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Tag: Zee Telefilms.

  • Zee Telefilms signs Moving Pictures for Bollywood show

    Zee Telefilms signs Moving Pictures for Bollywood show

    MUMBAI: New Delhi-headquartered production house Moving Pictures India Ltd has bagged a show on Zee Network. The company will do a non-fiction show around the Bollywood industry, titled B News for Zee Music.

    One of the promoters of Moving Pictures India, Sancheta Ganpati Raju said that B News was going to be a key project for the company as Zee Telefilms is there on the other end. The half-an-hour show, which will be telecast twice a week, will run 104 episodes as per the deal.

    “B News is going to be a crucial assignment for us. Our effort is to come up with an innovative non-fiction show around Bollywood. The show will hit the airwaves two months from now. But the final schedule will be announced by the channel later,” says Raju.

    Moving Pictures’ current television projects include the page 3 show Popcorn on Zoom as well as Subah Savere, a breakfast show on Doordarshan.

  • Broadcasters look set to move court against pay channel price ceiling in CAS

    Broadcasters look set to move court against pay channel price ceiling in CAS

    MUMBAI / NEW DELHI: The broadcasters knew it was coming, but that in no way lessened their outrage over the CAS pricing broadside delivered by the sector regulator today. The next course of action will in all likelihood be to move the courts.

    In a move clearly aimed at “honouring” the pledge given by the government “that television viewers will have to pay less under a CAS regime”, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) today decreed a Rs 5 ceiling on pay channels.

    The broadcast regulator has fixed the price of free-to-air (FTA) channels in the basic tier at RS 77 (exclusive of taxes). The regulator, which oversees the broadcast and telecom sectors, has fixed the costing for pay channels whether new or existing at RS 5 making it mandatory to offer all pay channels on a la carte basis.

    RC Venkateish, ESPN India MD, did not mince his words while stating, “The pricing of pay channels by Trai are totally arbitrary and damaging for all industry stakeholders, including the consumer who might get low grade programming as investments in sports programming, like in entertainment, is high.

    “How can you expect broadcasters to put in money for procuring high-quality programming when the rates realised from the market will go down so much. It will have a dramatic effect on content quality.

    “Broadcasters are bound to seek legal opinion and take legal recourse.”

    That is obviously not how Trai chairman Nripendra Misra sees it. Misra said the prices that Trai had determined were very much in line with market forces. Additionally, Misra was quite categorical that this was “the final order on this subject.”

    In an interview to business channel CNBC TV18, Misra justified the regulator’s diktat by stating: “If you see the features of this policy announcement, the first thing to be appreciated is that there is only a maximum retail price; it does not fix the individual channel price. The second thing is that it does not fix the bouquet price. It also has not fixed the discounts for the bouquets. So everything has been left to the market forces except the maximum retail price ceiling, which has been determined by us.

    “To provide some stability to the revenues of the broadcasters, it has also been provided that the MRPs will apply only where the subscription is for a minimum period of four months.”

    Not surprisingly, the cable service providers are in tune with Misra on the matter. Says K Jayaraman, CEO of the multi-systems operator Hathway Cable and Datacom (in which Star India has a 26 per cent stake), “CAS is the best deal for consumers and the unwanted channels will go. As the fundamental thing in CAS is choice, that gets protected in this pricing structure,”

    That line of argument cut no ice with Arun Poddar, CEO, Zee Turner who said, “The rationale behind the pricing stumps us. If the regulator wants channels to come cheap, then the channels too would be forced to lessen expenditure on programming.

    “I don’t rule out broadcasters taking the regulator to court over the pricing issue.”

    The Indian Broadcasting Foundation, which represents the interests of broadcasters, is meanwhile scheduled to meet on Saturday to thrash out what legal recourse will be taken, as also to evolve a common strategy, senior channel executives tell Indiantelevision.com.

