The Hallmark channel may be struggling to find an audience in India but in America the story is different. Hallmark Channel has once again outranked all ad-supported cable and broadcast networks in time spent viewing growth in prime time, an official release states.

The channel has positioned itself as the network consumers are turning to for high-quality programming that is engaging, compelling and relevant. The release states that during the fourth quarter of last year (October, November, December 2002) Hallmark Channel US increased its "time spent viewing" (94 minutes vs. 74 minutes) representing a 27 per cent increase over its fourth quarter 2000 results. The network was followed by the Lifetime and TVLand networks.

Earlier, Hallmark claimed to have ranked number one with a 35 per cent increase in "time spent viewing" growth in third quarter 2001 (third quarter 2001 vs. third quarter 2000).

The figures were calculated by Nielsen Total Activity Report (fourth quarter 2001 vs. fourth quarter 2000, 10/1-12/30/01 vs. 10/2-12/31/00).

Hallmark Channel is a 24-hour television network that provides entertainment programming to a national audience of nearly 44 million subscribers, the release states. The programme service is distributed through 1,700 cable systems, DirecTV (Channel 312) and EchoStar (DISH Channel 185) direct-to-home satellite services and C-Band dish owners across America. Hallmark claims that its combined channels reach 83 million subscribers globally.

ViaSat has reported record sales and earnings for its third quarter of fiscal year 2002, ended 31 December, 2001. ViaSat claims to produce advanced digital satellite telecommunications and wireless signal processing equipment for commercial and government markets. It claims to be a market leader in Ka-band satellite systems, from user terminals to large gateways for both geosynchronous and low earth orbit systems. It has field offices in India, China, Boston, the United Kingdom, Australia.

Sales for the quarter were $50.1 million compared to $43.1 million for the comparable quarter last year, a 16.2 per cent increase. Net income, which includes the effects of acquisition charges, for the third quarter of fiscal year 2002 decreased 11 per cent to $2.4 million compared to net income of $2.7 million for the third quarter of the prior year. Sales increased 24.3 per cent to $148.4 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2001, compared to $119.4 million in sales for the same period last year.

Business Highlights include:

1. ViaSat reached agreement and subsequently completed the acquisition of US Monolithics (USM) for approximately $30 million in cash and stock. USM is a designer of proprietary gallium arsenide millimeter wave Integrated Circuits (MMICs) with strong capabilities in the packaging and integration of subsystems including power amplifiers, block upconverters and entire transceivers, especially in complex high-frequency applications. USM is expected to improve ViaSat‘s margins on existing product lines, as well as on large broadband opportunities that ViaSat is pursuing.

2. Although selected in February 2001, this quarter ViaSat received an order from Boeing for the development and initial production quantities of the receive and transmit subsystem for the Connexion by Boeing broadband Internet and data communication service. Also during the quarter, ViaSat delivered initial production units to the venture, in support of two-way broadband demonstrations for their customers, including private aircraft owners and agencies of the United States government.

Entertainment conglomerate Viacom has reported results for the full year and fourth quarter ended 31 December, 2001. For the full year 2001, Viacom reported a 16 per cent increase in revenues to $23.22 billion, a 28 per cent gain in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to $4.55 billion and an 80 per cent increase in free cash flow to $3.0 billion, or $1.70 per diluted share. In 2000 revenues were $20.04 billion..

However for the fourth quarter of 2001, Viacom reported revenues of $6.04 billion, EBITDA of $1.06 billion and free cash flow of $1.38 billion, or $.77 per diluted share a decline from versus revenues of $6.36 billion, EBITDA of $1.36 billion and free cash flow of $942 million, or $.61 per diluted share, for the same prior-year period.

Viacom reported a net loss of $224 million, or a loss of $.13 per share for the year ended 31 December 2001. This included a net loss of $43 million, or a loss of $.02 per share, for the fourth quarter. Full year and fourth quarter results include one-time charges to EBITDA for Blockbuster, MTV Networks and UPN of $512 million, of which $159 million is reflected in the fourth quarter.

An official release states that as previously projected, the Company believes that, if current economic conditions continue, Viacom will achieve double-digit pro forma EBITDA growth for the full year 2002. While economic trends in the first quarter of 2002 continue to mirror the soft conditions experienced in the fourth quarter of 2001, the Company believes there is potential to outperform its current 2002 projection should the economic climate improve materially..

Chairman and CEO Viacom Sumner M Redstone said: "Viacom‘s results clearly demonstrate our ability to excel under unprecedented negative economic conditions. We delivered on our promises in 2001, which is a tribute to the strength of our assets, the breadth of our leading brands and, most of all, to the talent and commitment of our world-class management team. Despite the continuing soft economic climate, we are committed to pushing ahead to aggressively generate internal growth and to pursuing accretive acquisitions in our core competencies."

The release informs that for the 19th consecutive quarter, MTV was the No. 1 cable network for the core 12-to 24-year-old audience. For the first time in MTV‘s 20 year history, five series delivered ratings of 2.0 or higher for ages 12-34, including Real World X, which was the top-rated cable series of 2001 on Tuesday nights.

Nickelodeon finished 2001 with its biggest kids‘ audience in its 22-year history and advanced its standing (25 consecutive quarters) as basic cable‘s No. 1 network among kids and households in total day for 2001 and fourth quarter. No such luck in India though.

For the year, Entertainment reported revenues of $2.95 billion and EBITDA of $317 million, versus revenues of $2.76 billion and EBITDA of $369 million in the prior year. For the quarter, Entertainment reported revenues of $785 million and EBITDA of $28 million versus revenues of $701 million and EBITDA of $25 million in the prior year period.

The full year and fourth quarter results reflect higher features and theaters revenues, principally led by higher home video revenues However, the full year increases were more than offset by the print and advertising costs associated with the higher number of pictures in theatrical release during the second half of the year.