Zee to hive off news, cable businesses

Subhash Chandra-promoted Zee Telefilms is set to hive off its distribution and news businesses as separate entities. Zee Television will continue to be under Zee Telefilms. The board is expected to discuss the restructuring tomorrow.

Sources close to the developments said Siti Cable and Zee News would be carved out of Zee Telefilms as separate companies. Siti Cable is the company's distribution arm and the country's biggest multi-system operator. Zee News is the news channel of the company.

Currently, all aspects of the broadcast business like content generation, marketing, distribution and syndication, are carried out under the umbrella of Zee as different divisions.

When contacted, Subhash Chandra, chairman, Zee Telefilms, confirmed that the board would meet tomorrow to consider a resructucturing plan. He, however, declined to provide further details.

He also added that the company would place the restructuring plan before shareholders for their permission.

Dish TV, the DTH business of Zee Telefilms, is already being run and managed by another company, ASC Enterprise, which has a content supply agreement with Zee Telefilms.

Industry sources said the restructuring, which would eventually give birth to three companies, would help Zee Telefilms to unlock value for shareholders.

Sensing an imminent restructuring, the Zee Telefilms stock has been rising for quite some time. It scaled its 52-week high at Rs 257 on Thursday.

Today, however, it went down marginally. The stock closed at Rs 236.50 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, 0.25 per cent lower than yesterday's close of Rs 237.05.