ITV

Tag: Zee Punjabi

  • Zee News sees improvement in profits in FY 2013 financials

    Zee News sees improvement in profits in FY 2013 financials

    MUMBAI: By the time Zee News Ltd announces its financials this time next year, it could well be sporting a new name Zee Media Corp. It could well also have merged its news broadcasting business with Essel group publication DNA as proposed by its board (see Zee News-DNA: merger on the cards?). Additionally, it could well also have news and infotainment channels in Rajasthan and Bihar/Jharkhand on air (it plans to launch them in the first half this year) adding to the roster it already runs in Zee News, Zee Business, Zee 24 Taas, Zee Punjabi, Zee News UP, Zee Tamil, Zee 24 Gantalu, and 24 Ghanta.

     

    That could well be good news for any Zee News watcher. But what is better news is the fact that the company has achieved a turnaround of sorts by reporting a profit in Q4-2013 of Rs 6.87 crore. That’s despite a drop in ad and overall revenues in the quarter. Subscription revenues have, however, been buoyant in the period.

     

    Let us look at the Q4-2013 results as against corresponding Q4-2012

     

    Revenues for Q4-2013 stand at Rs 79.06 crore, a dip of 8.43 per cent from last Q4- 2012’s Rs 86.34 crore. Of this, subscription revenues have increased to Rs 22.2 crore as against last quarter’s reported Rs 20.8 crore. Ad revenues have declined to Rs 52.2 crore from Rs 56.3 crore.

     

    Operating costs have significantly dropped to Rs 14.15 crore as against last corresponding quarter’s Rs 21.39 crore. However the overall expenses have surged to Rs 78.05 crore, a rise of over 9.6 per cent from Rs 71.02 crore of the last corresponding quarter especially with its employee benefit expenses rising to Rs 23.2 crore (a rise of 22 per cent annually).

     

    EBITDA for the quarter was disappointing at Rs 4.68 crore as against Rs 18.4 crore reported in the last corresponding period, a dive of over 74 per cent.

     

    PAT for the quarter (Q4-2013) at Rs 6.87 crore is a massive surge of 300 per cent from a reported loss of Rs 3.95 crore in the last corresponding quarter- Q4-2012..

     

    Let us look at the consolidated annual FY-2013 financials vs FY-2012

     

    While total revenues have slipped to Rs 303.81 crore in FY-2013 as against FY-2012’s Rs 307.22 crore, subscription revenues for the full year have surged by over 13.5 per cent to Rs 84.27 crore as opposed to last year’s Rs 74.27 crore. Subscription revenues contributed to 27.7 per cent of the total revenues indicating stronger viewer demand for the channels, while ad revenues standing at Rs 202 crore contributed a majority to the total revenue stream.

    Expenses have risen 5 per cent to Rs 278.23 crore from last year’s Rs 265 crore, with its employee benefit expenses at Rs 87.7 crore increasing by over 17.4 per cent. EBITDA for the full year is reported at Rs 37.54 crore a drop of over 29.6 per cent from last year’s 53.35 crore.

     

    Net profit for FY-2013 has ballooned 109 per cent to Rs 24.17 crore as against FY-2012’s Rs 11.55 crore. The major reason for this surge is the pouring in of funds through sources apart from its core operations including the Rs 4.8 crore dividends it received from its subsidiary Zee Akash News Pvt. Ltd. Its interest cost has narrowed to Rs 8.79 crore as against last year’s reported Rs 10.66 crore. Also the taxation costs have reduced by 3 per cent over the year.

     

    Its online property Zeenews.com has been doing well and gaining traction. Even its microsite for the India Vs Australia series generated close to 2.9 million page views while its Union budget site knocked up 1.3 million page views.

     

    Says Zee News managing director Punit Goenka,” Our subscription revenues have shown a double digit increase and have partially compensated for the revenue constraints from a tepid advertising response in the backdrop of a muted period of growth. Out constant endeavour to bring innovative, quality and unbiased content to the viewer will remain the cornerstone of our programming. We aspire to be the one-stop destination for news in the country by building seamless synergy among the group’s TV, print and digital platforms. Our company is redefining itself in tune with the changing times, laying emphasis on the digital medium and addressing broader viewer tastes.”

