Jewels in the Balaji crown, Kyunki? and Kahaani? may have hit a plateau, but its other soaps are keeping the company on a winning growth graph, just ahead of its third quarter results.
Balaji Telefilms‘ stock hit an all time high of Rs 414.75 on Wednesday, rising 10.2 per cent over its previous close of Rs 376.25. Impressive third quarter results that are to be announced on 21 January have been instrumental in raising investors‘ expectations and pushing the share prices. The market expects the company to post a profit after tax of Rs 76 million, 76 per cent higher than in the same period last year.

The company‘s new high budget soaps, Kasauti Zindagi Kay on Star Plus and Kutumb and Kkusum on Sony that launched in October 2001 have also contributed to the strong performance of the Balaji stock. According to a report released by DSP Merrill Lynch, the company is riding high on the success of a slew of serials launched in the first half of the year and price increases of as much as 100 per cent on many of its running serials. In December 2001, the report notes, Balaji accounted for 16 of the top 20 Hindi satellite TV programmes on Indian television, against 9 in March 2000.

Reports that some new serials, and even a telefilm, is expected to be aired from the Balaji stable by March 2002 has further boosted the company‘s image.

Take Percept Advertising into the Top Ten in the next five years. That is the brief that former Sony Entertainment No: 2 and new CEO Rajesh Pant, who took charge yesterday, has set for himself.Pant, who was one of the high-profile departures from the SET stable in last year‘s reorganisation, says he has been given a total free hand by Percept Advertising‘s promoters Harindra and Shailendra Singh. Pant‘s initial concentration will be on building and developing internal resources and that means expanding the team that is in place at Percept. With capitalised billings of Rs 1000 million currently, he aims to take it to Rs 5000 million in the next five years.

As for former CEO Navroze Dhondy‘s equation in the new dispensation, Pant has been quoted as saying Dhondy would assume a more marketing related function.

Pant, who joined SET from Citicorp in Dubai, was last year moved to take charge of the freshly formed SET Pictures division after the company decided to enter the field of film production and distribution. Pant‘s initial projects included international distribution of the film Mission Kashmir and Lagaan.

One place where Pant‘s experience at SET will in all likelihood be utilised is in the aggressive plans that Sahara TV has for 2002. Parent company Sahara India is one of Percept‘s key clients.

Zee Telefilms Ltd today announced its third quarter results (ended December 31, 2001). The Income from sales and services has gone down by 18 per cent from Rs 1031.2 million to Rs 853.3 million in Q3. Other Income (Interest) has gone up from Rs 101.6 million to Rs 165 million. Net profit has taken a hit. It has gone down by 25.64 % to Rs 239 million from 321.4 million in last corresponding quarter.

Sales declined to Rs 853.3 million from Rs 1031.2 million last year, probably because advertising revenues were hit badly as none of the Zee shows made any impact on the ratings charts.

NO RATINGS LINKED AD DEALS: On the issue of ratings, Sandeep Goyal, Zee Group Broadcast CEO Sandeep Goyal, has gone on record to say that as of 1 January 2002, all advertising deals would be delinked from ratings. Goyal‘s argument is that the ratings do not adequately reflect the performance of Zee‘s shows. He further stated that this would help in reducing spot bonuses. This is a complete turnaround in ad sales strategy from the deals that were entered into at the time of Zee TV‘s grand relaunch of 27 August 2001, when a lot of inventory was sold with a commitment to deliver a minimum TRP level.

PROGRAMMING COSTS: On the programming front costs for Zee TV have gone down by a huge 42 per cent from Rs 490.9 million in DQ 2000 to Rs 284.5 million in DQ 2001. This is certainly surprising because though the only launches of note during the quarter were the mythological ?Mahabharat? and Jai Santoshi Maa?, these are high cost productions. And servicing programmes like Aap Jo Bolein..., Sarhadein and Chotti Maa to name just three of the shows on air would appear to require substantial monies.

The channel‘s explanation is that during the quarter, the overall programming cost of the network remained under control with a better mix of cost effective programmes under the various genres like soaps, sitcoms, talk shows, game shows, interactive shows and musicals.

Odd though because the average per quarter programming cost for the last six quarters has been around RS 450 million so how this massive cost cut was achieved remains a mystery.

INTEREST: The interest burden, meanwhile, has gone up from Rs 28.7 million to Rs 160.5 million, a whopping 550 per cent increase. It may be recalled that after the Q2 results were declared, Rajesh Jain, president, corporate finance & strategy, Zee Telefilms, when asked how far the Ketan Parekh factor worked towards increasing the interest burden, had admitted it was a factor. He had however pointed out that the major cost increase was because of capital costs incurred for purchasing set top boxes and other equipment for the company‘s DTO project. The amount was between RS 700 to RS 800 million, Jain had said then.

ZEE NETWORK‘S RESULTS: The Zee Network‘s consolidated results are also not too attractive. Even though the total income has gone up by 11 per cent to Rs 2957.6 million from Rs 2654.8 million in the last corresponding quarter, it is largely because of the healthy growth in subscription revenues. Revenues went up 72 per cent from Rs 523.1 million to Rs 901.9 million.

Sales and services were up by 16 per cent from Rs 143.8 million to Rs 167.4 million.

Ad revenues are the most worrisome part of the results though. It has gone down by 8 per cent from Rs 1871.6 million to Rs 1721.4 million.

On the expenses front they have gone down marginally by 3 per cent from Rs 1902.3 million to Rs 1843.2 million. Profit after tax however has gone up 10 per cent to Rs 521.1 million from Rs 473.8 million.

In today‘s trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange, the Zee Telefilms scrip was steady with volumes of just over 4 million shares. The share opened at Rs 127 and moved between a narrow band of Rs 129 and Rs 121 and closed at Rs 125.15. The BSE‘s Sensitive index was down by .01 per cent at the end of the day‘s trading at 3348.

