TV18 ad revenue continues to fall, margins improve

TV18 Broadcast Ltd, one of India’s top three broadcasting companies, reported yet another quarter of declining advertising revenue, but the company’s profits zoomed due to cost cuts. Non-subscription revenue — which is mostly composed of advertising sales — fell by Rs 181 cr (16%) in October-December of 2019 compared to the same quarter of 2018. […]

TV18 revenue falls sharply, TRAI free-to-pay conversion hurts

TV18 Broadcast, which operates channels like Colors and News18, has reported a dip of Rs 71 cr in its revenue after a shift from free to pay for some of its entertainment channels and a soft economy hurt advertising sales. “Macro-weakness and shift of channels from DD Freedish to Pay ecosystem continues to drag ad-revenues […]

After Viacom18, Star India too abandons ‘two brand’ strategy, kills ‘OK’

Having withdrawn Star Bharat from India’s largest free DTH service, Star India seems to have decided to junk its erstwhile ‘dual brand’ strategy in favor of consolidating all its channels under the flagship Star branding. Movies OK, a channel that was launched seven years ago as a cheaper alternative to Star Gold, the group’s flagship […]

TRAI tariff order impact subscription & ad revenue – TV18

TV18, the country’s largest news- and reality-based programming company, said the introduction of a new tariff order by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India impacted both its advertising revenue as well as subscription income. TRAI introduced a new, demand-based subscription model for television channels from Feb 1, while a ruling by the Madras High Court […]

TRAI TARIFF FALLOUT: Times Group leaves biggies Star, Zee & Sony far behind in English movies

Bennett, Coleman & Co, also known as Times Group, has emerged as the most successful provider in the English movie segment in the aftermath of new TRAI tariff order, upsetting the calculations of well established players like Star India and Zee Entertainment. According to data for the last week of March from Chrome Data Analytics […]

TRAI PLANS: Channel prices cut as negotiations drag on with DTH, cable cos

Even as cable and DTH companies prepare to pull most of the expensive channels out of their base packs from December 29 over pricing issues, three broadcasters — Times Network, TV18 and Zee Entertainment — have reduced or rationalized their channel prices and packs. While Times Network has cut the price of 10 out of […]

FULL LIST: 332 pay channels, 500 FTA declared under TRAI plan

With the December 29 deadline for the implementation of the new TRAI rules drawing near, an analysis of the 332 channels that have already declared their prices indicates that Star India is the most expensive, followed by Zee and Sony. Scroll down to see the full list of pay and FTA channels available on most […]

New TRAI Tariff for DTH & Cable: List of channels priced Rs 5 or less

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is in the process of enforcing a new tariff scheme for cable and DTH networks in India. The system was supposed to ensure greater consumer choice by making channels available at cheap rates and ridding the networks of junk channels. The new tariff scheme — aimed at dismantling ‘bundling’ […]

TV18 posts 8% top line growth, regional news slips

Reliance Industries’ controlled TV18 reported better results than in recent quarters, and said advertising revenue is showing signs of recovery. The company reported a 8% growth in the top line for Oct-Dec quarter to Rs 271 cr, while profit before tax remained flat at Rs 16 cr. Profit from joint ventures jumped to Rs 19 […]

Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries to take over Network18

Reliance Industries said it will spend Rs 4,000 crore to acquire control of Network 18 Media & Investments Ltd, the owner of the CNN IBN channel and sister concerns like CNBC TV18, IBN 7, Firstpost.com etc. The Mukesh Ambani firm will make open offer to acquire shares held by minority shareholders in Network18. The acquisition […]

Firstpost.com was born out of the global financial crisis – Behl

Firstpost.com was born due to the global financial crisis of 2008, Raghav Behl, founder of the Network18 group said. Speaking at the annual FICCI Frames conference, Behl said his group was preparing to launch a newspaper in 2008 when the global financial crisis struck. “Then we thought, why go into an old medium…but we wanted […]