Advertising revenues continued to pour into regional broadcaster Sun TV Network‘s channels through the quarter ended September 2009, with the company reporting a sequential rise of 8.98% in standalone net profits to Rs 1305.6 million on revenues which rose 11.38% to Rs 3,203.9 million. Sun TV Network, owned by Kalanithi Maran, runs two dailies, a radio network, TV channels and a DTH division Sun Direct.
Compared to Sep08 quarter, it has shown a 20.54% rise in net profits and 34.69% increase in revenues in Sep09 quarter. It has reported a year on year rise of 36.47% in EBITDA to Rs. 2,435.6 million and an EPS of Rs. 3.31. From proceeds of its IPO, Rs. 3557.7 million has been used to capitalise its subsidiaries, Rs. 863.2 million for launching new channels and purchasing/upgrading equipment and Rs. 623.4 million for constructing a corporate office.
Details: Release | Financials
IPTV Decision Delayed
In the previous quarter, IPTV providers were in a quandary as the broadcaster was not sharing its channels with them. Then, it was understood that the matter was one of “comfort with technology” and the broadcaster needed time to frame its policy for IPTV. It appears that this has been delayed. “Sun TV has yet to finalise its policy and it could be expected only in November,” revealed Kapil Gupta, the marketing head of Smart Digivision(branded as MyWay) an IPTV franchisee of BSNL .
The Network
The Sun TV network has investments in:
- Print Media – Dinakaran, a Tamil daily and Tamil Murasu, an evening tamil daily and four Magazines
- DTH – Sun Direct, which competes with 5 other DTH providers – Dish TV (Financials here), Tata Sky, Reliance ADAG’s BIG TV, Airtel Digital TV, DD Direct and the latest entrant Videcon D2H.
- Television Broadcasting – it owns and runs 21 channels in four languages.
- Radio – 2 private FM radio channels – Suryan FM in Tamil Nadu and Red FM in other states. On the 93.5 MHz frequency, with a total of 42 radio stations.
Key Corporate Developments In The Quarter
Sep – Former Star executive Ravinath Menon was appointed Head of Programming of the company.
Aug – Sanjay Reddy, who was previously at Zee Group, was roped in as head of Andhra Pradesh TV business; S Selvam was appointed an Additional Director.
July – South Asia Multimedia Technologies (SAMT) upped its stake in South Asia FM Ltd, a subsidiary of Sun TV Network, to 20%. SAMT had bought 6.98% stake in the subsidiary in January 2008.
Pact With Endemol For Game Show
The company has now entered into a partnership with Dutch company Endemol for a game show on the lines of ‘Deal or no deal’, paying a fixed fee and royalty to the entertainment firm. More on Business Standard.
Related
– Sep09: Zee News Profit Up 9.7%; Six Channels To Be Demerged To ZEEL
– Move Over, Analogue: Digital Cable TV The Norm Soon Says I&B Minister Soni
–Smart Digivision To Launch IPTV In Delhi, Kolkata; Pricing; No Sun TV Content