     

    Adds Zee News CEO Alok Agrawal,” The Zee bouquet of news channels reached the highest number of people across the country touching over a 100 million viewers the last quarter of the fiscal. The network also had the highest relative share in the same period. It is a testimony to the fact that our viewer oriented and innovative programming has shown results. Our differentiated offering to business news viewers has resulted in Zee Business being a leader in five out of 13 weeks of the quarter. Also we are seeing a significant swing of viewers from English business news to Hindi business news. In the last quarter we expanded our footprint by establishing our presence in burgeoning central Indian states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh with the launch of news and infotainment channel-Zee Madhya Pradesh/Chhattisgarh.”

  • Zee News Ltd’s Q4 Ebitda stays strong, slips into net loss due to Akash Bangla

    Zee News Ltd’s Q4 Ebitda stays strong, slips into net loss due to Akash Bangla

    MUMBAI: Zee News Ltd (ZNL) has slipped into net loss in the fiscal-fourth quarter due to an old investment made in Akash Bangla, but its Ebitda has stayed healthy and beat forecast expectations.

    ZNL has provided for Rs 166.7 million towards diminution in value of strategic investments and provision for doubtful advance share application money given to Akash Bangla. ZNL holds around 18 per cent stake in Akash Bangla, the Bengali infotainment channel.

    The company has posted a consolidated net loss of Rs 39.51 million for the three-month period ended 31 March 2012 compared to a net profit of Rs 66.49 million a year ago. In the trailing quarter, ZNL’s consolidated net profit stood at Rs 99.7 million (after minority interest), even as its advertising revenue had degrown marginally compared to the year-ago period.

    Ebidta for the quarter rose to Rs 184.1 million from Rs 138.3 million, representing a 33 per cent increase. Margins stood at 21.3 per cent.

    The company’s net sales from operations climbed to Rs 859.81 million for the quarter, an increase of 13.8 per cent over the year-ago period.

    ZNL CEO Barun Das said, “We have come out of the economic slowdown stronger than most. Our focus on ad revenues from non-traditional streams has helped us post a better growth compared to the industry which is expected to stay flat or show early single digit growth.

    ZNL’s advertising revenue stood at Rs 562.9 million, up 0.4 per cent YoY. Subscription revenue grew 8.1 per cent QoQ to Rs 208.3 million on better collections by Media Pro.

    “The real growth in subscription revenues was higher as they were booked net of expenses which were necessitated due to formation of Media Pro, which pays subscription revenues to Zee net of expenses,” ZNL said.

    The company reported fourth quarter consolidated revenues of Rs 863.6 million, an increase of Rs 104.42 million over the earlier year. Revenue from other sales and services was at Rs 92 million. This mostly includes the value of inventory of programmes and films of Zee Tamil transferred to Zee Entertainment.

    The company’s total expenses for the quarter under review rose 9.4 per cent to Rs 679.5 million as against Rs 620.9 million a year ago.

    Cost of operations went up from Rs 159.85 million to Rs 200.8 million even as employee benefits cost remained flat at Rs 176.42 million compared to Rs 174.14 million in the corresponding quarter of the same fiscal.

    The revenues for Zee News, Zee Business, Zee 24 Taas, Zee Punjabi, and 24 Ghanta grew at 15.5 per cent for the quarter to Rs 822.3 million from Rs 711.8 million, with Ebidta margins of 28.1 per cent.

    The new business loss for the quarter came down to Rs 47 million for the last quarter from the loss of Rs 108.2 million in the same period last year due to discontinuance of Zee Tamil.

    Subsequent to discontinuance of Zee Tamil, the company has transferred part of inventory of programmes and films related the channel to Zeel of Rs 198.47 million for FY’12.

    Full fiscal performance

    ZNL has posted consolidated full-fiscal revenue of Rs 3072.2 million, an increase of 11 per cent over the earlier year.

    Advertising revenue grew 2.2 per cent to Rs 2 billion during the fiscal while subscription revenue rose just one per cent to Rs 742.7 million.

