Zee Entertainment net profit up 50%

NEW DELHI: Media firm Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) on Tuesday reported a 50.56 per cent increase in consolidated net profit to Rs 562.76 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2018, driven by good performance of broadcast business. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 373.77 crore during the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year, ZEEL said in a BSE filing. Total income stood at Rs 2,252.75 crore, up 19.43 per cent, compared with Rs 1,886.11 crore a year ago. "We have delivered yet another quarter of strong performance across all our businesses. ZEEL is scaling up in line with our expectations and is on course to become India's number one digital entertainment platform," said ZEEL, Chairman, Subhash Chandra. of the company, in which Reliance Industries is buying a 66 per cent stake, posted a net loss of Rs 25 crore against a profit of Rs 10 crore in the corresponding period last year as the company continued to lose subscribers in the extremely competitive market. Den Networks’ billed cable subscriber base declined to 70 lakh from 74 lakh in Oct-Dec last year and 71 lakh in JulSep. However, average revenue per user of its cable television business rose to Rs 82 per month from Rs 78 in the year-ago period and 81 rupees in the preceding quarter. Broadband business of Den Networks also posted a Rs 7 crore net loss, with a fall in average revenue per user offsetting the rise in subscriber base.