Zee News Ltd to shutter Telugu news channel
MUMBAI: Zee News Ltd (ZNL) is retreating the Telugu news market.
MUMBAI: Mumbai-based television production company Balaji Telefilms? net loss from its television production business has widened 40 per cent to Rs 11.64 million for the fiscal-second quarter.
Balaji?s revenue from its television production business during the quarter rose almost 6 per cent to Rs 348.3 million from Rs 329.1 million a year ago.
However, on quarter-on-quarter basis the income from operations marginally dipped by 3 per cent from Rs 359.3 million to Rs 348.3 million as the company exited the sponsored programs segment and revenues from this segment has been received only during the beginning of the quarter.
Its expenditure decreased marginally by 2.39 per cent to Rs 369.4 million from Rs 360.8 million even as cost of production/acquisition and telecast fees remained flat at Rs 285.2 million compared to Rs 268.4 million.
In the present quarter, the company?s Ebitda decreased to Rs. 7.3 million from Rs 15 million due to marginal increase in the production costs and increase in other expenditure.
Balaji?s hours of Hindi commissioned programs stood at 217. The Hindi Commissioned segment continues to do well, the company said. The hours of Sponsored programs stood at 87.5 for the quarter.
Revenue contribution from Commissioned programming (HSM) was Rs 335.1 million against Rs 281.5 million in the preceding fiscal, while that of Sponsored programming was Rs 13.2 million as against Rs 47.6 million in the same period year before.
The Hindi commissioned segment is expected to do better going forward with the addition of two new shows: Jodha, based on the epic Jodha Akbar to be aired on Zee in December and another serial, which the company says is first of its kind and marks an important milestone for Balaji.
The company has been working closely on the content while maintaining a tight control on costs to ensure its success, it added.
Revenues from Sponsored segment has been accounted only during the beginning of second quarter as BTL is in the process of identifying new concepts which will translate to fresh content.
BTL?s other income decreased by more than 200 per cent to Rs 15.77 million from Rs 50.43 million in the second quarter of the previous fiscal.
The company?s consolidated net profit stood at Rs 24.34 million compared to a loss of Rs 20.74 million in the second quarter of previous fiscal. BTL?s consolidated result includes Balaji Motion Pictures Limited.
BTL?s consolidated net income during the quarter was Rs 589.6 million, up from Rs 330.6 million in the year before period. Expenditure during the quarter was Rs 572.82 million compared to Rs 375.86 million.
BMPL posted a net profit of Rs 35.99 million on revenues of Rs 241.2 million. Its expenditure stood at Rs 203.3 million. BMPL had released Kya Super Kool Hain Hum during the quarter which had net box office collections of approximately Rs 220 million over the first weekend.
The company had de-risked the revenues of the film by selling the India theatrical rights on a minimum guarantee basis. The satellite and music rights of the film were also sold in prior months.
The company has opted to consolidate the results of its subsidiary in its quarterly results starting this quarter as a measure of further transparency in its results. The income reflected in the subsidiary in the current quarter is ancillary income from the previous year releases.
The total expenses towards prints and advertising amounted to Rs. 79.8 million, pertaining to various films having been expensed off in the current quarter and having not been matched to the revenue of the films they pertain to, in accordance with the requirements of the relevant accounting standards.
The quarterly results of the company going ahead are expected to be ?lumpy? depending on the film releases during the relevant quarters. The second quarter of the company include the results of Kya Super Kool Hain Hum, which was released on 27th July, 2012.
BMPL is expected to release at least one more major film in 2012-2013 and at least four films in 2013-2014.
The company is focusing on its development efforts to ensure a healthy and steady pipeline for the years ahead which would include a mix of development of concepts for in house productions (Once Upon a time in Mumbai Again), co-productions (Shootout at Wadala, Lootera) and signing of key talent.
As on 30 September, the company?s total investments were at Rs. 2.07 billion largely comprising investments in mutual funds and debentures issued by other body corporates and investment in trusts.
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