MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises (Zeel) is all set to host its annual awards event, Zee Cine Awards 2013, on 6 January at Yash Raj Studios, Mumbai.

The award ceremony will for the first time be simulcast on Zee TV, Zee Cinema, Zing, Zee Marathi, Zee Bangla, Zee Tamil and Zee Telugu. The Red Carpet will air at 7.30 pm on 20 January followed by the main event at 8 pm.

The channel has roped in New Fair & Lovely as the presenting sponsor of the event.

 Zee Cine Awards this year is propagating the rights of the viewers to choose their favourite actor/film with the positioning ?Haq Hai Aapka?. Zee will introduce an innovative and transparent voting mechanism to make the ?Viewers? Choice? proposition of ?Zee Cine Awards 2013? credible and transparent. To ensure this, Zee has empanelled Ernst &Young as a third party to authenticate the voting mechanism. To give the viewer a platform to voice his opinion, Zee has introduced an interactive platform which is a voice portal called ?Zee Connect?.

Zeel MD and CEO Punit Goenka said, ?I?m pleased to announce that the 13th Zee Cine Awards will be held in Mumbai in January. The Awards will be telecast on 20 January 2013 on Zee TV and for the first time will also be simulcast on Zee Cinema, Zing, Zee Marathi, Zee Bangla, Zee Tamil and Zee Telegu. To ensure the authenticity of the voting mechanism for the nominations listed for Zee Cine Awards 2013, we have made the voting system toll free and brought on board Ernst & Young to audit the entire process of voting.?

In the past, Zee Cine Awards has been held in places like Macau, Singapore, London, Mauritius and Dubai.

MUMBAI: Zee Group chairman Subhash Chandra and his son Punit Goenka got interim relief from a Delhi court as it extended protection of their arrest in the alleged Rs 1 billion extortion case till 20 December.

?Interim protection for the two is extended till 20 December,? additional sessions judge Raj Rani Mitra said Friday. He further stated that the court will hear arguments on their anticipatory bail plea on that day.

Chandra and Goenka?s counsel, senior advocate Geeta Luthra and Vijay Aggarwal had sought extension of the interim protection as Luthra had to go to Supreme Court to argue in another matter listed there.

Since the passports of her clients are already with the police, there is no chance of their fleeing from justice, Luthra had argued.

It may be recalled that on 6 December the court had granted Chandra and Goenka interim protection from arrest till 14 December.

The court on Friday also heard arguments on the bail application of Zee News Editor Sudhir Chaudhary and Zee Business Editor Samir Ahluwalia, who were arrested on 27 November.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police on Friday filed a fresh status report in the case. The court had directed this on 6 December.

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NEW DELHI: Zee Group chairman Subhash Chandra and his son and Zee News managing director Punit Goenka were today granted interim protection from arrest by a Delhi court till 14 December in the Rs one billion alleged extortion complaint filed by Congress MP and industrialist Naveen Jindal?s firm against two editors of Zee news channel.

Additional Sessions Judge Raj Rani Mitra said the question of extension of interim bail would be decided on 14 December.

The judge passed the order after hearing arguments on the anticipatory bail plea of Chandra and his son, in which their counsel pressed for interim protection from arrest for joining the investigation. They have been asked to appear before the Delhi Police on 8 December.

Senior advocate Geeta Luthra and Vijay Aggarwal, appearing for the duo, had contended that their clients are ready to join the probe if the police give them the assurance that the two will not be arrested during the time of interrogation. "We (Chandra and Goenka) will join the investigation as has been asked by the police for 8 December and even before, if required.

"But, if the police decides to arrest us, then it should give at least five days? time so that we can argue the matter at length on some other day," the counsel argued. They had also said that their clients should be granted protection so that they can join the probe without fear of arrest.

Special Public Prosecutor Rajiv Mohan opposed their plea saying, "We cannot commit or assure that they (Chandra and his son) will not be arrested. The moment we get a lead of the alleged extortion made on behalf of Zee Group by their two editors, we will arrest them."

The prosecutor contended that the investigation till now and the evidence point towards the alleged involvement of Chandra and Goenka in the whole conspiracy.

He also said the two jailed editors (Sudhir Chaudhary and Samir Ahluwalia) have not acted alone and that the whole episode was planned in collusion with the seniors of the Zee group in a conspiracy hatched to extort Rs 100 crore for their channel.

Both Chaudhary and Ahluwalia, presently lodged in Tihar jail, have been booked under section 384 (extortion), 420 (cheating), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and 511 (punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment) of the Indian Penal Code.

A Delhi court had on 28 November rejected the bail plea of ZNL editors, Sudhir Chaudhary (Zee News) and Samir Ahluwalia (Zee Business), and sent them to two-day police custody till 30 November.

Sudhir Chaudhary and Samir Ahluwalia were arrested on 27 November on charges of extortion by the crime branch of Delhi Police on an FIR filed by a JSPL official last month.

The company alleged that ZNL editors Chaudhary and Ahluwalia had demanded Rs 1 billion worth of advertisements from the company in return for favourable coverage in the scam involving allotment of coal blocks, wherein JSPL is one of the companies that allegedly made windfall gains from arbitrary coal block allocations.

