Indian media shares seen shining in election year

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Shares in Indian television firms are set to surge this year as a buoyant
economy and national elections are seen boosting advertising revenues and
demand for news programmes, fund managers said. Higher advertising spending
from consumer goods, telecom, auto, oil, technology and finance companies
will drive earnings in the world's third-largest cable TV market after China
and North America by subscriber numbers, analysts said. News channels, in
particular, will attract a lot of viewers in an election year, added
Sethuram, whose fund in December bought shares in Zee Telefilms Ltd, the
nation's biggest listed media firm. It also subscribed to the recent initial
public offering of the T.V. Today Network, which broadcasts the popular Aaj
Tak Hindi news channel. T.V. Today's stock more than doubled on debut last
week, stoking expectations of a sector upgrade.
Indian channels' revenues in 2003 stood at $797 million, of which 72 percent
was from advertising and the rest from subscriptions, research firm Media
Partners Asia (MPA) said. MPA estimates that total channel revenues could
grow to over $1.7 billion by 2008, when subscriptions will contribute 54
percent to revenues. In mature TV markets, subscriptions account for more
than half of revenues, but the advertising share is higher in India because
subscriber numbers are understated by cable operators and piracy of channel
signals is rife. India's cable TV market grew by 11 percent in 2003. Its
cable subscriber base of 48 million in 90 million TV-owning households is
the region's second largest.

Source:
http://www.reuters.com/locales/newsArticle.jsp;:400e6467:9c4346c496242aec?ty
pe=businessNews&locale=en_IN&storyID=4174191