    Total expenses rose 8.3 per cent to Rs 2.54 billion on account of increase in cost of good & operations and employee cost increasing 19.5 and 7.5 per cent to Rs 703.7 and Rs 744.8 million respectively.

    Commenting on the results, Das said: “Our Ebidta has stayed strong. We continue to be committed to long term growth in all aspects of business. Being on a healthy growth path post demerger of GECs, a series of strategic initiatives are on the cards which will be implemented in due course of time.”

  • Zee News Ltd Q3 net up 61% to Rs 99.7 m

    Zee News Ltd Q3 net up 61% to Rs 99.7 m

    MUMBAI: Zee News Ltd (ZNL) has posted a fiscal third-quarter consolidated net profit of Rs 99.7 million (after minority interest), even as its advertising revenue has degrown marginally compared to the year-ago period.

    Advertising revenue dipped 4.2 per cent as the effect of festival season overlapped with previous quarter. Subscription income, however, grew 3.7 per cent growth.

    ZNL said that the real growth in subscription revenues was higher as they were booked net of expenses.
    “This change was necessitated due to the formation of Media Pro, a joint venture, which pays subscription revenues to Zee, net of expenses. Hence, the numbers are not comparable to those of corresponding period last year,” it said.

    The company posted a revenue of Rs 782.74 million for the three-months ended 31 December, up 5.1 per cent.

    ZNL’s Ebitda margin was at 24.6 per cent, compared to 18.1 per cent in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. This includes the losses from the new business. The margins stand at 33.3 per cent for the existing businesses.

    ZNL had posted a net profit of 618.4 million for the third-quarter of FY’11 on a revenue of Rs 744.44 million.

    The company, which operates the news channels of the Zee brand, said that the corresponding quarter financials are not comparable as it discontinued the Tamil channel Zee Tamil on 31 March last year.

    ZNL chairman Subhash Chandra said, “The Indian economy has been facing headwinds of increased inflation, interest rate hikes and bearish markets forcing the GDP growth forecast to pare down to 7 per cent or so. My faith in the Indian economy for the long term remains intact. While there are as many views of impending slowdown in the economy as there are of bounce back, I remain cautiously optimistic in the short run that the situation is likely to improve in the next few quarters. The Company continues with its focus on innovative growth and I have full confidence that we will be able to come out stronger than most in the current year, in line with the trend of our past performances.”

    He added, “As has been pending for a few years, the media industry has begun to consolidate. This is obvious from the various deals being announced over the past few months. We see this consolidation as a confident step forward towards making this industry more profitable.”

    ZNL MD Punit Goenka added, “While the investment related policy decisions have been under pressure due to current political environment, Parliament’s clearing of cable digitisation signals the establishment’s commitment to make the media industry more efficient. The ad industry, meanwhile, has been hit as the advertisers have increasingly become choosy about their spends. The euphoria of a sustained industry growth which was prevalent at the beginning of the year has been dampened considerably. However, ZNL has shown exceptional operational efficiencies and posted strong financial results for the quarter. Going forward, we hope to maintain the edge in our performance.”

    Ebitda for the quarter under review stood at Rs 192.7 million and profit before tax at Rs 162.4 million. In the previous year quarter, Ebitda was Rs 134.5 million and PBT Rs 103.6 million.

    ZNL’s advertising revenue stood at Rs 518.8 mn for the quarter ended 31 December, as compared to Rs 541.7 million in the year ago period. Subscription revenue for the quarter was at Rs 192.7 million, which constituted 24.6 per cent of the total revenue.

    The expenses of the company stood at Rs 590 million, slightly lower as compared to the year-ago period when the expenses were Rs 609.9 billion.

    ZNL posted Ebitda profit of Rs 249.8 million (225.2 million in the year ago period) from its existing business (Zee News, Zee Business, Zee 24 Taas, Zee Punjabi and 24 Ghanta). The company’s Ebitda loss from new business has come down to Rs 57.1 million (from a loss of Rs 90.7 million in the year ago period) from its new business (Zee 24 Gantalu and Zee News UP).

