TV18 back in black

Raghav Bahl-promoted TV18 Broadcast has returned to profits. The company, which houses the entertainment, infotainment, news channel and motion pictures business, has reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 21 crore in the quarter ended December 31. In the same quarter last year, the company had posted a net loss of Rs 53.5 crore.

Consolidated revenues for the quarter stood at Rs 512.4 crores, compared with Rs 297 crore in the year-ago period. Operating profit (Ebitda) for the quarter is at Rs 48 crore, compared with the loss of Rs 34 crore last year. The company said its broadcasting and motion pictures operations were responsible for the strong performance which saw a profit of Rs 58 crore during the quarter excluding one-time expenses/revenues and losses towards new launches and discontinued operations.

The net distribution income turned positive while advertising revenues grew 10% YOY.

Raghav Bahl, Managing Director, Network18 said, “TV18 has returned to profitability this quarter. Our Net Distribution Income has finally broken into positive territory and our recast balance sheet has helped us rationalise our interest payouts. We are now entering an exciting phase in our journey as we strengthen our existing operations and consolidate our regional acquisition.”

B Saikumar, Group CEO, said, “We are extremely pleased that all our broadcast operations grew their margins despite softness in the advertising environment. IndiaCast has hit a positive trajectory and stays with its focus of correcting the group's distribution revenues upwards and adding more brands and partners to its stable. The News Network will further consolidate its leadership position with the addition of ETV News to the stable. The brands across mass entertainment, English and Factual Entertainment, Kids, Music continue to grow and hold leadership positions. Importantly, all our programming initiatives in prime time and the weekend have paid off rather well on Colors and we hope to replicate this success in the regional ETV entertainment bouquet as well by investing in content and audiences.”