Scientific Atlanta, better known in India as a supplier of high quality set top boxes, has been the first mover to make a pitch to etc Networks for a contract to set up an earth station for it in Mumbai.

etc Networks managed a coup of sorts after obtaining a licence to set up an uplinking centre from Mumbai. The channel will now become part of an exclusive club of four having uplinking facilities in India. The list includes Jain TV, promoted by Dr JK Jain, Kalanithi Maran‘s Tamil Nadu-based Sun TV and the Eenadu Group in Andhra Pradesh, promoted by Ramoji Rao.

etc has, however, only been allowed to uplink to the Thaicom 3 satellite, according to one of the channel‘s three promoters Yogesh Shah. Queried as to who had been commissioned to build the earth station, Shah said: "Thaicom itself has a facility to help set up the teleport. Scientific Atlanta has given us a quotation. There are several others who are interested in helping us set up the earth station in our existing premises in north Mumbai‘s Andheri suburb."

Although etc will be targeting the 24 Indian channels that are currently downlinking off Thaicom 3, Shah said he did not expect more than five to seven channels - all Mumbai-based - to make the switch. That doesn‘t include etc‘s own channels - etc Punjabi and etc Entertainment.

The project would cost between Rs 50 to 60 million, Shah said.

The Delhi-based Media Foundation has recently launched a website The Hoot which aims to track the media in the Indian subcontinent.

With initial support from UNESCO and individuals, the site is the outcome of the concern felt by a group of practicing journalists at some recent trends in journalism in this part of the world, and also attempts to provide tools for communities and individuals to interact with the media.

Sevanti Ninan, journalist, author and media columnist for the Hindu, Shailaja Bajpai, media columnist, Indian Express, Mannika Chopra, Delhi bureau chief, The Telegraph, and Shubhra Gupta media columnist, Hindustan Times, are the persons whose initiative has made the website possible.

Zee Telefilms never ceases to surprise you. And its latest financial results for the year 2000-2001 must be surely making many an industry watcher shake their heads in disbelief. But the results are there for all to see. Still, one will have to wait for the Annual Report to make more sense of the financials.
But for the nonce, one will have to complement the Subhash Chandra-led management for what can be called a better than expected performance at a time when everyone had been writing Zee TV‘s obit.

Total income for Zee Telefilms is up 68 per cent to Rs 4.35 billion (RS 2.97 billion) aided by a hefty increase in other income to RS 511.11 million (RS 100.8 million). Net profit is up 59 per cent to RS 1.38 billion (RS 822.5 million).

A dividend of 55 per cent has been recommended by the management, which should keep shareholders - who have been bruised by the downslide in the share price - in some cheer.

Zee Telefilms figures for Q4 2001 show that total income is up 57 per cent to RS 1,364.4 million (RS 780.9 million in Q4 2000) while programming costs have more than doubled to RS 647.6 million (RS 299.3 million). Net profit has more than doubled to RS 472.9 million (RS 203.9 million).

The Zee Network Financial Roundup

Looking at the Zee Network as a whole, total revenues have been far higher than predicted by market analysts with total income of RS 10.16 billion, an increase of 29.1 per cent over last year‘s figure of RS 7.87 billion. Q4 revenues have also shown a jump to RS 2.99 billion over last year‘s figure of RS 2.11 billion.

Breaking down the revenues, there have been significant increases in other sales (now what‘s that?) and interest earned. Looking at subscription and ad revenues separately, the increases have not been quite so significant. With Zee TV expected to go pay in the first half of June 2001, subscription revenues are expected to give a significant boost to the overall profitability of the company in the future.

However, it remains to be seen how ad sales will be impacted because going pay normally results in a loss of viewership as decoder boxes are rolled out nationally - with a concomitant loss in ad revenue. And considering the depressed market scenario there may even be a bigger fall in ad sales revenues than that.

Coming back to the figures. Ad revenues have gone up from RS 5.74 billion last year to RS 6.77 billion this year. Subscriptions have increased from Rs1.81 billion to RS 2.05 billion. Pretty healthy numbers for a channel that was supposedly in the dumps.

Figures for other sales show an increase from RS 203 million to RS 754.5 million. Other sales in Q4 went from RS 83.9 million to RS 345.2 million, an over 400 per cent increase. Interest income also saw a big jump. It went from RS 114 million to RS 585.8 million, a fivefold increase. Income increase in Q4 was even bigger - from RS 15.4 million to RS 206.1 million, that‘s 1,238 per cent more than last year.

As far as the results go, market analysts HSBC Securities & Capital Markets Ltd were the closest in their predictions of how the results would pan out (see earlier report).

All in all Zee seems to have done a neat number on all the naysayers who had written off its chances of making a comeback.

There was some activity on another front as well. Sandeep Goyal, the freshly inducted group broadcasting CEO, is now a whole time director of the company. And Rajeev Chandrashekhar, head honcho of consumer electronics major BPL LTD (with interests in a whole slew of other ventures) and Vipin Malik, a Delhi-based chartered accountant, have been inducted as additional independent directors. According to company officials, Malik was formerly on the board of the the Reserve Bank of India.

Chandra returns RS 500 million given to Essel Group investment firms

In another announcement, Zee Telefilms said that chairman Subhash Chandra said that he had returned RS 500 million of the RS 2500 million that had been transferred from ZTL to investment companies belonging to Chandra‘s Essel group for acquiring stakes in B4U and AB Corp. He is supposed to return the entire sum by 30 June 2001.