Astro awaits FIPB nod to up stake in Sun Direct

MUMBAI: The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has deferred a proposal by Kalanithi Maran-owned Kal Media Services, which would have allowed Malaysia-based Astro Group to increase its holding in Sun Direct from 20 per cent to 35 per cent.

Kal Media Services, a company owned by the Maran family, had applied for permission for Astro to pick up 37.5 per cent stake in Kal Media Services.

Kal Media Services was then to pick up 40 per cent stake in Sun Direct, giving Astro an effective indirect stake of 15 per cent, taking Astro’s effective holding in the DTH company to 35 per cent.

Astro, via its subsidiary South Asia Entertainment Holdings, holds 20 per cent stake in Sun Direct.

Astro said in its quarter results that it would continue to account for its share of anticipated losses of Sun Direct TV of approximately Rs 7.11 billion over the 5 years from commencement of operations.

Meanwhile, the FIPB has cleared a proposal of Sea TV Network, a leading multi-system operator (MSO) in Agra to raise Rs 502 million. The company has been allowed to induct foreign equity to carry out the cable networking operations.

Indiantelevision.com had earlier reported the MSO had plans to raise Rs 502 million via an initial public offering (IPO).

FIPB has also approved the proposal from DB Corp, which is demerging its radio business, to take note of the demerger and reduction of foreign equity from 26 per cent to 20 per cent.

Among the other deferred proposals is the one by Bharat Broadcasting Network for ex-post-facto approval for transfer of shares to NRI to carry out the business of uplinking news and current affairs channel. Bharat Broadcasting Network jointly runs Malayalam TV channel Jaihind TV (promoted by Indian National Congress).

A proposal by Zee Entertainment Enterprises for transfer of shares by way of share swap has also been deferred.

Source: Indiantelevision.com

Glitch in satellite affects DTH services

BANGALORE: It’s almost a month since a power supply glitch partially crippled services provided by domestic communications satellite, Insat 4 B, affecting some direct-to-home (DTH) players.

Sun Direct and DD Direct, according to subscribers, have not been able to mitigate the crisis.

Many channels are missing and some services are suspended. The DTH player has also stopped charging its subscribers for the affected channels.

Insat-4B, launched on March 12, 2007, from Kourou in French Guiana, suffered a power supply failure on July 7 affecting six Ku-Band (used by SUN Direct) and six C-Band transponders.

SUN Direct, which has seven out of 12 Ku-Band transponders on INSAT4B, has been tight-lipped about the failure so far.

When contacted by the Express, they declined to comment.

About 70 per cent of the DTH customers across the country have been affected by the sudden failure of the satellite, a leading digital cable operator claimed.

Source: expressbuzz

Malaysia's Astro to increase stake in Sun Direct

New Delhi: Malaysia’s Astro Group is planning to increase its stake in Sun Direct, India’s No.2 direct-to-home (DTH) player. The Group already holds 20% stake in Kalanithi Maran’s DTH venture through its subsidiary South Asia Entertainment Holdings. The move takes advantage of recent changes in the way FDI in Indian companies is calculated.

According to the proposal submitted to the foreign investment promotion board (FIPB), Astro will pick up 37.50% stake in Kal Media Services, a company owned by the Maran family. Kal Media Services will then pick up 40% stake in Sun Direct TV, giving Astro an effective indirect stake of 15% over and above its existing 20% stake. This will take Astro’s effective total control over Sun Direct to 35%.

However, the new FDI calculation formula does not recognise foreign stakes in investing companies like Kal Media as FDI, so long as they are owned and operated by resident Indians. So, Astro’s FDI in Sun Direct will remain at 20%, even though its effective control will touch 35% (20%+15%). As per earlier rules, FDI would have touched 57.5% (20% direct stake + 37.5% in Kal Media) well above the permitted 49% ceiling. As per the earlier formula, even the indirect foreign investments in locally-owned firms was counted as foreign investments.

In March 2007, Astro group had acquired 20% FDI in Sun Direct for an estimated Rs 550 crore, taking its enterprise value at Rs 2,745 crore. At the same valuation, Astro’s proposed investments in Sun Direct TV could be over Rs 1,000 crore, sources said.

The latest move is based on the Press Note 2 and 4 of 2009 and the Circular 1 of 2010 on consolidated FDI policy, which allows Sun Direct to receive the said foreign investments without breaching the existing FDI cap for DTH. The move follows Rupert Murdoch’s Star recently increasing its stake in Tata Sky by picking up a minority stake in an Indian subsidiary, which then made the required investments in Tata Sky.