    The mood among cable operators was in stark contrast to that among the broadcasters. Cable Operators Federation of India president Roop Sharma, went so far as to say that Trai should have gone even lower on its pricing. “I think the prices of pay channels should have been even less at RS 3. It would have been better for the consumer then. Like in Pakistan, where each pay channel is priced at Re 1 or RS 2.

    “I feel it’s a win-win situation for everybody, including the broadcasters, who had accused cable operators of under-declaration.”

    “The comparison (with Pakistan) is ridiculous,” an incensed channel executive said. “The whole business model of broadcasting in Pakistan is based on piracy,” he pointed out.

    Commenting on the FTA channels’ pricing, Vikky Chowdhry, president of another cable operator faction NCTA, said, “The price of basic tier of free to air channels should be revisited. Still, at RS 77 (exclusive of taxes), 30 channels are manageable.

    Sameer Manchanda, joint MD, GBN, put the whole scenario in proper perspective when he said, “The prices looks low for sports and entertainment channels as programming investment is higher in these genres. The rationale of the regulator seems incomprehensible. At least some genres of channels could have been separated from the others.”

    Media stocks plunge on Trai’s pricing issue

    The market voted with its feet today on the news of the Trai’s price ceiling ruling with all media stocks sliding southwards. Media stocks showed a steeper fall than the the benchmark Sensex Index, which lost 24.87 points (0.21%), to settle at 11,699.05.

    According to a leading investment banker, “The directive issued by Trai will prove detrimental to broadcasters’ revenue kitty, especially for general and English entertainment channels and sports broadcasters.”

    Media scrips that fell today include Zee Telefilms, Sun TV, NDTV, TV18, TV Today and Sahara One Media and Entertainment.

    Zee Telefilms opened at RS 290 and closed the day at RS 265, down 8.6 per cent. Chennai based broadcaster Sun TV opened at RS 1,224 and ended at RS 1,199.
    NDTV opened at RS 200 and closed at RS 195, while TV18 opened at RS 647.15 and closed the day at RS 599. TV Today opened at RS 77 and closed at RS 76. Sahara One Media and Entertainment opened at RS 346 and closed at RS 339.

  • Zee, TV18, Balaji in top 500 Indian companies’ list

    Zee, TV18, Balaji in top 500 Indian companies’ list

    NEW DELHI: Only a handful of media companies like Zee Telefilms, Deccan Chronicle and Television Eighteen Ltd find a place in a survey of top 500 Indian companies conducted by Economic Times newspaper.

    With a market cap of Rs. 9.3 billion in June 2006, Zee Telefilms has been ranked 142nd in ET500 in August 2006, up from an earlier survey in February when it had been placed at 281st position.

    Incidentally, Zee tops the media heap amongst the best in India where the top two slots are occupied by infotech companies, Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys Technologies.

    Regional media powerhouse, Deccan Chronicle Holdings, finds a place at No. 167 with a market capitalization of Rs. 1.4 billion.

    Television Eighteen, owners of TV channels like CNBC TV18 and CNN IBN, has slipped to No. 330 in ranking in August from an earlier position of 318.

    According to ET500, TV18’s market cap in June stood at slightly over Rs. 1 billion.
    The other two media organizations finding place in the top 500 Indian companies are Adlabs (rank: 342) and TV and movie production house Balaji Telefilms (rank: 355).

    Balaji too slipped in ranking from No. 336 in an earlier ET500 list.

    Economic Times used several parameters, including market capitalization of a company, to compile the ET500 list.

    The eight parameters considered included absolute change in market cap over the past one year, sales, absolute change in sales over the past year, net profit, absolute change in net profit over the past year, price to earnings (P/E) multiple and return on net worth.

    The market cap of companies during the period June 16-30, 2006 has been considered, while sales and profit numbers are for 12 months ended March 2006.
    (Rs. 47=1US$)

  • Dish TV CEO Sunil Khanna quits

    Dish TV CEO Sunil Khanna quits

    MUMBAI: ASC Enterprises has announced that Dish TV CEO Sunil Khanna has decided to move out of the company on completion of his two-year contract at the KU-band direct-to-home platform, promoted by Subhash Chandra.

