The group has declared its best quarter in six years, recording a profit of Rs 15.2 crore; the company's television business has earned a profit of Rs 9 cror

For the first time in its history, NDTV's television business (NDTV Limited) is recording five consecutive profitable quarters, the company said in a statement filed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The NDTV Group has declared its best quarter in six years, recording a profit of Rs 15.2 crore; the company's television business has earned a profit of Rs 9 crore.

At the Group or consolidated level, this is a turnaround of Rs 25.3 crore; for the television business, the improvement is of Rs 8.4 crore over the same time last year.

At the Group level, NDTV is profitable by Rs 19.91 crore before tax and exceptional items, and its share of losses in associate or joint ventures as against a loss of Rs 0.92 crore for the same period last year.

Flashed Yesterday: Kartik Mahadev elevated as Business Head of Zee English cluster

Mahadev joined earlier this year in February to head marketing functions of English cluster

Kartik Mahadev, who had joined Zee Entertainment Enterprises earlier this year in February to head marketing functions of English cluster (Zee Cafe, &Flix, &PriveHD), has been elevated as the Business Head for the cluster. The development was confirmed by the industry sources.

Mahadev will be replacing current Business Head Shaurya Mehta.

Mahadev joined Zee English cluster from Star Sports where he was Vice-President Marketing for about two years.

Prior to joining Star India, Mahadev spent more than 11 years with Mondelez and work extensively on brand Cadbury in various roles. Mahadev played a key role in the launch of Cadbury Bournvita Biscuits in India. After joining Cadbury as a management trainee in 2005, he rose to the role of Regional Category Innovation - Asia, Middle East & Africa (BELVITA, Bournvita & MEA Brands) at Mondelez.

The consideration from divestment to Invesco Oppenheimer Developing Markets Fund will be utilised in repaying lenders

Essel Group has announced that Invesco Oppenheimer Developing Markets Fund has agreed to make an additional investment in Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. (Zeel). The Fund has agreed to buy up to an 11% stake in Zeel from its promoters, for a total consideration value of up to Rs 4,224 crore.

Essel Group had initiated the process of divesting its key assets, with an aim to repay all the lenders by September 2019. During this divestment process, the Group has received positive response from multiple partners expressing interest to buy the stake in Zeel and the other key Non Media Assets.

Speaking on this development, Punit Goenka, Managing Director and CEO, Zeel, said, “I’m extremely glad to share that the Fund as a Financial Investor has further reposed its faith in Zeel. It also gives me immense pleasure to note their strong belief and trust in the intrinsic value of our precious asset. It is the valuable belief and support of our esteemed financial investors that enables us to consistently generate great value, year after year”.

Mumbai: Zee Entertainment Enterprises has elevated Kartik Mahadev as the Business Head for the English Premium Cluster. He will be replacing current Business Head Shaurya Mehta.

Mahadev joined the group in February 2019 with the assignment to lead marketing functions for Zee Cafe, &Flix, &PriveHD channels that falls under the premium English cluster.

Prior to joining Zee Group, Mahadev was associated with Star Sports where he was Vice-President Marketing for more than two years.

Mahadev played 11 years long stint with Mondelez and work extensively on brand Cadbury in various roles. After joining Cadbury as a management trainee in 2005, he rose to the role of Regional Category Innovation – Asia, Middle East & Africa at Mondelez.

According to his profile, he played a key role in the launch of Cadbury Bournvita Biscuits in India.

Mumbai: Multi-faceted business conglomerate Essel Group, today announced that Invesco Oppenheimer Developing Markets Fund (hereafter referred to as “The Fund”) has agreed to make an additional investment in ZEE Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. (ZEEL).

The Fund has agreed to buy up to an 11% stake in ZEEL from its promoters, for a total consideration value of up to Rs. 4,224 Crore.

Essel Group had initiated the process of divesting its key assets, with an aim to repay all the lenders by September 2019. During this divestment process, the Group has received positive response from multiple partners expressing interest to buy the stake in ZEEL and the other key Non Media Assets.

 

Speaking on this development, Punit Goenka, Managing Director and CEO, ZEE Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. said,“I’m extremely glad to share that the Fund as a Financial Investor has further reposed its faith in ZEEL. It also gives me immense pleasure to note their strong belief and trust in the intrinsic value of our precious asset. It is the valuable belief and support of our esteemed financial investors that enables us to consistently generate great value, year after year”.

The announcement of 11% stake sale of ZEEL to the Fund is a strong step in the overall divestment process, giving the Promoters the required financial fillip to initiate the repayment process. The Invesco Oppenheimer Developing Markets Fund, which is an investment company registered with the US Securities & Exchange Commission, has a long history of investing in India as a financial investor. The Fund has been a financial investor in Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. since 2002.

Along with ZEEL, Essel Group is also in the process of divesting some of its Non-Media Assets. Essel Group is confident to complete the overall process of repayment, well within the agreed timeline.

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation has slashed the monthly tariff for the consumers to as low as Rs.130 plus GST.The new tariff is effective from 10th August onwards.

On Wednesday, TACTV has introduced two variants of low cost plans to attract economically weaker section. This announcement would come into force across the State except in Vellore district where model code for the parliamentary elections is in force.

The two packages – village pack and Tamil pack – would be offer at Rs 170 + GST and Rs 180 +GST, respectively. The village pack would have 142 free-to-air (FTA) channels and 12 pay channels. The Tamil pack would offer 1423 FTA channels and 28 pay channels.

