MUMBAI: Entertainment broadcasting company Viacom18 has narrowed its fiscal-second quarter net loss to Rs 198 million from Rs 284 million a year earlier, as its operating revenues rose while costs remained flat.

The containment of operating costs helped Viacom18 earn an operating profit of Rs 126 million for the quarter ended 30 September 2012 against operating loss of Rs 77 million a year earlier.

The TV18 Broadcast subsidiary?s interest expenses on borrowings in the second quarter were up 50 per cent to Rs 247 million from Rs 164 million a year earlier, weighing on profitability.

Viacom18?s operating revenue in the second quarter was up 8.85 per cent to Rs 3.01 billion from Rs 2.76 billion a year earlier, while its operating expenses were flat at Rs 2.88 billion compared with Rs 2.84 billion a year earlier.

The entertainment broadcaster?s operating profit from continuing business, including broadcasting and motion pictures, grew about 23 per cent in the second quarter to Rs 214 million from Rs 174 million a year earlier.

The operating loss from new operations was Rs 75 million in the second quarter against Rs 29 million a year earlier.

TV18 group CEO B Saikumar said, "Our broadcast business across news and entertainment has turned in a steady performance in spite of continued softness in the advertising environment. Notably, our distribution venture, IndiaCast has had a very encouraging start and this positions us well as digitisation gets underway. The other highlight of the quarter was the motion pictures business breaking into positive territory."

MUMBAI: France FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME), the brand extension arm of FremantleMedia, has announced the sale of US drama Wedding Band to two multi-territory broadcasters in Asia Pacific that will give the show audiences in more than 45 territories.

The deals were brokered by FME SVP International Distribution and Home Entertainment, Asia Ganesh Rajaram.

Sony has picked up the hour long comedic drama for its viewers across East Asia including China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Viacom18 has also opted for the show for viewers in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives.

Rajaram commented, ?Wedding Band is fun and youthful, it?s got a great script and a wonderful cast. We?re really looking forward to its premiere across Asia.?

Wedding Band is slated to premiere on the US on cable network TBS in November 2012 and has already found international buyers in Canada (CTV), the UK (Channel 5), Latin America (TBS Latin America), Australia (Network Ten), the Middle East and North Africa (MBC Group), Denmark, Norway and Sweden (Viasat Broadcasting) and Finland (YLE).

The series follows a group of guys who try to escape the stress and strains of their everyday lives by performing in a wedding band. Anchored by lifelong best friends ? Tommy, a perennial bachelor, and Eddie, a married father of two ? the guys are weekend rock stars. Only they?re not crashing their way into the best parties ? they?re paid to perform at them. The groupies are bridesmaids, the drinks are free and the dream is still alive. The band will stop at nothing to make every wedding, birthday or bar mitzvah a concert to remember.

MUMBAI: Ace cricketer Yuvraj Singh?s battle with cancer is set to hit small screens with Viacom18-owned channel entertainment channel Colors planning to air a three-part series late October.

Colors has partnered Singh?s foundation YouWeCan to broadcast the show Zindagi Abhi Baaki Hai, which will also be simulcast on Viacom18?s youth entertainment brand MTV India.

The GEC broadcaster sees the show as part of its corporate social responsibility to raise awareness about the disease among the masses. It has decided to donate the revenue earned through the show to YouWeCan Foundation.

The broadcaster has roped in Birla Sun Life as the title sponsor. The life insurance company, which has Yuvraj as its brand ambassador, feels the series will help them in communicating their core philosophy of avoiding uncertainties in life by taking insurance.

Colors CEO Raj Nayak reasoned that the objective behind Zindagi Abhi Baaki Hai is to highlight Yuvraj?s extraordinary fight against cancer to create hope among cancer patients that they too can overcome the disease.

"We are not looking at Zindagi Abhi Baaki Hai as a show, we feel that as a responsible broadcaster we can do something for the society by helping in creating awareness about cancer," Nayak said.

"Some of the parts of the series is still being shot, so it will go on-air late October. We haven?t decided on the time slot. Our production team will take a call on that," he added.

The series, which is being directed by Gurmeet Sapal, is still under production. With ?Zindagi Abhi Baaki Hai?, Yuvraj narrates his experience with the disease to create wider awareness on occurrence, early detection, and therapy.

The show reveals his story from the first moment of shock on finding out that he has a rare form of cancer to his absolute grit and determination as he emerged as a winner while showcasing his will and determination to make a comeback as a healthy cricketer.

Speaking on this emotional occasion, Yuvraj said, "Through my battle with cancer, I have realised that what?s within us matters more than what lies behind and ahead of us. Cancer is a disease that can eat through lives and I hope that my story inspires the millions affected by it to fight harder and conquer it. I am extremely glad that Colors is supporting my cause and through Zindagi Abhi Baaki Hai, allowing my voice to reach millions of households across the country."

Aditya Birla Group CMO-Financial Services Ajay Kakar added, "At Birla Sun Life we are proud to have Yuvraj, not as a mere Brand Ambassador, but as a Philosophy Ambassador, who has chosen to share his fears and tears, as also his hopes and ambitions with the nation. We are proud to partner Colors and the YouWeCan Foundation to bring Yuvraj?s story to mass India so that it can touch many more lives and provide unprecedented inspiration to the nation."

MUMBAI: Eccholine, a dedicated line production company for non-scripted shows, has partnered with Miditech to bring their adventure reality TV show ?Peking Express? to India.

The celebrity version of the show ?Peking Express? features celebrities giving up their privileged lives for a journey that fame cannot buy. The celebs are taken to lesser known parts of the world and paired into teams of two. They then race across an unknown landscape to a remote finish line in order to win big money for their chosen charity.

Eccholine is led by Ludo Poppe, Gert Van Kerckhove and Axel Boer- all with backgrounds at companies like Zodiak, Endemol and Sony Entertainment. With a passion for making creativity work and for driving change in the industry, they have launched their initiative so as to make large scale projects accessible to individual markets, a statement said.

Eccholine MD Axel Boer said, "We have developed Peking Express further in a variety of business models to suit the wide range of needs from our clients. As Peking Express is a high end-format, we need a solid, high end partner to produce the show with for the local market.

Founded in 1995 by the Alva Brothers, Niret and Nikhil, Miditech is a production company and is recognised for television programming across genres. Its client list includes Turner (Pogo/Imagine), News Corp (Star Plus/Star World/Star Gold/Channel V), the Zee Network , BBC, Disney, Doordarshan, Viacom18 (COLORS/MTV), Times Network (Zoom), Multi Screen Media (Sony/SAB/MAX) and Real Global Broadcasting (REAL)/Food First.