Star India’s operating losses widen by 45% to $314 mn in June quarter

Star India's operating income losses widened by 45% to $314 million as of 29 June 2024, compared to $216 million in the year-ago period, showed The Walt Disney Co.'s earnings for the June quarter of 2023-24.

Disney follows an October to September fiscal year. Star India reported a revenue of $279 million in the third quarter compared to $277 a year ago. 

“The increase in operating loss at Star India was due to higher programming and production costs attributable to the timing of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, a decrease in affiliate revenue due to lower effective rates, and growth in advertising revenue reflecting the timing of the World Cup,” Disney said in a statement.

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Disney+ Hotstar had 35.5 million paid subscribers at the end of the quarter, compared to 36 million in the previous quarter. The streaming platform's average monthly revenue per paid subscriber rose from $0.70 to $1.05 due to higher advertising revenue, the company said.

In India and certain other Southeast Asian countries, the streaming service is branded Disney+ Hotstar.

The media and entertainment conglomerate, which has rolled out curbs on password sharing, said the move, along with price increases, shall help drive subscriber growth for the company.

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“Password-sharing is just starting to roll out. That's going to be helpful in terms of driving growth. We've announced pricing, and we feel good about all of the value that we're providing to consumers. The product improvements should also reduce churn and keep our consumers with us as they're evaluating their options," Hugh Johnston, senior executive vice president and chief financial officer at Walt Disney, said in the earnings call on Wednesday.

"We were losing $1 billion a quarter not all that long ago, and now we're making money, and our expectation is that we're going to continue on that journey to making more money to get to and then ultimately well surpass the double-digit margins,” he added.

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Further, in response to a question on potential earnings contribution once the India business is deconsolidated, Johnston said the company shall lay that out once the deal has been closed.

This February, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and The Walt Disney Co. formed a joint venture to combine the businesses of RIL’s associate company Viacom18 Media Pvt. Ltd and Disney’s Star India. RIL will also invest  ₹11,500 crore into the joint venture, valuing the combined entity at  ₹70,352 crore on a post-money basis, excluding synergies, the two firms had said.