MUMBAI: Viacom18, the general entertainment business of TV18 Broadcast, turned profitable in the fiscal-third quarter ended 31 December on a sharp rise in revenues and a fall in loss from new operations.

The entertainment broadcaster had a net profit of Rs 34 million in the third quarter against a loss Rs 532 million a year earlier.

Viacom18?s operating revenues rose 50 per cent in the third quarter to Rs 4.73 billion from Rs 3.16 billion a year earlier, while operating expenses rose by a slower 25 per cent to Rs 4.43 billion from Rs 3.51 a year earlier.

Viacom18 reported an operating profit of Rs 304 million in the third quarter against operating loss of Rs 355 million, as its motion pictures operations had an operating profit of Rs 95 million against Rs 4 million a year earlier. The quarter saw the release of ?Son of Sardar? among other movies. For the nine months ended 31 December, motion pictures had an operating loss of Rs 193 million.

B Saikumar, Group CEO at TV18 group, said, "The brands across mass entertainment, English and factual entertainment, kids, music continue to grow and hold leadership positions. Importantly, all our programming initiatives in prime time and the weekend have paid off rather well on Colors."

In the quarter under review, Colors climbed to the No. 1 spot in the Hindi GEC genre for multiple weeks. The big-ticket shows included Bigg Boss and India?s Got Talent.

Profit from continuing channels

The company?s operating profit from continuing business, excluding new operations, was Rs 432 million in the third quarter against Rs 391 million a year earlier.

The channels falling under the ?continuing business? segment include Colors (flagship Hindi GEC), MTV, Nick and Vh1.

Loss from new channel operations

Viacom18?s operating loss from new operations (which includes launch of Nick Jr, Nick Teen and Comedy Central) narrowed to Rs 129 million from Rs 203 million a year earlier.

MUMBAI: On the occasion of its 1st anniversary, Viacom18?s 24x7 comedy channel Comedy Central India is bringing the multi award winning Ugly Betty to India. The show will premiere on the channel on Monday 21 January at 9.00 pm.

Ugly Betty is based on a popular Colombian telenovela which has already been successfully translated in many markets across the globe like Mexico, India, Russia, Greece and Germany. In India, it has been reproduced as ?Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin?.

The one hour show will see episodes from Season 1 where the lead protagonist - Betty Suarez, a 22-year-old, quirky, Mexican American woman from Queens, New York lacks in fashion sense but has always had one goal in life: to make it in the publishing business. She is known to be bold, good-hearted, smart and hard-working but due to personal circumstances she is thrown into a different world when she lands a job at Mode, a trendy, high fashion magazine based in Manhattan.

Comedy Central?s new show Ugly Betty will also include a robust cross promotion plan across network and outside network channels, promotions in print media, mailers and trade touch points along with interactivity on Twitter and Facebook. The show will also see innovations across Inox, Gold?s Gym and Crossword amongst others.

MUMBAI: As the awards season starts, Viacom18?s international music channel Vh1 is gearing up to provide the best possible Grammy experience to its viewers. The channel will be airing The 2013 55th Annual Grammy Awards live on 11 February at 6.30 am and will follow it up with a prime time repeat at 9.00 pm.

The channel also has an ongoing contest by the name NESCAF? Vh1 Ticket to Ride Contest to LA since 11 January. The winners of the contest will get a chance to fly to Los Angeles where the awards are being held and watch them live. The participants have to answer a question in order to win the contest by accessing the Vh1 India microsite via the channel?s Facebook page. The winners will be announced on January 24th 2013!

The Vh1 Ticket to Ride takes place every year. In the past couple of years, Vh1 has given their fans a chance to be seated in the front row at the Golden Globes, including concerts of legendary artists like U2, Coldplay, Eminem, Ricky Martin, Pearl Jam, Celine Dion, Bruce Springsteen, Santana, Slash, and John Mayer.

This year, the Grammys will be hosted by LL Cool J and will include a tribute performance to the iconic singer Bruce Springsteen.