“Hereafter, only two packages will be in force for the Arasu Cable TV consumers. The first package will provide 142 free channels for a subscription of Rs.141.60. The second package which is popular among the consumers will be available for Rs.154 hereafter instead of Rs.260 – ie., the chief minister has reduced Rs.106. In all, consumers can view 191 channels including many of the prime channels in the second package,” official sources said.

Of the 36 lakh set top boxes procured so far, 35.12 lakh set top boxes have been distributed to consumers free of cost.

It was only last month that Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) announced it had acquired exclusive media rights for World Cup Kabaddi 2019. This is nothing off the mark but here is the peculiar bit - the World Cup was wrapped up last week in Malaysia (July 20 to July 28) but viewers did not get even catch a glimpse of the show. That’s because the event was never televised.

We reached out to the channel to understand why despite rights to televise the tournament on its sports channels across eight territories - India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives, Bhutan and Afghanistan - the broadcast was skipped. 

The channel released a short statement in response saying: “While we were all set to broadcast the World Cup Kabaddi Melaka 2019 for all our Kabaddi fans in India, we were unable to do so as the organizers did not produce the event for television broadcast due to some issues that they were facing.”

India remains a cricket crazy country but over the years several other sports like Kabadddi have drawn large audiences to television screens. Even OTT platforms have been leveraging sports to raise its viewership. Brands too pour in money for advertisements and sponsorships for these big ticket events.  

World Cup Kabaddi 2019, for which Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN), had acquired the exclusive media rights was also meant to telecast the event on their premium video on demand (VOD) service, SonyLIV. At the time of the announcement, Rajesh Kaul, Chief Revenue Officer, Distribution and Head - Sports Business, Sony Pictures Networks India, had said as part of his statement: “Kabaddi is one of the more popular sports in the country and we are delighted to be the official broadcasters of an international tournament that positions kabaddi as a mainstream international sport." 

BENGALURU: The Prannoy and Radhika Roy-led New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) reported consolidated profit after tax of Rs 16.66 crore for the quarter ended 30 June 2019 (Q1 2020, quarter or period under review) as compared to a loss of Rs 10.73 crore for the corresponding year ago quarter Q1 2019 (y-o-y). Consolidated PAT for the period under review grew 26.4 per cent from the Rs 13.18 crore reported in the immediate trailing quarter Q4 2019 (q-o-q).

The company reported 10.3 per cent y-o-y growth and 7.3 per cent q-o-q growth in consolidated operating revenue for Q1 2020 at Rs 109.67 crore. For Q1 2019 and Q4 2019 the company had reported consolidated operating revenues of Rs 99.43 crore and Rs 102.24 crore respectively. Consolidated total income which includes operating revenue as well as other income for Q1 2020 grew 12 per cent y-o-y to Rs 113.87 crore from Rs 101.66 crore, but declined 1.2 per cent q-o-q from Rs 115.28 crore.

MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) experienced strong growth in domestic subscription revenue in the first quarter of FY 2020 where the new tariff order played an important role. The leading broadcaster has guided for domestic subscription revenue for the overall year to grow in mid-twenties.

“The implementation of the new tariff order has allowed us to price our channels in line with their popularity, thereby leading to a sharp improvement in monetisation. Additionally, uniformity in pricing across platforms and increased transparency have led to a step jump in this quarter’s subscription revenue growth,” ZEEL MD and CEO Punit Goenka said in an earnings call after Q1 results.

The broadcaster also witnessed sharp growth in subscription revenue in the southern market too. Apart from the digitisation of the Tamil market, the new tariff order also played an important role here.

Goenka, talking about the growth in the Southern market, mentioned that either ZEEL channels were free in certain markets or their pricing was not proportionate with their viewership share while the new pricing regime gave them the opportunity to re-price content.  He pointed out that the tariff has been frozen since the last 16 years and no price change was done since then for any of the channels after launch.

MUMBAI: News broadcaster NDTV has posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 15.2 crore for the quarter ended 30th June as against a net loss of Rs 10.09 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. This is NDTV’s best quarter in six years on a consolidated basis.

The company’s revenue from operations rose to Rs 109.6 crore compared to Rs 99.43 crore in the previous fiscal. Expenses dropped to Rs 93.9 crore as against Rs 102.5 crore.

For the first time in its history, NDTV’s television business is recording five consecutive profitable quarters. The company’s television business has earned a profit of Rs. 9 crore compared to a net profit of Rs 87 lakh in the previous fiscal.

NDTV’s revenue from operations on standalone basis jumped to Rs 69.81 crore compared to Rs 68.23 crore in the previous fiscal. Expenses saw a sharp decline to Rs 63.9 crore from Rs 71 crore.

In a statement, the company said it continues to maximise resource efficiency with operating costs reduced by 9% over the first quarter of last year.

NDTV Convergence, the digital branch of the company, has recorded its highest-ever revenue in this quarter; its EBITDA of 30%is an improvement over the last years. On the day that the results of the general election were announced, NDTV Convergence had 16.5 billion hits.

In terms of segment, the operating profit from television media and related operations jumped to Rs 27.64 crore compared to Rs 10.45 crore. The revenue from the segment jumped to Rs 108.9 crore compared to Rs 97.72 crore.