength of the new JV will be more obvious in the youth and kids space," says a media analyst.

    Sports will be a gap in the bouquet. Only MSM Discovery (which operates through TheOne Alliance brand) has sports in its bouquet with Sony Six and the Neo channels. Media Pro, the JV between Star Den and Zee Turner, does not get to distribute Star‘s (Star Cricket, Star Sports, etc) and Zee‘s sports channels (Ten Sports, etc).

    The fate of the Sun TV group of channels, which are distributed by IndiaCast in the Hindi Speaking Markets (HSM), is uncertain at this stage. If Sun TV agrees, then it will be the first set of external channels distributed by the JV.

    TV18 to hold majority in the JV

    TV18 will continue to hold majority economic interest in both IndiaCast and the new step-down joint venture through a combination of its direct holding through TV18 and the indirect holding through Viacom18. TV18’s effective economic interest in IndiaCast is 75 per cent and 56 per cent in the new venture.

    Says Network18 managing director Raghav Bahl, “The Indian television industry in on the throes of a transformation on the back of digitisation. The distribution joint venture of TV18 and Viacom18 with DisneyUTV is a landmark deal and will help in shaping the future course of the domestic distribution landscape. At TV18, we have always believed that as industry leaders we should not only forge and nurture successful partnerships but also spearhead initiatives that accrue benefits to all stakeholders.”

    Consolidation in the distribution business

    The trend started years ago when Zee Turner and Set Discovery (now MSM Discovery) formed joint venture companies to add strength to their distribution businesses and ramp up subscription revenues. The biggest move in this direction came in mid-2011 when Zee Turner and Star Den merged their distribution businesses to create an elephant that marginalised the smaller players.

    "With this new JV, there will almost be no space for individual players. Media Pro is at the top followed by TheOne Alliance and then the IndiaCast-Disney UTV JV so far as revenue figures go. We will see further consolidation in the industry," says a media analyst.

  • TV18 reports loss from news biz for 2nd successive quarter

    TV18 reports loss from news biz for 2nd successive quarter

    MUMBAI: TV18 Broadcast Ltd’s news business reported net loss for the second straight quarter in the year ended 30 September on a sharp rise in interest cost.

    The Network18 subsidiary’s net loss from news business was Rs 252 million in the second quarter and Rs 78 million in the first quarter of this year. In the second quarter of previous year, TV18 had a net profit of Rs 78 million and in the whole of 2011-12, its net profit was Rs 92 million.

    Its interest cost more than doubled to Rs 365 million in the second quarter from Rs 178 million a year earlier.

    The news segment’s operating revenue and operating expenses were both down by 14 per cent in the second quarter compared with a year earlier. Its operating revenue was down to Rs 1.09 billion from Rs 1.27 billion a year earlier, while operating expenses fell to Rs 952 million from Rs 1.10 billion a year earlier.

    TV18 standalone’s operating profit fell 13.50 per cent to Rs 147 million in the second quarter from Rs 170 million a year earlier.

    Revenues from business news as well as general news businesses were down in the second quarter. Revenues from business news were down 16 per cent to Rs 519 million in the second quarter from Rs 619 million a year earlier and from general news down 11.71 per cent to Rs 603 million from Rs 683 million a year earlier.

    TV18 business news’ operating profit in the second quarter was flat at Rs 169 million against Rs 163 million a year earlier. Its general news division’s operating loss widened in the second quarter to Rs 33 million from Rs 7 million a year earlier. In the first quarter of this year, general news segment had reported an operating profit of Rs 22 million.

    TV18 Broadcast results include financials of news channels CNBC TV18, CNBC Awaaz, CNN IBN and IBN7.

  • ‘We are net positive in our deals with cable TV networks in the metros’ : IndiaCast Group CEO Anuj Gandhi

    ‘We are net positive in our deals with cable TV networks in the metros’ : IndiaCast Group CEO Anuj Gandhi

    IndiaCast Group CEO Anuj Gandhi is spearheading an effort to extract bigger pay-TV revenues from broadcast-carriage platforms as TV18 founder-promoter Raghav Bahl searches for growth engines that would propel his media empire to the top league of broadcasters like Star India, Zee Entertainment and Multi-Screen Media.

