| MUMBAI:
BAG Films and Media has curtailed its operating losses in TV broadcasting and
radio businesses for the quarter ended 30 September. The
company, which has diverse interests across broadcasting, television production
and radio businesses, kept a tight grip on its expenses, while its TV channels'
revenue surged upwards. The
operating loss in the TV broadcasting segment, which includes Hindi news channel
News24 and Bollywood entertainment channel E24, was a meagre Rs 20.55 million
compared to Rs 185.8 million a year ago. Revenue
from the two channels surged 140 per cent to
Rs 123.78 million. While News24
posted a revenue of
Rs 67.46 million (61 per cent up year-on-year), revenue
of E24 jumped to Rs 56.33 million compared to Rs 9.62 million in the corresponding
quarter of the previous fiscal, an upward swing of 485 per cent. Meanwhile,
the company's FM radio business, functioning under the Dhamaal 24 brand, had a
second-quarter operating loss of Rs 1.07 million as against Rs 2.64 million in
the previous year quarter.
Dhamaal 24, which runs nine FM stations across India, saw a 19 per cent drop in
revenue to Rs 12.16 million, from Rs 15.04 million a year ago. The radio segment
revenue, however, showed a 90 per cent QoQ increase, the company said. BAG
posted a consolidated net loss (before minority interest) of Rs 89.17 million,
compared to a loss of Rs 299.83 million in Q2 FY'09. 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 thereby hoping to achieve the operational breakeven much
earlier than broadcasting industry standard. With sustained growth in revenues
in broadcasting and many new shows coming up in Studio24, we are confident of
improving further on our top line and bottom line.” BAG
Films’ total consolidated income from operations remained flat at Rs 205.52
million (from Rs 205.53 million). The company, however, reduced its total expenditure
to Rs 304.03 million, from Rs 524.2 million in the year ago period. In
the standalone business, however, BAG has suffered a net loss of Rs 23.73 million,
as against a net profit of Rs 12.81 million in Q2 FY'09. Income
from operations dropped 66.72 per cent to Rs 69.57 million (from Rs 209.04 million).
Meanwhile, the company also managed to pin down expenditure to Rs 90.25 million,
from Rs 190.02 million in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. During
the quarter, three shows of Studio24 (the TV production business) were on air
- Star Vivah, a weekday afternoon matrimonial show, Mitwaa - Phool Kamal
Ke, a primetime daily fiction show on Star Plus, and SYE on Star Suvarna. | 
