MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) has reported first-quarter operating loss of Rs 566 million from its sports business.

The company, however, has maintained its guidance of limiting its fiscal loss to a maximum of Rs 1 billion.

Revenue stood at Rs 873 million for the three-month period ended June 2011. A major portion of this would have come from the India-West Indies series that Ten Cricket telecast on HD mode. 

The sports business incurred a cost of Rs 1.44 billion during the quarter.

"The India - West Indies cricket series has resulted in good viewership for Ten Cricket, but has also resulted in operating losses, as was expected. A significant part of the sports losses for this year has taken place in the first quarter itself. We continue to reiterate our commitment to develop the sports genre which will see a far improved performance compared to fiscal 2011," Zeel MD and CEO Punit Goenka said.

Zeel‘s sports losses for FY‘11 stood at Rs 2.08 billion on a revenue of Rs 4.4 billion (excluding a one-time revenue gain of Rs 700 million as one-time fee for the pre-mature termination of rights for AIFF).

The company runs Ten Cricket, Ten Action+ (with football as its focus) and Ten Sports, a varied sports channel.

The key properties showcased on Ten Sports during the quarter were WWE Wrestlemania, Extreme Rules and Over the Limit. Ten Action+ aired UEFA Champions League matches, whereas Ten Cricket aired West Indies vs India series in HD mode through DTH service providers. Ten Cricket, in partnership with YouTube, also made the entire series available on the Internet - both in live and on demand formats.