    Known both in the broadcasting as well as the cable TV world as CEO of Den Networks, Gandhi has already turned around TV18’s distribution business in the four digitised markets of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. “We will be net positive in our deals with the cable TV networks in the metros,” he says, after sewing the new commercial deals with the multi-system operators (MSOs).

    Gandhi is ready to reap richer harvests for TV18 as India moves towards digital cable TV. “We will be doubling our subscription earnings within three years,” says the man Bahl has spotted to shepherd the growth of IndiaCast.

    Correcting that is no mean achievement. For the full-fiscal ended 31 March 2012, TV18 Group paid carriage fee of Rs 3.5 billion against Rs 3 billion earned as subscription income from TV viewers through broadcast-carriage platforms.

    Hard bargaining over legacy issues including payment of carriage fees have held up agreements between broadcasters and MSOs with just nine days left for the shift to digital delivery of television channels in the four metros of Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata. But Gandhi is confident that there will be no shift in the deadline of 1 November for digitisation in the four metros.

    “We are entering a new era of television history in India,” he insists, with a smile and a twinkle in his eyes.

    In an interview with Indiantelevision.com’s Sibabrata Das, Gandhi talks about broadcasters‘ different nature of commercial deals with direct-to-home (DTH) and cable TV service providers, a drop in carriage fees, the need to correct “legacy loads” and the growth prospects for all the stakeholders in a digitised regime.

    Excerpts:

    Q. How can you say so firmly that there will be no shift in the deadline of 1 November for digitisation in the four metros?
    We are entering a new era of television history in India. The bad news staring at all of us today is losses, distorted business models and bandwidth constraints. If that is going to halt, the turnaround story for all of us will have to evolve around the digitisation script. The good thing is that all the stakeholders realise that hidden value will unlock only if we end the analogue cable regime. The government is also backing digitisation and has taken all the tough decisions. While Mumbai and Delhi are in full gear, we will know about the ground reality in Chennai and Kolkata as we hit the digitisation date.

    Q. But aren’t we just nine days away and all the commercial deals between broadcasters and MSOs are yet to be in place?
    While all of us are sighting a new dawn, we have a lot of legacy issues to correct. And this takes time. But it is only a few deals that are pending, a few knots that have to be tied. I don’t think this by itself will be a strong force to push digitisation behind. We have gone too much ahead to retreat.

    Even DTH had this dark cloud hovering around it in the initial days; Dish TV did not have Star channels when it launched and Tata Sky (a joint venture of Tata Sons and Star India) had to go without Zee channels in the beginning. We will have digitisation by the set date, with or without a few deals.

    Q. Is IndiaCast unable to lock the deal with Den Networks because of historic high carriage fees?
    I can’t comment on any specific deal. But in some cases there is a revenue mismatch between carriage payouts and the subscription earnings of a broadcaster. This may be due to legacy and involves a lot of negotiations to correct. We have done deals with all the other MSOs except Den (Anuj was earlier CEO of Den Networks). We are confident of sewing a deal with them in the next few days.

    Q. What kind of deals are being stitched? Has IndiaCast done more of cost per subscriber (CPS) or fixed fee deals?
    After rounds of negotiations, we have been able to work out most of our deals with MSOs on a CPS basis. But we are not stuck on any single formula. We are also signing fixed fee deals in certain cases.

    ‘There will be no drastic fall in carriage fees. While the TAM towns are rising, the number of channels are also shooting up. But in the digitised markets, we will see a good drop in carriage fees‘
     
    Q. Are CPS deals in IndiaCast’s case easier to ink because subscription revenues have been comparatively lower than the peer networks while carriage payouts have been higher?

    It has been easier to strike CPS deals because we have been late entrants. We are also at an advantage because we are the only major distribution company to have subscription and carriage under one roof. And as we inducted a new team (Anuj Gandhi joined in March 2012) in IndiaCast, the industry knew that we would seek a revenue-carriage correction.

    Q. Are DTH service providers able to do fixed fee deals while cable is moving more towards CPS arrangements?
    We are seeing an interesting trend emerge. DTH has been able to negotiate more fixed fee deals with broadcasters as they have a national satellite footprint. They can bet on their future subscriber growth numbers with some authority. And they benefit from this kind of commercial arrangement as the yield per box comes down in a fixed fee deal.

