MUMBAI: FoodFood chief operating officer Karthik Lakshminarayan has put in his papers after spending nearly one year with the company.

FoodFood is a joint venture between Malaysia-based Astro and Chef Sanjeev Kapoor?s Turmeric Vision. Lakshminarayan had joined the company in December 2010 and was instrumental in launching the food speciality channel.

Prior to that, he has worked with production house Freemantle Media India as head of commercial and business development. Earlier he was part of the team that launched Viacom18?s Hindi general entertainment channel Colors.

Lakshminarayan comes with over 17 years experience in media planning, channel launches and production.

Lakshminarayan was not reachable till the time of filing this report.

MUMBAI: Raghav Bahl-promoted TV18 may offload 10 per cent of its stake in Viacom18 to its joint venture partner, Viacom.

With this, TV18‘s stake in the joint venture will come down to 40 per cent. Viacom18 runs general entertainment channel Colors, youth channel MTV, kids channel Nick and also houses Viacom18 Motion Pictures.

"TV18 may exercise its option to dilute 10 per cent in Viacom18," a source familiar with the development said.

Bahl could not be contacted for his comments till the filing of this report.

TV18 has a put option in Viacom18 exercisable from 1 July 2012. The put option gives TV18 the right to sell 10 per cent of the company to Viacom each year for a period of five years.

TV18 can retain management control till it retains 40 per cent or more in Viacom18.

Viacom18 had posted a net loss of Rs 284 million for the second quarter of the fiscal ended 30 September 2011. Ebitda loss was at Rs 77 million.

For the full fiscal ended 30 March 2011, Viacom18 had posted a net profit of Rs 850 million. The income for the fiscal was at Rs 11.04 billion, while expenses were at Rs 9.85 billion. Ebitda for the fiscal was at Rs 1.20 billion.

TV18 has a net debt of Rs 6.84 billion as of 30 September.

MUMBAI: Viacom18, the joint venture between Viacom and TV18, has posted a net loss of Rs 284 million for the quarter ended 30 September. This is compared to a net profit of Rs 140 million the company had posted in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

The loss was mainly triggered by a 29.33 per cent jump in the expenses, out of which Viacom18 more than double the spent on marketing and promotions.

Total expenses incurred by Viacom18 were at Rs 3.23 billion, as compared to Rs 2.50 billion in the year ago period. Out of this Rs 1.12 billion were spent on marketing, distribution and promotional expenses, as against Rs 480 million in the year ago. Production expenses remained same at Rs 1.83 billion with rest attributing to staff cost.

Meanwhile, the company saw a 15.85 per cent hike in revenue to Rs 3.15 billion, as against Rs 2.72 billion in the year-ago period. In the first quarter of FY?12, Viacom18 posted revenues of Rs 2.77 billion.

On the operating level, the company?s loss from the quarter stood at Rs 77 million, compared to an operating profit of Rs 220 million. However, from the TV business, the company reported operating profit of Rs 123 million, and the loss is from the film business (The Indian Film Company and Motion Pictures business) to the tune of Rs 200 million.

Viacom18 runs Hindi general entertainment channel Colors, youth entertainment channel MTV, kids channel Nick and English entertainment channel Vh1.

During the current quarter, Viacom18 charged one-time cost towards impairment of film rights amounting to Rs 1.39 billion to reflect the realisable value of the film library held by its subsidiary The Indian Film Company (TIFC). However, this is getting fully indemnified by Network18 Holdings Limited and hence there is no impact on the profit and loss account, the company clarified.

MUMBAI: Close on the heels of the exit of its CEO Rajesh kamat, Colors programming head Ashvini Yardi has decided to move on.

Over the next 2-3 months, she will transition out of her current role at Colors and work on film projects, the first of which will be in association with Viacom18?s Motion Picture Division. 

Yardi said, "It?s been a hard decision for me, emotionally. I?ve had a great time at Colors, creating a destination that?s today visited by millions of people everyday. I have worked with a great team here and am confident that they?ll continue to lead Colors to even greater heights. I am also excited to continuing my association with Viacom18 Motion Pictures, as I set out as an entrepreneur into the films business."

Viacom18 Group CEO Haresh Chawla added, "Ashvini?s contribution to Colors? success has been significant. With her experience and knack for content that connects with the masses, she not only brought ?differentiated? concepts to Colors but also gave the format shows, her distinct touch. We now look forward to working with her on her maiden venture in the Films business."
 