    According to an official release issued, the Dish TV board had offered Khanna a renewed contract but he has decided to pursue other interests.

    Information available with Indiantelevision.com indicates that while Khanna will be “remaining in the broadcast sector, he will be taking up a new challenge”.

    Khanna has been with the Zee Group since its inception. He started his career with the group while driving the distribution venture Siticable. He subsequently spearheaded the pay TV business and lead Zee Turner. Before joining Dish TV as CEO, he also had a stint as president of Zee Telefilms.

    At Dish TV, his contribution has been in developing and building the first addressable digital platform. During the last 15 months, Dish TV accelerated the process of subscriber acquisition and now is established as the leading digital brand with 1.3 million subscribers.

    Dish TV, today offers 160 satellite channels along with other value added services and has string network of 8,000 distributors/dealers.

  • Zee News seeks government clearance on foreign shareholding

    Zee News seeks government clearance on foreign shareholding

    MUMBAI: Zee News Ltd (ZNL) has moved the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to seek clearance on foreign shareholding, which would not exceed 26 per cent as per government norms for news ventures.

    The company is seeking government clearance under a proposal wherein foreign promoters of Zee Telefilms Ltd (ZTL) will be transferring their foreign holdings to an investment company in India.

    As part of a restructuring, ZTL had proposed to spin off its news and regional channels into ZNL to comply with uplinking regulations on foreign holdings in news channels, which are capped at 26 per cent.

    The FIPB application of Zee News specifies, “Issue of 42,467,291 equity share of the company to the foreign promoters of ZTL, that is M/s Delgrade Ltd and Lazarus Investment Ltd, which would be transferred to the Indian promoters of ZTL on allotment, that is to M/s Jayneer Capital Pvt Ltd.”

    The foreign holding of promoters in Zee Telefilms is primarily through Delgrada Ltd, which has 19.98 per cent stake. Delgrada is an overseas corporate body (OCB) owned by the Zee Telefilms promoter Subhash Chandra. The balance 2.79 per cent is held by Lazarus Investments Ltd.

    The shares to be issued to foreign financial investors (FIIs) in ZNL will have to fall within the 26 per cent cap also. The foreign shareholders will, thus, be given preference shares of equivalent value to bring it under limit. Along with this, the promoters’ foreign holding will be transferred to an investment vehicle (Jayneer Capital Pvt Ltd) in India.

    Jayneer Capital Pvt Ltd is one of the Indian promoters of ZNL and holds 40 per cent equity stake in ZNL, while 25 per cent is held by another Indian entity, Churu Trading.

    As per regulations, Indian shareholding of 51 per cent is mandatory in a TV news venture uplinking its channel from India. After the completion of the de-merger and transfer of shares, Indian promoters will be able to hold the mandated percentage in ZNL, an executive of Zee News admitted.

    As per a plan submitted to the government, every 100 shares of Zee Telefilms would fetch 45 shares of Zee News. Additionally, for every 100 shares of Zee Telefilms held by FIIs, 1,781 preferential shares of Zee News would be allotted.

    At the time of listing, the entire shareholding of FIIs and Zee Telefilms in Zee News would get transferred to Indian shareholders of Zee News. The company is looking at becoming a public company by November-end by which time routine clearances for the Zee Tele de-merger would have come from the Bombay High Court.

    Zee News, which manages news and regional channels of the Zee group, is targeting a turnover of Rs 2.5 billion this fiscal.

    Earlier, this year, the Zee Telefilms board approved splitting of its broadcasting business into three entities — news operations, broadcast and content creation and cable distribution. DTH service of Dish TV is undertaken by another Chandra company, ASC Enterprises.

  • TV18, Balaji scrips shine on strong Q1 results

    TV18, Balaji scrips shine on strong Q1 results

    MUMBAI: This is a result investors may have been waiting for. Television Eighteen put up a robust first quarter performance, pulling the scrip up by Rs 13 to close today in the BSE at Rs 605 in a market that slipped 61 points after four days of continuous rise.