    Cable networks, on the other hand, are moving towards CPS deals as they address a finite market (city-specific like Delhi or Mumbai or Lucknow) and there is less chance of them growing horizontally (unless acquisitions happen or they compete amongst themselves to grab more territories). Though MSOs want to do fixed fee deals, broadcasters are not comfortable in forecasting the swelling in future cable TV subscriber numbers.

    As we move towards smaller markets involving small-sized cable networks in the second and third phase of digitisation, we would definitely see more CPS deals. These could later evolve into fixed fee deals as cable networks get a fix on what subscriber growth they would be able to register in future.

    Q. TV18 and Network18 on a consolidated basis earned about Rs 3 billion of subscription income while carriage payout was Rs 3.5 billion in FY‘12. Has IndiaCast been able to do net positive deals in these four metros?
    I can’t comment on the financials but we have corrected that legacy and are in a growth phase. We will be net positive in our deals with cable TV networks in the metros.

    Q. How much of the carriage fees the four metros account for?
    For the industry, these four metros would be accounting for about 45 per cent of the total carriage payouts. We would be in line with this trend.

    Q. How much of a carriage fee drop are we seeing in the four digitised markets?
    There will be no drastic fall in carriage fees. There are twin reasons for this. While the TAM (TV ratings agency) towns are rising, the number of channels are also shooting up. And in the digitised markets, we will see a good drop in carriage fees.

    Q. Raghav Bahl had earlier stated that TV18 would have to catch up on the subscription revenue front while the advertising income had reached a level comparable with the competing networks. What sort of pay revenue growth do you forecast?
    The industry will be able to post 20-25 per cent growth in a digitised environment as revenue leakages stop and the pay-TV market gets corrected. IndiaCast would definitely do better than that. We will be doubling our existing subscription revenues within three years. And when we say this, we are not factoring in any new channel that would be added to our distribution bouquet.

    ‘While DTH has been able to negotiate more fixed fee deals with broadcasters, cable networks are moving towards arrangements on a cost per subscriber basis as they address a finite market and there is less chance of them growing horizontally‘
     
    Q. Why TV18 group could capture a comparable advertising revenue after the launch of Colors while the distribution income stayed far behind competing networks?
    Advertising revenues are broadly reflective of the ratings that the shows get. The distribution business, on the other hand, is much more complex and a late entrant will take time to catch up. The challenge is to keep a fine line of balance between subscription and carriage. Growth is also heavily influenced by the ‘legacy numbers’. Digitisation, however, will help correct some of this ‘legacy load’ much faster than what would have been achievable in an analogue cable regime.
     

    Q. The company earns around Rs 300 million from its international content syndication business. What sort of a growth are you forecasting from this segment?

    We will double our revenues from this segment in three years. We will achieve this by expanding our reach and launching in more international markets. Colors already reaches out to 68 countries and we are looking at entering the South African market where we are in talks with the leading DTH operator there.

    We have just launched MTV India in the Middle East. We are planning to take that channel to other markets including the UK (the channel is already there in the US).

    We have also launched a new channel called Rishtey in the UK. The aim is to dig into the fast-growing free-to-air (FTA) market in the UK at a time when the pay-TV growth is shrinking.

    Q. With ETV clocking about Rs 1.1 billion of subscription income in FY‘12, how much of an advantage will the acquisition of these regional-language channels have in multiplying TV18’s consolidated pay revenues?
    ETV will give us a regional footprint, add depth to our distribution strength, help us penetrate the interior markets, and provide negotiating power to ensure that our network channels get carried in the smaller places.

    Q. Has the reworking of the joint venture distribution arrangement with Sun TV Network Ltd helped? Didn‘t TV18 taken the decision of directly handling the distribution of its network channels in the southern states (except Tamil Nadu where Sun distributes) because of the low pay revenues that it used to get despite the JV with Sun?
    Even now we share a good relationship with Sun TV. We distribute the Sun network channels in the Hindi Speaking Market (HSM) while the TV18 channels in Tamil Nadu are distributed by them.

