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Adlabs Films to acquire 51 pc in Synergy Communication Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group's company, Adlabs Films Ltd, said it will acquire 51 per cent stake in Synergy Communication Pvt Ltd, a television content company headed by Mr Siddhartha Basu and best-known for its production Kaun Banega Crorepati. Adlabs said it has signed a letter of intent for the acquisition. It did not disclose the cost of the acquisition, saying the valuation is a subject of confidentiality provisions. This move marks Adlabs' first serious foray into television, a news release from the company said. "By March 2008 we want television content business to be one of the important divisions at Adlabs and contributing sizeable amount of revenues to the overall pie," said Mr Manmohan Shetty, Chairman and Managing Director, Adlabs Films Ltd. Synergy Communication is strong in non-fiction television content, and has produced programmes such as Child Genius and Mastermind India. It does international format shows such as its current one Jhalak Dhikla Ja, an adaptation of Dance with Stars, a BBC format, which started Thursday on Sony. Adlabs' investment in the company will be used for enhancing Synergy's financial strength and production operations, and scaling up of the content to include popular fiction and non-fiction content, including reality and lifestyle shows as well as a repertoire of youth content. Mr Siddhartha Basu will continue to have operational control of the company. Adlabs Films currently has 40 films in various stages of production and pre-production, said a spokesperson for the company.

2. Cinema City Grows With Palace Cinemas Acquisition

Earlier this month Israeli based Cinema City International became the third largest theatre chain in Europe when they acquired Palace Cinemas. The deal includes 8 multiplexes in the Czech Republic, 4 multiplexes in Hungary and 3 multiplexes in Slovakia. This gives CCI an additional 141 screens and makes it the largest exhibitor in Central and Eastern Europe. The sale of Palace was somewhat inevitable. The chain was founded by Arthur Goldblatt and V.J. Maury and backed with investment from a private equity firm, Argus Capital Partners. Presumably Argus wanted to cash in on their more than ten year investment in Palace. It appears they should be very happy. CCI paid EUR 28 million (or USD $38.16) for Palace which is more than six times the companys 2010 EBITDA. The acquisition was financed with cash CCI had on hand and existing credit lines. The acquisition has a number of upsides for CCI, not the least of which is their entry into Slovakia. The company is also increasing its market share in both the Czech and Hungarian markets. CCI entered the transaction as the third largest exhibitor in

the Czech Republic with 13% of the countrys admissions and 15% of its box office. After picking up Palace theyll be the countrys largest exhibitor with 111 screens across 13 venues representing 40% of admissions and 45% of the box office. The story is similar in Hungary where CCI will now operating 162 screens across 17 multiplex boosting their 36% share of admissions and 31% share of box office to 62% and 53% respectively. In total CCI now controls 866 screens over 90 multiplexes in seven countries, including Bulgaria, Israel, Poland and Romania. This allows them to leapfrog over Cineworld, which has 801 screens at 78 sites, to become Europes third largest exhibitor. And CCI isnt stopping with palace. They have an aggressive growth strategy with 35 multiplexes presently in development giving CCI an additional 360 screens. By the end of 2013 the company has plans to be running 1,260 screens.

3. Time Inc plans restructuring, job cuts

Reuters) - Time Warner Inc's Time Inc, the world's largest magazine company, plans a restructuring that could lead to as many as 600 job cuts, or about 6 percent of its work force.
The move comes in response to the onset of the world financial crisis, which is aggravating an already difficult decline in advertising spending at U.S. newspapers and magazines, particularly as more people shun printed publications in favor of free information on the Internet. It affects some of the most well known U.S. magazines, including the Time weekly news magazine, People, Sports Illustrated and Fortune. All these titles are part of parent company Time Warner Inc, which owns the AOL Internet service as well as CNN, the popular cable news television network. "Industry conditions have been challenging due to the financial crisis, which has produced sharp decreases in advertising spending. This is expected to continue through most of 2009," Time Inc Chairman and Chief Executive Ann Moore wrote in a memo on Tuesday to employees that was obtained by Reuters.

