ITV

Tag: Zee

  • Zee bucks the trend as Sensex crashes

    Zee bucks the trend as Sensex crashes

    MUMBAI: The Sensex underwent a dramatic “corrective” drop of 157 points on 7 April but Zee Telefilms Ltd (ZTL), was among the few stocks that bucked the trend.

    ZTL, which closed the previous day’s trade at Rs 246.60 on the BSE, had opened the day on a strong note. Zee’s acquiring the telecast rights for one day international matches to be played by India on neutral venues over the next five years yesterday seems to have made the market hungry and it was just waiting for the next day’s trading to open to pounce on the stock. The buying spree even saw the stock price touching its 52-week high of Rs 270 (Rs 291 at NSE) before falling prey to the negative sentiment that gripped the market, around afternoon.

    The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) ended the session at 11,589.44, lower by 1.34 per cent than its previous closing mark, while the National Stock Exchange’s (NSE) 50 stock Nifty index settled at 3454.80, recording a 56.10 points or 1.6 per cent loss.

    During the early day trade, the Sensex had surged past the 11,900 mark to a new lifetime high of 11,930.66. Just when it seemed that the12,000 mark was within reach, the Sensex took a beating amid rumours that the regulator had banned eleven foreign institutional investors from participating in the market. Consequently, ZTL also took a plunge from its day’s best Rs 270 to a rather poor score of Rs. 244.60.

    Then, after SEBI came out with a denial of that report, the stock made a timely recovery along with a few blue chip stocks which also regained some lost ground. ZTL finally saw it closing for the day at Rs 250.10 at the BSE, up by 1.42 per cent or Rs 3.50 higher than its previous closing mark. At the NSE, it closed at Rs 250.45, up by 1.42 per cent or Rs 3.50 than the previous closing mark.

    A total of 2 million ZTL shares were traded during the day, while the average number of shares traded per day during the last two weeks period is 1.5 million.

    According to broking analysts indiantelevision.com spoke to, the positive performance ZTL has been displaying in the recent times shows that the stock is on its way to reach a value that is more in conformity with the levels that the Sensex has reached. “ZTL is yet to reach its real value and speaking about the overall performance of the stock in the recent times, we can assume that it is in the process of realising its actual price at the Sensex,” says an analyst.

    “Acquiring the neutral venue International cricket rights might have helped the stock to buck the negative trend at the Sensex today. But, there are more significant factors that have been boosting the stock overall. The four-way demerger, the remarkable improvement on the programming front, the advertising rates consequently going up, all have been helping the stock to attract buyers,” he adds.

  • MSO’s should be marketing CAS now: Sameer Nair

    MSO’s should be marketing CAS now: Sameer Nair

    MUMBAI: The cable fraternity is wasting the huge first mover advantage they already have in hand vis-a-vis pushing addressability in chasing the mandating of CAS, feels Star Entertainment India CEO Sameer Nair.

    Reiterating Star’s well documented opposition to mandated CAS, Nair asserts that the MSOs are seriously missing a trick on the matter in their “all-consuming” focus on getting a mandate out that will fix a time frame for the rollout of CAS.
    Nair drew attention to the latest reports circulating indicating that it could be anywhere between six to eight months at the minimum for the mandated CAS rollout to take off (if at all).

    According to Nair, even as big corporate players were preparing the ground for different addressable delivery platforms to roll out, the cable fraternity were only focussed on getting a cut-off date in place for the rollout of CAS.

    Nair is of the view that with the imminent arrival of Tata-Sky DTH, Zee’s Dish TV ramping up and the big telecom players aggressively pushing ahead with IPTV, market forces would soon make the whole debate irrelevant and the MSOs may well end up “missing the addressability bus”.

    Nair averred that MSOs should instead be focussing their efforts on attractively packaging and marketing CAS to their direct points to begin with and concurrently convincing their franchisees of the need to get CAS going, government or no government.

    Another issue he raised was on the inability of many cable ops to deliver on CAS even if it was mandated. He said that barring a few big MSOs, most operators were simply not ready for CAS. Neither did they have the set top boxes nor the subscriber management systems in place to get it off the ground.