    On the television front, TV18 has doubled its revenues over the year-ago period while net profit has jumped 65 per cent to Rs 138.21 million. The company now has four channels – two in the business space and two general news channels.

    The Group’s internet business is also poised for a scale up, having crossed $1 million (Rs 46.75 million) in the quarter. TV18 is eyeing acquisitions and will soon re-launch jobstreet.com and yatra.com. The company has already announced plans to hive off the internet business which will make it attractive for strategic investors.

    “The scrip could lift up further, based on these results. The valuation of the internet business will also be interesting,” a market analyst says.

    Balaji Telefilms, which announced its first quarter results yesterday, is the other media scrip which climbed 4.34 per cent to close the day at Rs 109.45 in the BSE. Analysts say this was on the back of a 39 per cent jump in the TV content producer’s net profit to close the quarter at Rs 173.77 million.

    The market is yet to be enthused by UTV’s deal with Walt Disney Company, shedding marginally in the BSE to close 1.8 per cent down at Rs 168.65. The global media major had bought out Hungama TV and taken a 14.9 per cent stake in UTV for a total consideration of $44.5 million (approximately Rs 2 billion).

    “The scrip will gain value once Disney chalks out a joint plan with UTV. It is not clear yet where Disney wants to take UTV forward,” says a market analyst.

    Among the other media stocks to fall are Zee Telefilms (2.24 per cent to Rs 257.20) and NDTV (from Rs 156.2 to Rs 155.30). TV Today almost stayed flat to close at Rs 76.60.

  • Zee Telefilms board approves demerger proposals

    Zee Telefilms board approves demerger proposals

    MUMBAI:Zee Telefilms Ltd has informed the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) that the members at the two Court Convened General Meeting Meetings & one Extra Ordinary General Meeting of the Company held today, have approved the demerger proposals of the company. These include:

    1. Scheme of arrangement between Zee Teleflims Ltd, Zee News Ltd, Siti Cable Network Ltd, Wire and Wireless (India) Ltd and their respective shareholders made under the provisions of Sections 391 to 394 read with sections 78, 100 to 103 and other applicable provisions of the Companies Act, 1956 for the proposed de-merger of news business undertaking of the company in favor of Zee News Ltd and cable business undertakings of the company and Siti Cable Network Ltd, the wholly owned subsidiary of the company, in favor of Wire and Wireless (India) Ltd;

    2. Scheme of arrangement between Zee Telefilms Ltd, Siti Cable Network Ltd, New Era Entertainment Network Ltd, ASC Enterprises Ltd and their respective shareholders made under the provisions of Sections 391 to 394 read with Sections 78, 100 to 103 and other applicable provisions of the Companies Act, 1956, for the proposed de-merger of direct consumer services business undertaking of the company in favor of ASC Enterprises Ltd and Merger of Siti Cable Network Ltd and New Entertainment Network Ltd, wholly owned subsidiaries of the company, with ASC Enterprises Ltd; subject to necessary approvals of Hon’ble High Court of Judicature at Bombay and / or Delhi and such other authority as may be required.

    3. Utilization of balance in securities premium account of the company as on appointed date(s), pursuant to provisions of sections 78, 100 to 103 of the Companies Act, 1956, to the extent required, to adjust deficit arising out of transfer of net assets, cancellation of investment / loans / advances / Inter Corporate Deposit and appreciation or diminution in value of assets, fixed or current and investments of the company, if any.

  • Zee Telefilms’ Q1 consolidated net slips 28% at Rs 562 million

    Zee Telefilms’ Q1 consolidated net slips 28% at Rs 562 million

    MUMBAI: Zee Telefilms has posted a 27.8 per cent fall in consolidated net profit at Rs 562 million for the first quarter ended 30 June, 2006, as against Rs 779 million in the corresponding period last fiscal

    Total income, however, rose 24 per cent to Rs 3.884 billion, up from Rs 3.131 billion.