She said it was a challenge "unlike any we've seen before." "It's important that we at Time Inc react quickly to this new reality in order to maintain our financial strength, build our market position, and sharpen our ability to bounce back at the first signs of economic recovery," Moore wrote. Time does not plan to close any magazines as a result of the restructuring, a spokeswoman said. The New York Times reported that 600 people would be cut, but a source briefed on the plans said the likely number would be 300 to 600. Not all the changes have been set in stone, and some will be announced in the coming weeks. The primary import of the changes will be to group editorial and business functions under a small group of people, as opposed to the longstanding tradition of various editors and publishers holding discrete power over their respective titles. Moore already was working on changes at Time, but had to speed them up because of the financial crisis and a possible recession, the Times reported. It is unclear what effect the restructuring will have on Time Warner's financial results, either in terms of savings or of charges to the bottom line. Time Warner Chief Executive Jeffrey Bewkes previously said that Time Inc had lagged expectations this year. Time Inc officials declined to comment on specific changes and the number of layoffs planned. Time Warner, which also owns Turner Broadcasting, the Warner Bros movie studio and the HBO cable network, is among several media conglomerates dealing with a wider loss of advertising, the financial crisis and changing tastes of an ever more Internet-based public. The company has been in talks about selling its AOL unit to Internet search and advertising company Yahoo Inc. The moves at Time Inc will also allow the company to focus more on the Web versions of its big titles as more people get their news online. In addition, the magazines will share more of their editorial talent. The New York Times pointed out one recent example -- Fortune columnist Allan Sloan's story about the financial crisis co-written for a recent issue of Time magazine with Fortune Managing Editor Andy Serwer. THREE UMBRELLAS

Time plans to classify its 24 U.S. magazines and Websites into three umbrellas, focusing on news, style and entertainment, and lifestyle properties. The latter group includes titles such as Cooking Light and Southern Living. The editorial divisions will report to Time Inc Editor-in-Chief John Huey, while Martha Nelson will oversee the style and entertainment business unit. In the business operations, Moore will run the style and entertainment magazines, while executive vice president John Squires will run the news business unit, including Time, the Fortune|Money Group and the Sports Illustrated group. The lifestyle group will be run by Sylvia Auton, another executive vice president. Consumer marketing and sales teams will report to Brian Wolfe, who was promoted to executive vice president. Kerry Bessey and Maurice Edelson both were promoted to executive vice presidents of Time Inc. Time Inc also will create an advertising sales and marketing group to handle sales across all of Time's magazine brands, something Moore said was critical because of the difficult ad sales environment. The unit will be run by Stephanie George, also a Time executive vice president.

4. Zee Turner Zee Turner Ltd. is a joint venture between two renowned media giants Zee Entertainment and Turner International. The company was incorporated in February 2002 with an objective to manage the distribution & trade marketing for pay channels. It offers this grand combination of Zee, Turner and third party channel bouquet to the customers in Indian sub-continent and also to some of the neighboring countries like Nepal and Bhutan. Headquartered in Noida, Zee Turner today has offices in various regions of the country, offering maximum depth of distribution in the country. Presently, Zee Turner Limited brings you the largest network of 34 channels, showing programs in the widest range of 17 genres. From general entertainment, drama, news & current affairs, movies, to reality shows, talent

hunts, kid's entertainment and all kind of music, providing you the endless & unmatched variety of entertainment. Some of the most popular and best of the channels being offered by the broadcaster include Zee TV, Zee Cinema, Cartoon Network, Pogo, HBO, WB, CNN, Zee Studio, Zee Marathi, Zee Bangla, Zee Cafe, Zee News, Zee Business etc.
Turner International India Pvt. Ltd.

A division of Time Warner, Turner International India Pvt. Ltd. is the arm of Turner Broadcasting System. Inc. (TBS) that manages the sales and marketing of Turners news and entertainment services in India and South Asia. Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zee) is one of Indias leading television media and entertainment companies. It is amongst the largest producers of aggregators of Hindi programming in the world, with an extensive library housing over 80,000 hours of television content. With rights to more than 3,000 movie titles from foremost studios and of iconic film stars, Zee houses the worlds largest Hindi film library. Through its strong presence worldwide, Zee entertains over 500 million viewers across 167 countries. Zee has been selected Business Superbrands 201011, Industry Validated. Pioneer of television entertainment industry in India, Zees well known brands include Zee TV, Zee Cinema, Zee Premier, Zee Action, Zee Classic, Zee Smile, 9X, Ten Sports, Ten Cricket, Ten Action+, Zee Cafe, Zee Studio, Zee Trendz, Zee Jagran, Zee Salaam, Zing, ETC Music and Zee Khana Khazana. The company also has a strong offering in the regional language domain with channels such as Zee Marathi, Zee Talkies, Zee Bangla.

