March 2020

BUSINESS

ORTEL LOSSES DECREASE

Ortel Communications, a leading MSO has been able to curtail its net loss for the December 31 quarter to ₹ 6.87 crore. The 2018 December quarter figure was ₹ 8.51 crore and ₹ 12.68 crore in December 2017 quarter.

They clocked a revenue of ₹ 21.41 crore compared to ₹ 22.93 crore in Q2 and ₹ 25.42 crore in Q3 FY19. The expenses were ₹ 32.53 crore in Q2 and ₹ 38.7 crore in Q3 FY19.

Programming costs came down to ₹ 6.63 crore from ₹ 7.12 crore in Q2 and ₹ 8.7 crore in Q3 FY19. Operating loss of cable TV was ₹ 28 lakh compared to ₹ 1 lakh in Q2 and an operating profit of ₹ 2.66 crore in Q3 FY19. The revenue from the segment fell to ₹ 16.52 crore from ₹ 17.44 crore in Q2 and ₹ 20.35 crore in Q3 FY19. The broadband segment had a profit of ₹ 58 lakh and a profit of ₹ 6 lakh in Q3 FY19.

... Back to News Headlines

NETFLIX NEW SUBS CHARGE

In a change of strategy Netflix will now charge users ₹ 5 for the firstmonth for its new subscribers.

It is testing new offers in India and any new user who will subscribe to Netflix for the first time will now have to pay ₹ 5 for first-thirty days. However, Netflix said that the offer would not be available to all new users. The new members will see it when they sign up for Netflix.

The current subscription plan of Netflix has four kinds of subscription plans - ₹ 199 mobile plan, ₹ 499 plan, ₹ 649 standard plan and ₹ 799 premium plan. The new ₹ 5 offer will be applicable irrespective of the subscription plan.

Netflix had revoked its onemonth free trial offer in several markets in December 2019. Netflix has allowed users in India a 30-day free trial for its services since its entry into India in 2016. Netflix has over 160 million members around the world

... Back to News Headlines

DIGI PROFITS INCREASE

Digi Communications has almost doubled its net profit of €41,787,000 for 2019. The 2018 figures were €18,022,000. Revenues posted a 14.2% to €1,038.1 million.

In Romania, the cable TV RGU total base increased from 3,305,000 to 3,590,000 in 2019,

DTH ARPU also grew up from €4.8 to €5, the RGU total fell from 529,000 to 507,000.

Cable TV RGU in Hungary total grew from 689,000 to 694,000.

... Back to News Headlines

BNT TV BANKRUPT

Bulgarian public broadcaster BNT has gone bankrupt and has a deficit of €20.45 million.

The figure could rise up towards the end of the year.

The deficit increased as the expenses in the last few years and the trouble started in 2017 when Konstantin Kamenarov was its head. The broadcaster receives a public subsidy of BGN70 million last year.

... Back to News Headlines

REPUBLIC TV OWNERSHIP

Republic Media Network and Arnab Goswami has lent clarity on the details of its promoter shareholding. When the channel was launched Arnab Goswami, had around 84% equity through his promoter entity in ARG Outlier Media Pvt Ltd.

In February 2019 Arnab raised further capital and from then on continues to hold over 82 % of ARG Outlier Media Pvt Ltd. Arnab owns 99% equity in the downstream digital entity that controls the digital assets of the network under the URL www.republicworld.com.

Arnab Goswami, the Editor in Chief of the Republic Media Network is the sole promoter and Chairman of the Board of the Republic Media Network (RMN). This makes the Republic Media Network aside from being solely promoted, a career journalist owned network, which is unique in the context of Indian News Media ownership.

... Back to News Headlines

VICAOM PROFITS DIP

ViacomCBS Inc earnings fell short of revenue and profit expectations have seen a dip and they expect revenues to improve during 2020 and estimated revenue of US$29.2 billion if revenue were to rise by 5%. Analysts expected 2020 revenue to reach $29.74 billion.

Revenue fell to $6.87 billion from $7.09 billion a year ago in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31.

Advertising revenue saw a dip of 2% up to $3.03 billion during the quarter as domestic ad revenue was hit.

... Back to News Headlines

TELECOM ROMANIA PROFITS SURGE

Telekom Romania posted a turnaround in 2019. The full-year revenues were up by 5% to €980 million and EBITDA was up by over 5% to €143.7 million. Telekom Romania lost TV subscribers in 2019 – down 8.5% during the year to 1,319,996, and shedding 33,460 in Q4 alone, its FMC customer base increased by 16.6% to 726,232.

... Back to News Headlines

AIRTEL Q3 PROFITS LOWER

Airtel Digital TV, had a total revenue of ₹ 792.2 crore in Q3 FY20, up from 789.3 crore in the corresponding quarter last year, according to news reports. Operating profit stood at ₹ 544.1 crore for the quarter ended 31st December as against ₹ 560.7 crore last year.

The company’s EBITDA margin stood at 68.7% compared to 71%, while EBIT stood at ₹ 301.1 crore compared to ₹ 324.3 crore a quarter ago. EBIT margin was at 38.0% as compared to 41.1% in the previous quarter.

During the quarter, Airtel Digital added 101,000 subscribers compared to 181,000 in Q2. The average revenue per user (ARPU) remained flat at ₹ 162 while the monthly churn increased to 1.8% from 1.6%.

... Back to News Headlines

BROADCAST SECTOR REVENUE BOOST

The union government has budgeted a non-tax revenue from the broadcasting sector at ₹ 1962.25 crore for FY21. In FY20, the government had budgeted its non-tax revenue from broadcasting at ₹ 2766.67 crore. However, the revised non-tax revenue from the sector is ₹ 1371.25 crore for FY20.

In FY19, the actual revenue from the broadcasting sector stood at ₹ 1319.80 crore.

The non-tax revenue from broadcasting includes receipts of licence fee from direct to home (DTH) operators, Commercial Services (TV), Commercial Services (FM) and other receipts.

... Back to News Headlines

UCN CABLE PROFITS UP

UCN Cable, a leading MSO has reported an operating profit of ₹ 19.3 crore for the fiscal ended 31st March as against ₹ 17.63 crore in the previous fiscal. The company’s revenue for the fiscal jumped to ₹ 110.6 crore compared to ₹ 99 crore a year ago.

Nagpur-based UCN Cable is promoted by Ashutosh Kane, Ajay Khamankar and Jagdish Paliya. The company is engaged in providing Internet and cable distribution services

The company has an existing subscriber base of approximately 800,000 users in digital cable segment and around 5300 users in the broadband segment.