PVR opens four-hall multiplex at Garuda Mall, Mysore

PVR Cinemas, the country’s largest cinema exhibition chain, said it has opened a four-hall multiplex cinema at Garuda Mall in Mysore. The multiplex has 948 seats and comes with 2K projection systems, Dolby Digital 7.1 surround sound and next generation 3-D screens. The property is spread over 29,500 square feet. Chairman and MD Ajay Bijli said […]

HT Media print ad sales down 7% YoY, 6.5% QoQ

HT Media, the publisher of Hindustan Times and Mint newspapers, reported disappointing advertisement sales for the Apr-Jun quarter, and said corporations were not spending on ads due to poor earnings growth. The company generated only Rs 221 cr during the three months from advertisement sales at its English newspapers Hindustan Times and Mint, a decline […]

Hindustan Media Ventures profit down 73% as sales slide

Hindustan Media Ventures, which publishes Hindustan – the Hindi newspaper from the Hindustan Times Group, showed no signs of a recovery in its business as print media continued to grapple from the impact of rising internet penetration. Net profit fell 73% on year to Rs 13.2 cr, even as profit before exception items and tax […]

Multiplexes to allow ‘outside food’ from Aug 1

Multiplex theaters in Maharashtra will have to allow customers to carry their own food items into the exhibition hall, Maharashtra government said in the legislative assembly. The statement by consumer affairs minister Ravindra Chavan in the assembly comes in the context of a public interest litigation being heard in the Mumbai High Court about ‘overcharging’ […]

Sun Direct threatens to remove Star India channels from all packs

Sun Direct, the No.1 direct-to-home service in South India, has threatened to remove all channels of India’s largest broadcasting company, Star India, from all its subscription packs from August 1. The channels will continue to be available on the platform, but users will have to purchase the channels individually at prices ranging from Rs 10 […]

Facebook rejects police request to block ‘drinker’s group’

Facebook has refused to block a ‘drinker’s group’ that the Kerala Police had requested to be taken down, according to local media reports. The social network reportedly told the police that the group was not in violation of its guidelines and cannot be taken down without proper justification. The Kerala Excise department is trying to […]

Analyst calls Reliance Jio’s GigaFiber targets unrealistic

Market tracker CyberMedia Research has called Reliance Jio’s 4G and GigaFiber broadband subscriber targets unrealistic, and said it did not see the company meeting the year-end target of 300 mln for its 4G service or the 50 mln target for its fiber broadband service. “We at CMR feel Jio might slow down around 260-275 million […]

TRAI starts implementing new tariff structure for TV channels

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has started implementing the tariff order issued last year with effect from today. The move follows the refusal of the Madras High Court to strike down the TRAI tariff orders issued early last year. “Having complied with the judicial mandates in the matter, the (tariff orders).. as upheld by […]

ALTBalaji adding 25,000-30,000 paid users per day – CEO

ALTBalaji, the biggest Indian provider of original online content, is signing up paid users at the rate of 25,000-30,000 per day, said Nachiket Pantvaidya, the CEO of Balaji Telefilms, the company behind the app. “We expect to have paid users of 10 mln by the end of the year,” Pantvaidya said in an interview with BTVI. […]

HT Media to invest Rs 400 cr in Fever 104 FM

HT Media, the company that publishes the Hindustan Times newspaper, said it obtained approval from its board of directors to invest another Rs 400 cr into its FM business. The company operates ‘Fever 104’ FM stations in over a dozen cities in India. However, it is dwarfed by competitors like Radio Mirchi from the Times […]

Porn on Phone? You could go to prison for 3 years

People carrying pornographic or other indecent material on their phones can end up getting prison terms of up to three years under a new law proposed by the ministry of women and child development headed by Maneka Gandhi. Under the ‘Indecent Representation of Women Act’, anyone possessing printed content, drawings and films “which contains indecent […]

ABS Free Dish shuts down; Will Reliance Big TV benefit?

ABS Free Dish, the free DTH service run by a Bermuda-based company of the same name, has shut down its signals over India. The service used to quite popular in the southern and eastern parts of India as the only other free DTH service — DD Free Dish — was almost entirely focused on the […]

DQ Entertainment to set up ‘Jungle Book’ theme parks in India

DQ Entertainment, creator of children’s TV animations such as Jungle Book, said it decided to open several indoor theme parks in India. The company signed a franchisee agreement with India-based Chiliad Procons to open the theme parks, which it said would be of world standard. “It’s as close as India gets to a Disneyland equivalent,” […]

Reliance Jio offers ‘play along’ features for TV broadcasters in India

Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd said it has tied up with Israel-based Screenz to offer interactivity and ‘play along’ features for television programs in India. With the help of the offering, television channels can keep their viewers engaged on a realtime basis using smartphone apps. Jio has already deployed the concept for the quiz show Kaun […]

Zee Entertainment continues bounce from demonetization, Q4 ad sales up 24%

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd, the largest Indian-owned media company, reported a strong quarter of advertisement growth in Jan-Mar, benefiting from a bounce-back from the lows of demonetization last year. Advertising revenue for the Jan-Mar quarter rose 24% on year to Rs 1,050 cr. With this, full-year advertising revenue growth has recovered to 14.5%. Subscription revenue […]

Hindustan Media Ventures sees continued pain in Jan-Mar

Hindustan Media Ventures, which publishes Hindustan, the Hindi newspaper from the Hindustan Times Group, continued to report a deterioration in its financial performance in Jan-Mar, in keeping with a negative trend in the print newspaper industry. The company’s consolidated operating revenue for January-March fell sharply by about 14% compared to the same three months of […]