MUMBAI: As the last phase of the fiercely contested Lok Sabha elections draws to a close, News18 India will bring to its viewers ‘100 Ghante ki Maha Coverage’. The non-stop reportage will start from 19th May and will run until the Counting Day on 23rd May, when the results will be declared.

The Lok Sabha elections have witnessed fervent political campaigning and intense competition amongst the major political parties in the country. With the Counting / Results Day around the corner for the largest democratic exercise in the world, News18 India will strive to be the ultimate news destination for election/results related coverage with a dedicated team giving regular and comprehensive updates regarding the same from across the nation.

The ‘100 Ghante ki Maha Coverage’ will comprise of exclusive interviews with renowned politicians, discussions, debates, polling day coverage and a mega-exit poll including a poll of polls The reportage will conclude on the Counting Day with the most extensive coverage of the highly anticipated verdict by the people of India.

MUMBAI: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday stayed Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s directive to direct-to-home (DTH) companies on restoring old plans of long duration pack (LDP) subscribers and abstaining from moving them to the new tariff order.

A division bench of chief justice Rajendra Menon and justice V Kameswar Rao passed the order after Tata Sky filed an application challenging TRAI’s 1 May 2019 directive.

Tata Sky’s application is also a part of the petition filed by DTH majors like Sun Direct, Airtel Digital TV and broadcaster Discovery India Communication against the new tariff order for the broadcast and cable services sector. The petition has now been listed for 11 July.

MUMBAI: Even as Disney is consolidating its presence in the direct-to-consumer business, the media giant finally has finally taken full ownership of OTT platform Hulu. Comcast, the major stakeholder of Hulu, has entered into a deal with Disney under which the latter will assume full operational control of the streaming platform effective immediately. However, the sale won’t happen for another five years.

“We are now able to completely integrate Hulu into our direct-to-consumer business and leverage the full power of The Walt Disney Company’s brands and creative engines to make the service even more compelling and a greater value for consumers,” Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger said in a statement.

MUMBAI: Fifteen channels that were successful in gaining an MPEG4 slot on Doordarshan’s free-to-air (FTA) DTH platform Free Dish were made available to subscribers on Wednesday.

“DD Free Dish DTH opens a new chapter with channels going on MPEG4 slots,” said Prasar Bharati (PB) CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati.

Among the channels that have gone on air, 12 are Hindi channels while the remaining three are non-Hindi. Five of the 15 channels are religious channels - Aastha Bhajan, Arihant, Satsang, Subh TV and Vedic TV.

We are all used to the stream of advertisements that bombard you the minute you log on to a website and keep bothering you even if you disable them. You also have those apps that keep asking you for access rights the moment you download them. What is actually happening is that data (often referred to as Big Data) is being collected. Data is being collected without the customer being aware of this.

MUMBAI: The Walt Disney Company chairman and CEO Bob Iger has said that his company has received offers from interest parties in India to build a theme park in the country. He further stated that Disney has studied the market and has nothing more to say about it.

“There is a very long line of people with a lot of money who would like us to build a theme park in India. We have studied the market. We have nothing more to say about it at this point of time,” Iger said during a question-and-answer session at the 6th Annual MoffettNathanson Media & Communications Summit.

Iger also said that the international business is a key area of interest for Disney. He mentioned the Star India business and the kind of growth its direct to consumer platform Hotstar has witnessed in the last few years.

MUMBAI: Viacom18’s flagship Hindi GEC Colors is all set to beef up its prime-time programming line-up by introducing two new drama shows from Balaji Telefilms’ stable and the second season of its flagship dance reality show ‘Dance Deewane’.

The drama shows from the Balaji stable are supernatural thriller ‘Kawach Mahashivratri’ and romantic thriller ‘Bepanah Pyaarr’. The broadcaster stated that the two new fiction shows are backed by fresh narratives.

‘Kawach Mahashivratri’ and ‘Dance Deewane’ will air during the weekends while ‘Bepanah Pyaarr’ will broadcast in the weekdays. ‘Kawach Mahashivratri’ will debut on 25th May and will air in the 8 pm slot on Saturday and Sunday. Starting 3rd June, ‘Bepanah Pyaarr’ will air from Monday-Friday at 10 pm. ‘Dance Deewane’, which will replace ‘Rising Star’, will air in the weekend 9 pm slot beginning 15th June.

MUMBAI: Content distributor Shemaroo Entertainment’ has posted a 12% growth in net profit at Rs 20.6 crore during the fourth quarter ended 31st March as against Rs 18.4 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. Pat margin was down 3 Bps to 15.71% compared to 15.74% in the year ago period.

EBITDA rose 12.4% to Rs 41.8 crore compared to Rs 37.2 crore in the year ago period. EBITDA margin expanded 12 Bps to 31.43% from 31.31%. Revenue from operations jumped 11.7% to Rs 132.2 crore as against Rs 118.4 crore. Total expenses were up 11.8% to Rs 91.2 crore from Rs 81.6 crore.

Revenue from digital media jumped 29.1% to Rs 44.8 crore while traditional media saw a 4.4% increase at Rs 87.4 crore.

For the full fiscal, net profit was up 16% to Rs 82.7 crore from Rs 71.3 crore. PAT margin expanded 5 Bps to 14.57% from 14.52%. EBITDA jumped 11% to Rs 159.6 crore as against Rs 143.8 crore. The EBITDA margin declined by 132 Bps to 28.01% from 29.33%.

BENGALURU: The Essel group’s new media company Zee Media Corporation Ltd reported a loss of Rs 62.14 crore for the year ended 31 March 2019 (FY 2019, year or period under review) as compared to a profit after tax (PA ) of Rs 27.84 crore. If the one-time impairment charges towards Diligent Media were to be neglected, the company would have reported a profit of Rs 55.82 crore less taxes.

MUMBAI: Earlier this month, Netflixdid something it rarely does. The streaming giant made an acquisition, only the third in its history, of a children’s media brand called StoryBots. Though the details of the deal weren’t disclosed, it’s safe to assume it didn’t cost the Reed Hastings-led company a fortune. While Netflix may not have broken the bank for its newest asset, its move is rather important because it points to what the world's most famous streaming service sees as a key growth area.