(26 May 2012 8:05 pm)

MUMBAI: Marred with a slowdown in ad revenue and a continuing stalemate with the Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable Corp, Sun TV Network, the largest regional broadcaster has posted a 23.67 per cent drop in its standalone net profit for the fourth quarter of the fiscal ended 31 March 2012.

Sun TV has posted a net profit of Rs 1.59 billion, down from Rs 2.08 billion it posted in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

The company's operating income for the quarter dropped 7.27 per cent to Rs 4.27 billion, compared to Rs 4.60 billion in Q4 FY'11.

In the fourth quarter itself, the deadlock with Arasu has caused a loss of Rs 300 million to the broadcaster's bottomline.

Meanwhile, the expenses also jumped 25.04 per cent to Rs 2.06 billion, up from Rs 1.64 billion in the year ago period.

For the full fiscal, the Marans owned broadcasting major has seen a 10 per cent drop in its consolidated net profit. It has posted a net profit of Rs 6.93 billion, down from Rs 7.7 billion it posted in the previous fiscal.

The ad revenue during the fiscal has decreased by close to 3 per cent.

Sun TV's Ebitda (Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) for the fiscal was 81 per cent at Rs 14.956 billion, the company said.

Sun TV operates over 32 channels across Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam and has 43 FM radio stations running across India.