    For the other southern states, we felt that we needed to take direct control of distribution. The fresh deal with Sun has indeed worked well for us.

    Q. Will IndiaCast want to add more channels or follow the OneAlliance model where size doesn’t matter?
    We don’t want to add channels just to get volume growth. We want to have the right mix of channels.

  • India’s Got Talent set to roll with 11 sponsors

    MUMBAI: Colors has completed its sponsorship roster, signing up 11 advertisers for its talent hunt show India’s Got Talent which begins 22 September.

    The broadcaster has roped in Maruti Suzuki as presenting sponsor and Hindustan Unilever as the powered-by sponsor.

    It has got nine associate sponsors on-board including Amul Macho, Chutki (mouth freshener), Bisleri, Apollo Tyres, Toshiba LED TVs, Tata Motors (Commercial Vehicles), Kinder Joy, HomeShop18 and Lux toilet soap.

    Sources in Colors said the official sponsors will consume 70 to 80 per cent inventory and the balance will be to spot buyers at a premium.

    IGT will replace ‘Zindagi Ki Haqiqat se Amna Samna’ which will move to 11 pm slot. It will be up against Dance Ke Superkids and Fear Files (both Zee TV) and C.I.D on Sony Entertainment Television (Set).

    Produced by Freemantle, India’s Got Talent will air every Saturday and Sunday at 10 pm. The show provides a platform to talented individuals to perform song, music, dance, mimicry, gags, mime, puppetry, ventriloquism, and magic.

    Judged by Kirron Kher, Karan Johar, Malaika Arora Khan and Farah Khan, the show is hosted by Manish Paul and Cyrus Sahukar. The winner of the show will get Rs 2500,000 as the prize money.

    Marketing blitz

    Colors is spending close to Rs 70-80 million on marketing the show. Being a big-ticket property, it is being promoted across all platforms.

    As far as below-the-line marketing goes, Colors had organised ‘Hunar-Divas’ in Lucknow, Ahmedabad and Indore. To drive this activity, the broadcaster has partnered Big FM.

    “This is a parade of talent taking place in these cities where 100-150 people will get a chance to showcase their talent. We are aiming to reach out to 3000-5000 people in each of these cities,” Colors marketing head Rajesh Iyer said.

    Since the launch of the show coincides with Ganesh Festival, the channel is promoting the show by putting up banners at major Ganpati Pandals in Mumbai. The show is also being promoted in select schools in New Delhi.

    Promos of the show will run on channels outside the network (Network18 and TV18) with more than 6000 spots on 44 channels in addition to more than 1500 spots on its own network channels.

    Besides television, the broadcaster will roll out ads in leading newspapers across Hindi speaking markets (HSM). IGT hoardings will be put in as many as 700 OOH sites across 22 cities.

    The promos of the show will also be aired during the screening of Kareena Kapoor-starrer Heroine during 3500 shows across 475 screens.

    Colors is creating a roadblock on YouTube on the launch day. It will do a roadblock on direct-to-home platforms Dish TV and Tata Sky for three days from 20-22 September.

    On Dish TV the promos of the show will appear between 8:45–9 pm while on Tata Sky they will air from 9:45-10 pm.

  • TV18’s general news biz posts maiden operating profit in Q1

    TV18’s general news biz posts maiden operating profit in Q1

    MUMBAI: TV18 Broadcast’s general news business, comprising CNN IBN and IBN7, has swung into operating profit for the first time as fiscal-first quarter revenue grew at a healthy 11 per cent under a tough economic climate.

    The segment‘s operating profit stood at Rs 22 million for the three months ended 30 June 2012 against a loss of Rs 5 million a year earlier.

    The segment’s revenues climbed to Rs 679 million from Rs 614 million.

    TV18 Broadcast said operating margin of the general news business improved to 3 per cent in the first quarter from a negative of one per cent a year ago.

    English news channel CNN IBN was launched in December 2005, while Hindi news channel IBN7 is the rebranded version of Channel 7, which was acquired by Network18 in 2006 from Jagran group.

