MUMBAI: The Governing Council of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has decided that Sri Lankan players will not participate in the IPL season 6 league matches in Chennai and will advise the nine franchises accordingly.

The GC had met this afternoon to discuss the issue after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister wrote to the Prime Minister stating that she will not permit the participation of Sri Lankan players or umpires in matches in Chennai.

The decision was taken to ensure security of Sri Lankan players who are participating in the IPL as Tamil Nadu was rocked by anti-Sri Lanka protests over US-backed UNHRC resolution against Sri Lanka on alleged human rights violation of Tamils by the Sri Lankan army during the counter-insurgency programme against LTTE.
 
In fact, UPA ally DMK had snapped ties with the ruling coalition blaming it for failing to bring amendments to the US-sponsored resolution at the UNHRC against Sri Lanka.

It was also reported that the government of Sri Lanka has issued a travel advisory that its citizens should exercise caution when travelling to Tamil Nadu.

MUMBAI: Southern media conglomerate Sun TV Network Ltd. has seen a small fall in revenue, leading its standalone net profit to drop 15.80 per cent to Rs 1.52 billion in the fiscal-second quarter as expenses have grown 7 per cent.

The Kalanithi Maran-owned Sun TV, which recently acquired the Hyderabad IPL team for Rs 4.25 billion, had a net profit of Rs 1.8 billion in the second quarter of last year.

Advertisement revenue stayed muted in a year of slowdown and a fall in audience share by the leading regional broadcaster. Ad income grew 4 per cent to Rs 2.44 billion in the second quarter from Rs 2.35 a year earlier.

The broadcaster?s total income in the second quarter was Rs 4.4 billion, down 5.7% from Rs 4.7 billion a year ago. The company?s Ebitda margin for the quarter stood at 76 per cent.

Its expenses in the second quarter grew 6.88 per cent to Rs 2.18 billion from Rs 2.03 billion a year ago.

Sun had taken a hit in its income in the first quarter due to non-carriage of its channels by the Tamil Nadu government-owned Arasu Cable network.

Sun had said its subscription revenues will start "falling in place" following the conclusion of an agreement with Arasu which saw the cable network carrying its channels beginning 1 August.

On the utilisation of IPO proceeds, the company said against the total projected utilisation of Rs 5.72 billion from the public float, Rs 3.56 billion was utilised towards capitalisation of subsidiaries.

Sun said Rs 1.28 billion was used towards launch of new channels, purchase of new equipment and upgradation of existing equipment. For construction of the corporate office, Rs 623.4 million was utilised.

Sun TV Network operates 32 satellite television channels in four languages -- Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam and presently airs 43 FM radio stations across India.

Sun TV?s shares fell 1.43 per cent to close Friday at Rs 327.05 on the BSE.