    The consolidated operating profit stood at Rs 726 million, after factoring in initial investments in new activities viz. Zee Telugu, Zee Smile, Zee Sports and others, amounting to Rs 571 million (14.7 per cent of consolidated revenues). As a result, consolidated operating profits of continuing businesses were Rs 1.297 billion. These are higher by 8.4 per cent as compared to the corresponding quarter last year.

    “The growth rate is subdued mainly due to investments in programming and marketing focused on long-term buildup of mainline channels. Profit before tax for the first quarter of the fiscal 2007 was Rs 672 million while net profit was Rs 562 million,” Zee said in an official release.

    On a standalone basis, Zee Telefilms has posted a 50.8 per cent fall in net profit to Rs 156 million for the quarter ended 30 June, 2006, as compared to Rs 306.80 million for the corresponding period last year. Total income has increased to Rs 2.440 billion for the quarter ended 30 Jun, 2006, up from Rs 1.777 billion for the corresponding period last year.

    Commenting on the results, ZTL chairman Subhash Chandra said, “We are pleased to report the strong recovery in our market position and continuing uptrend in ratings on the flagship channel. The performance reflects our success in delivering superior content to viewers and stronger relationship with our consumers.” “We are also happy about some recent developments relating to our business. The Delhi High Court has ordered the Union Government to issue a revised notification for implementation of CAS in the notified areas of Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata by 31 December, 2006. This will additionally help in bringing about addressability on cable. On DTH, DishTV enhanced its offering from June when The OneAlliance bouquet was also made available to subscribers. Also, the TDSAT order has directed Star to provide their content to DishTV within 15 days. All these have extremely positive and long term impact on our business,” Chandra added.

    Commenting on the restructuring exercise, Chandra continued, “The restructuring exercise is expected to be completed by September/ October 2006, subject to necessary approvals. This shall create four focused, pure play, listed companies ready to exploit the vast emerging opportunities in each line of business. It would result in streamlined operations in each area and would also clear the ground for acquisitions and strategic or financial partners in the demerged businesses, apart from unlocking shareholder value. The next several years would provide tremendous growth opportunities for all these four businesses.”

    Punit Goenka, Zee Telefilms whole time director and responsible for content creation, said, “Zee TV continued to increase its viewership share from 21 per cent in 4Q FY2006 to 25 per cent during 1QFY2007, along with a significant growth in time spent. During the quarter, average gross ratings points (GRPs) of Zee TV have crossed 200 and for the last week it was at 240 GRPs, giving Zee a channel share of 29 per cent. The growth momentum has been led by widespread success of Saat Phere and Kasamh Se, which rank 5th and 6th among the top programmes on television, across genres. Zee TV now has leadership in the 9 pm to 10 pm time band, for the last six weeks.”

    “Zee Cinema continues to be the number one movie channel, and increasingly is becoming a reach channel for advertisers. Zee Marathi has also considerably narrowed the gap with its competitor (ETV Marathi). Zee Sports continues to build on the back of Football and ODI Cricket matches. We will continue to reinforce our competitive advantage and deliver more value to viewers and shareholders,” Goenka added.

    Elaborating on the performance, Zee Telefilms CEO Pradeep Guha said, “During FY2006, the yield per spot of ten seconds was the lowest in the history of Zee TV. Zee TV has introduced many initiatives, which focus on improving inventory utilization, attracting higher yielding categories of business and increasing effective rates across time bands. These efforts have resulted in a revenue growth faster than that of industry. Also, we have been able to establish Zee Cinema as a reach channel instead of a frequency channel, which will help us garner more advertising revenues.”

    The Board of Directors in its meeting held today, has taken on record the unaudited consolidated financial results of Zee Telefilms Limited and its subsidiaries for the quarter ended 30 June, 2006.