    The business news operations – CNBC 18 and CNBC Awaaz – continued to be TV18 Broadcast’s crown jewel with revenues of Rs 718 million in the first quarter of 2012-13, up from Rs 681 million a year earlier. Operating profit from business news operations increased to Rs 208 million in the first quarter from Rs 175 million in the earlier year.

    The operating margin for business news improved to 29 per cent from 26 per cent. TV18 Broadcast’s operating profit for the overall news business in the first quarter rose 27 per cent to Rs 232 million.

    Network18 MD Raghav Bahl said, “After a strong phase of investment in building our portfolio of channels, TV18 has now entered a consolidation phase and we are focused on creating value for all our stakeholders. Even though the broader macroeconomic environment remains challenging and uncertain, the Indian broadcasting industry is enthused by the enormous opportunity that digitisation presents.”

    “At TV18, we are confident that with our distribution venture – IndiaCast, we are well poised to claim our rightful share of the opportunity. After we complete our proposed strategic stake acquisition in ETV and the proposed twin rights issues (subject to regulatory approvals), we believe that our strong television footprint will propel us to the next phase of our growth.”

    Even though its general news business reported an operating profit, TV18 Broadcast reported a net loss of Rs 78 million in the first quarter against a net profit of Rs 235 million a year earlier, as its interest cost rose to Rs 291 million (from Rs 210 million). TV18 Broadcast was helped in reporting net profit in the first quarter of the previous fiscal by high other income of Rs 337 million compared to Rs 41 million in the quarter ended 30 June 2012.

    In the exit quarter of the previous fiscal, TV18 Broadcast had reported a net loss of Rs 83 million.

    TV18 Broadcast’s revenue from news business rose 7.20 per cent to Rs 1.36 billion in the first quarter from Rs 1.27 billion a year earlier. The company’s income from operations stood at 1.22 billion, up 5.17 per cent.

    Operating expenses for the news business saw a minor jump to Rs 1.14 billion from Rs 1.09 billion a year earlier due to rise in staff costs to Rs 380 million from Rs 320 million. Marketing, distribution and promotional expenses, however, fell to Rs 333 million from Rs 373 million a year ago.

  • TV18’s national news biz achieves break even in FY’12

    TV18’s national news biz achieves break even in FY’12

    MUMBAI: The national news business of TV18 Broadcast continues to be operationally profitable, even if the bottom line is in red. The company said that the national news business of TV18 Broadcast has attained break-even status while losses continue to kick in from regional news operations.

    General News (CNN-IBN, IBN7 & 50% of Lokmat)

    TV18’s general news operations on a combined level posted an operating loss of Rs 17 million for the fourth quarter, narrowing it from Rs 22 million in the earlier year. However, this is marginally higher than the fiscal-third quarter when the operating loss was Rs 16 million.

    Revenue rose to Rs 916 million, from Rs 705 million in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

    For the full-fiscal, revenue stood at Rs 3.03 billion, up from Rs 2.52 billion a year ago. The operating loss stood at Rs 44 million, narrowing from Rs 122 million in FY’11.

    “Our general news operations performed particularly well in a highly competitive market and our revenues for the full year grew by 20 per cent. Our national news operations are now break-even,” the company said.

    Business News (CNBC TV18 and CNBC Awaaz)

    Operating profit from the business news segment for the final quarter of the fiscal has narrowed to Rs 157 million, from Rs 289 million a year ago.

    Revenue stood at Rs 1.03 billion, up from Rs 950 million.

    For the full-fiscal, revenue tood at Rs 3.32 billion, up from Rs 3.06 billion a year ago. Operating profit was down to Rs 604 million, from Rs 880 million.

    “Business news operations delivered a strong quarter driven by the Union Budget quarter. Our flagship coverage of key events such as the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos in January and programming around the Union Budget in February and March as well as coverage on the Budget Day itself was very well received by our audiences,” the company said.

    TV News biz as a whole (CNBC TV18, CNBC Awaaz, CNN IBN and IBN7)

    On a standalone basis, TV18 posted a net loss of Rs 83 million for the quarter compared to Rs 114 million a year ago.

    Income from operations jumped to Rs 1.92 billion, from Rs 688 million. Advertising revenue stood at Rs 1.48 billion (from Rs 641 million), while subscription revenue was Rs 321 million, up from Rs 38 million.