    ZNL CEO Barun Das said, “We had sensed the slowdown in the industry by the beginning of the last quarter and made adjustments in our operations accordingly. Our top lines and strict vigil on our costs has resulted in our margins being strong at 24.6% despite slowdown, which is likely to be an exception. With the Media Pro initiative settling down, our subscription revenue has shown growth towards the end of the quarter and it is a trend that is likely to continue. We remain confident regarding our ability to grow in the current financial year.”

  • Slowdown halts Zee News Ltd’s expansion plans

    Slowdown halts Zee News Ltd’s expansion plans

    MUMBAI: Television news broadcaster Zee News Ltd (ZNL) has halted its expansion plans due to a slowdown in the economy.

    After demerging from Zee’s entertainment broadcasting business, ZNL had chalked out a plan for more channel launches after spending a year in consolidating its operations.

    “Our focus last year was on consolidation. But for the slowdown, we would have expanded our bouquet this year,” said Zee News Ltd chief executive officer Barun Das in an interview with Indiantelevision.com. 
       
    News broadcasters will have to increase their fleet of channels if they have to scale up their revenues. “It is difficult for established existing channels to post ad revenue growth beyond 10 per cent. Expanding the bouquet and strengthening it is key to a TV news broadcaster’s growth strategy,” said Das.

    ZNL is looking at launching regional news channels but an English general news channel is also on the cards. “It would preferably be regional news channels first but we have not ruled out an English news channel. It all depends on the fund position and the extent of the slowdown. When we are looking at growth, we can’t take the market for granted anymore,” averred Das.

    ZNL is looking at posting a revenue of over Rs 3 billion this fiscal even as it forecasts a sluggish growth for the industry in the next two quarters. The company had reported a revenue of Rs 1.43 billion for the six-month period ended September 2011.

    “The next two quarters are not going to be easy. But we expect to outgrow the market by at least 5 per cent,” said Das.

    ZNL owns and operates seven channels including Zee News, Zee Business, Zee 24 Taas, Zee Punjabi, 24 Ghanta, Zee 24 Ghantalu and Zee News UP.

  • Zee News Ltd posts 19.5% ad rev growth in shaky environment

    Zee News Ltd posts 19.5% ad rev growth in shaky environment

    MUMBAI: Zee News Ltd (ZNL) has posted second-quarter advertising revenue growth of 19.5 per cent but has cautioned that the economic environment is still shaky and could turn worse after the festive spending is over.

    The television news broadcasting company‘s ad revenue for the three-month period ended September stood at Rs 486.5 million compared to Rs 407.2 million a year ago, constituting 61.5 per cent of its total revenue.  
         
      “Given the current market conditions, we have done well. News channels had a dismal second quarter last year and this time the festive season has advanced. Going forward, the ad scenario looks bleak. But we are preparing ourselves for the impending recession and will come out with innovative solutions. Even during the thick of the recession in 2008, we did better than the industry. We expect to outgrow the market by 5-10 per cent,” Zee News Ltd chief executive officer Barun Das told Indiantelevision.com.

    ZNL‘s subscription revenue has de-grown during the quarter due to the transition to Media Pro, a distribution company formed by Star Den and Zee Turner, but would look up in the subsequent quarters. Pay-TV revenues stood at Rs 160.1 million, down 17.5 per cent from the year-ago quarter.

    “The subscription revenue figures showed degrowth as they have been booked net of expenses. This change has been necessitated due to the formation of Media Pro, which pays subscription revenues to Zee, net of expenses. But as things settle down, we should be seeing a growth of 10 per cent in our subscription income,” Das averred. 

    Consolidated net profit stood at Rs 34.82 million compared to Rs 2.24 million a year ago.

    Ebitda was at Rs 85.1 million, up 21.2 per cent from Rs 70.2 million.

    ZNL‘s revenue jumped 28.5 per cent to Rs 791.3 million. This included a one-time transaction of sale of programmes and film rights from Zee Tamil to Zee Wntertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) of Rs 124.2 million. Without this, ZNL‘s revenue would have grown by eight per cent over the year-ago period.

    “The sale will also be captured in the next two quarters of the fiscal,” said Das.

