News Broadcasting
Star Group may clock $ 100 million+ profit in 2005
NEW DELHI: The Rupert Murdoch-controlled Star Group, News Corps pan-Asian venture, is expected to clock a profit of over $ 100 million for financial year (FY) ending June 2005, riding strongly on the Indian operations.
Basing its observations on a 2 February financial results conference call, featuring Murdoch, Hong Kong-based Media Partners Asia has quoted News Corp as saying that profit at Star will be well over $100 million for FY 2005.
The revenues, according to News management, would be largely driven by the strength of programming operations in India, which include market leader Star Plus, new free-to-air and pay channels and the addition of the Disney kids channels to the Star distribution bouquet.
Star more than doubled consolidated operating income to an estimated $29 million despite initial cost associated with launching a new general entertainment channel in India (Star One) last year and continued losses in China.
During the conference call, quoted by MPA, News stated that Star revenues grew by six per cent during the December 2004 quarter, which MPA estimates to total $133 million. This has been driven largely by advertising gains (mainly associated with Star Plus in India) and subscription revenue growth that is attributable to the launch of Star Chinese Movies in South-East Asia.
MPA estimates that Star could deliver at least $109 million in operating income for FY 2005, driven largely by India, though it is also expected that Xing Kong would break even in China.
We forecast revenue growth of 16 per cent through FY 2005 with advertising growth in India expected to reach between 20 30 per cent. Other contributors will include Taiwan, China and South East Asia,MPA said in a recent report.
With a joint venture with the Tatas for a DTH platform yet to get Indian government clearances, MPA does not expect the Space TV venture to commercially launch services until Q4 2005.
For Q2 FY 2005 (quarter ending December 2004), News Corp reported on 2 February an increase in operating income by 24 per cent year-on-year to $954 million, driven by its filmed entertainment and cable network (income of $227 million, up 46 per cent Y/Y) divisions. Growth at the TV division was soft at $153 million, bolstered only by record earnings at News� Asian
subsidiary, Star Group.
News Broadcasting
News TV viewership jumps 33 per cent as West Asia war draws audiences
BARC Week 8 data shows news share rising to 8 per cent despite T20 World Cup
NEW DELHI:Â Even as individual television news channel ratings remain under a temporary pause, the genre itself is seeing a clear surge in audience attention.
According to the latest data from Broadcast Audience Research Council India, television news recorded a 33 per cent jump in genre share in Week 8 of 2026, covering February 28 to March 6.
The news genre accounted for 8 per cent of total television viewership during the week, up from 6 per cent the previous week. The spike in attention coincided with escalating geopolitical tensions involving the United States, Israel and Iran, which have kept global headlines firmly fixed on West Asia.
The rise is notable because it came at a time when cricket was dominating television screens. The high-stakes stages of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, including the Super 8 fixtures and semi-finals, were being broadcast during the same period.
Despite the cricket frenzy, viewers appeared to be toggling between sport and global affairs, boosting the overall share of news programming.
The surge in genre share comes even as the government has enforced a one-month pause on publishing ratings for individual news channels. The move followed regulatory scrutiny of the television ratings ecosystem.
While channel-level rankings remain temporarily out of sight, the genre-level data suggests that when global tensions escalate, audiences continue to turn to television news for real-time updates.
