Sun shines on Sun TV

The board also approved merging Udaya TV excluding the FM (frequency modulation) radio division, with itself.

1.12 lakh shares were traded on the counter on BSE.

The stock surged 11% in the past week, from Rs 1361.55 on 17 November to Rs 1511.30 on 24 November, as buying momentum continued.

Gemini TV owns five television channels, Gemini TV, Teja TV, Gemini News, Gemini Music and Gemini Cable Vision, and is operating with revenue of Rs 174.69 crore for the year ended 31 March 2006.

Udaya TV owns four television channels, Udaya TV, Udaya Movies, Udaya Varthegalu and Udaya TV II, and is operating with revenue of Rs 94.31 crore for the year ended 31 March 2006.

The company added that with this proposed merger, the companys shareholders would benefit immensely from the highly profitable operations and strong growth plans of both Gemini TV and Udaya TV. Sun TV will have an integrated growth strategy for all south Indian language channels, and thus build a dominant presence in entire south India.

Sun TV currently operates four television channels - Sun TV, KTV, Sun News and Sun Music - in Tamil language and two television channels - Surya TV and Kiran TV - in Malayalam language, and three FM Radio Stations, and another three FM Radio Stations through its subsidiaries. The two subsidiaries of the company, viz., Kal Radio and South Asia FM, jointly holds 41 FM Radio Licences for FM Radio Stations across India.

Recently, Sun TV announced increase in its advertisement rates by 5-27% to be effective from 1 January 2007, because of an increase in viewership. The increase in rates has come after a gap of two years.

For Q2 September 2006, Sun TVs net profit rose 42.7% to Rs 47.96 crore (Rs 33.61 crore). Net sales rose 17.7% to Rs 94.47 crore (Rs 80.24 crore).