Television software major TV18 came out with miserable results showing the down turn in media sector. The Net profit has gone down by more than 69 per cent at Rs11.3 million in the quarter ended on 30th June 2001 from 36.9 million in corresponding quarter in last financial year.

Total sales has gone down by 30 per cent to Rs 62.2 million from RS 89.7 million while other income has gone up from RS 6 million to RS 10.3 million

As the total expenses has actually gone up during quarter at RS 48.3 million compared to fall in the sales, total Operating margin also came under pressure, which has gone down to 22 per cent for the first quarter this year from 45 per cent last year.

TV-18‘s consolidated results for the first quarter, which included the performance of its other group companies like Television Eighteen Mauritius and e-eighteen dotcom, showed a net loss of Rs 8.2 million.

The major chunk of revenue for the company (Rs 57 million) came from sales of programming to business channel CNBC India in which TV18 has equity holding. Internet operations, e-commerce and other television software sales accounted for just RS 50 lakh for the quarter under review.

Looking at the improved advertisement revenue and the low cost programming, the company is expected to do well in remaining months in this financial year.

Star Group Limited and UTV announced in Chennai today the formation of a joint venture which will oversee Tamil regional language channel Vijay TV. Star has taken a controlling 51 per cent majority stake in Vijay Televisions Ltd, the UTV subsidiary which manages the channel, while the remaining 49 per cent remains with other shareholders, primarily UTV. The JV covers content, distribution, ad sales and marketing.

The JV will focus on content production and distribution in Tamil and will enable Vijay TV programming to reach new markets within India and overseas under the Star bouquet, an official release says.

Peter Mukerjea, CEO STAR India, said: ?Vijay TV is an established brand in the market and brings to the table local experience and equity with the consumers. Vijay TV will complement our success in Hindi language programming, and help us penetrate deeper into South India ? the synergies are obvious.?

?The regional language market has huge growth potential and a joint venture with Star will give Vijay TV the right impetus to take it to the next level,? said Ronnie Screwvala, Chairman of UTV.

Mukerjea ruled out any change in the name of the channel and said he expected the channel to be ready to pose a serious challenge to its rivals before the year was out. Mukerjea said they would be refurbishing Vijay TV‘s film library as well as pumping money into development of programming but would provide no details about the roadmap that had been set out to reposition the channel.

On what would happen to CEO Rohit Adya in the new dispensation, Mukerjea said he would be returning to UTV. Ajay Vidyasagar who has come in as COO will be heading the channel.

While the broadcast of Vijay TV channel stays with UTV under its subsidiary Vijay Broadcasting, the JV will provide content, distribution, ad sales and marketing to the channel.

The new company has reportedly been floated to circumvent the statute that foreign companies cannot hold more than 20 per cent in a satellite channel while uplinking from India.

It is too early in the day to predict how far Star‘s acquisition of Vijay TV will impact on the the channel stakes in Tamil Nadu with Kalanithi Maran‘s Sun TV being far and away the leader but Tamil television is bound to see a sea change with the big boys Star and Zee (Asianet Bharati - soon to be Zee Alpha) making their entry.

As ad spend becomes increasingly more difficult to access, channels are having to innovate to make sure the ad rupee goes as long a way as possible. Towards this end, Zee TV has introduced a unique initiative titled ‘Break Free Comedy Band‘.

"Break-Free" is meant for the comedy programmes that are shown from Monday to Friday in the 7:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. slot. Fevicol is the sponsor and this initiative will run on Zee TV till August 17. That the move is also a bid to boost ratings should not be forgotten of course.

Partha Sinha, director of marketing for Zee Telefilms Ltd says: "The Break-Free concept is a pioneering attempt to provide innovative viewing solutions for viewers and at the same time offer interesting communication solutions to advertisers. Feedback from viewers and research figures indicate a strong positive response to our initiative.

In addition to positive viewer response, the advertising community has also shown strong interest in the Break-Free concept. The Break-Free initiative has been developed primarily for Fevicol, since the concept of a seamless half hour programme fits in very well with the Fevicol brand positioning. We are open to developing similar advertising solutions which are in harmony with the advertiser‘s brand positioning and add incremental benefits to the advertising rupee."

Some of the programmes that give viewers the unique Break Free experience are ‘Aasman Say Tapki‘ on Monday, ‘Apun To Bas Vaise Hi‘ on Tuesday, ‘Yah Hai Mumbai Meri Jaan‘ on Wednesday, ‘Devrani Jethani‘ on Thursday, and ‘Zee Talkies‘ on Friday.