    Operating expenses rose 29.4 per cent to Rs 706.2 million. ZNL said that subsequent to Zee Tamil discontinuance, the company transferred part of inventory of programmes and films related to Zee Tamil. Accordingly, Other Sales & Services as well as Cost of Goods & Operations are higher by this amount.

    The existing news channels (Zee News, Zee Business, Zee 24 Taas, Zee Punjabi and 24 Ghanta) reported Ebitda of Rs 146 million, while Ebitda loss from the new channels was at Rs 60.9 million.
      

  • Zee News Q1 net drops 7.8% on weaker ad rev

    Zee News Q1 net drops 7.8% on weaker ad rev

    MUMBAI: Zee News Ltd (ZNL) has reported a 7.8 per cent fall in consolidated net profit for the fiscal first-quarter, hurt by a dip in advertising revenue as the cricket World Cup and the Indian Premier League (IPL) attracted advertisers.

    The net profit for the three months ended June 2011 stood at Rs 50.9 million, pulled down by a 3.5 per cent drop in advertising revenue as many product categories that advertise on the news channels went through a slowdown phase. The slide was somewhat halted by a control in expenses.

    Said ZNL managing director Punit Goenka, “The new financial year has started slowly, but considering that the industry de-grew, ZNL has done well to match up with Q1 FY11. Incidentally, ZNL had an exceptionally good Q1 in the last year. In this quarter, the monies got diverted to sporting events, thereby upsetting budgets for other genres including news. We had anticipated this slowdown and had planned accordingly.”

    Operating revenue declined 1.8 per cent to Rs 636.6 million from Rs 648.5 million a year ago.

    Expenses also fell 1.3 per cent to Rs 560 million, compared with Rs 567.3 million in the earlier year. Ebitda for the first quarter stood at Rs 76.6 million, 5.8 per cent down from Rs 81.2 million.

    Said ZNL CEO Barun Das, “While ZNL experienced some slowdown in revenues due to some critical spending product categories being under the weather, our cost effectiveness stood us in better stead compared to the industry in terms of healthy balance sheet.”

     
      ZNL‘s advertising revenue fell to Rs 436.4 million, as against Rs 452.2 million.

    Among the expenses, the cost of goods and operations and other expenses fell. However, it was offset by a 14.7 per cent rise in the employee cost.

    ZNL posted Ebitda profit of Rs 139 million from its existing business (Zee News, Zee Business, Zee 24 Taas, Zee Punjabi and 24 Ghanta). However, in the earlier year, Ebitda was stronger at Rs 208.3 million.

    The company, however, managed to narrow the Ebitda loss from its new businesses (Zee 24 Ghantalu, Zee News UP) to Rs 62.5 million. This was mainly because of discontinuation of Zee Tamil on 31 March 2011. In the year-ago period, the Ebitda loss from the new business was Rs 127.1 million.

    The company, however, expects the environment for revenue from the news business to improve. Said Goenka, “Going forward, the news genre looks likely to recover traction with eclectic properties that would be seen as viable spending options. In the meantime, the company recently has adopted a new identity infusing freshness in its look and the market has responded enthusiastically to it.”

  • Zee News Q4 net up 221% at Rs 66.5 mn

    Zee News Q4 net up 221% at Rs 66.5 mn

    MUMBAI: Zee News Limited (ZNL) has posted a consolidated net profit (after minority interest) of Rs 66.48 million for the quarter ended 31 March, a 221 per cent jump over the year-ago period.

    The company had posted a net profit of Rs 20.70 million in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

    ZNL’s total consolidated revenues for the three-month period stood at Rs 759.7 million, up 26.5 per cent, compared to Rs 600.6 million in the fourth-quarter of previous fiscal.

    Meanwhile, expenses also jumped 10.7 per cent to Rs 621.7 million, from Rs 561.8 million a year ago.

    Profit before tax for the quarter stood at Rs 128.2 million, up from Rs21.8 million in the year-ago period.

    ZNL posted Ebitda profit of Rs 247.8 million (Rs 105.7 million in previous year quarter) from its existing business (Zee News, Zee Business, Zee 24 Taas, Zee Punjabi and 24 Ghanta). However, its Ebitda loss from new business (Zee Tamizh, Zee 24 Ghantalu and Zee News UP) widened to Rs 109.8 million from Rs 66.9million (from loss of Rs 116.5 million).