LOOKING AHEAD: While the the company remains cautiously optimistic on the advertising revenue front, there doesn‘t seem to be any great prospects of the current situation changing dramatically. Aside from the mythos, only action reality show Romance Adventure Aap Aur Hum (Raaah) is new on the Zee plate. And these certainly do not look like providing the viewership turnaround that Zee is looking for.

The plus is that Zee has undertaken an internal organisational restructuring for better business and revenue mix, which it expects will positively reflect through improved efficiency and delivery.

The company has also undertaken corporate restructuring of its business under various holding and operating subsidiaries and aims to reduce the number of subsidiaries. This will also bring better operational efficiency and better corporate governance compliance. During the quarter, the company also initiated steps for starting a separate encrypted broadcast beam for Zee TV in the Middle East, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, which will open up these markets for advertising and for enhanced pay revenues. The separate beam allows Zee TV to tailor content to coincide with the prime time in different markets, while concurrently valuating air-time inventory at locally relevant and competitively attractive rates.

Domestic up-linking is expected to have a positive impact, both by lowering costs and improving efficiency as well as by higher revenues through a larger client base.

PanAmSat Corporation, which claims to be the premier provider of global video and data broadcasting services via satellite, has reported total revenues of $870.1 million for 2001.
Earnings before net interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) were $580.1 million, or 67 per cent of revenues; and earnings per share (EPS) were $0.20. The total revenue was $1.024 billion for the year ended 31 December, 2000. The decrease in revenue has been attributed to the $219.2 million of new outright sales and sales-type lease revenues recorded during the year ended 31 December, 2000 compared to $45.5 million of new sales-type lease revenues recorded during the same period in 2001. Operating lease revenues for 2001 were $802.2 million, a 2.8 per cent increase over operating lease revenues of $780.3 million in 2000.

Total revenues for the fourth quarter ended 31 December, 2001 were $203.7 million compared to revenues of $202.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2000; EBITDA was $139.3 million compared to $136.2 million for the same period in 2000. The increase in EBITDA was principally due to a decrease in direct operating costs and selling, general and administrative costs, partially offset by severance expenses. Operating lease revenues increased by 0.5 per cent to $197.7 million or 97 per cent of total revenues for the fourth quarter of 2001, compared to $196.7 million for the same period in 2000.

As of December 31, 2001, PanAmSat had contracts for satellite services representing future payments (backlog) of approximately $5.84 billion, compared to approximately $5.85 billion, as of September 30, 2001.

Speaking on this president and CEO Panamsat Joe Wright said, ?Operating lease revenues for 2001 were the highest in the company?s history, and they increased during a tough growth year in our industry. The higher operating revenues were primarily due to increases in our direct-to-home and network services, and we continued to see strong demand for our domestic video neighborhood among premier entertainment and media customers."

Forecast for 2002
The company expects total revenues for the first quarter of 2002 to range from $200 to $205 million, with no new sales or sales-type leases; EBITDA margins would continue to increase and be above 70 per cent and EPS would range between $0.08 and $0.11 per share. The company said that in 2002 total revenues would range between $790 and $825 million, with no new sales or sales-type leases, and EBITDA margins would be above the 70 per cent level.

Some significant achievements in 2001:

1. The signing of new 10-year, multi-transponder contracts with HBO and Turner Broadcasting System. The long-term arrangements, signed in January 2001, ensure the delivery of CNN, TNT, HBO and Cinemax through 2015.

2. Warner Bros. selected PanAmSat?s Galaxy IVR spacecraft as the new vehicle for the digital distribution of The WB Television Network and Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution services.

3. The signing of new long-term sales agreements with Viacom?s Showtime and Black Entertainment Television (BET) in late November for follow-on service on a Galaxy V replacement spacecraft in 2005. The agreements renewed Viacom?s position on the Galaxy system through 2017.

With this agreement, PanAmSat continues providing long-term program distribution to all three major U.S.-based global entertainment companies.

For more detailed information about the company‘s financial guidance and trends visit

Intelsat LLC has announced that it has signed two launch services contracts - one with Boeing Launch Services for a Sea Launch Zenit-3SL vehicle and the second with International Launch Services (ILS) for its Proton M/Breeze M vehicle - for the launch of the two Intelsat X series satellites 10-01 and 10-02.
The 10-01 and 10-02 satellites, manufactured by Astrium, are scheduled for launch during the second and third quarters of 2003. These spacecraft have a design life span of 13 years each and will be deployed over the Atlantic Ocean region. The X series are the first Intelsat satellites to use plasma propulsion for in-orbit station keeping. This more propellant-efficient design allows for an increase in the useful mass of the spacecraft by 50 per cent over the Intelsat IX generation; this mass can be used for providing more transponders or more power per transponder. Both satellites will provide Internet, broadcast, corporate network and carrier solutions to Intelsat customers.

The 10-01 is scheduled to be deployed at 310?E and has been designed to provide 23 Ku-band and 56 C-band transponders (measured in 36 MHz equivalent units). The 10-02 is planned for the 359?E location with 36 Ku-band and 70 C-band transponders (measured in 36 MHZ equivalent units).

MTV Networks International has announced that next month US secretary of state Colin Powell will participate in an international global forum through the channel. The 60-minute forum will have young people from America, India, the Middle East, Italy, UK/Ireland, Brazil and Russia grilling Powell on the war on terrorism.
MTV Networks International has announced that next month US secretary of state Colin Powell will participate in an international global forum through the channel. The 60-minute forum will have young people from America, India, the Middle East, Italy, UK/Ireland, Brazil and Russia grilling Powell on the war on terrorism.