For the past few months, Star Plus, Zee and Colors have been playing musical chairs with the top three slots in GEC ratings, with marketshares of all three channels mostly falling in the 18-22% range. Colors has broken away for the first time this week, with a lead of 7…

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd today posted Q2 net profit of Rs110.95 crore, down 37.72% year-on-year. Total sales was down 5.44% to Rs540.48 crore. Ad revenues declined 11% y-o-y to Rs247.6 crore, while subscription revenue grew 8% to Rs243.47 crore. The company posted lower revenues on all three segments of its…

In an interview to CNBC TV18 that Mint carried today, Essel Group chairman Subhash Chandra said he might surprise people by retiring early. Chandra, a pioneering entrepreneur in India’s satellite television industry, is 58 years old. His Essel Group has interests spanning television broadcasting, newspaper publishing and direct-to-home service, among…

Zee News Ltd today said net profit for the quarter ended 30 June grew 27.8% year-on-year to Rs11.91 crore on strong advertising growth. Advertising revenue grew 22.7% from the year ago period to Rs109 crore. Compared with the quarter ended 31 March, net profit grew 35.9%. While total revenues grew…

Essel Group firm Wire and Wireless India today said its board has approved grant of employee stock options to 36 eligible employees. The company has granted 28,08,800 stock options convertible into an equal number of equity shares of Re1 each, at an exchange price of Rs17.45. In June, group firm…

Rajendra Sinh, director, HR and change management at Essel Group, has resigned. Sinh joined the Subhash Chandra-promoted group in August 2007 and 15 July will be his last day at work. Essel Group is one of India’s largest diversified media conglomerates, with interests in broadcasting, distribution, direct-to-home and publishing. Group…

Essel Group company Wire & Wireless India Ltd today said its board has approved a proposal to raise Rs192 crore through a private placement of secured redeemable non-convertible debentures to institutional investors. In a release to the Bombay Stock Exchange, the company said it will issue 1920 such debentures of…

Daily News and Analysis, published by a Mumbai-based joint venture between the Dainik Bhaskar group and subhash Chandra’s Zee group, is about to effect company-wide salary cuts. In a newsroom-wide meeting on Wednesday evening, DNA editor R. Jagannathan, told staffers that salary cuts across the organization were imminent, without specifying…

Wire and Wireless India Ltd, Essel Group’s demerged cable TV distribution company, has undertaken a significant restructuring exercise and has moved its corporate office to New Delhi from Mumbai. According to two persons familiar with the development, the company has laid off 600 people in a significant restructuring exercise, bringing…

Vinay Agarwal has stepped down as CEO of Essel Group’s direct-to-home service provider Dish TV India Ltd, the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. He has joined TVS Interconnect Systems Ltd, a business-to-business manufacturer and service provider in the telecom space, as CEO and president. Agarwal…

Pradeep Guha, or PG as he is popularly called, has quit Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd, ending his three year stint as CEO. Mint reports Punit Goenka, network operating officer and a member of the board of directors, will take over as CEO. Guha is rumoured to go entrepreneurial, he recently…

In response to queries regarding foreign investment in Broadcast and Telecom sectors - with an eye on convergence - stakeholders have submitted their comments to the TRAI. On the key question of whether FDI limit for broadcast and telecom sectors be made the same, some key players have responded as…

Zee News has tied up with BBC Worldwide, and will be offering its archival content via the BBC Motion Gallery website, reports the HIndu. BBC is among several broadcasters providing content to the motion picture gallery, including CBS (NYSE: CBS) News, NHK Japan, ABC Australia and CCTV Japan. Zee News…

[by Cerius Shah] Zee is apparently annoyed at the TRAI for giving MobileTV recommendations that are operator skewed. This is not the first time they have been at disagreement with TRAI’s recommendations. While broadcaster’s are being slapped with content codes, the existing recommendations allow telco’s with an Unified access service…

The Zee group has come out all guns blazing on the issue of allocation of licenses and spectrum for Mobile TV in India. The group has told the TRAI in comments submitted on Mobile TV that just having the capability to transmit TV content doesn’t mean that Telecom operators do…

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) has announced new content partnerships for its on-device NSeries Video Centre, including one with Indian media company GBN for IBN News. Other partnerships announced include CNN, Jamba, Sony (NYSE: SNE) Pictures, RooftopComedy, ROK (LSE: ROK) and Versaly Entertainment. Nokia already has partnerships with Reuters (NSDQ: RTRSY) and…

For those in the UK: Page 3 in India refers to celebrities (and not what you’re thinking). Zee Group co Digital Media Convergence Ltd (DMCL) has launched a website with photos (mostly) and gossip from the Indian celebrity scene, called Page3flicks.com, reports Indiantelevision. They intend to launch sections like “celebrity…

Zee group company Digital Media Convergence Ltd (DMCL) has inked a deal with Singapore based telecom company Singtel. Zee will make its library of digital content available to Singtel subscribers via Zee’s platform ISEE, reports Indiantelevision. The company is targeting the South Indian community in Singapore, with content from Zee’s…

Zee Group’s cricket venture - the Indian Cricket Leage (ICL) -  which has been at loggerheads with the BCCI, has launched its website - Indiancricketleague.in, reports Indiantelevision. They intend to allow aspiring cricketers to apply to play in the league via the website. (p.s.: Anyone watching the India vs England…