| MUMBAI:
BAG Films and Media has narrowed its third-quarter broadcasting loss to Rs 2.21
million, mainly due to a revenue uptick from its Bollywood entertainment channel.
E24 posted
an almost six-fold jump in the quarter to Rs 60.70 million, up from Rs 10.39 million.
The other TV channel
News24, competing in the cluttered general Hindi news space, reported a 39 per
cent growth to Rs 69.17 million (from Rs 49.67 million). The
operating loss stood at Rs 82.51 million in the year-ago period. Says
BAG Films and Media CMD Anurradha Prasad, “We are glad that our broadcasting
initiatives have consistently shown growth in revenues and the losses have been
substantially controlled. The period under review saw the company consolidating
its position in the broadcasting sector.”
Meanwhile,
the radio business, housed under Dhamaal24, also saw a surge in the third-quarter
revenue to Rs 13.94 million compared to Rs 4.73 million a year ago. The company
said that all its 10 stations are operational. The
operating loss on the radio segment decreased to Rs 0.82 million, as compared
to an operating loss of Rs 7.03 in the earlier year. On
a consolidated basis, BAG Films has narrowed its net loss to Rs 36.56 million,
as against a net loss of Rs 84.56 million.
Revenue
jumped 55.14 per cent to Rs 212.07 million, as against Rs 136.69 million in the
same quarter last fiscal. Expenses stayed flat at Rs 304.95 million (from Rs 305.76
million). The
operating loss of the company also came down to Rs 92.89 million, as against Rs
169.08 million a year ago. However,
the audio visual production - Studio 24 – posted an operational loss of 12.30
million, as against a profit of Rs 31.29 million. Revenues dipped marginally to
Rs 63.64 million (from Rs 67.52 million) in this segment. | 
