MUMBAI: Fever FM, the radio arm of HT Media, has seen its operating profit shrink to a mere Rs 0.1 million for the quarter ended 31 December.

The private FM company had posted an Ebitda profit of Rs 39 million in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. In the trailing quarter, however, it had reported an operating loss of Rs 45.4 million.

Fever FM?s revenue saw a marginal decline to Rs 174 million, from Rs 180 million in the year-ago period.

HT Media has employed a capital of Rs 814.1 million in its radio business, according to data provided till 31 December 2011. Fever FM operates FM stations in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata.

Meanwhile, HT Media, the publishers of Hindustan Times, has posted a net profit of Rs 482 million for the quarter under review, marginally higher over the year-ago period (Rs 478 million).

HT Media chairperson and editorial director Shobhana Bhartia said, "We are happy to report continued growth in a tough economic environment resulting in slowing advertising spend and a weakening rupee. We are confident that our strong and resilient business model, established brands and sustained cost optimisation will continue to create value and show good leverage as the macro economic environment improves."

Consolidated revenue went up 14 per cent to Rs 5.27 billion, from Rs 4.64 billion a year ago. The company said it has witnessed a 11 per cent increase in print advertising to Rs 4.07 billion (from Rs 3.69 billion in Q3 FY?11), while circulation revenue saw 7 per cent hike to Rs 503 million (from Rs 471 million).

Total expenditure jumped 20 per cent to Rs 4.41 billion, from Rs 3.75 billion a year-ago. The company said it suffered a 13 per cent increase in consumption of raw material, 23 per cent increase in employee cost and 25 per cent rise in other expenditure.

Consolidated Ebitda stood at Rs 945 million, compared to Rs 947 million.
 

MUMBAI: Colors is gearing up to launch another international format show for the weekend slot.

Ring ka King? Wrestling ka Mahayudh, a sports entertainment reality show, is produced by Endemol India in association with Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling, a privately held professional wrestling promotion company founded by Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Jarrett.

The show combines elements of reality and fiction and is about TNA wrestlers and the Indian wrestlers who will fight for the title of "Ring Ka King".

Interestingly, in 2009, Colors had aired an Argentinian format show 100% - De Dhana Dhan, also produced by the same production house. However, it could not manage to get eyeballs and the channel never launched another season of the show.

When asked about the similarities with 100%, Endemol India MD Deepak Dhar said, "It is similar but very different. Our partners are different, wrestlers are different. It is a completely new format. And we have put in a lot of time and efforts to groom Indian wrestlers."

Colors has roped in Tata Prima Trucks as the title sponsor of the show, while Harbhajan Singh is the goodwill ambassador.

The show will run for 13 weeks and will go on air on 28 January at 8 pm, on Saturdays and Sundays. At present, the channel airs movies during that time.

The show will feature 14 Indian and 16 international wrestlers including Jeff Jarrett, Matt Morgan, Scott Steiner and Monster Abyss. Indian wrestlers to participate in the show are Jwala, Mahabali Veera, Romeo Rapta, Zoravar and Deadly Danda amongst others.

Colors CEO Raj Nayak said, "India, for the first time will witness the excitement of a sport and the intensity of a drama, both rolled into one. We believe that the show will appeal to our viewers and advertisers who are constantly looking for new and innovative platforms to reach out to their audiences."

Colors is also looking to regain its lost glory. The channel, which has fallen to number third position, is eyeing to fix its weekend with the launch of this show, post which it will look at resurrecting its afternoon slot.

"Once we fix our weekends, we will eventually lift our afternoon programming and then try to improve ratings. We want to be No. 1 but not at the cost of profitability. We are trying to get the right balance and make sound investments so that we first consolidate our position as No. 2 and then climb to No. 1," said Nayak.

Dhar added, ??It?s an exciting format for us to work with. While the focus of course will be on the wrestling matches, it is the entertainment and the drama aspect of the show that will put the matches in perspective making them a lot more interesting. Endemol has entered into a partnership with TNA Entertainment, to popularise professional wrestling."

For selecting the participants from India, Endemol?s team went to 13-14 cities except Mumbai and Delhi. "We went to the smaller cities of Haryana, Punjab and UP," Dhar said.

According to Nayak, the core target group for the show is males in the age group of 16-35 years. "The show will also attract kids and lot of young women audiences."

The channel is going to heavily promote the show. Colors AVP-marketing Rajesh Iyer said, "We will be having cross channel promotion for five weeks. We will be rolling out outdoor communication in more than 70 cities. In print, there will be more than 100 ads on the day of launch. We will also be having radio innovations by putting up disruptive advertising between content. For the same, we have tied up with few stations. We are creating two characters on radio, who will be talking about Ring Ka King."

The channel will be active on the digital media as well. "On digital we have applications that we are creating. We are associating with Agneepath for promotion in Cinema. For on ground activities, we are going to 25 cities, where we will be doing road shows. There will be innovations on outdoor and on print with Mid-Day on its 28 January edition," said Iyer.
 

Mumbai: English general entertainment channel Zee Caf? is gearing up to launch Outsourced on 19 January.

The comedy based show will air Monday-Friday at 11 pm.

Zee Caf?, which focuses on sourcing the international content to the young, urban Indian palate, showcases programmes ranging from popular sitcoms to reality series and live concerts to stand-up comedy acts. With the new show, Zee Cafe aims to bring American television for Indian audience.

The show revolves around US-based Western Novelty that decides to outsource its personnel to India and as a result a large number of employees are let go. When the call center Todd manages in Seattle is outsourced to India, Todd travels there to train his replacement. A lone American is supposed to manage the call center and must explain American popular culture to his employees. Todd Anderson is instructed to travel to Gharapuri to train Purohit to replace him. He travels there via Mumbai, and finds his name comically mispronounced as ?Toad?. He finds that he must sensitise himself to the Indian culture before he could even think of Americanising Purohit and his subordinates. Housed in a new building that looks like an above-ground bunker, the call center is staffed by willing novices whom Todd trains to sound American.

With the assistance of the new assistant manager, Asha Bhatwadekar, he sets about learning about gods and deities worshipped in India, reveling in Holi festivities, common lingo, the importance of cows, and eating at Mc Donnald?s. And he soon finds that a new ?India? has been discovered for outsourcing and what is meant by ?Holiday in Goa?.

The show got nominated for People?s choice Award 2011 for favorite New TV comedy, Best Performance - Comedy and for People?s Choice Awards 2011 for NAMIC.