    According to Nair, in such a scenario, the likely result would be a blackout of pay channels in many areas, as had been witnessed in Chennai. But the difference here, he pointed out, was that unlike in Chennai, where there was no great demand for pay channels, in this case it would more likely be because of inability to deliver.

  • MGM Channel to launch in India on Zee’s Dish TV

    MGM Channel to launch in India on Zee’s Dish TV

    MUMBAI: MGM Networks, a division of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., has announced a string of breakthrough distribution agreements in key Asian markets. The MGM Channel will roll out in India, the Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia.

    Debuting this month, the MGM Channel will be available on Zee’s Dish TV platform.

    MGM Networks executive vice president Bruce Tuchman said, “We are very excited to begin our newest chapter in the booming Indian market with this launch. Having previously seeded demand in India through a co-owned, co-branded channel with Zee TV, we are now launching a wholly MGM-owned, exclusively MGM-branded network in order to more fully mine the opportunities abounding in this dynamic market.”

    In the Philippines, Sky Cable, the country’s largest MSO, has just commenced the roll out of The MGM Channel as part of its new digital “Platinum” package offering. In Vietnam and Cambodia, Ho Chi Minh City Television and Phnom Penh Municipal Cable and Optical Television, respectively, have entered into distribution agreements with MGM Networks and recently introduced The MGM Channel to their customers.

    The MGM Channel’s launch into India and these new Southeast Asian markets are the latest milestones in an aggressive roll-out of the channel across Asia. Starting with its debut in South Korea in 2002, The MGM Channel followed up with a series of launches in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Macau, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. MGM Networks also launched a second branded channel in South Korea, called MGM Plus, following the successful launch of its first Korean network.

    “Our success and growth in Asia mirrors our success and growth elsewhere around the world. Over the last five years, MGM has increased its channel interests from approximately 25 countries and territories in a handful of regions to over 110 across Europe, Latin American, Africa, and Asia and the Pacific Rim,” added Tuchman.

    In Southeast Asia/Greater China, The MGM Channel is produced and distributed by MGM Networks through a strategic alliance with CNBC Asia Pacific. In South Korea, the channel is operated through a joint venture with leading local media companies, Skylife and Taewon Entertainment.

  • Zee to acquire 60% stake in Venus Films and Venus Records & Tapes

    Zee to acquire 60% stake in Venus Films and Venus Records & Tapes

    MUMBAI: Soon after announcing its restructuring plan, Zee Telefilms Limited (ZTL) has swung into action on the acquisition front.

    The company is acquiring 60 per cent stake in Venus Films Pvt. Ltd. and Venus Records & Tapes Pvt.Ltd. for an undisclosed amount. This will give Zee access to Venus’ films and music titles.

    Venus will continue to be handled by the existing management, helping Zee Network in harnessing the opportunities in the Indian film industry. The acquisition is subject to due diligence and final approval from ZTL board.

    Apart from audio and film rights, Venus has state of the art post-production facilities, which will help in enhancing the content value of Zee Network.The acquisition will add to Zee’s existing library of films.

    Commenting on the development, Essel Group senior vice president Ashish Kaul said, “We look at this acquisition as an extension of our existing business, as we are a major consumer of film and music products. This will be in synergy with business of Zee Cinema and Zee Muzic. The audio and film rights will strengthen the programming of these channels.”

    Venus promoters, Ganesh Jain and Ratan Jain, have produced several successful Hindi films, some of which are Josh, Garam Masala, Kyunki and Hulchul. Venus Films has negative rights of 30 blockbuster films like Baazigar, Yes Boss and Akele Hum Akele Tum among others. Venus Records & Tapes has a repertoire of 2500 titles.

    “This association of Venus, one of the largest and most successful production houses with Zee Network, will be mutually beneficial, as Zee will have access to all films of Venus and Venus will have the support of India’s largest television network. Being one of the leading music companies, we will be able to provide a strong support for Zee Cine Awards overseas and to the programming content of Zee Muzic,” says Ganesh Jain.

    Elaborating further, he added, “This acquisition is also being done in line with our plans to aggregate and digitalize content for digital platforms, starting with the content of Zee Network. This acquisition will help us be at the forefront of providing both new and existing content across various consumer gadgets.”

