The Hindu Business Line : TV Today net up at Rs 32 cr; to pay 15% maiden dividend

NEW DELHI: TV Today, which owns Aaj Tak and Headlines Today, has registered a net profit of Rs 32.08 crore for the financial year ended March 31, 2004, a 24 per cent increase from the previous year's Rs 25.92 crore. The company declared a maiden dividend of 15 per cent and revenues stood at Rs 142.52 crore, up from Rs 109.38 crore recorded last year.

The CEO, Mr G. Krishnan, told Business Line, "The good profits can be attributed to advertising rates going up, increase in advertising volume and efficient utilisation of available inventory."

He added that advertising rates went up during the year and the company had introduced various schemes to offer incentives to advertisers.

TV Today claimed that the just concluded elections boosted the company's revenues and viewership for its channels. While Aaj Tak continued to retain its leadership position, Mr Krishnan said that the English news channel, Headlines Today, has also seen some increase in audience share in select markets. This year, the Hindi news channels market witnessed competition with the launch of several channels such as Star News, NDTV India and channels from the Sahara India stable.

During the year, TV Today would look at pushing Headlines Today besides improving the quality of programming. "There is scope for increasing the viewership during the afternoon time band and we will work on that," he added.

He, however, ruled out the launch of any new channels this year, stating that it is time to consolidate the business. "We have reached a high point in terms of revenues and viewership. We do not want to lose that advantage by launching new channels," he added.

The company will also prepare the groundwork for making Aaj Tak a pay channel.

"We want to understand the pay market better and could consider becoming a subscription-driven channel in 2005-06," he said.

For the fourth quarter, revenue stood at Rs 44.64 crore against Rs 31.47 crore, up by 42 per cent, while net profit for the quarter stood at Rs 9.4 crore, a 45 per cent increase.