Hinduja TMT (formerly Hinduja Finance Corporation) has posted a net profit of Rs 131 million for the quarter ended 31 December, 2001, up from Rs 124.3 million in the corresponding period of the previous year (an increase of 5.4 per cent), a company release states.
According to the release, the growth was mainly from the company‘s call centre activities and other IT enabled service initiatives. The company‘s income for the quarter was Rs 201.6 million as against Rs 222.6 million in the corresponding period of the previous year due to the phasing out of its finance activities, the release said.

The call centre set up in Bangalore has started off with its first client, a large US telecom company with an initial capacity of 180 seats, being ramped up to the contracted 540 seats and its functioning to the full satisfaction of the customer. HTMT is upgrading the call centre in a phased manner by not only increasing the number of seats but by reinforcing its capability to handle comprehensive business processing services.

HTMT has focused on IT services (covering systems integration, ERP implementation, software maintenance and development and Internet solutions) and IT enabled services (broadly covering business process outsourcing including call centres). HTMT has developed expertise in the domain areas of manufacturing, automobile, telecom, banking and financial services.

HTMT claims it is a a debt-free company and its net worth as at the end of 31 December, 2001 stands at Rs 3770 million with a book value of Rs. 106/- per share.

HTMT has its subsidiaries in USA, UK and France and is in the process of tying up with a large electronics group in Germany for marketing its services and consolidating its operations in Europe.

In a bid to further strengthen the MTV brand and presence in Thailand, MTV Asia has launched a 24-hour MTV Thailand channel in association with Ten Music Television (TMT).

TMT is a Thai company, which produces music television programs for Thailand‘s youth. The announcement follows the renewal of a distribution deal with United Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) effective from 1 November.

The channel aims to take advantage of the local talent to produce shows which will complement the existing international and regional shows already popular in the country. MTV will bring in its distinctive programming expertise to the venture. The release states that the initiative is a part of MTV Asia‘s ongoing localisation plan for the region. An official release states that more hours of Thai-language programming will be rolled out progressively throughout the year.

MTV Thailand is being aired via United Broadcasting Corporation on Channel 49 in Thailand. Speaking on this senior vice president and managing director, MTV Southeast Asia and Network Group Peter Bullard said: "This year has been an eventful year for MTV Asia. We launched MTV Philippines in January, MTV Korea in July, and we wrapped up the year on a festive note with the joint venture to launch MTV Thailand, as well as winning the coveted title of ‘Broadcaster of the Year‘ at the Asian Television Awards.

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The ongoing tussle between ESPN Software and the Hinduja Group‘s cable arm InCable Network took a serious turn today after two affiliated cable operators, Jagdish Shah and Bimal Navsaria, of Sri Sai Vision Santa Cruz East, were arrested in the early hours of this morning for allegedly stealing ESPN and Star Sports signals.
"It had come to our notice that some cable networks affiliated to InCable were stealing the ESPN and STAR Sports signals. This is a criminal offence under the Copyrights Act and the Indian Penal Code. We greatly appreciate the action initiated by the Mumbai Police in curbing the piracy of our signals," an ESPN spokesperson said.

When contacted, Ashok Mansukhani, executive V-P, corporate services, Hinduja Group offered no comments, saying the matter was sub judice.

Earlier in the week, an InCable employee Shirish Khare, senior manager, IndusInd Media & Communication Ltd. of MIDC, Andheri East, Mumbai, was arrested by the Nasik Police after an offence was registered against him under section 51 and 63 of the Copyrights Act 1957 the for stealing of Star Sports signals, the spokesperson said. Even in Indore, the Court has issued bailable warrant against Capt. RS Ginwala, manager, InCable Network, when the prima facie evidence was found under Section 379 of IPC for theft of sports channels signals, and has directed the police to investigate further, he added.