    Operating expenses jumped to Rs 1.77 billion, from Rs 687 million as its spend on marketing, distribution and promotional expenses and production expenses surged almost three times.

    The company has not provided the financial results of Lokmat18, where it holds 50 per cent stake and Lokmat the remaining half, separately this time.

    Infotaiment (History18)

    The operating loss from intotainment channel History18 (AETN18 is a 50:50 JV between A&E TV Network and TV18 which runs History18) stood at Rs 154 million.

    Revenue from infotainment channel History18, which was launched in the third quarter of the fiscal, stood at Rs 63 million.

    TV18’s combined operating loss from news operations and infotainment was Rs 14 million, reversing from a profit of Rs 259 million in the earlier-year quarter. Revenue grew to Rs 2.01 billion compared to Rs 1.65 billion a year ago.

    Consolidated results

    On a consolidated basis, TV18 Broadcast (the name of the listed company) posted a net loss of Rs 334 million for the fiscal fourth quarter, mainly due to new channel launches (Sonic, Comedy Central and Colors HD). The company’s consolidated net loss in the same quarter of the earlier year stood at Rs 132 million.

    Revenue jumped to Rs 5.12 billion, from Rs 2.06 billion a year ago. Advertising revenue (including TIFC and motion pictures) was at Rs 3.12 billion (from Rs 1.64 billion), while subscription revenue stood at Rs 646 million, from Rs 241 million in the year ago period.

    Expenses during the quarter jumped to Rs 5.58 billion, from Rs 1.98 billion.

    For the full fiscal, consolidated net loss widened to Rs 738 million, from Rs 174 million. Revenue stood at Rs 14.23 billion (from Rs 8.04 billion). For the full fiscal, advertising revenue stood at Rs 10.50 billion, while subscription revenue was at Rs 1.90 billion.

    Expenses during the fiscal doubled to Rs 14.72 billion, compared to Rs 7.57 billion in the previous fiscal.

    TV18’s consolidated numbers include 100 per cent standalone and AETN18, 50 per cent share of Viacom18 and 50 per cent share of IBN Lokmat. 

    The company’s shares closed Wednesday at Rs 25.4 on the BSE, up 0.99 per cent.

  • TV18, NDTV sweep largest tally of Ramnath Goenka Awards

    TV18, NDTV sweep largest tally of Ramnath Goenka Awards

    NEW DELHI: The exposure of the 2G Spectrum scam, which has rocked the nation for the past two years, is largely due to the efforts of some journalists who refused to bow before authority and persistently continued their investigations.

    J Gopikrishnan, Special Correspondent of ‘The Pioneer’ has received the Ramnath Goenka Journalist of the Year award for his investigative series on the scam that brought the irregularities to light, and his meticulous follow-ups that ensured the story stayed on the front burner.

    CNBC-TV18 managing editor Udayan Mukherjee won this award in the broadcast sector for his insightful interpretation of the market and its movements as lead anchor, and his coverage of the 2008 financial crisis in India.

    The awards were given away by Vice President M Hamid Ansari at a function in the capital.
    The TV18 group – CNN-IBN, CNBC-TV18, and IBN Lokmat – and NDTV won as many as five awards each. In the print media, the Indian Express won four awards while the Mint and Business Today won two each

    About 30 other journalists in print and the electronic media from all over the country received the RNG Excellence in Journalism Awards.

    Arijit Sen, CNN-IBN, received it for reporting from Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast for reports on fake encounters in Manipur and the plight of a people caught between militants and the state. Hridayesh Joshi, NDTV India, was awarded for series tracing influence of India on Chinese culture and profiling successful Indians in China.

    The award to Prakash Noolvi of TV9 was given for an investigative story on the continuing Devdasi tradition in a region in Karnataka.

    For Environmental Reporting, Arti Kulkarni of IBN Lokmat was awarded for a report on illegal mining in a tiger reserve in Maharashtra.

    The award for Uncovering India Invisible went to Shikha Trivedy of NDTV 24×7 for a story on women who joined the Naxal movement.

    Shaili Chopra of ET NOW received the award for Business and Economic Journalism for reports on the economic crisis and candid interviews with key players.

