buy and sell of entertainment & media NDTV stocks buy sell stocks online

New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) (updated - 03 Sept 2009)
Broadcaster NDTV has been in news of late with reports that the promoters may dilute their stake doing the rounds. The stock has been somewhat volatile — after rising more than 150 per cent from the lows of March to Rs 184 in June, it moved down all the way to Rs 104 before recovering to Rs 181 in mid-August.

Of course, the fact that the June quarter numbers came above the Street’s expectations has helped sustain the stock at Rs 150 levels. While consolidated revenues were up 9.4 per cent to Rs 130 crore, some serious checks on expenses helped the company restrict its operational losses to Rs 58 crore — the losses in the corresponding period last year were Rs 92 crore.

The company is expected to further trim costs — analysts expect expenses for news operations to be lower by about Rs 50-60 crore a quarter.

Disclaimer: Information presented on this site is a guide only. It may not necessarily be correct and is not intended to be taken as financial advice nor has it been prepared with regard to the individual investment needs and objectives or financial situation of any particular person. Stock quotes are believed to be accurate and correctly dated, but does not warrant or guarantee their accuracy or date.
Our site takes no responsibility for any investment decisions based on recommendations provided on website.

New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) (updated - Mar 2009)
Broadcaster NDTV has received the approval of shareholders to demerge its business into two separate entities. While one company will house the news channels, the second will house the lifestyle and entertainment channels and other businesses. Should new strategic or financial investors be roped in, value could be created for shareholders.

Otherwise, although the split does allow investors a choice of an exposure to either the news or the entertainment genres, the bad news is that NDTV isn’t doing too well in either. In the December 2008 quarter for instance, revenues from the news operations fell 10 per cent to Rs 82 crore and the business posted a loss of Rs16 crore.

NDTV 24x7 is among the top three English news channels but it is becoming increasingly difficult to scale up the business in a crowded space.

In the equally cluttered Hindi news segment, NDTV India is now among the smaller players with Aaj Tak retaining its number one position. The business news channel NDTV profit has always lagged way behind market leader CNBC TV18; with the arrival of ET No, the competition can only become more intense. As for the entertainment business, NDTV Imagine’s gross rating points range somewhere between 60-80 and the channel is believed to be clocking revenues of around Rs 35 crore a quarter. Over the past few weeks, the top three Hindi channels have cornered a viewership share of 65 per cent indicating that these channels are becoming stronger.

With Colors having shaken up the space with its disruptive programming, NDTV Imagine is now finding it hard to attract viewers and unless it spends a huge amount on fresh content, shoring up GRPs will not be easy. While NBC Universal, does have a 26 per cent stake in NDTV Networks, which it picked up for $150 million in January last year, NDTV doesn’t seem to have benefited too much from NBC’s content and distribution strengths. In the December 2008 quarter NDTV’s consolidated net losses (pre-esops) were just over Rs 100 crore.
source - BS

With general elections having been held during the quarter, the news operations were expected to do well and the business posted an operating profit, though at the net level there was a loss of Rs 24 crore. While the Hindi news channel, NDTV India, did gain from election spends, it operates in a crowded segment. As for the English news genre, the competition between the top three channels, CNN IBN, Times Now and NDTV 24x7, remains keen and therefore the performance of NDTV 24 x7 isn’t likely to be too exciting going ahead.

The story is pretty much the same for the English business news segment, especially with the entry of ET Now; in any case, NDTV Profit was already feeling the pressure from CNBC TV 18. The Hindi general entertainment channel, NDTV Imagine, would have been impacted somewhat by the IPL cricket tournament as were its competitors such as Zee Entertainment. Although viewership for the channel has improved — gross rating points(GRPs) are up at 125 points-plus — the channel remains way behind the top three, which manage to command GRPs of over 200 points. As such, it could be a while before NDTV Imagine starts making money.
source - BS

New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) (updated - 21 Nov 2009)
The NDTV stock rose 7.5 per cent on Friday as NDTV Networks, the nonnews subsidiary of NDTV, roped in a strategic partner, Scripps Networks, by giving it a majority 69 per cent stake in NDTV Lifestyle. The deal values the lifestyle piece at $80 million.

