MUMBAI: HT Media?s FM radio broadcast and entertainment business has posted a profit of Rs 26.6 million before tax and interest for the third quarter ending 31 December compared to a loss of Rs 9.4 million in the same quarter last fiscal.

Revenue from radio segment jumped to Rs 213.5 million from Rs 172.7 million.

The company narrowed its loss from digital business to Rs 88.6 million from Rs 93.4 million in the previous fiscal. The company reported 18 per cent increase in revenues to Rs 138 million from Rs 117 million.

HT Media, which publishes Hindustan Times, has seen its profit from printing and publishing before tax and interest grow to Rs 837.8 million from Rs 790.7 million. Revenue from the segment has increased to Rs 5.1 billion from Rs 4.96 billion.

Net profit grew higher by 11 per cent to Rs 561 million from Rs 480.6 million. Total Income for the quarter rose 5 per cent to Rs 5.4 billion from Rs 5.2 billion.

Advertising growth during the quarter remained flat with a 2 per cent increase in advertising revenues of print segment to Rs 4.1 billion from Rs 4.0 billion primarily due to higher volumes.

Circulation revenue grew 12 per cent to Rs 565 million from Rs 503 million driven by higher circulation and realisation per copy.

Expenditure during the quarter grew to Rs 4.59 billion from Rs 4.46 billion. Consumption of raw materials declined to Rs 1.8 billion from Rs 1.86 billion due to lower consumption. Employee cost grew to Rs. 980 million from Rs. 936 million.

HT Media Chairperson and Editorial Director Shobhana Bhartia, ?We are pleased to report strong financial and operational performance this quarter. Our overall growth in revenue, combined with a persistent focus on cost optimisation, has resulted in a healthy improvement in profitability.

"This has been backed by the latest India Readership Survey, which has yet again confirmed our strong brand salience amongst English and Hindi dailies. We continue to expand our readership base in Mumbai and UP, and have retained our leadership positions in Delhi, Bihar and Jharkhand.

"In addition, our radio and digital businesses continue to deliver robust growth according to plans. We are confident that our strong and resilient business model, established brands and sustained focus on cost reduction will continue to create value and show even better results as the macro economic environment improves.?

The company has net cash of Rs 6 billion which is capable of supporting investments in growing businesses whilst exploring new opportunities.

MUMBAI: HT Media has reported its radio broadcast business made an operating profit of Rs 23.8 million in the second quarter ended 30 September against operating loss of Rs 45.4 million a year earlier, on a sharp rise in revenues.

In the first quarter, the radio business had reported operating profit of Rs 14.5 million, after reporting operating loss of Rs 43.8 million for the year ended 31 March.

HT Media said revenues from radio broadcast business in the second quarter rose 27 per cent to Rs 199 million from Rs 157 million a year earlier.

The company‘s profit after tax for the second quarter declined 24 per cent to Rs 333 million from Rs 438 million a year earlier due to rise in raw material and employee costs.

The cost of raw materials increased eight per cent to Rs 1.95 billion from Rs 1.8 billion while the company‘s employee cost rose 22 per cent to Rs 1.03 billion from Rs 849 million a year earlier.

The media company‘s Ebitda declined by 13 per cent to Rs 809 million from Rs 932 million.

The company‘s total income rose 5 per cent to Rs 5.3 billion in the second quarter from Rs 5.1 billion a year earlier.

HT Media‘s advertising revenue from print business declined one per cent to Rs 3.64 billion from Rs 3.69 billion a year earlier. The subscription income from print business increased 11 per cent to Rs 563 million from Rs 507 million.

Commenting on the results HT Media Chairperson and Editorial Director Shobhana Bhartia said: ?We continue to operate in a tough macro-economic environment, with advertising revenues across our print businesses facing headwinds. This, combined with persistent inflation in costs, has put pressure on our profitability for the quarter.?
HT Media‘s businesses include English daily Hindustan Times, business daily Mint and radio station Fever 104 FM.

The company said it had invested Rs 31 million in compulsorily convertible debentures of HT Digital during the quarter. Its earlier investment of Rs 0.6 million in compulsorily convertible debentures of Rs 100 each of HT Digital were converted into six million shares of Rs 10 each as per terms of the debentures.

It also revealed that it had invested Rs 25 million in HT Mobile by way of Inter Corporate Deposit out of which Rs 15 million was repaid during the quarter itself and invested another Rs 85 million in another subsidiary Firefly by way of Inter Corporate Deposit.

NEW DELHI: The Government has decided to commence e-auctions for Phase III of FM radio from December this year.

The auctions will be over a period of three years to increase the number of private FM radio channels from the present 245 to around 839, covering another 227 cities having population of over 0.1 million.

Meanwhile, a total of 25 FM radio broadcasting companies have applied for migrating from FM Radio Phase II to FM Radio Phase III. The Government has extended the last date for grant of signing of Migration Grant of Permission Agreement (GOPA) to 30 June.

Information and Broadcasting Ministry sources told Indiantelevision.com that these 25 include Reliance Broadcast Network, Asianet Radio, BAG Infotainment, HT Media, Malayala Manorama, Music Broadcast, Radio Mid-Day West (India) Ltd, Mathrubhumi, Sun TV Network and Udaya FM, Clear Media (India), Entertainment Network India Ltd (ENIL), Gwalior Farms Pvt Ltd, India Radio Ventures, Kal Radio, Malar Publications, Muthoot Broadcasting, PCM Cement Concrete, Purvy Broadcasts, Digital Radio Broadcasting, Raneka Fincom, South Asia FM, DB Corp, Syntech Informatics, and Puran Multimedia.

Even as the Government has said that private FM radio channels will be permitted to carry news bulletins of All India Radio in unaltered form, it has been clarified that broadcast relating to subjects like sporting events, traffic and weather will be treated as non-news and will, therefore, be permissible.

Other subjects coming under non-news and current affairs are coverage of cultural events, festivals, coverage of topics pertaining to examinations, results, admissions, career counseling, availability of employment opportunities, and public announcements pertaining to civic amenities like electricity, water supply, natural calamities, health alerts etc. as provided by the local administration.

Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology has welcomed the decision to go to Phase III and to increase the FDI from 20 to 26 per cent and the decision to allow private operators to own more than one channel but not more than 40 per cent of the total channels in a city subject to a minimum of three different operators in the city.

The Committee was happy that permission for FM Channels is going to be awarded through ascending e-Auction as followed by Department of Telecommunications for the auction of 3G and BWA Spectrum, mutates-mutandis as recommended by Group of Ministers (GoM) as licensing Methodology for FM Phase III.

The Committee observed that the Ministry has constituted two Committees - Inter ministerial Committee, and Application Review Committee - to guide and supervise the process of e-Auction.

The Committee said this was ?certainly a step forward in the direction of fast expansion of FM Radio Services in the country as it will give further boost to the FM Services movement?. The Committee wanted the two Committees to meet on regular basis.