After mandatory government approvals, the Maran family will directly own 40% stake in Sun Direct while another 40% will be owned by Kal Media Services in which Astro will have a 37.50% stake. The balance will be owned directly by Astro’s subsidiary--South Asia Entertainment Holdings.

According to experts, such cases highlight the need to expand existing foreign investment caps in the media and entertainment sector. Recently, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) too proposed increasing FDI cap for DTH from 49% to 74%. The information and broadcasting ministry is expected to accept the Trai recommendations, sources said.

Source: The Financial Express

Disney's Venugopal Iyengar moves to Sun Direct

Venugopal Iyengar, erstwhile head - marketing, Walt Disney Television International India has moved to Sun Direct as head, marketing. Sun Direct is Sun Network's DTH arm.

Iyengar took charge at Sun Direct last week and reports to Tony D'Silva, chief executive officer, Sun Direct. D'Silva confirmed Iyengar's appointment.

Prior to Sun Direct, Iyengar had a four-year stint at Walt Disney Television International India. He joined in June 2006 as head - marketing for Disney Channel. At Disney, he led the off-air marketing teams for three TV channels in India - Disney Channel, Disney XD and Hungama TV. He also handled franchise management.

Before that, Iyengar was with Zee Cinema for a year as deputy vice-president, marketing. He has also worked with MTV Networks India for four years as associate director, marketing, where he looked after Nick as well.

In a career spanning 15 years, Iyengar has also worked with Shopper's Stop, Buena Vista Television and AC Nielsen. Iyengar is an engineering graduate and has pursued MBA from University of Pune.

Sun Direct is one of the big players in the DTH space in India, and boasts of more than 5.3 million subscribers.

Source: afaqs!

ISRO in talks to lease Ku-band to overcome Insat-4B crisis

National space agency ISRO is in talks with a couple of foreign satellite operators to urgently lease Ku-band capacity over the next couple of days as half of its Insat-4B remains shut down, a senior ISRO official said.

This would mainly accommodate the DTH services of Sun TV. The troubled half of orbiting communications satellite Insat 4B remained shut on Monday, too.

Sun TV, which has hired seven of the 12 Ku-band transponders on it, is the single large affected user of Insat-4B. The satellite was hit by a power supply anomaly on July 8.

“Insat-4B is stable but about the problem on it, it is status quo. We do not have (spare) Ku-band capacity in our Insat system. We are trying to locate capacity available outside and it may take a couple of days more,” Dr N. Neelakantan, Director, Satellite Communication and Navigation Programme, told Business Line.

The agency has been in touch with a few Ku-band satellite operators over the region. “We have to follow an internal procedure, evaluate the technical and commercial aspects,” he said.

The South Asian region has many operators with ready Ku capacity, among them Asiasat, Malaysia's Measat, Apstar and NSS; earlier, some of them have filled in extra Indian demand.

Dr Neelakantan also said Doordarshan, the other large user on Insat-4B for its DTH services, was not affected. Scientists at ISRO Satellite Centre that built the spacecraft were still analysing the power supply problem that has hit the orbiting satellite and fixing its cause, he said.

Of the two solar panels on the satellite, the northern arm was switched off on the morning of July 8 when power supply started to shoot up. Twelve of the 24 transponders have been put out of use for now. As the anomaly was yet to be understood, ISRO did not want to risk the entire satellite by switching it on again. In January 2009, W2M, a satellite that ISRO built for Eutelsat on a joint contract with EADS Astrium, failed after a month in orbit, again due to a power supply problem. Dr Neelakantan said that unless Insat-4B was fully analysed, it would be premature to conclude that the two ran into the same glitch.

Source: The Hindu Business Line

960 Telugu HD Service is back and 951 Wimbledon HD removed

Good news for Sun Direct HD subscribers, Telugu HD service is back on Channel No.960.

Sun Direct HD now available at Rs.2940 only, offer open for one week

Sun Direct HD is now available for Rs.2940* only, Catch the exitement of FIFA World Cup 2010 Final in High-Definition on your Sun Direct HD.

* This offer is open for a week (i.e., 12th July)

* Includes 2 months subscription (i.e., 2 months Metro Pack + All HD channels and Services)

* Includes installation charges.