    Meanwhile, for the full fiscal ended 31 March, the company has posted a net profit of Rs 163.67 million, down from Rs 456.84 in the previous year. However, the company clarified that in view of the demerger of regional general entertainment channels with effect from the appointed date of 1 January 2010 from ZNL to Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL), numbers for the full year are not comparable with the previous year numbers.

    Revenue from the fiscal stood at Rs 2.77 billion (from Rs 5.29 billion), while expenses were at Rs 2.34 billion (from Rs 4.38 billion). Ebitda profit from existing business was at Rs 868 million (Rs 1.33 billion in previous year) while Ebitda loss from new business was Rs 444 million, down from 427.2 million.

    ZNL chairman Subhash Chandra said, “The network has outperformed competition when assessed as a business unit by posting profits in not a very favourable scenario. In retrospect, we can safely affirm that our decision to consolidate the news business and focus on regional markets has yielded positive results.”

    ZNL CEO Barun Das added, “Our focus on current deliverables even while we cement our long term strategy has ensured that we have closed another year on a positive note. The upbeat results are reflective of all-round performance, with every channel making a contribution. Advertising and subscription have continued to grow and further digitalization will only augment our position. Our ability to reinvent ourselves as per the changing dynamics and sensitivity to the need of the serious news viewers appear to have been instrumental in our success in this quarter as well as the year.”

  • ”We have created a basket of Marathi channels to dominate our position in this market’ : Nikhil Sane – Zee Marathi and Zee Talkies business head

    ”We have created a basket of Marathi channels to dominate our position in this market’ : Nikhil Sane – Zee Marathi and Zee Talkies business head

    Subhash Chandra realised as early as 1999 that the next wave of Zee network’s growth would be in the regional broadcasting space. Up came a clutch of channels including Zee Marathi, Zee Bangla, Zee Punjabi and Zee Gujarati.

     

    Chandra has cemented his leadership position in the Marathi market with the launch of a news channel, Zee 24 Taas, and a movie channel, Zee Talkies.

     

    Following the vertical integration model, Zee has also got into the Marathi film production business.

     

    Starting as the first private Marathi channel on 15 August 1999, the initial years were slow. With the launch of ETV Marathi in 2001, Zee Marathi, in fact, even lost its leadership position. But it was in 2005 that things paced up as Zee Marathi scaled up its distribution and programming. Reality content through shows like Saregamapa, Eka Peksha Ek and Hasya Samrat gave the channel a big boost in ratings.

     

    In an interview with Indiantelevision.com’s Gaurav Laghate, Zee Marathi and Zee Talkies business head Nikhil Sane talks about the 10-year journey of Zee Marathi.

    Excerpts:

    Zee launched its Marathi general entertainment channel on 15 August 1999. How has the 10-year journey been?
    Everyone was skeptical at that time about Zee’s decision to launch a Marathi channel. In Maharashtra, Hindi channels – Zee TV, Sony Entertainment TV and Star Plus – were dominating television viewership. The only available Marathi content then was on Doordarshan – that also for four hours. So launching the channel way back in 1999 was a big, big step.

    But wasn’t it a big advantage to be the first private Marathi channel?
    In 1999, the Marathi TV industry was non-existent. So you can say that we created the Marathi TV viewing audience. What we got was a lot of talent. Maharashtra has produced ace directors, writers and actors, who supported us in this endeavour passionately. And we offered them a robust platform. So, Zee Marathi played a pivotal role in shaping the Marathi entertainment industry.

    What was the programming mix for the channel then?
    As I said earlier, there was no scarcity of talent, but it was scattered. With our launch, people from Marathi theatre and cinema joined us. That time we were experimenting a lot. We were the first channel to launch a daily show, Abhaalmaya, at 8.30 pm. The competition was against Amaanat on Zee TV, Heena on Sony TV and Saas on Star Plus.

     

    We got a humongous response for the show. Soon after, we launched the afternoon slot with Maansi, which again got a good response from viewers.

     

    Step by step, we increased our prime time, which at present is from 6 pm till 11 pm. We launched weekend programming, reality shows, events and even entered into film production business.

