Mumbai: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd, India’s leading listed television broadcaster, said on Tuesday the launch of new television channels would help boost its share of an increasingly competitive market.

Zee, which trails News Corp’s unlisted Star India in terms of viewers and revenues, posted a 34% increase in its fiscal fourth quarter profit to Rs 79.46 crore.

Net sales in the March quarter rose to Rs 302 crore from Rs 202 crore. Advertising revenue in the quarter rose by a third to Rs 247 crore, and subscription revenue grew 12% to Rs 207 crore, Zee said.

“We are confident of improving our viewership share further with higher investment in programming content, particularly in the afternoon band and weekend programmes,” Punit Goenka, a director, said in a statement.

A general entertainment channel, Zee Next, which had a limited launch in the December quarter, would be rolled out aggressively in the current fiscal year, Goenka said. India, the world’s third-biggest cable market, is set to become the most lucrative pay TV market in Asia-Pacific by 2012, with revenue expected to more than double to $11.6 billion.

Zee News posted a net profit of Rs 15.27 crore for the three months ended March 31, 2008 as against Rs 1.31 crore during the same period in the previous fiscal. Its net sales during the reporting quarter stood at Rs 110.2 crore as against Rs 69.02 crore in the previous comparable quarter.

Source : DNA