MUMBAI: India shines bright in Sony‘s fiscal first-quarter performance that was darkened by a mounting loss of $199 million, shaken by the Japan earthquake and a decline in the consumer electronics major‘s PS3 sales.

Riding on the back of higher advertising revenues from its television business in India, the Sony Pictures Entertainment segment put up a better show.

"The current quarter benefited from significantly higher ad revenues from SPE?s television network in India and revenues recognised from the consolidation of the Game Show Network, which was accounted for under the equity method in the first quarter of the previous fiscal year," Sony said in its earnings statement.

The India story was written by the Indian Premier League (IPL), the hottest cricketing property that has attracted younger audiences to the sport‘s shorter 20-over format.

Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, Multi Screen Media president network sales, licensing and telephony Rohit Gupta said that the network managed to grow ad revenue by 30 per cent in the first quarter. "We had a strong performance from the IPL. The other channels have also fared well. We have managed to grow our yield. The start has been terrific."

SPE?s operating income increased to $53 million, triggered by growth in India and the recognition of a $27 million gain on the sale of SPE?s equity interest in a television production company based in the UK. This increase was partially offset by higher marketing expenses incurred for upcoming theatrical releases due to the greater number of major theatrical releases in July of the current fiscal year as compared to the previous fiscal year.

In the motion pictures? segment, sales increased by 9.3 per cent year-on-year to $1.7 billion. The current quarter benefited from an increase in motion picture revenues primarily due to higher home entertainment revenues from the previous fiscal year?s film slate, including the home entertainment releases of The Green Hornet, Battle: Los Angeles and Just Go With It. Partially offsetting this increase was a decrease in theatrical revenues as the first quarter of the previous fiscal year benefited from the strong theatrical release of The Karate Kid.

Overall sales for Sony were $18.4 billion, a 10 per cent dip compared to the same quarter of the previous fiscal primarily due to decreases in sales in the Consumer Products and Services (CPS) and Professional Devices and Solutions (PDS) segments, which were mainly affected by the negative impact of the earthquake as well as the deterioration of the electronics business environment, and unfavorable exchange rates. PS3 sales fell to 1.8 million, from 2.4 million the same time last year.

Operating income decreased to $340 million. This was mainly due to lower operating income in the CPS and PDS segments, primarily resulting from a decrease in gross profit from lower sales and deterioration in the cost of sales ratio.