MUMBAI: India shines bright in Sony‘s fiscal first-quarter performance that was darkened by a mounting loss of $199 million, shaken by the Japan earthquake and a decline in the consumer electronics major‘s PS3 sales.

Riding on the back of higher advertising revenues from its television business in India, the Sony Pictures Entertainment segment put up a better show.

"The current quarter benefited from significantly higher ad revenues from SPE?s television network in India and revenues recognised from the consolidation of the Game Show Network, which was accounted for under the equity method in the first quarter of the previous fiscal year," Sony said in its earnings statement.

The India story was written by the Indian Premier League (IPL), the hottest cricketing property that has attracted younger audiences to the sport‘s shorter 20-over format.

Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, Multi Screen Media president network sales, licensing and telephony Rohit Gupta said that the network managed to grow ad revenue by 30 per cent in the first quarter. "We had a strong performance from the IPL. The other channels have also fared well. We have managed to grow our yield. The start has been terrific."

SPE?s operating income increased to $53 million, triggered by growth in India and the recognition of a $27 million gain on the sale of SPE?s equity interest in a television production company based in the UK. This increase was partially offset by higher marketing expenses incurred for upcoming theatrical releases due to the greater number of major theatrical releases in July of the current fiscal year as compared to the previous fiscal year.

In the motion pictures? segment, sales increased by 9.3 per cent year-on-year to $1.7 billion. The current quarter benefited from an increase in motion picture revenues primarily due to higher home entertainment revenues from the previous fiscal year?s film slate, including the home entertainment releases of The Green Hornet, Battle: Los Angeles and Just Go With It. Partially offsetting this increase was a decrease in theatrical revenues as the first quarter of the previous fiscal year benefited from the strong theatrical release of The Karate Kid.

Overall sales for Sony were $18.4 billion, a 10 per cent dip compared to the same quarter of the previous fiscal primarily due to decreases in sales in the Consumer Products and Services (CPS) and Professional Devices and Solutions (PDS) segments, which were mainly affected by the negative impact of the earthquake as well as the deterioration of the electronics business environment, and unfavorable exchange rates. PS3 sales fell to 1.8 million, from 2.4 million the same time last year.

Operating income decreased to $340 million. This was mainly due to lower operating income in the CPS and PDS segments, primarily resulting from a decrease in gross profit from lower sales and deterioration in the cost of sales ratio.
 

MUMBAI: Former cricketer Ravi Shastri who is a member of the Indian Premier League (IPL) Governing Council has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to help with their probe into the alleged financial irregularities in the running of the event during its first three seasons.

Currently Shastri is doing commentary for Star Cricket‘s telecast of the India versus England series.
 
ED officials said that Shastri was summoned as he was a member of IPL‘s governing council and would be aware of major decisions, concerning franchises, taken at that time.
 
Shastri and former Indian captains Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi and Sunil Gavaskar were the three governing council members who worked under the then IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi.
 

MUMBAI: Nimbus will invest Rs 2.5 billion on World Series Hockey that kicks off on 15 December 2012.

The spending will happen in four areas - signing up of players, event operations, infrastructure and marketing and promotional activities.

."By the time the event starts, we would have spent Rs 2.5 billion which we will recuperate through different avenues like franchise fees, television rights fee and sponsorship," Nimbus executive chairman Harish Thawani said.

The event is an initiative between Nimbus Sport and the Indian Hockey Federation.

Nimbus expects the event to generate over Rs 2 billion in its first year through revenue streams such as ticketing, sponsorship and branding, Thawani said.

Nimbus Sport will float a tender on 1 August 2011 for the television rights. It expects to make between Rs 900 million-Rs 1.2 billion from the sale of television rights for five years, said Thawani.

In India, Nimbus will only sell the television rights and hold back rights for new media. "We decided to issue a tender as interest has been expressed by other broadcasters. We might have two channels airing the event and evenly split the number of matches they air," said Thawani.

The event will have eight teams. Six venues have been decided - Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Punjab and Bangalore. Two other venues will be frozen from a list consisting of Kolkata, Pune, Bhopal, Ranchi, Manipur, Lucknow and Rourkela.

There will be 61 matches which is similar to what the Indian Premier League (IPL) had when it was an eight team format in the third edition. Not surprisingly, all the venues chosen also have an IPL franchise.

Thawani said that out of the eight franchise owners, four are by invitation. "We have already done a deal with two entities. At this moment, I cannot reveal their identities. Two more will sign up shortly. We will conduct an auction to decide the other four franchises in September."

A franchise will spend Rs 70 million in the first year and a total of Rs. 2.15 billion over 15 years.

For the four franchises that have to bid, Rs. 2.15 billion will be the base price, according to Nimbus Sport COO Yannick Colaco.

176 players have been contracted by World Series Hockey. World hockey‘s governing body, the FIH, gave a written undertaking that they will not interfere with contracts of players signed before 31 March 2011.

"All our contracts were done much before that. There are 40 international stars including Brent Livermore from Australia, Rehan Butt from Pakistan and Spain‘s Rodrigo Garcia. Leandro Negre (FIH president) is not irresponsible. He understood that what we are doing is for the good of the game. Our vision is to enhance the sporting culture beyond cricket. The mission for the first year is to have a flawless event of international standards. We want spectators to have an entertainment experience of international standards," said Thawani.

In October there will be a draft to decide which players play for which franchise. Thawani opines that this is more efficient than the auction process as it doesn‘t distort salaries. "Under an auction. money can get squandered. There will not be more than five international players for a team. The captains for the teams have already been decided in consultation with the state associations and franchises."

Asked about how successful the initiative would be in terms of building franchise loyalties, Colaco said that marketing activities are already underway though there is still time for the event to start. "This will help build affinities both for the event and for the franchise in each city. A site has been launched. The event also has a presence on Facebook. A 360 degree multimedia campaign will be done," he elaborated.

Thawani noted that an earlier hockey league (done by ESPN Star Sports) was hindered by the fact that only two venues were used. The concept of home and away games was not there and so there was no local following.

"World Series Hockey will be a cooperative effort. The franchises will bring in investments. Without this help, it is difficult to sign up 176 players. Our aim is to have our players compete against the best in the world. We want to create an eco-system so that hockey becomes a viable career for youngsters in the way that cricket and football are. Nimbus Sports‘ role is that of a marketing agency in terms of bringing in sponsorship, franchises and create branding. This event will be seen in over 30 countries globally," Thawani said.