     

    Meanwhile, we launched the news channel (Zee 24 Taas) and the Marathi movie channel (Zee Talkies) to create a basket of channels and dominate our position in this market.

    When did you extend your prime time?
    We had a prime time from 7.30 to 10 pm till 2006. We extended this to a four-hour band starting 7 pm. We also had hourly news bulletin, which were very popular. Later, as we launched our own news channel, we shifted news from Zee Marathi.

     

    Earlier we used to air weekend movies on Zee Marathi. But as we launched Zee Talkies, the movies were shifted and we started daily soaps from Monday-Saturday.

    ‘It was in 2005 really when Zee Marathi scaled up its production, distribution and programming’

    You said initial years were experimental. So when did you manage to strike the right formula for growth?
    We launched some very good shows in our first five years. But it was in 2005 really when Zee Marathi scaled up its production, distribution and programming. It was like a channel revamp.

     

    We created reality shows like Saregamapa (singing talent hunt), Eka Peksha Ek (dance reality show) and Hasya Samrat (comic reality show). Recently, we launched Hapta Band, a quiz-based show.

     

    Also, we organised grand scale events like finale of reality shows, Zee Gaurav Puraskaar (awards for films and theatres) and Zee Marathi awards (viewer’s choice awards for Zee Marathi shows).

    What were the milestones in programming?
    We experimented with different genres. Our comedy show Hasa Chakatful saw performances from the best performers of the industry. Shriyut Gangadhar Tipre was also one hugely popular comic fiction.

     

    Among fictions, Abhaalmaya, Avantika, Asambhav, Vaadalwaat and recently launched Kulvadhu got us good viewership. Our reality shows and events also are some of the most popular properties on Marathi television.

     

    Apart from these, we had shows devoted to literature (Pimpalpaan), poets and musicians (Nakshatranche Dene) and horror (Gahire Paani).

    ETV, which launched in July 2001, emerged as a strong competitor and even surged ahead of Zee Marathi at one stage. What were the reasons?
    After a fabulous three-year ride, we had a tough patch for two years. ETV Marathi launched with a very strong distribution and this impacted us. We were popular in towns, though. But after 2005, we focused on every aspect of the business.
    Now there is new competition from Star Pravah. While other channels like Mi Marathi and Saam Marathi have launched, they haven’t really been able to shake things up. So do you see a three-player fight in the Marathi GEC landscape?
    If you see our current ratings in Maharashtra, we are only below Zee TV while outnumbering Star Plus, Colors and other national GECs. That is what our competition is. Today, Hindi viewership amounts to 26 per cent while Marathi is 20 per cent in the state. We have a lot of space to grow here. Also, competition gives advantage to viewers ultimately as they get variety. And it grows the market.

    You talked about entering into the film production business and have so far released six movies. How are you scaling this up?
    After establishing Zee Marathi, the natural progression was to launch a movie channel. So we launched Zee Talkies. The next logical step was to enter into the film production business ourselves.

     

    We have, in a big way, led the revival of the Marathi cinema industry. So far, our movies have done good business.

     

    We have released Saade Maade Teen, followed By De Dhakka, Galgale Nighale, Dudgus, Ek Dav Dhobi Pachaad and Gallit Gondal Dillit Mujra.

     

    The next movie we are ready with is Hai Kai Nai Kai. We have signed five directors for three films each.

    So how do you see the Marathi broadcasting space evolving?
    The time ahead is surely challenging. We have to be open to change and need to continuously evolve to stay ahead of competition. And by competition I do not mean Marathi or even Hindi GEC channels. The main competition is with new media. With so much available on different platforms, attracting viewers to TV will be a challenge.

     

    From now on, the biggest question to ask ourselves would be ‘what next’. Hindi GECs will survive as their base HSM (Hindi speaking market) is very big. Innovation is the only way to keep ahead in this Marathi TV broadcasting space.
  • Zee plans to launch Southern channels overseas in Q1 2007

    Zee plans to launch Southern channels overseas in Q1 2007

    MUMBAI: Zee Network is planning to launch its two southern language channels overseas in the first quarter of 2007-08.