  • Zee to buy out broadband services provider Pacenet

    Zee to buy out broadband services provider Pacenet

    MUMBAI: Zee Telefilms Ltd (ZTL) is buying out broadband services provider Broadband Pacenet, which is promoted by Jagjit Singh Kohli, Yogesh Shah and Yogesh Radhakrishnan.

    Kohli, who is the CEO of Siti cable, is an immediate beneficiary of the proposed demerger of India’s largest multi systems operator (in terms of size) and the cable related business of Zee Telefilms Ltd. He is being given a 2 per cent stake in the new company, Wire and Wireless (India) Ltd, which he will be heading.

    A detailed business plan is being prepared for Wire and Wireless which will venture into triple play services as well, Zee Telefilms chairman Subhash Chandra said, while addressing analysts here today.

    Pacenet will be merged with Wire and Wireless and Kohli’s partners will also be given shares in the new entity. “We have agreed to buy out Pacenet. The valuation is under progress. The existing shareholders of Pacenet will be given shares in Wire and Wireless,” Chandra said.

    Broadband Pacenet offers broadband services using the cable network infrastructure of its franchisees and claims to be servicing over 25,000 home subscribers apart from many corporates.

  • Zee sets 1 May deadline for DTO

    Zee sets 1 May deadline for DTO

    Zee Telefilms is expected to launch its direct to operator (DTO) bouquet on 1 May. It was earlier slated to introduce the bouquet last year but could not meet its set deadline.

    The management has announced that it has achieved a good response from the marketplace for its new channels – Zee Movies and Zee English.

    It claims the sale of 1,100 decoders for Zee English and Zee Movies. Already 550 agreements have been signed. This figure excludes 140 decoders which have been distributed to 70 odd SitiCable MSOs. Zee sources claim to have signed on seven sub-operators of the rival cable network In CableNet in Mumbai for the two channels. More cable ops are being negotiated with and Zee claims to have achieved a penetration of 2.6 million cable homes. Zee English and Zee Movies have set a target of seven million cable TV homes and are confident of reaching the astronomical figure within three to six months.

    The advantage Zee possesses is the lower-priced Philips’ decoders. The sale price of Rs 12,500 stands just a couple of thousands above the deposit price of HBO’s decoders which stands at Rs 10,000. Zee is also offering decoders at a deposit of Rs 2,000. Zee has placed an order for 40,000 decoders for its seven channel bouquet. According to senior level sources the Philips boxes have been selected because they can be upgradeable easily for convergence.

  • Zee brings English fare to viewers

    Zee brings English fare to viewers

    Zee Telefilms’ is set to enter the English movies and English general entertainment segment with its two channels Zee Movies and Zee English which are slated for launch on 15 March, 2000. Both the channels are to be encrypted and will be beamed from AsiaSat-3. “Television for the dot com generation” is the slugline for the two channels.

    The channels are expected to cater the Category “A” audience and claim to have a huge library of popular movies and other software. Zee English which is the general entertainment channel claims to have rights of popular serials like “Friends” and “The Benny Hill Show”. The channel boasts to have the last four year programming of the most popular serial in the US “Friends” while competing channel Star World has only the earlier three years of the popular sitcom.

    Zee Movies has acquired around 700 titles of English films from various houses like CBS, Warner Brothers, Pearsons, Carlton, Freemantle, Diskovery and Passport International. It would telecast five new movies everyday which would then be repeated.

    HBO, which undoubtedly is among the biggest cable movie channels in the world, will enter the Indian skies soon and could be a threat to Zee Movies. It already has drawn a huge line-up of popular Hollywood movies and would begin its test runs from 15 March, 2000 and is slated to be officially launch on 22 March.

    Zee Telefilms apparently has fixed the rates for Zee Movies and Zee English at Rs 5 and Rs 4 per subscriber. HBO’s sticker price is Rs 5.45. The network is slated to price its set-top boxes at around Rs 12,500 each which is way below that of the competing HBO which will price its boxes above Rs 25,000. This is likely to work in favour of Zee Movies in Indian cable TV homes. Zee would stand at an advantage due to the strong distribution network of SitiCable.

    Zee English and Zee Movies are expected to fill in the vacant space in the Zee Telefilms’ bouquet which lacked English programming.