    REVENUE STREAMS:
    Zee’s advertising revenues increased to Rs 1.729 billion, a 31.5 per cent growth as compared to the corresponding quarter last fiscal. “This growth in advertising revenues was a result of higher average rates on most of the network channels. During this quarter, Zee Sports telecast the two One Day (ODI) Cricket matches played between Indian and Pakistan, which has
    contributed to the growth in advertising revenues,” the company said.

    Overall, subscription revenues stood at Rs 1.798 billion, registered an increase of 2.8 per cent over the corresponding quarter last fiscal. Domestic pay revenues, including Siticable, stood at Rs1.039 billion. Other sales and services grew to Rs 357 million.

    EXPENDITURE:
    Overall, the cost of goods and operations went up 60.6 per cent compared to a year-ago period, mainly due to investments made in new channels like Zee Sports, Zee Smile, Zee Telugu and Zee Jagran. A large part of the incremental cost was on account of programming cost of Cricket rights on Zee Sports, states the company release.

    Personnel cost were also up, 26 per cent higher than the corresponding period last year. Other costs, particularly marketing costs have increased by 23.2 per cent. As a result, total expenses were higher by 47.6 per cent.

    From FY2006, the Company has accelerated its investments in the development and expansion of its network. There have been substantial marketing and content improvement initiatives on one hand, and on the other, number of new channels have been launched.

    “As a result, Zee is in a phase in which the initial investments have been made and expensed fully, while the corresponding revenue build-up is to be realized in the next several quarters. The immediate impact is on operating profits, which we hope to recover in successive quarters through increasing revenues and progressive reduction in costs, the release adds.

    Zee’s Q1 segment-wise revenues are indicated in the table below:

    *Content Business includes all Broadcasting and content production companies in India and abroad of Zee Telefilms
    Limited, ETC Networks Limited.
    # Access Business includes Siticable, Zee Turner and distribution segment of ZTL.

    OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

    Sports
    During the first quarter, Zee Sports telecast two ODIs between India and Pakistan played at Abu Dhabi. These were the first two matches in the contract with BCCI for overseas Cricket. In football, National Football League matches were telecast during the quarter. Building on the Football World Cup fever, Zee Sports commissioned ‘Goal 2010’, an initiative to see India in the World Cup of 2010.

    Cable Network
    The cable business is poised to pursue new technology opportunities with renewed focus including digitization of cable, broadband and ‘triple play’ offerings. As per the Zee release, Siticable is the only MSO that would be deploying state-of-the-art Headend In The Sky technology, which would allow it to cover the entire country, not just the CAS notified areas. The recent regulatory and legal developments look set to lead to a roadmap for digitisation initially in the metros. The Delhi High Court has ordered Union Government to issue a revised notification to implement conditional access system (CAS) by 31 December 2006 in the notified areas of three metros i.e. Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. There is more visibility now on the path of transition in the cable business towards digitisation, which would result in greater transparency and accountability, the release further adds.

    Direct Consumer Services business
    DTH services continue to make inroads into Indian homes. The service offerings have been expanded by adding SET Discovery’s The OneAlliance bouquet from June 2006. The service revenues from DishTV continue to generate good response.

    The subscriber numbers have crossed 1,200,000 and are growing at the rate of about 3,500 per day. We are poised to execute market expansion strategies which would lead to a ramp up of subscription from the urban markets, based on value added services not presently available on cable.

    Recently the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) came out with an order, instructing Star to provide its channels to DishTV within 15 days. This would further enhance the present content offering of DishTV, Zee said in the release.

    Restructuring in Zee Telefilms
    Application for the restructuring has been made to the High Courts. The scheme of arrangement would require approval of shareholders of Zee and of Bombay High Court. The whole process is expected to be completed by September / October 2006. Zee News Limited, ASCEL and WWIL would be listed on all stock exchanges where ZTL is listed.Based on the unaudited results of ZTL (consolidated), Zee News Ltd. and ASCEL, the following table sets forth the proforma financials of each line of business for 1Q FY2007, as they would appear in a demerged scenario.

