Rupert Murdoch said on Thursday he was 'confident' of better future for the group's Star business in India under a new management, which would be launching a number of new channels in the next one year.
News Corp, parent company of Star group and other media businesses under Murdoch's control across the world, reported on Thursday a 4.5 per cent rise in net profit to $890 million.
However, the company said its Star division operating profit declined in the fourth quarter as well as the fiscal year ended June 30 from the year-ago period.
"Star's fourth quarter and full year operating income decreased versus the comparable periods a year ago, as advertising and subscription revenue growth was more than offset by higher programming costs," News Corp said.
The rise in Star's advertising and subscription revenue was primarily driven by its India operations. "The increased advertising revenues reflect the broadcast on Star Plus of Kaun Banega Crorepati 3, the India's version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, while subscription revenue growth was primarily driven by an increase in DTH subscribers in India," the company said.
Commenting on the overall results for Star division, News Corp Chairman and CEO Murdoch told analysts at a conference call to discuss the results: "Yes, we have had almost a complete management change in India where we took our eyes off it and things started to go wrong there.
"We have a new team in now, which we are very, very confident of." "They are fine people, and we have got some things to absorb this year in the changeover, but we will at least hold our profits there and increase them slightly, I think." He said the group will be losing a little bit of money and is investing in Indonesia and new channels.