BENGALURU/MUMBAI: Entities in the radio business have started to play their cards for survival in the industry. The first one to make the move was Radio City when they entered in an acquisition agreement with Jagran Prakashan. Now, TV Today’s Oye FM is in spotlight. According to an announcement on BSE, the Board has approved the sale of the radio FM business, which has seven radio stations operating in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Jodhpur, Amritsar, Patiala and Shimla.
The corporate announcement stated, “TV Today Network Ltd has informed BSE that the board of directors of the company at its meeting held on 6 February 2015, inter alia, had allotted ESOP as per TVTN Employee stock option plan 2006: Satyaky Chowdhury – 10,500; and Shams Tahir Khan – 7,500.”
It further said, “The Board has approved the sale of Radio FM Business (Seven Radio Stations) and has further authorised a Committee of Directors / senior officials to negotiate the terms and conditions with potential buyers and to execute the sale, subject to requisite Statutory and Regulatory approvals.”
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No official information has been circulated amongst Oye FM employees giving details of such a sale. But one of the sources said that Oye FM was pretty much evaluating its position in Phase III auctions along with Oye FM’s migration plans. But with the new announcement there is no clarity as to where they stand for Phase III auctions. Currently, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry is working on making the partial auctions happen as smoothly as possible. The first partial auction of FM radio phase III is for 69 existing cities for 135 channels.
This sale will not be the first for TV Today Network Limited (TVTN). In 2006, TVTN promoter, Living Media, sold the FM radio business under the brand Red FM to a consortium of investors, and later Kalanithi Maran’s Sun Network bought a stake in the company.
The announcement of the approved sale came at the time when TVTN announced its financial report for the quarter ending 31 December, 2015. TVTN has reported 27.6 per cent growth in Profit after Tax (PAT) to Rs 26.34 crore in the current quarter as compared to the Rs 20.65 crore in Q3-2014, and almost double (up 99.5 per cent) the Rs 13.21 crore in the immediate trailing quarter Q2-2015. For 9M-2015 PAT at Rs 72.34 crore was 59.1 per cent more than the Rs 45.46 crore in 9M-2014.
Meanwhile, Oye FM reported disappointing results this quarter. It reported 8.5 per cent lower revenue at Rs 4 crore in Q3-2015 as compared to the Rs 4.37 crore in the corresponding quarter last year, and 5.1 per cent less than the Rs 4.21 crore in Q2-2015. For 9M-2015 this segment reported 1 per cent growth in revenue at Rs 11.57 crore from Rs 11.46 crore in 9M-2014.
The company’s radio broadcasting reported a loss of Rs 1.94 crore in Q3-2015; loss of Rs 2.90 crore in Q3-2014 and loss of Rs 1.80 crore in Q2-2015. In 9M-2015, the loss was lower, at Rs 6.30 crore as compared to the Rs 7.24 crore in 9M-2014.
