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Star may break even this year

Anjan Mitra

Star India Ltd, a subsidiary of the Rupert Murdoch-controlled Star Group Ltd, is expecting to break even when the financial year closes on June 30.

The Indian operations this year is expected to earn around Rs 4.50 billion revenues- the highest since till Star channels started beaming into India in 1991-92, but still lower than the projected figures of competitors like Zee and Sony.

As part of its expansion plans, Star India is also likely to get active on the terrestrial broadcasting front. Specially, if HFCL-Nine Broadcasting ends its one-year contract for marketing programmes on DD Metro in September-end.

According to Star India sources, the company has already exceeded its revenue target for this fiscal and if everything goes well, it may end up with revenue figures of over Rs 4.50 billion.

Though Star India chief executive Peter Mukerjea was not available for comments, indications are that the revenue driver has been the successful gameshow Kaun Banega Crorepati on Star Plus, around which subsequently other chart-topping soaps and serials have been propped up.

"The revenue driver has been the prime-time programming on Star Plus. The channel is running neck-and-neck in revenue garnering with other Star channels bunched as one," a company source said.

Though this may be the first time that Star Network in India is clocking impressive figures, it is interesting to see where it stands compared to competitors like Zee Network and Sony.

Sony Entertainment TV India in the financial year 1999-2000 had mopped up over Rs 4 billion of revenues with the target for 2000-01 being about Rs 6 billion.

At a time when KBC was ruling the popularity charts, SET India chief executive Kunal Dasgupta had said in January that the company expects its revenue targets of about Rs 6 billion for 2000-01 to fall short by about 10 per cent of the projections.

Dasgupta could not be contacted on Friday for an update on SET India's revenue figures.

Though Zee Telefilms Ltd, a listed company, has not yet declared its fourth quarter year results, the net profit for Q3 was up 29 per cent to Rs 321 million on a total income of Rs 1.13 billion. But the consolidated net profit of Zee Network, including ZTL, was down 26 per cent.

The nine-month net profit of ZTL stood at Rs 909 million, while the consolidated net profit was pegged at Rs 1.44 billion on a total income of Rs 7.16 billion.

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