    The company’s investment in 25 FPS Media Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary engaged in production of television programming for the Zee Telefilms, is intended to be disposed off. Accordingly, its financials are not consolidated in these results. Previous year’s figures are also not comparable to that extent, the company said in a posting on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

    At the Bombay Stock Exchange today, the Zee scrip opened at Rs 251.70 and closed at Rs 249.75, down Rs 1.95 from the previous day’s close.

  • Media scrips soar as Sensex recovers

    Media scrips soar as Sensex recovers

    MUMBAI: Bucking the trend of a sustained dip over the last few days, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) benchmark Sensex gained over 345 points today, recording the biggest single day gain for the month. The bounce back was fuelled by massive buying by foreign and domestic funds even as global markets firmed up.

    The Sensex closed at 10,352.94, after touching an intra-day high of 10,409.58 points. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) index Nifty registered a gain of 90.30 points and closed at 3,023.05.

    Among the media stocks, Sun TV recorded the maximum gain on the back of healthy FY06 results. Inspired by an almost 70 per cent jump in net profits, the Sun TV scrip closed at 1,083.60 in the BSE, higher by Rs 38.10. At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), it ended the day’s trade at 1,085.50 with a gain of Rs 35.30. The rally was significant as the scrip had tumbled yesterday from Rs 1099 to Rs 1045, a fall of Rs 54.

    In the media block, TV18 scored the next best gain for the day, going up by Rs 35.70 to close at Rs 578 on the BSE. At the NSE, it gained Rs 36.7 to reach 577.35 points. TV18 has been maintaining a steady run since a long time. Since the last one month, the scrip has gone up by Rs 92 at the BSE.

    UTV Software Communications, riding on the market expectations of an equity deal with an international major, gained Rs 14.35 at the BSE today, to close at 165.65 points. At the NSE, it gained Rs 13.00 to touch Rs 164.45. Gemini Communications rose Rs 14.7 at the BSE, to reach 396. Navneet Publications gained Rs 10.45 at the BSE and Rs 11.45 at the NSE to close at 278.55 and 279.30 respectively. Hinduja TMT recorded a gain of Rs 9.8 to close at 479.75 at the BSE.

    Other prominent media scrips which also recorded gains for the day included NDTV, Zee Telefilms, Entertainment Network India, Adlabs Films and Balaji Telefilms. However, Saregama India was the only major loser as the scrip dipped by Rs 7.3, to close at 142.45 at the BSE.

  • Zee Telefilms likely to call off deal to buy Venus

    Zee Telefilms likely to call off deal to buy Venus

    MUMBAI: Zee Telefilms Ltd (ZTL) is likely to call off its deal to acquire 60 per cent stake in Venus Films Pvt Ltd and Venus Records & Tapes Pvt Ltd.

    “Zee won’t go ahead with the acquisition of Venus,” an industry source tells Indiantelevision.com. ZTL had announced in March that it would buy controlling stake in Venus, subject to due diligence and final approval from the board.

    Zee Network senior vice president Ashish Kaul, however, did not confirm that the deal had fallen through. “A due diligence has been conducted and it will be presented at the ZTL board meeting. A decision will be taken after that,” he says.

    When contacted, Venus promoter Ganesh Jain refused to comment on the issue. The Zee board is meeting on 24 July to consider and approve, among other things, the financial results of the company for the first quarter.

    Zee already has secured telecast rights to most of the Hindi movies produced by Venus including Garam Masala, Akele Hum Akele Tum, Josh, Kyunki and Baazigar. “The failure of the deal won’t have much impact on Zee as the company has the rights to most of the successful movies of Venus. Some rights to movies like Hulchul are, though, with Star India. What would have been of interest is the joint film production activities,” the source adds.

    The deal would also have given Zee access to Venus’ music titles. While Venus Films has negative rights of 30 blockbuster films, Venus Records & Tapes has a repertoire of 2500 titles. Venus also has post-production facilities.