News Broadcasting
Asiasat reports 24 per cent decline in profits
MUMBAI: Satellite operator Asiasat has announces its 2003 annual results. Profit amounted to HK$424 million. In 2002 the figure was HK$555 million. This represents a significant reduction of 24 per cent from the previous year.
Turnover for the year was HK$896 million. In 2002 the figure stood at HK$951 million representing a decline of six per cent. The company atrbuted the performance to slow growth in new demand, business contraction of some customers, and continuing price pressure on new leases and renewals.
The company added that the restrictions on travel resulting from the continued existence of Sars affected its ability to market and serve new and existing customers throughout the Asian region. At the peak of Sars almost all marketing activities came to a halt..The regional transponder market remained sluggish, lagging behind the early signs of economic improvement in some Asian markets.
While the results were disappointing the company maintained that they were in line with its earlier indications. The above mentioned decline in profit was attributable mainly to the anticipated increase in depreciation on the new AsiaSat 4 and increased in-orbit insurance costs. All this went hand in hand with the decrease in turnover and an additional provision of deferred tax for both current and prior years. This arose as a result of the increase in the Hong Kong tax rate from 16 per cent to 17.5 per cent on 1 April 2003.
Asiasat admitted that its strategy to achieve organic growth, and growth through acquisition and partnership was held back by the poor economic climate and the failure of identified targets to meet the investment criteria. On a more positive note the company continued to benefit from strong cash flow from its operations. It generated a net cash inflow of HK$253 million (2002: HK$270 million) after paying capital expenditure of HK$162 million (2002: HK$440 million) and dividends of HK$203 million (2002: HK$78 million). At the end of 2003, the Group had a cash balance of HK$659 million (2002: HK$406 million).
The launch and commissioning of Asiasat 4 is incurring additional costs for the group at a time when markets have remained soft. The short-term impact is negative. However for the longer term, the addition of Asiasat 4, which has a life expectancy of over 15 years places the group as a strong provider in the market with the significant growth potential states a company release.
Looking to this year the company has reiterated the fact that its business was long-term in nature, and that the positive factors that drive demand remain in place. They are television distribution and increasingly in more developed markets, High Definition Television, and telecommunications networks that need connectivity over wide geographic coverage, at a fixed cost. This was where satellites succeed and terrestrial services cannot compete particularly in large and physically scattered regions like the Asia Pacific. On the flip side the company does not see material signs of improvement among regional operators, nor new entrants to the market that would enable the group to deliver stronger results this year as compared with last year.
News Broadcasting
Senior media executive Madhu Soman exits Zee Media
Former Reuters and Bloomberg leader says he leaves with “no regrets” after brief stint at WION and Zee Business
NOIDA: Madhu Soman, a veteran of global newsrooms and media sales floors, has stepped away from Zee Media Corporation after a short stint steering business strategy for WION and Zee Business.
In a reflective LinkedIn note marking his departure, Soman said his time within the network’s corridors was always likely to be brief. “Some chapters close faster than expected,” he wrote, signalling the end of a nearly two-year spell in which he oversaw both editorial partnerships and commercial strategy.
Soman joined Zee Media in 2022 after more than a decade abroad with Reuters and Bloomberg, returning to India to take on the role of chief business officer for WION and Zee Business. His mandate was ambitious: bridge the newsroom and the revenue desk while expanding digital and broadcast reach.
During the stint, Zee Business reached break-even for the first time since its launch in 2005, while WION refreshed programming and strengthened its digital footprint across platforms such as YouTube and Facebook.
But Soman suggested the cultural fit proved uneasy. Describing himself as a “cultural misfit”, he hinted at deeper tensions between editorial instincts shaped in global newsrooms and the realities of India’s television news ecosystem.
Before joining Zee, Soman spent more than seven years at Bloomberg in Hong Kong as head of broadcast sales for Asia-Pacific, expanding the company’s news syndication business across several markets. Earlier, he held senior editorial roles at Reuters, overseeing online strategy in India and managing Reuters Video Services from London.
His career began in television and wire reporting, including a stint with ANI during the 1999 Kargil conflict, before moving into digital publishing as India’s internet media landscape took shape.
Now, after nearly three decades in broadcast and digital media, Soman is leaving Delhi NCR and returning to his hometown, Trivandrum.
Exhausted, he admits. But unbowed. And with one quiet line that sums up the journey: he didn’t sell his soul — because some things, after all, are not for sale.
