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Looking to expand television biz ahead: Reliance Broadcast
Reliance Broadcast's consolidated net loss narrowed down to Rs 17.15 crore in the third quarter of FY13 against Rs 28.73 crore in the same period last year. The company posted consolidated net sales of Rs 71.27 crore versus Rs 82.13 crore in the last fiscal.
Tarun Katial, CEO of Reliance Broadcast said the company's performance has been impressive taking into account the improvement in the both the radio and television businesses. He also added that the revenues from its radio business were the highest ever in a quarter. "We did about Rs 51.7 crore as top-line on the radio business and a very healthy EBITDA of over Rs 12 crore on the radio business," he explained.
In the last quarter, Reliance Broadcast had a number of channel launches and going ahead, Katial sees formidable growth in the television business. He further said that digitisation has been a boon for the industry and once it is fully implemented, it will probably become the best media business in India.
Katial is hopeful about expanding Reliance's network and is looking forward to capturing the television market in the days to come.
Here is the edited transcript of the interview on CNBC-TV18.
Q: You have managed to reduce your losses both at an operational as well as at the bottom-line level, on YoY as well as QoQ basis. Can we expect Q4 to be an improvement from Q3 as well? What is the trajectory with respect to turning operationally positive and reducing the losses further on the bottom-line?
A: It has been a very good quarter for us. Our radio business achieved highest ever numbers in a quarter since the inception of the brand. We did about Rs 51.7 crore as top-line on the radio business and a very healthy EBITDA of over Rs 12 crore on the radio business.
The TV business is now starting to stabilize fairly well on the back of two things, one obviously is the Digital Addressable System (DAS) and digitization is a boon for the TV business. We have seen carriage costs coming down. We have started to see very good subscription deals come in. We have also launched a new channel in this quarter. Hence, if you look at the TV number, the net is also down further.
There were launch expenses of Thrill, the BIG RTL joint venture channel in the last quarter which will now go away in the forthcoming quarter. Overall, it has been a very good quarter for the radio business as well as the television business. We are very tight on the cost side and are looking to ramp up revenue QoQ.
Q: Segmental Earnings before Interest and Taxes (EBIT) at the radio business level is profit, but that is a small part of your business, that is Rs 3 crore in terms of profit. TV business is a big loss spinner, nearly Rs 17 crore in terms of losses at a segmental EBIT level and production is as good as a flat business. Rs 15 lakh is neither here nor there. These losses are going to accumulate quarter after quarter. What will be your full year loss at this juncture and when can you turn to the black?
A: You must realize how old our TV business is. Our TV business is about 18 months old and there is no television business that does not require investments at the early stage. Some of these channels have actually been launched last quarter. In our view, it is not a loss and it is an investment which we are making for the future.
Television is one of the sectors where if you have the right kind of content, it will turn the tide very, very quickly in digitized India now. As we hope to get into digitization in the next 38 cities in March and even if that is delayed here and there by a couple of months, television will probably be one of the best media business to be in.
We are very confident that we have got the right kind of mix of channels, both at the English side as well as the regional side and these can actually turn themselves around very, very quickly.
Q: How quick is very quickly?
A: I do not want to predict that at this level and it is really a forward-looking statement, if I tell that.
source: Looking to expand television biz ahead: Reliance Broadcast - CNBC-TV18
Reliance Broadcast's consolidated net loss narrowed down to Rs 17.15 crore in the third quarter of FY13 against Rs 28.73 crore in the same period last year. The company posted consolidated net sales of Rs 71.27 crore versus Rs 82.13 crore in the last fiscal.
Tarun Katial, CEO of Reliance Broadcast said the company's performance has been impressive taking into account the improvement in the both the radio and television businesses. He also added that the revenues from its radio business were the highest ever in a quarter. "We did about Rs 51.7 crore as top-line on the radio business and a very healthy EBITDA of over Rs 12 crore on the radio business," he explained.
In the last quarter, Reliance Broadcast had a number of channel launches and going ahead, Katial sees formidable growth in the television business. He further said that digitisation has been a boon for the industry and once it is fully implemented, it will probably become the best media business in India.
Katial is hopeful about expanding Reliance's network and is looking forward to capturing the television market in the days to come.
Here is the edited transcript of the interview on CNBC-TV18.
Q: You have managed to reduce your losses both at an operational as well as at the bottom-line level, on YoY as well as QoQ basis. Can we expect Q4 to be an improvement from Q3 as well? What is the trajectory with respect to turning operationally positive and reducing the losses further on the bottom-line?
A: It has been a very good quarter for us. Our radio business achieved highest ever numbers in a quarter since the inception of the brand. We did about Rs 51.7 crore as top-line on the radio business and a very healthy EBITDA of over Rs 12 crore on the radio business.
The TV business is now starting to stabilize fairly well on the back of two things, one obviously is the Digital Addressable System (DAS) and digitization is a boon for the TV business. We have seen carriage costs coming down. We have started to see very good subscription deals come in. We have also launched a new channel in this quarter. Hence, if you look at the TV number, the net is also down further.
There were launch expenses of Thrill, the BIG RTL joint venture channel in the last quarter which will now go away in the forthcoming quarter. Overall, it has been a very good quarter for the radio business as well as the television business. We are very tight on the cost side and are looking to ramp up revenue QoQ.
Q: Segmental Earnings before Interest and Taxes (EBIT) at the radio business level is profit, but that is a small part of your business, that is Rs 3 crore in terms of profit. TV business is a big loss spinner, nearly Rs 17 crore in terms of losses at a segmental EBIT level and production is as good as a flat business. Rs 15 lakh is neither here nor there. These losses are going to accumulate quarter after quarter. What will be your full year loss at this juncture and when can you turn to the black?
A: You must realize how old our TV business is. Our TV business is about 18 months old and there is no television business that does not require investments at the early stage. Some of these channels have actually been launched last quarter. In our view, it is not a loss and it is an investment which we are making for the future.
Television is one of the sectors where if you have the right kind of content, it will turn the tide very, very quickly in digitized India now. As we hope to get into digitization in the next 38 cities in March and even if that is delayed here and there by a couple of months, television will probably be one of the best media business to be in.
We are very confident that we have got the right kind of mix of channels, both at the English side as well as the regional side and these can actually turn themselves around very, very quickly.
Q: How quick is very quickly?
A: I do not want to predict that at this level and it is really a forward-looking statement, if I tell that.
source: Looking to expand television biz ahead: Reliance Broadcast - CNBC-TV18
