Private broadcasters just don‘t seem to have anything going for them on the Doordarshan front. Sri Adhikari Brothers Television Network (SAB) and Cinevista Communications, both major suppliers of software for DD1, have blamed lack of demand from advertisers for the poor results the companies registered in the financial year ended 31 March 2001.

While SAB managed to stave off losses (net profit Rs 103.7 million down 40.51 per cent from last year‘s RS 174.3 million), Cinevista communications has posted a net loss of RS 119.9 million.

SAB‘s total income stood at RS 927.9 million as against RS 400.1 million in the financial year 2000. A statement put out by SAB says: "During the year under review, the policy of Doordarshan related to additional spot buys on various programmes has put heavy financial burden on the company. The company from time to time, has put forth its case with Doordarshan for rationalisation of commercial terms and for withdrawal of additional spot buys."

As the matter could not be resolved till 31 March 2001, the company has decided as prudent accounting practice to charge the same to the P&L account, which has resulted in reduction of profitability."

Cinevista Communications fared far worse, with a net loss of RS 119.9 million in only the first year of its listing on the bourses. Last year, it recorded a net profit of RS 90 million.

Cinevista‘s net sales stood at RS 396.7 million while the cost of production and telecast stood at RS 394.1 million.

It blamed the results as being due to the erosion of viewership of Doordarshan. Continuing downturn in demand for air time on DD amongst advertisers has led to erosion in selling volumes and selling rates, it said. As a consequence over 18,000 seconds of air time remains unsold on the various programmes that were telecast on DD.

Cinevista also wrote off all the expenses related to the weekly game show Knock-Out, which was scheduled to be telecast on DD-1 from 28 January 28. The show never went on air and Cinevista has hauled DD to court over this matter. A writ petition for the same is pending in the high court in New Delhi.

HFCL-Nine Broadcasting India Ltd (HNBIL) today closed the chapter on what has been an acrimonious relationship and declared it would not bid for the prime time slot on national broadcaster Doordarshan‘s Metro channel "due to the unrealistic non-financial terms of the contractual arrangements proposed by DD."
The statement put the lid on speculation that Nine Broadcasting might make a fresh pitch for prime time slots on DD Metro after the failure of Prasar Bharati‘s efforts to attract bids. This is in spite of reports that the pubcaster would be calling for fresh bids without the requirement of a minimum floor price.

The company announced that the television business of HNBIL on Metro would cease to exist from 10 September 2001. After that date, HNBIL will downsize its operations and a core team will remain to explore further opportunities but the company itself is not shutting down, an official release said. However, all the staff related to the DD Metro business have been told to look for jobs elsewhere.

The statement said HNBIL was still interested in the partnership with DD Metro but only if DD was willing to deal with HNBIL on realistic terms.

The statement called the tender for DD Metro slots as unrealistic because:
1) New media and Internet rights to belong to DD.
2) The hold back clause for the re-runs of programmes for one year after the play out of the final episode could date programmes by more than two years before replay thereby reducing their value
3) The rigid FCT allocation, the fact that DD, without any financial consideration will use the programmes on DD World thus reducing the value of any international sale for the shows.
4) And most of all, the clause that DD reserves the right to terminate the contract without notice and without ascribing any reason to the company on-air makes it a pointless contract.

Listing the channel‘s successes in the nine months it had been on air, the statement said Nine Gold had:
* Increased the viewership base on DD Metro from 15.6 million to 25.6 million (7-10 pm).
* The time spent by viewers for the 7-10 pm block increased by 89%.
* Ratings have increased by 200% and revenue has increased significantly.
* Viewership in C&S homes has quadrupled.

And the options available to HFCL Nine Broadcasting CEO Ravina Raj Kohli ?
Film production for one (seems to be a popular theme with both broadcasters - Zee, Sony - and content providers - UTV, Balaji Telefilms) and then there is its subsidiary Nine Entertainment which could become a full fledged content provider.

One thing that HFCL Nine will have to write off with the closure of its Metro operations is what industry sources estimate to be Rs 1,500 million in accumulated losses built up over the last nine months.