    Anubha Bhonsle of CNN-IBN with the show ‘Paisa Power Politics’ exposing the relationship between those who fight elections and those who fund it received the award for reporting on Politics and Government.

    Maya Mirchandani of NDTV 24×7 got the award for her interview with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his constituency and for her report on the PM’s meeting with Pakistani President Asif Zardari in Russia.

    In Sports Journalism, the award went to Anjali Doshi of NDTV 24×7 for giving a peep into what cricketers do on tours when they are not playing.

    Archana Sharma of Lok Sabha TV won the award for her programme ‘Honslon ki Udaan’ for her story on visual effects in Bollywood and how the industry is growing.

    Preeti Singh of CNN-IBN got the On-the-Spot Reporting award for her coverage of the floods in Andhra Pradesh, while the Investigative Reporting award went to Rajat Kain of NDTV India for exposing a flourishing gun culture in the heart of Delhi.

    In the print medium awards, the award for Reporting from J&K and the Northeast went to Teresa Rehman of Tehelka for her story on a chilling shootout in Imphal.

    Anshuman Tiwari of Dainik Jagran won the award for highlighting how Delhi was not ready for the Commonwealth Games.

    V P Rejeena of Madhyamam Daily received the award for showing how a village in Kerala has become a city’s dumping ground, while the award for Environmental Reporting went to

    Rahul Chandawarkar of DNA for reporting the environmental degradation in hill stations of Mahabaleshwar, Panchgani.

    Samanth Subramanian of Mint was awarded for the series ‘Unholy Waters’, chronicling the decline of Ganga as it flows through Varanasi, while the award for Uncovering India Invisible went to Maitreyee Handique of the same newspaper for exposing how industries continue to flout safety regulations.

    Puja Mehra of Business Today got the Business and Economic Journalism award for her story on how a dip in confidence was causing Indian consumers to spend less, while Saumya Bhattacharya of the same publication got it for her story on how employees and employers were coping with layoffs.

    For Reporting on Politics and Government, the award went to Maneesh Chhibber of The Indian Express for breaking the Liberhan Commission report on the demolition of the Babri Masjid and his coverage of the Law Ministry.

    Sujith Nair of Malayala Manorama got the award for his story on an official gag order on the media that forced the V S Achuthanandan government to backtrack.

    In Sports Journalism, the award went to G S Vivek of The Indian Express for his coverage of the second edition of the Indian Premier League in South Africa.

    In film and television Journalism, senior critic Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express was awarded for her incisive reports on the world of films and for her comprehensive and witty film reviews.

    Sonal Kalra of HT City received the honour for a series featuring the five most powerful Bollywood couples in their homes.

    Muzamil Jaleel of The Indian Express got the On-the-Spot Reporting award for his coverage of the last days of the Lankan government’s war against the LTTE; while The Indian Express Team won the Investigative Reporting award for a 12-part series that investigated the glaring gaps in the response to the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

    James Astill of The Economist won the Foreign Correspondent Covering India award for his perceptive and prescient reporting and commentary on India: from its water politics to the Maoist insurgency.

  • TV18 posts Q2 net profit of Rs 78 mn from news biz

    TV18 posts Q2 net profit of Rs 78 mn from news biz

    MUMBAI: The news business of TV18 is continuing to show positive momentum. The company has posted a net profit of Rs 78 million for the quarter ended 30 September compared to a net loss (performa basis) of Rs 170 million in the year-ago period.

    TV18 said that the numbers for the previous year and quarters are for IBN18 standalone before implementation of the ‘Scheme of Arrangement’ and hence not comparable.

    The net profit from the news business stood at Rs 230 million for the trailing quarter.

    Operating revenue in Q2 jumped to Rs 1.44 billion from Rs 520 million.Expenditure, however, also doubled to Rs 1.27 billion, as against Rs 590 million that the company incurred in the earlier year.

    TV18’s news business consists of CNBC-TV18, CNBC Awaaz and two IBN18 news channels – CNN IBN and IBN7.

    Operating profit of the company stood at Rs 170 million, compared to an operating loss of Rs 70 million a year ago. This, however, included pre-operative losses of Rs 57 million on account of AETN18.