5. STAR DEN STARDEN is 50:50 joint venture between STAR India Pvt Ltd and DEN to create a platform for distributing television channels in India via all fixed networks including cable, DTH, IPTV, HITS and MMDS. STARDEN is an exclusive distributor for several television channels in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Srilanka. The

STARDEN bouquet currently includes Star Plus, Star One, Star Gold, STAR Movies, STAR World, Vijay Tv, Star Utsav, Star News, STAR Ananda, STAR Majha, STAR Pravah, Star Jalsa, Channel [V], National Geographic Channel, Fox History & Entertainment, Fox Crime, FX, Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Adventure, Nat Geo Music, Nat Geo HD, Baby Tv, The MGM Channel, Asianet, Asianet Plus, Sitara, Suvarna, Star CJ Alive, NDTV 24x7, NDTV profit, NDTV India and NDTV Good Times. DEN Networks Limited is one of Indias largest national cable television distribution companies. DEN serves over 10 million households across key states and cities of India. DEN is a leading cable TV player in markets like Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra (including Mumbai), Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Kerala. DEN is a pioneer in digital cable.

STAR India, the leading media and Entertainment Company, has one of the leading reach among the countrys broadcasters, beaming to over 400 million people every week across India and over 58 countries across the globe. Its portfolio includes 33 channels in seven languages spanning the household brands STAR Plus, STAR One, STAR Gold, Channel [V], STAR Jalsha, STAR Pravah, STAR World, STAR Movies, STAR Utsav; along with the joint venture channels Asianet, Asianet Plus, STAR Vijay, Suvarna, and STAR News, ESPN and STAR Sports. STAR India also manages a portfolio of business ventures including DTH operator Tata Sky; cable system Hathway, channel distributor STAR Den, news channel operator MCCS, the film production and distribution business Fox STAR Studios India and STAR CJ Home Shopping. STAR India is a fully owned subsidiary of News Corporation.

6. Media conglomerates, Star & Zee join hands in a landmark distribution tie-up

Mumbai, May 26, 2011: Two of Indias leading content aggregation and distribution companies, Star Den Media Services Pvt. Ltd. and Zee Turner Ltd. today announced a joint venture to combine distribution of their respective channel bouquets in the country. In a landmark move, which marks the coming together of

Star and Zee, Indias foremost media groups, this initiative would create great value for the entire industry. The vision is to create efficiencies in the distribution sector, incentivize digitization, address piracy issues and enable a content revolution in India. The newly formed company Media Pro Enterprise India Pvt. Ltd. is a 50:50 Joint Venture between Zee Turner Ltd. and Star Den Media Services Private Ltd. and would jointly aggregate and distribute channels licensed to Zee Turner and Star Den . Star Den Media Services Pvt. Ltd. is an existing 50:50 joint venture between Star India Private Limited (SIPL) and Den Networks Limited (DEN) while Zee Turner Ltd. is an existing 74:26 joint venture between Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) and Turner International India Private Limited (TIIPL).

Mr. Punit Goenka, Managing Director & CEO, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited said, The Indian Television market is growing rapidly and provides ample opportunities for the JV Company to create value. The long-term vision of this venture is to pool together the resources of both the partners so as to address various anomalies of the present analog market, curb piracy, introduce transparency by accelerating pace of digitisation in India which would result in benefit to all the stakeholders in the value chain

Speaking on the occasion Mr. Uday Shankar, CEO, Star India Private Limited said This is a milestone initiative which will redefine the Indian distribution landscape and lead to a content revolution in the country by creating efficiencies in the value chain. In the past, there was a lack of shared perspective among broadcasters; the coming together of the two leaders will lead to a larger consensus around a growth blueprint for the Indian electronic media industry."