MUMBAI: HomeShop18, India?s leading home shopping and ecommerce business, has raised $30 million in fresh round of funding from hedge fund manager, OCP Asia and promoter company Network18 Media & Investments.

Network18 and OCP Asia have entered into an agreement to invest $15 million each in the company. The transaction values HomeShop18 at $330 million.

Network18 will continue to be the majority shareholder with more than 51 per cent in HomeShop18. TV18 Home Shopping Network operates as a subsidiary of Network18. Existing investors in HomeShop18 include Saif Partners and GS Home Shopping.

Commenting on the transaction, Network18 MD Raghav Bahl said, ?HomeShop18 has rapidly grown into one of India?s leading virtual commerce destinations. It is gratifying to see the value built up in the business over the relatively short period since the company was founded. We welcome OCP Asia as they join SAIF Partners, GS Shop and us in building out the business.?

Network18 Group CEO Sai Kumar added that, ?We believe HomeShop18 is well positioned to take advantage of the impending digital boom in both the TV and internet segments. In addition, it is encouraging to see that the ecommerce sector is now focusing on profitable growth as the customer acceptance of the proposition grows.?

HomeShop18 provides an integrated virtual shopping experience on Internet, Television and Mobile through HomeShop18.com and the 24x7 channel. It claims to have a customer base of 6.1 million. It has built an impressive portfolio of over 12 million SKUs across multiple product categories and a logistical reach of over 3,000 locations across India.

MUMBAI: Viacom18, the equal joint venture company between Viacom and TV18, is looking at launching more channels, expanding into regional markets and creating content for new media.

Viacom is conducting a due diligence on the ETV general entertainment channels (GECs), Viacom International Media Networks President, CEO and Viacom18 board member Robert Bakish said today. "The regional markets are seeing fast growth," he added.

Indiantelevision.com was the first to report that TV18 had offered Viacom the option to buy 50 per cent stake in five ETV GECs and 24.5 per cent equity interest in ETV Telugu. If Viacom decides to buy stake, the ETV GECs would move to Viacom18.

When asked about what kept the joint venture alive (the only surviving one in the M&E space between a global media giant and a local company), Bakish said that it is not enough to have a shared vision. ?The success of a JV is all about having a cultural fit. Our venture has had challenges and we have been forced to evolve. We decided to get into film production. We launched more channels like Sonic. Then we created IndiaCast to take advantage of digitisation. We see an opportunity to export content from India. We created a channel in the UK, Rishtey, using content from Colors and MTV.?

The aim of Viacom partnering with Network18 was to make a local cultural connection. ?In 2006 we realised that India offered opportunities we could not ignore. Viacom has resources but we felt the need for a local partner. JVs are a tradeoff. You don?t have complete control. Therefore it is important to have productive dialogue. In Korea, we have a JV with SBS which started a year ago,? said Bakish.

In India, the company realised that brand positioning would be key. Therefore the decision was taken to make Colors edgier and more of a risk taker. ?The good news for India is that more local production money is coming in. Out of this will come quality content.? He also noted that a hit television format is the most valuable IP. ?After all, a local version of ?Fear Factor? played a key role in Colors? launch and success.?

Network18 Group CEO Sai Kumar said the joint venture had been helped by the alignment between the two companies in terms of the scale of ambition and challenges that would have to be met. He noted that IndiaCast has allowed for reverse migration. Colors is now in 70 countries. ?It is not just about the channel going abroad. Even shows like Ballika Vadhu have been being picked up abroad,? he said.

Talking about new media, Sai Kumar said while platforms like OTT and VoD represent a risk and an opportunity, Viacom18 prefers to focus on the latter. Kumar noted that 13 years ago distribution became king as there was a lack of platforms to showcase content. Today the good news is that content is once again king. "The challenge today is that while consumption of content is at its highest it has gone multi device. The different platform windows are each a kingdom. With these platforms the possibility of milking content for revenue has gone up. The long tail will stand a better chance in the future,? he averred.

Kumar called IndiaCast the second phase of the JV partnership.

?Indiacast has a global multiplatform mandate.? Bakish said. ?Star and Zee surprised people by coming together. We responded by creating one entity and partnered with Disney UTV to unlock the value of digitisation. While Nickelodeon and Disney compete fiercely with each other globally, the fact is that you have to look at each country differently."

Referring to film business in India, Kumar noted that it is a great adjunct for Viacom18?s other businesses. ?There are opportunities for synergies in our film business with Colors and other channels. At the same time, our exposure to film will be strategically limited. Having two films that are hits does not mean that the next three will also work. With each film you start from ground zero.?

Bakish noted that film production business is not for the faint at heart. ?We had long conversations about why we were in the film production business. We have had hits and misses but that is the nature of the game. Not everything will work.?

