(14 November 2009 9:45 pm)

MUMBAI: Zee Turner Ltd, a joint venture company between Zee and Turner, is targeting a revenue of Rs 10 billion this fiscal on the back of a faster growth from DTH while pay-TV income from cable TV stays strong.

In the earlier fiscal, Zee Turner had clocked Rs 7.5 billion after adding Ten Sports into its distribution bouquet. Zee Turner has the widest bouquet of channels, distributing 33 pay and two free-to-air channels.

"We are targeting Rs 10 billion this fiscal, up from Rs 7.5 billion in the prior year," a source tells Indiantelevision.com

When contacted, Zee Turner CEO Dinesh Jain declined to comment on the financials but said the company had set ambitious targets. "We will see significant organic growth this year. We will get high double digit growth from cable TV while DTH will give us faster growth," he added.

The pay-TV revenue mix is loaded in favour of cable TV but this could change in the next few years. "For pay-TV broadcasters, 70 per cent of their revenues comes from cable TV. The industry could see an equal split in pay-TV broadcasting revenues between direct-to-home (DTH) and cable TV after two years," Jain said.

Adding channels in the bouquet would form a part of Zee Turner's growth strategy. "We plan to have 50 channels in our portfolio within two years," says Jain.

Regionalisation will be a big growth driver for Zee Turner. "We have very strong regional channels. Even in the south, Zee Telugu has seen remarkable growth. We are also having a bouquet of regional news channels," says Jain.