ETC Networks Limited announced its Q-3 results for the year 2001-2002 with net profit going down by 63 per cent from Rs 3.8 million in Q2 to Rs 1.39 million.

Exceptional item* amounting to Rs 15.25 million has put pressure on the net profit of the Company. But at the same time company has made provision for tax only for Rs 0.11 million for the quarter stating that deferred taxation will be made at the year end.

The total Income has gone down by 16 per cent from Rs 84.6 million in Q2 to Rs 71.33 million in Q3. (The total income is going down since Q1, the reason stated for the same earlier is due to discontinuation of its South Indian Operations.)

staff costs had remained almost at the same level while sales and administration costs has gone down from Rs 25.70 million to Rs 14.8 million.

ETC Networks Limited, the media company listed at BSE owns the Hindi channel etc and regional channel etc Channel Punjabi. On the Bombay Stock Exchange, the share price of the company responded negatively. It went down by 7.5 per cent to Rs 27 from Rs 29.2 while BSE indicator went up marginally by 0.22 per cent to 3384.

(*The exceptional item represents debts aggregating to Rs.15.22 million pertaining to operations which have been discontinued during the previous financial year.)

SABe TV continues on its promise of providing ‘relief‘ to viewers with the launch on 25 February of a new sitcom Sajan Tu Jhoot Mat Bol.
The show is directed by Rajan Waghdhare and written by Ashok Patole, the same team that has given the well known SABe TV sitcoms Yes Boss and Sriman Srimati.

Also launching on 25 February are some new current affairs progranmmes which will lock in the 10 to 10:30 pm band five days a week. Karan Thapar hosts two shows, Line of Fire on Mondays and Court Martial on Thursdays. Both the shows are in English. Veer Sanghvi hosts another English show Meeting of Minds on Tuesdays, while Priya Tendulkar anchors Jawab Talab, modelled on BBC‘s Hard Talk, Wednesdays.

To round it off on Fridays there is Khula Manch (open platform) which has Manoj Raguvanshi in the anchor‘s seat. Unlike the other new shows, though, Khula Manch is a one-hour programme.

Once these programming initiatives are instituted, SABe TV will have the distinction of not having a single soap in the time band from 7 pm to 10:30 pm. SABe TV‘s family dramas will essentially be confined to the afternoon slot.

The programming format is as follows:

Cinevista Communications‘ Q3 results paint a rosier picture than they did in the previous quarters of this fiscal.
The company that had posted net losses of Rs 20.32 million in Q2 2001, has managed to turn its fortunes by declaring a small, yet net profit of Rs 1.11 million in the quarter just ended. Whether the turnaround in its fortunes can be attributed to a change in nomenclature (the company changed from Cinevista Communications to Cinevistaas Limited on 20 December, 2001) cannot be proved, but it has definitely managed to pull itself out of the red - the company had been consistently posting losses for the last three quarters. It is now looking up again - with Sanjivani and Shhh Koi Hai airing on Star Plus and a feature film Yeh Mohabbat Hai, due for release shortly.

The company has cut down significantly on administrative costs (Rs 1.10 million in Q3 2001 as against Rs 2.51 million in Q3 2000), while cost of production and telecast charges too have come down from Rs 77.6 million to Rs 48.9 million in the corresponding third quarters of 2000 and 2001.

The company‘s realisation from serials has taken a beating though, with revenues slipping to Rs 46.54 million from Rs 87.97 million in the same quarter last year. Its income from other sources has however seen a rise from Rs 12.15 million in Q3 2000 to Rs 17.70 million in Q3 2001.