MUMBAI: Raghav Bahl-promoted TV18 Group has offered Viacom to buy the remaining 50 per cent stake in ETV?s general entertainment channels (GECs) as part of the plan to broaden its joint venture partnership with the global media giant.

Viacom is conducting a due diligence of the ETV assets before it decides to participate in TV18?s regional-language entertainment ambitions. Early last year, TV18 inked a deal to acquire 50 per cent stake in ETV?s Marathi, Bangla, Kannada, Gujarati and Oriya entertainment channels, along with the option of picking up the balance 50 per cent interest. It also has 24.5 per cent stake in ETV Telugu and can add a similar equity interest in the Telugu GEC.

?Viacom has the option to acquire stake in ETV?s entertainment channels. They are looking at it,? Viacom18 Group chief executive officer Sudhanshu Vats tells Indiantelevision.com.

After getting Viacom?s equity participation, the ETV GECs will get housed under Viacom18. The new owners will, thus, get full ownership of the five ETV GECs (ETV Marathi, ETV Bangla, ETV Kannada, ETV Gujarati and ETV Oriya) while half of ETV Telugu?s equity will get transferred.

Viacom18 is an equal joint venture between TV18 Broadcast and Viacom. The company owns and operates a clutch of channels including Colors, MTV, Vh1, Nick, Comedy Central, Sonic and Nick Jr. It also runs a film production business through Viacom18 Motion Pictures.

In a deal valued at Rs 21 billion, TV18 Group agreed to also acquire 100 per cent stake in ETV?s five news channels ? ETV Uttar Pradesh, ETV Madhya Pradesh, ETV Rajasthan, ETV Bihar and ETV Urdu. Besides, it will have 24.5 per cent stake in ETV Telugu News.

 
Viacom will not be part of the news venture of TV18.

"We are poised for strong growth across all our broadcast and film production businesses. Digitisation will help us drive subscription revenue growth while bringing carriage fees down. Regional-language channels will also form an important pillar of growth once we integrate the ETV channels," says Vats.

In FY12, Viacom18 posted operating revenue of Rs 15.69 billion. The financial figures obviously did not include the ETV channels.

MUMBAI: Entertainment broadcasting company Viacom18 has narrowed its fiscal-second quarter net loss to Rs 198 million from Rs 284 million a year earlier, as its operating revenues rose while costs remained flat.

The containment of operating costs helped Viacom18 earn an operating profit of Rs 126 million for the quarter ended 30 September 2012 against operating loss of Rs 77 million a year earlier.

The TV18 Broadcast subsidiary?s interest expenses on borrowings in the second quarter were up 50 per cent to Rs 247 million from Rs 164 million a year earlier, weighing on profitability.

Viacom18?s operating revenue in the second quarter was up 8.85 per cent to Rs 3.01 billion from Rs 2.76 billion a year earlier, while its operating expenses were flat at Rs 2.88 billion compared with Rs 2.84 billion a year earlier.

The entertainment broadcaster?s operating profit from continuing business, including broadcasting and motion pictures, grew about 23 per cent in the second quarter to Rs 214 million from Rs 174 million a year earlier.

The operating loss from new operations was Rs 75 million in the second quarter against Rs 29 million a year earlier.

TV18 group CEO B Saikumar said, "Our broadcast business across news and entertainment has turned in a steady performance in spite of continued softness in the advertising environment. Notably, our distribution venture, IndiaCast has had a very encouraging start and this positions us well as digitisation gets underway. The other highlight of the quarter was the motion pictures business breaking into positive territory."