MUMBAI: Viacom18, the general entertainment business of TV18 Broadcast, turned profitable in the fiscal-third quarter ended 31 December on a sharp rise in revenues and a fall in loss from new operations.

The entertainment broadcaster had a net profit of Rs 34 million in the third quarter against a loss Rs 532 million a year earlier.

Viacom18?s operating revenues rose 50 per cent in the third quarter to Rs 4.73 billion from Rs 3.16 billion a year earlier, while operating expenses rose by a slower 25 per cent to Rs 4.43 billion from Rs 3.51 a year earlier.

Viacom18 reported an operating profit of Rs 304 million in the third quarter against operating loss of Rs 355 million, as its motion pictures operations had an operating profit of Rs 95 million against Rs 4 million a year earlier. The quarter saw the release of ?Son of Sardar? among other movies. For the nine months ended 31 December, motion pictures had an operating loss of Rs 193 million.

B Saikumar, Group CEO at TV18 group, said, "The brands across mass entertainment, English and factual entertainment, kids, music continue to grow and hold leadership positions. Importantly, all our programming initiatives in prime time and the weekend have paid off rather well on Colors."

In the quarter under review, Colors climbed to the No. 1 spot in the Hindi GEC genre for multiple weeks. The big-ticket shows included Bigg Boss and India?s Got Talent.

Profit from continuing channels

The company?s operating profit from continuing business, excluding new operations, was Rs 432 million in the third quarter against Rs 391 million a year earlier.

The channels falling under the ?continuing business? segment include Colors (flagship Hindi GEC), MTV, Nick and Vh1.

Loss from new channel operations

Viacom18?s operating loss from new operations (which includes launch of Nick Jr, Nick Teen and Comedy Central) narrowed to Rs 129 million from Rs 203 million a year earlier.

MUMBAI: Entertainment broadcasting company Viacom18 has narrowed its fiscal-second quarter net loss to Rs 198 million from Rs 284 million a year earlier, as its operating revenues rose while costs remained flat.

The containment of operating costs helped Viacom18 earn an operating profit of Rs 126 million for the quarter ended 30 September 2012 against operating loss of Rs 77 million a year earlier.

The TV18 Broadcast subsidiary?s interest expenses on borrowings in the second quarter were up 50 per cent to Rs 247 million from Rs 164 million a year earlier, weighing on profitability.

Viacom18?s operating revenue in the second quarter was up 8.85 per cent to Rs 3.01 billion from Rs 2.76 billion a year earlier, while its operating expenses were flat at Rs 2.88 billion compared with Rs 2.84 billion a year earlier.

The entertainment broadcaster?s operating profit from continuing business, including broadcasting and motion pictures, grew about 23 per cent in the second quarter to Rs 214 million from Rs 174 million a year earlier.

The operating loss from new operations was Rs 75 million in the second quarter against Rs 29 million a year earlier.

TV18 group CEO B Saikumar said, "Our broadcast business across news and entertainment has turned in a steady performance in spite of continued softness in the advertising environment. Notably, our distribution venture, IndiaCast has had a very encouraging start and this positions us well as digitisation gets underway. The other highlight of the quarter was the motion pictures business breaking into positive territory."