MUMBAI: With competition among the Hindi movie channels heating up and Star Network acquiring majority of films, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) has gone ahead and acquired some big labels after it went on an aggressive movie buying spree lately.

Zeel will be premiering the movies on its flagship Hindi movie channel, Zee Cinema. Some of the released and yet-to-be released movies that Zeel has acquired recently include Don 2, Agneepath, Agent Vinod, Barfee, Heroine, Players, Joker, Michael and My Friend Pinto.

Zeel MD and CEO Punit Goenka said, "We are happy to have augmented our vast library to bring these films to the Indian audiences. We will soon be bringing the biggest blockbusters to the small screen. These films will give us a golden opportunity to showcase some of the most awaited films on TV. We have already drawn a very positive advertiser response for the films."

Last year, Zeel had acquired films like Double Dhamaal, Tanu Weds Manu, Shaitan, Bbuddah Hoga Terra Baap, Chalo Dilli, Shagird and Pyaar ka Punchnama, among others.

MUMBAI: Amid a global economic downturn, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) is looking at a 9 per cent growth from its international business this fiscal.

India?s leading broadcasting network overseas will see international income up from advertising, syndication and other operations while subscription revenue will stay almost flat.

?Historically, we were very subscription-led. But for the last three years we have developed other revenue streams like mainstream advertising and syndication, which are posting growth. That enabled us to launch many products,? said Zeel international business head Bharat Ranga in an interview with Indiantelevision.com, while refusing to disclose any financials.

Zeel had posted an international subscription revenue of Rs 4.09 billion in FY?11, degrowing by 2 per cent over the year-ago period. In the first six months of this fiscal, the company has reported revenue of Rs 1.93 billion.

Zeel announces its international subscription revenues, but does not disclose the break-up of its advertising income from India and other markets.

The depreciation of the rupee against the dollar would somewhat help Zeel in the second half, but the economies of UK and Europe still remain terribly stressed.

?Europe and UK remains a huge challenge but within this turmoil, the South Asians are somewhat better placed. However, because our competitors sell very cheap or even make free content available, growth is still a challenge,? said Ranga.

Zeel launched Zee Caf?, a hybrid channel, to arrest degrowth in that market. The channel airs cricket and regional fiction shows sub-titled in English, among other lines of content.

So will the company launch more channels in global markets? ?We are very selective about launching Indian channels in these markets. We launch only when we spot gaps. In UK, we felt that there was a male product gap. We would like to launch when we see that there is an instant market need. We want to first harness the growth of these new launches,? said Ranga.

Zeel has also paced up its localisation strategy in global markets, which keeps it far ahead of its rivals. Zee Aflam, for instance, has seen reasonable growth and reached break-even status within three years. Other localisation experiments are already on in Malaysia, Russia and, to a limited extent, in France in partnership with Canal.

Will Zeel launch local products in more markets? ?There are plans in additional markets but we can?t disclose now because it is strategic in nature. We have developed homegrown tools to identify markets,? said Ranga.

MUMBAI: The global scare of another economic crisis fuelled by huge debt of Uncle Sam has also hit Indian bourses and how.

Even as the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) closed at 16,857.91 points, just 0.78 per cent down today, the bear- run, which started on Friday last, is continuing.

And among the media entities, every single listed company has seen erosion in the scrip.

As per data collected from the BSE, Reliance ADAG‘s Reliance MediaWorks (RMWL) is the worst hit. In the last three days, the share price dropped by 16 per cent. On Tuesday, it closed at Rs 95.9 per share, as compared to a closing price of Rs 111.35 on Thursday, 4 August.
 
Following RMWL, there is another multiplex operator, Cinemax, which has seen a 15.47 per cent fall in the scrip price. The shares closed at Rs 30.7 apiece. The closing price for 4 August was Rs 35.45.

Other companies, which lost over 10 per cent of their share value, are BAG Films and Media, Wire & Wireless (India) Ltd (WWIL), Next Mediaworks (earlier Mid-Day Multimedia), NDTV and Fame Cinemas.

Network18 saw erosion of 9.2 per cent, while Hathway Cable & Datacom shares tumbled 8.26 per cent on Tuesday, compared to Thursday last. Zee News Ltd, Den, TV18 and PVR all lost over six per cent of the scrip over the three days.

Meanwhile Balaji Telefilms and HT Media lost just over 5 per cent scrip value when compared with Thursday closing price.

Among the least affected companies were Jagran Prakashan, which saw just 0.9 per cent dip. The shares of company closed at Rs 112.4 on Tuesday, compared to Rs 113.4 on last Thursday. Even UTV Software Communications did not see any change, as it was screened by the Walt Disney‘s offer for buyback. UTV shares closed Monday at Rs 953, down 0.91 per cent from Rs 961.7 on Thursday.

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) also saw just 0.96 per cent drop, to Rs 125.5 per share.

Meanwhile, Dish TV lost 4.11 per cent, followed by Entertainment Networks (India) Ltd (ENIL), Hinduja Ventures, TV Toda, Inox Leisure, Reliance Broadcast Networks Ltd (RBNL) and Sun TV.