Besides, NDTV also bought back convertible bonds at a fairly good discount, which will ease the strain on the companys balance sheet. Analysts believe approximately half the $55 million that Scripps is bringing in would be spent on the lifestyle channel, NDTV Good Times, while the rest would flow into NDTV Networks. Clearly, the alliance with a foreign partner and the financial resources should help improve the lifestyle channels content.

In fact, both from a strategic and monetary point of view, the sooner NDTV is able to place out the 26 per cent stake in NDTV Networks, that it recently bought back from NBC Universal, the better. When NBC Universal acquired the stake in early 2008, it had valued NDTV Networks at close to $600 million.

Meanwhile, the September 2009 quarter didnt see any meaningful improvement in NDTVs performance, with the broadcaster posting a net loss of Rs 88 crore on an increase in consolidated revenues of just 16.7 per cent at Rs 140 crore. In fact, revenues from the news operations actually fell 6 per cent, thanks to a drop in advertising revenues. Not surprising, since both the English business news channel, NDTV Profit, and the English news channel both face intense competition in their respective markets.

The launch of ET Now and the recent alliance between UTVi and Bloomberg, in the business news space, will make it even more difficult for NDTV Profit to sustain viewership. While operating losses are no doubt lower year-on-year, NDTV will have to spend on new content and marketing, especially for its general entertainment channel, NDTV Imagine, and that could push up costs. In fact, costs are already up on a sequential basis.

While NDTV Imagine now attracts more than 100 gross rating points, analysts feel the channel hasnt cashed in on the higher viewership with some big shows. They believe it will not be able to make money unless viewership improves further. NDTV is in the process of demerging its news and non-news operations, the idea being to ring-fence the news operations from losses in the entertainment channels.

While the economic environment is no doubt improving and should help the broadcaster earn more advertising and subscription revenues, the competition across genres remains keen and will keep costs high.
source - BS

New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) (updated - 10 Dec 2009)
In less than a month, New Delhi Television (NDTV) has struck its second deal, which marks the company’s near exit from the lifestyle and general entertainment channels business and may help address its balance-sheet concerns. Last month, NDTV Networks, which operates in the non-news businesses, sold a 69 per cent stake in NDTV Lifestyle to Scripps Networks Inc at a deal value of $80 million. While NDTV Networks would receive $35 million, Scripps would infuse $20 million into NDTV Lifestyle through afresh equity issue.

On Tuesday, NDTV entered into a conditional agreement with a Time Warner group company (Turner Asia) to sell its 76 per cent stake in NDTV Imagine (owned by NDTV Networks). Here, NDTV Networks will receive $67 million, while Turner Asia will infuse $50 million for fresh equity.

Analysts say the foreign partnership will help strengthen the content of the two channels, while the cash infusion will provide the much-needed funds for sustaining growth. NDTV is likely to gain in the long-run from the probable appreciation of its minority stakes in the two companies. Importantly, the $102 million of cash inflow will significantly help lower its consolidated debt, as well as fund the purchase of 26 per cent stake in NDTV Networks from NBC Universal.

In a recent report, ICICI Securities analysts have estimated NDTV to possess Rs 136 crore worth of cash (net) as on December 2009, as compared to a net debt of Rs 231 crore as on March 2009.

Meanwhile, even as NDTV has been able to control cost in its news channel business, resulting in its standalone losses halving year-on-year in the September 2009 quarter, revenues were down 6.2 per cent due to a decline in advertising income.

Going ahead, although the expected de-leveraging of balance-sheet and exit from loss-making businesses are some positives, with competition intensifying in the news segment, especially in business news, analysts expect the profitability of the news business to remain under pressure.
source - BS