    TV18 also reported the business news (CNBC TV18 and CNBC Awaaz) and general news (CNN IBN and IBN7) numbers separately.

    In general news, revenue for the fiscal second-quarter stood at Rs 722 million (up from Rs 530 million). However, the company incurred operating loss of Rs 7 million from the segment. TV18 also said that national news operations have achieved break-even and loss is coming from regional news operations.

    In the business news segment, revenue stood at Rs 737 million (from Rs 680 million), while operating profit fell to Rs 163 million, from Rs 210 million a year ago.

    TV18 has a net debt of Rs 6.84 billion as of 30 September.

  • TV18 posts Q1 net profit of Rs 230 mn from news bi

    TV18 posts Q1 net profit of Rs 230 mn from news bi

    MUMBAI: Post restructuring, the news business of TV18 is continuing to show positive momentum. The company has posted a net profit of Rs 230 million for the quarter ended June, compared with a net loss (performa basis) of Rs 190 million in the year-ago period.

    Operating revenue grew 146 per cent to Rs 1.28 billion from Rs 520 million. Expenditure doubled to Rs 1.09 billion, compared with Rs 590 million that the company had incurred in the earlier year.

    Post restructuring, TV18 news business consist of CNBC-TV18, CNBC Awaaz and two IBN18 news channels – CNN IBN and IBN7.

    Meanwhile, operating profit of the company stood at Rs 180 million, compared to operating loss of Rs 70 million a year ago.TV18 said that the numbers for the previous year and quarters are for IBN18 standalone before implementation of the ‘Scheme of Arrangement’ and hence not comparable.

    TV18 also reported the business news (CNBC TV18 and CNBC Awaaz) and general news (CNN IBN and IBN7) numbers separately.

    In general news, revenue for the fiscal first-quarter stood at Rs 620 million, up from Rs 540 million). The company did not report the operating loss from the segment.

    In the business news segment, revenue stood at Rs 680 million (from Rs 640 million), while operating profit stayed flat at Rs 160 million.

    TV18 has a net debt of Rs 6.70 billion.

  • TV18 standalone Q3 net profit at Rs 120 mn

    TV18 standalone Q3 net profit at Rs 120 mn

    MUMBAI: Television18, the company that houses business news channels CNBC-TV18 and CNBC Awaaz, has posted a better third-quarter result due to an upswing in revenues.

    For the three months ended December, TV18 has posted a standalone net profit (after tax and minority interest, before ESOP charge out) of Rs 120 million compared to a net loss of Rs 150 million in the previous year quarter. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 90 million in the trailing quarter.

    Revenue from news operations at Rs 790 million stands 17.91 per cent higher than the year-ago period. For the trailing quarter, TV18‘s standalone revenue was at Rs 680 million.

    Operating expenses for the quarter stood at Rs 560 million (from Rs 510 million a year ago). However, it is much higher than the trailing quarter, which was at Rs 470 million.

    Meanwhile, TV18 improved its operating margins to 29 per cent from prior year’s 25 per cent.  
         
      On a consolidated basis, TV18, which also includes financials of Web18,
    Infomedia18 and Newswire18, has posted a net profit (after tax and minority interest, before ESOP charge out) of Rs 80 million. For the same quarter of the previous year, the net loss stood at Rs 400 million.

    Revenue from consolidated operations went up to Rs 1.47 billion as compared to Rs 1.29 billion a year ago. Expenses stood at Rs 1.27 billion, from Rs 1.20 billion in the earlier year.

    Meanwhile, Web18, the subsidiary that houses all the websites of the group, has seen operational breakeven in the quarter under review. The revenue from operations grew to Rs 220 million, while expenses also remained at 220 million.

    In Infomedia18, the net loss for the quarter stood at Rs 70 million, down from Rs 90 million in the corresponding quarter of previous fiscal.

    Revenue jumped to Rs 360 million (from Rs 330 million), while expenses stood at Rs 410 million, from Rs 380 million a year ago.

    In Newswire18, revenue rose to Rs 100 million, from Rs 80 million a year ago. The company did not disclose net profit (or loss) of the segment. The expenses were at Rs 90 million while operating profit was at Rs 20 million.