MUMBAI: Viacom18, the joint venture between Network18 Group and Viacom, has posted a fourth straight quarterly loss as its operating expenses surged 185 per cent, mainly on account of discontinued operations - deferment of the Hindi movie channel and TIFC (The Indian Film Company).

Viacom18, which runs a clutch of entertainment channels including flagship Hindi general entertainment channel Colors, reported a net loss of 337 million for the three-month period ended 31 March 2012, as against a profit of Rs 45 million in the year-before quarter.

In the first three quarters, Viacom18 had also coloured the books red with a net loss of Rs 10 million, Rs 284 million and Rs 532 million respectively.

Viacom18 posted a revenue of Rs 6.28 billion, up 131 per cent from Rs 2.72 billion. However, it clarified that this includes Rs 2.34 billion realised from the sale of the movie library that it had built up for the proposed Hindi movie channel.

?Our continuing business grew at 16 per cent over the corresponding quarter last year,? the company said.

Meanwhile, operating expenses jumped to Rs 7.16 billion for the quarter, from Rs 2.72 billion in the year-before quarter. Marketing, distribution and promotional expenses jumped from Rs 826 million to Rs 1.29 billion, while production expenses and other expenditure doubled to Rs 3.17 billion from Rs 1.51 billion. The company also listed expense of Rs 2.38 billion for its deferred Hindi movie channel.

Viacom18 posted operating (Ebidta) loss of Rs 887 million in the quarter, as against a profit of Rs 204 million.

Viacom18 also posted individual Ebitda for TV continuing operations, new operations and discontinued operations. Notably, the company has suffered operating loss from TV continuing operations including motion pictures also, which was until now a profit making business.

The Ebitda loss stood at Rs 116 million, compared to a profit of Rs 204 million a year ago.

Viacom18 clarified that one-time losses amounting to Rs 477 million in Q4 were incurred with respect to the discontinued operations - deferment of the Hindi movie channel and TIFC, while Rs 294 million was incurred with respect to costs towards the new channels ? Sonic, Comedy Central and Colors HD.

For the full fiscal ended 31 March 2012, the net loss stood at Rs 1.13 billion, from a net profit of Rs 851 million in the earlier year. Operating revenue stood at Rs 15.84 billion (from Rs 11.04 billion), while expenses were at Rs 16.97 billion (from Rs 9.85 billion).

Viacom18 said that the fourth quarter and full fiscal numbers have been subjected to limited review by the auditors and segmental numbers are on a proforma basis.

MUMBAI: The market is speculating Mukesh Ambani?s Reliance Industries to invest in Network18 Group to fund the acquisition of regional television broadcaster ETV. The investment is likely to be made through a subsidiary.

The value of the ETV deal is pegged at around Rs 25 billion. Though TV18 and Network18 have proposed rights issue, the acquisition price of ETV is too high and needs external support.

When contacted, Network18 chief executive officer B Sai Kumar declined to comment on the issue. I Venkat, director on the Eenadu board, said he was not aware of the development.

A formal announcement is expected Tuesday.

Network18 and TV18 founder-promoter Raghav Bahl needs to reduce debt that remains high. The acquisition of ETV will help TV18 to increase its subscription revenues.

Shares of TV18 Broadcast rose 5.75 per cent on the BSE while Network18 was up 6.78 per cent.

RIL will be rolling out its broadband services later this year and needs exclusive content to pump through them.

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