In terms of the challenges facing the media and entertainment industry, Bakish spoke about the lack of reliability in measurement globally due to multiple platforms. ?India is great to do business in but it isn?t perfect. Could digitisation have happened sooner? Sure. Could Phase one of DAS have been a solid four cities? Sure! Phase two is now happening and the industry needs to keep up the pressure to see that things work?, he noted.

Kumar noted that advertising is now at its softest. Things will not change unless the measurement system improves. More homes for SEC A could help the niche genre, he added.

MUMBAI: Raghav Bahl-promoted Network18 is selling its entire 77.5 per cent stake in NewsWire18 to private equity firm Samara Capital for Rs 900 million.

The deal marks the exit of Network18 from the news terminal business and values NewsWire18 at Rs 1.17 billion.

Network18 had incubated the company with the founding CEO Pankaj Aher and his team.

Network18 is pursuing the strategy of divesting its non-core assets profitably to allow greater focus on its core television and digital businesses.

The transaction is expected to add approximately Rs 700 million to Network18?s consolidated pre-tax profit for the current quarter, the company said.

BMR Advisors acted as the sole transaction adviser to Network18.

NewsWire18 will be rechristened over the next 90 days as a result of the transaction.

The divestment of NewsWire18 forms part of a series of asset monetisation transactions by Network18. Earlier during the year, Network18 had sold its stake in one of the Capital18 investee companies ? NetworkPlay and then partially diluted its stake in India?s premier Digital Commerce asset ?Bookmyshow.com.

Network18 MD Raghav Bahl said, "The divestiture of Newswire18, India?s leading financial data and news terminal business is a reflection of our commitment to profitably monetize non-core assets for the benefit of our shareholders and to also facilitate the growth of these businesses to the next level. We are proud to have partnered with NewsWire18 in its journey thus far and are confident that Pankaj and his team will continue to excel and build one of the finest financial data businesses in India."

Commenting on the deal, Network18 Group CEO Sai Kumar said, "In a few short years, NewsWire18 has grown into a leader in its space and we take great pride and pleasure in having written this wonderful growth story. The growth at NewsWire18 is a reflection of Network18?s business building skills and the value that our network eco-system brings to a business. We would like to give Pankaj and his team and Samara Capital our best wishes as they embark on the next phase of their journey."

MUMBAI: Viacom18, the joint venture between Network18 Group and Viacom, has posted a third straight quarterly loss as operating expenses have surged 47 per cent mainly on account of launch of new channels.

The company, which runs a clutch of entertainment channels including flagship Hindi general entertainment channel Colors, widened its net loss to Rs 532 million for three months ended December, versus a profit of Rs 460 million in the year-earlier period. In the first two quarters of this fiscal, it had slipped into the red with a net loss of Rs 10 million and Rs 284 million.

Operating expenses jumped to Rs 4 billion for the quarter, from Rs 2.72 billion a year ago. Marketing, distribution and promotional expenses made a big leap from Rs 450 million to Rs 926 million. The main trigger in this was an expense of Rs 200 million incurred from the launch of Sonic, Comedy Central and Colors HD. The launch cost and operating loss from new channel History TV18 amounted to Rs 250 million.

The positive thing is that the television business has stayed operationally profitable, primarily led by Colors. The operating profit from this segment has, however, narrowed to Rs 385 million, from Rs 520 million in the year-earlier period.

The movie business suffered an operating loss of Rs 739 million compared to Rs 200 million in the trailing quarter. In the year-ago third quarter, the company had stayed dormant on the movie front, taking an operating loss of just Rs 20 million.

Viacom18 said it has incurred a one-time expense of Rs 390 million in relation to the deferment of the Hindi movie channel. It has also taken write-offs at TIFC (The Indian Film Company) of Rs 146 million.

Overall, the company?s operating loss was Rs 355 million for the quarter, reversing from an operating profit of Rs 510 million a year earlier.

Says Network18 Group CEO Sai Kumar, "During the last quarter, our profits from continuing operations were offset by largely one-time costs incurred towards investments in the expansion of our television channel portfolio and the conscious impairment of our film library given the deferment of our Hindi movies channel. We strengthened our television stable further with launch of new services such as History TV18, Sonic and our HD bouquet comprising Colors HD, History TV18 HD and CNBC-TV18 Prime HD."

The spike in expenses overrided the growth in operating revenues which swung higher to Rs 3.65 billion for the fiscal third quarter compared to Rs 3.23 billion a year ago.

The television segment reported a revenue of Rs 3.54 billion (from Rs 3.23 billion a year ago) while the motion picture arm pocketed just Rs 109 million.

Adertising could continue to show a sluggish trend for the next few months. Says Kumar, "It has clearly been a sluggish phase for the industry as a whole. Advertising revenues continue to exhibit lacklustre growth and may continue at the same pace over the next few months. Our subscription revenues, however, are on track as projected."