ZEE ANNOUNCES DTO PROJECT; GETS ABSOLVED OF SHARE PRICE RIGGING AND GETS FUNDING FOR SATELLITE TELEPHONY

Zee TV and French pay TV firm Canal Plus officially announced last week that they had tied up for the former's Rs 1,570 million digital direct to cable TV operator project. Canal Plus will be providing Zee TV with its Media Guard conditional access system and Media Highway, an interactive middleware. Zee Network has proposed to launch a digital bouquet targeted at getting subscription revenues from Indian cable operators. Initially, seven channels are to be launched in the bouquet, including Zee Cinema, Music Asia, Zee TV and Zee News, by September. Earlier, the company had succeeded in getting a loan of Rs 700 million for the project from a leading Indian financial institution.

The week proved good for Zee Telefilms Ltd (ZTL) on the stockmarket front. After stagnating in the Rs 1400 range, the share leapt up on the bourses on 12 July to Rs 1600 plus. The Bombay stock exchange (BSE) had over the weekend cleared the company of the charges of price rigging after a through investigation.

A ZTL shareholder had filed a petition in the Mumbai High Court that the management had been lending a helping hand to the share in its rapid rise from Rs 906 to Rs 1,413 between 5 April and 4 May. The BSE investigated the charge and concluded that there was no case for price manipulation; it was institutional buying which spurred the share on. However, the BSE has yet to study the records of the Delhi stock exchange and the National stock exchange.

Meanwhile, the Subhash Chandra-promoted ASC Enterprises Ltd (Ascel) has managed to get funding to the tune of Rs 10,000 million for the Rs 32,000 million satellite telephony project from a consortium of Indian financial institutions. The project has a 1:1 debt-equity component and the company is slated to make a public offering or do a private placement to raise equity. Chandra, VSNL and Lockheed Martin are the other investors in Ascel.