    There is no decision taken yet on which country Zee Telugu and Zee Kannada would launch first. “we are looking at taking these two channels to the international markets. There is a sizeable audience to be tapped,” says Zee’s south initiatives head Ajay Kumar.

    Zee is also preparing to launch a Tamil and a Malayalam channel to cover up all the southern language states. But these are tough competitive markets, dominated by Sun TV, Asianet and Surya.

    Zee’s aim is to have a presence across eight regional languages of India. Already available are Zee Marathi, Zee Bangla, Zee Punjabi, Zee Gujarati, Zee Telugu and Zee Kannada. The focus will be on consolidating in these eight languages over the next five years by clubbing the language entertainment channels with regional news channels.

    The regional channels form a part of Zee’s demerged entity, Zee News Ltd (ZNL). Under this company also falls the news channel business.

    ZNL has projected a 33 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the next five years to touch a revenue of Rs 8.7 billion by FY 2011, up from Rs 2.01 billion in FY 2005-06. The operating margins, which stood at 16 per cent, are expected to expand to around 30 per cent during this period.

    ZNL has a networth of Rs 1.7 billion. The capital employed (as of 1 April 2006) is Rs 2.31 billion with loan funds standing at Rs 612 million. The company has no major capex requirement at this stage.

  • Zee Turner, Tata Sky spat reaches court

    Zee Turner, Tata Sky spat reaches court

    NEW DELHI: It has come a full circle for the Zee group. DTH service provider Tata Sky has dragged distribution company Zee Turner to court for acting pricey on giving its channels to the new entrant in the Indian DTH arena.

    The case filed some days back in a Delhi court by Tata Sky states that Zee Turner is setting “unreasonable” terms for negotiations for its bouquet of channels, which amounts to a breach of various directives issued by the sector regulator.

    The case is slated for a hearing today. However, court sources indicated that its unlikely arguments will take place in the first hearing.

    Tata Sky, which began its commercial operations few weeks back, is presently offering consumers 55-odd TV channels at a price that is more than the Subhash Chandra-promoted Dish TV, which is country’s first pay TV platform.

    Zee Turner is a 74:26 distribution joint venture between the Chandra-controlled Zee Telefilms and Time Warner company Turner International India.

    The genesis of the present face-off is lack of consensus on pricing of Zee Turner channels and Tata Sky’s insistence on select TV channels from the bouquet of 32 channels.

    While India’s second pay digital platform Tata Sky wants select Zee Turner channels for a reported sum of below Rs. 40 per subscriber, the latter is insisting all its 32 channels should be taken.

    As reported by Indiantelevision.com earlier, sources close to the negotiations said Zee Turner has conveyed that it’s ready to give all its channels to Tata Sky’s DTH platform for Rs. 74 per subscriber per month, which is 50 per cent of the price that cable operators pay for the Zee Turner bouquet.

    Bouquet 1 of Zee Turner comprises Zee TV, Zee Cinema, Zee News, Zee Studio, Zee Bengali, Zee Gujarati, Zee Marathi, Zee Punjabi, Cartoon Network, Reality TV, CNBC, CNN, Zee Café, Zee Trendz, ETC, ETC Punjabi, Zee Jagran, Zee Smile, Zee Telgu and Zee Music.

    The second bouquet includes HBO, Pogo, Awaaz, VH1 and Zee Business. Zee Turner is soft bundling Zee Sports at a price benefit.

    The third bouquet, called Breakfree, consists of Zee Action, Zee Premier and Zee Classic, which air movies of different genre and are primarily available on Dish TV DTH platform.

    Zee Turner had earlier reasoned that its demand is based on a recent ruling of a disputes tribunal in Dish TV vs. Star case wherein Star was asked to make available its channel to Dish at Rs. 27 per subscriber, which is 50 per cent less than the price cable ops pay.

    Dish TV had to wait for over 18 months since launch to finally manage to get Star channels on its DTH platform.

    After having got powerful products like Star Plus, Dish TV has announced that it will not charge its consumers for some months anything extra for the Star channels, most of which are in the basic tier of 78-odd channels and can be had for Rs. 185 per month by a subscriber of Dish TV.