Earlier, the Broadcast Editors? Association (BEA) had removed Zee News editor and business head Sudhir Chaudhary from the post of treasurer and primary membership of the body after a three-member committee set-up to probe the matter had found the two acting in an in-appropriate manner.The removal followed a sting operation carried out by Jindal?s company during meetings in a Delhi hotel.

The video recordings from a hidden camera purportedly showed Zee Business Editor Ahluwalia demanding money from Jindals in exchange for going soft on coverage of alleged involvement of Jindal?s firms in the coal scam.

MUMBAI: A three-member Arbitral Tribunal has held the BCCI guilty of "exploiting its dominant position" for arbitrarily terminating its five year broadcast rights contract with Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zeel).

The Tribunal comprising Justice A.S. Anand (Retd.), Former Chief Justice of India Justice Y.K. Sabharwal (Retd.), and Former Chief Justice of India and Justice B.N. Srikrishna (Retd.), Former Judge, Supreme Court of India, held that Zee was treated unfairly in its commercial contracts, due to the launch of the Indian Cricket League and was illegally blacklisted.

The award amount of approximately Rs 1.4 billion payable by BCCI to Zee includes the security deposit of Rs 300 million with interest at 11 per annum from 31 May, 2007, loss of profit and goodwill. The Tribunal also observed that the BCCI blacklisting of Zee (and its group/affiliate companies) from participating in any bidding process of BCCI was ?clearly illegal?.

The Award was passed in favour of Zeel holding that BCCI was guilty of breaching its contract with Zee and that Zee was entitled to damages on all counts including loss of goodwill, loss of profit and also refund of security deposit with interest.

Zeel MD Punit Goenka commented, ?Zee welcomes the Award handed over to it by an eminent panel of jurists. This award is towards recovery of the losses that we have incurred in the sports business in the past. We continue to remain committed to our sports business in the long term.?

This dispute pertains to an agreement executed in April 2006 between BCCI and Zee whereby Zee was granted the exclusive media rights to telecast all ODIs to be held between India and any other country in any neutral territory outside India for a period of five years.

According to Zee, this agreement was terminated illegally and invalidly by BCCI in May 2007 around the time of launch of the ICL by the Essel Group resulting in Zee invoking arbitration for wrongful termination of the contract.

The termination of the agreement by BCCI after the series held in Abu Dhabi and the tri-series held in Malaysia was termed by the Tribunal as ?clearly illegal and invalid?.

The Tribunal said: ?We are of the view that breach of agreement dated 12.04.2006 was committed by BCCI and not by the Claimant? while making the award in favour of Zee. It appears from the material on the record that BCCI took the action of termination of claimants rights under Agreement dated 12.4.2006 on account of Claimant launching of ICL and not for reasons made out in its letter of termination. To us it seems that BCCI was exploiting its dominating position in respect of game of cricket in India."

MUMBAI: Subhash Chandra-owned Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) reported a 17.2 per cent rise in consolidated net profit for the quarter ended 30 September helped by a strong growth in revenues. Its net profit on a standalone basis for the second quarter, however, was down 42 per cent on a sharp rise in expenses.

Zeel‘s consolidated net profit in the second quarter was Rs 1.87 billion compared with Rs 1.59 billion a year earlier as its operating revenues rose 33.8 per cent to Rs 9.53 billion compared with Rs 7.12 billion a year earlier.

The company‘s net profit on a standalone basis in the second quarter was Rs 679 million, down from Rs 1.18 billion a year earlier as rise in expenses far outstripped growth in operating revenues. Its standalone operating revenues during the quarter was up 22 per cent at Rs 6.36 billion from a year earlier against a 47 per cent rise in standalone expenses year-on-year at Rs 5.40 billion.

The company‘s standalone businesses include entertainment and sports business in India.

CONDENSED STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS

ZEEL‘s revenues from sports business more than doubled to Rs 1.81 billion in the second quarter from Rs 881 million a year earlier. Its revenues from businesses other than sports which include a bouquet of entertainment channels was up 23 per cent at Rs 7.72 billion in the second quarter compared with Rs 6.24 billion a year earlier.

The company‘s consolidated advertising revenues at Rs 5.28 billion were 33.7 per cent higher than a year earlier contributed significantly by sports business, while subscription revenues rose 35.7 per cent to Rs 3.95 billion from a year earlier. Domestic subscription revenues stood at Rs 2.81, while international subscription revenues were Rs 1.14 billion.

Zeel said its consolidated operating profit for the second quarter was Rs 2.17 billion, 7.8 per cent higher than a year earlier. Its operating profit margin for the quarter was 22.8 per cent.

Zeel chairman Subhash Chandra said. "This (second) quarter the company has continued to build on the momentum set in the first quarter. We look forward to continuing our investment in the television media space and take advantage of the growth opportunities ahead of us."

The company expects television advertising spends to turnaround after having been impacted this year by the economic slowdown.

"We are confident of continued double digit growth of television advertising spends over the next few years. At ZEE, we have created a good portfolio of assets and will continue to make prudent investments with a clear focus on returns over the long term," said Zeel managing director and CEO Punit Goenka.