MUMBAI: Amid a toughening economy, Viacom18 has tweaked its growth plans. Pushed back for launch is the Hindi movie channel, for which the company had invested over Rs 2.5 billion in acquiring movie rights.

The channel will now launch next year, perhaps coinciding with an improved ad economy.

Viacom18 is also planning to launch regional entertainment channels next year.

Two smaller launches will take place this year. The company will launch within three months Comedy Central and another channel for young audiences.

Indiantelevision.com had earlier reported that Viacom18 is planning to launch two niche channels.

"Given the changing dynamics of the television business in this market, we have decided to strategically re-prioritise our growth plans and are now planning to launch Comedy Central and a channel for young audiences within the next three months, while deferring the launch of our Hindi movie channel," Viacom18 Group CEO Haresh Chawla said in an official statement.

"We are a young organisation and therefore have the agility to tweak our plans as may be required. Given the direction of growth across our businesses, we intend to launch our Hindi movie channel some time next year, with a model that will cut the lead time to leadership significantly...like we?ve been able to achieve in our other businesses," he further added.

Last month, Viacom18 had appointed Ravish Kumar as head of its proposed Hindi movie channel. Kumar was earlier Star India EVP and general manager for regional channels, handling Star Jalsha and Star Pravah.

Kumar will now explore the regional prospects of Viacom18.

"We have also decided to focus more attention to regional language entertainment and Kumar will be leading our efforts to explore and launch that part of the business in the coming year," Chawla added.

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MUMBAI: Star Gold has ramped up its movie acquisition budget to Rs 1.5 billion, lapping up blockbusters to fight in a genre that is to see a new entrant in Viacom18.

Upping the ante, Star Gold has stitched a deal with Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision for its upcoming slate. ?This is an outright acquisition deal. We will get 6-7 movies that Shree Ashtavinayak is producing for the next two years. The first of these is Bol Bachchan,? Star Gold senior vice-president Hemal Jhaveri told Indiantelevision.com.

The other recent purchases include blockbusters like Bodyguard, Ra One, Rock Star, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Housefull -2.

?We are giving the channel a big push. We are setting the pace with the world TV premiere of Singham. The Rs 1 billion grosser at the box office is being telecast on 10 September at 9 pm,? said Jhaveri.

Singham, in many ways, will set the pace for a much more aggressive Star Gold. The movie screened first on Star Gold, keeping the flagship Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) Star Plus waiting.

Star Gold is also considering simulcast of bigger movie titles with Star Plus. For high-priced acquisitions, the general practice is to first show the title on the GEC as the advertising rates are much higher. "We are looking at simulcasts. All this will depend on the movie mix,"said Jhaveri.

As part of the growth strategy, the challenger brand has decided to further up the movie screenings to six a day, drawing in from Star?s library of over 400 movies across diverse genres.

Star Gold has repositioned with ?Karo Dil Ki? as its new brand philiosophy. ?We have moved a long way from when we started as a classic Hindi movie channel in 2000. We have unveiled a new logo during the screening of Singham. The broadcast design is done by Dynamite Design,"said Jhaveri.

Star Gold?s rapid surge in audience popularity has come in the last four months, following an overhaul of strategy. ?Since we took some important strategic decisions in November, we have seen a 29 per cent growth in GRPs (gross rating point). We have even become No. 1 in certain weeks, ahead of Max and Zee Cinema. We are gearing up to sustain the momentum,? said Jhaveri.

An important pillar of that strategy was to increase the number of movies telecast daily on the channel from four to five. Also, content was beefed up on the evening movie slot that ran just a single ad break.

?We have the shortest ad breaks. We run commercials of 12-minute duration to an hour of content compared to the industry norm of 17-18 minutes. This has gone a long way in identifying the viewer need,? said Jhaveri.

Narrowing the gap between the theatrical release to the telecast of big-ticket movies on the channel is also an important strategy. ?Being the last mile user, shorter windows would help. We could even show Salman Khan?s Bodyguard during the festive season,? averred Jhaveri.

Will Viacom18?s launch of a Hindi movie channel affect Star Gold? ?The revenue pie is only going to expand. We are prepared for competition. And even price rationalisation in movie acquisitions is round the corner,? said Jhaveri.

Media analysts believe the Hindi movie channel space will have four big players in the top tier. "Star has ramped up its movie acquisition investments. In FY?11, Star spent around Rs 1.5 billion towards movie acquisitions, up from Rs 950 million a year ago.They clearly want Star Gold to stay in the top tier," an analyst at a broking firm said.