Derana TV
Newcomer to the television broadcasting industry of Sri Lanka, Derana TV, started transmission in 2005. In 2017, according to Kantar LMRB research, Derana TV was the most viewed Television channel. During its initial stages, the channel went live for only five hours of programming. Currently, Derana TV runs programmes in the Sinhalese language. These programmes include news segments, teledramas and religious programmes. Derana TV is managed by Derana Macro Entertainment (Pvt) Limited, which is a subsidiary of Power House Limited. Co-founders Dilith Jayaweera and Varuni Amunugama Fernando hold the majority of shares at Power House Limited.
Audience Share
19.50%
Ownership Type
Private
Geographic Coverage
National
Content Type
Free to air
Media Companies / Groups
Power House Limited
Ownership Structure
Derana Macro Enternatinment (Pvt) Limited is owned by Power House Limited. Dilith Jayaweera and Varuni Amunugama Fernando jointly own 49.41 percent of shares which makes them majority shareholders of Power House Limited. They also own 9.00 percent each as individuals.
Voting Rights
Missing Data
Individual Owner
Group / Individual Owner
Dilith Jayaweera and Varuni Amunugama Fernando
Dilith Jayaweera and Varuni Amunugama Fernando jointly own 49.41 percent of shares at Power House, in addition to the 9 percent (each) they own separately.
Madawa Mandawala
Madawa Mandawala is the CEO as well as a Director. He is listed as a shareholder at Power House Limited.
Laksiri Wickramage
Laksiri Wickramage serves as the Deputy Chairperson and Director. He holds 2 percent of Power House Limited, the parent company of Derana Macro Entertainment (Pvt) Limited.
General Information
Founding Year
2005
Affiliated Interests Founder
Well-known entrepreneur Dilith Jayaweera and the daughter of Minister of Science, Technology, Research, Skills Development and Vocational Training and Kandyan Heritage Sarath Amunugama, Varuni Amunugama Fernando, co-founded Power House Limited, which owns Derana Macro Entertainment (Pvt) Limited. Presently, Derana Macro Entertainment (Pvt) Limited maintains Derana TV and FM Derana. Dilith and Varuni initially began their commercial ventures with an advertising agency, Triad (Pvt) Limited, while they were law students. Established in 1993, the agency was modelled as the country’s first local advertising house. In 2005, the agency gained prominence for running the advertising campaign of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s candidacy for the presidential election. Having established Triad (Pvt) Limited, Dilith and Varuni ventured into several other media-related businesses such as Power House Limited, formerly Power House (Pvt) Limited, which was incorporated in 2003, and Derana Macro Entertainment (Pvt) Limited, which was incorporated in 2008.
Jayaweera was named Director of the Reefcomber in August 2010 after one of his subsidiary companies, Emagewise, purchased significant shares of the hotel. In October 2010, the Reefcomber was re-branded as Citrus Leisure PLC and currently has hotels at three locations – Hikkaduwa, Waskaduwa and Colombo. Jayaweera remains a Director at Citrus Leisure PLC today. In 2011, Jayaweera and another prominent businessman, Nimal Perera, were appointed to the board of directors after securing around 43 percent of shares at the George Steuart and Company Limited. Sitting as either Chairperson or on the board of directors, Jayaweera is currently the Chairperson of the George Steuart Group as well. This includes a finance company – George Steuart Finance Limited.
In 2015, the Colombo Magistrate Court approved an investigation into the financial transactions of Dilith Jayaweera, Nalaka Godahewa, Varuni Amunugama and Sarvajana Anandaraj Ameresekere over the alleged irregularities in the share transactions of Lanka Hospitals. After such claims emerged, Jayaweera had reportedly warned to sue the brother of the incumbent Prime Minister and the Chairperson of Telshan Networks (Pvt) Limited, Shan Wickremesinghe. This was owing to allegations that Wickremesinghe’s channel, TNL, had telecasted views against Jayaweera. The lawsuit was dropped after Wickremesinghe had reportedly issued an apology. Wickremesinghe’s daughter Ishini was also closely linked to the operations of Jayaweera’s Triad (Pvt) Limited previously. In the same year, Jayaweera's lawyers had reportedly warned to take legal action against the Chairperson of The Capital Maharaja Organisation Limited, R. Rajamahendran. A legal suit was to be filed claiming compensation of LKR 2 million (around USD 12,500) for defamatory statements allegedly aired on Rajamahendran's channel, Sirasa TV. However, Rajamahendran’s lawyers had also reportedly warned to counter-sue Jayaweera for LKR 20 billion (around USD 125 million) if Jayaweera proceeded with the suit.
Affiliated Interests Ceo
Madawa Mandawala is the CEO as well as a Director. He is listed as a shareholder at Power House Limited.
Affiliated Interests Editor-In-Chief
Yuvaraj Athukorala- News Director Derana FM as well as Derana TV. Yuvaraj Athukorala has previously worked as Assistant director at the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau.
Affiliated Interests other important people
Laksiri Wickramage serves as the Deputy Chairperson and Director. He holds 2 percent of Power House Limited, the parent company of Derana Macro Entertainment (Pvt) Limited.
Contact
Derana Macroentertainment (Pvt) Limited
No. 320, T.B. Jaya Mawatha, Level 4, Colombo 10
Tel: +945300800, +945300700
Fax: +942506226
Website: derana.lk
Financial Information
Revenue (in Mill. $)
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Operating Profit (in Mill. $)
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Advertising (in % of total funding)
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Market Share
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Further Information
Meta Data
The official website of Derana TV does not provide adequate information about its organisational structure. Meanwhile, press reports on Derana TV do not clearly determine the relationship between Power House Limited and Derana Macro Entertainment (Pvt) Limited. Additionally, Emagewise, a subsidiary of Triad (Pvt) Limited, is commonly spelt as 'Imagewise' in news articles and the relationship between Emagewise and Triad (Pvt) Limited is not always clearly established. While press reports document Derana TV as commencing in 2005, the LinkedIn profile of Derana Macro Entertainment (Pvt) Limited lists the founding year as 2009. Information regarding ownership was gathered from the annual returns available at the Department of Registrar of Companies. While the Media Ownership Monitor research team reached out to Powerhouse Limited by formally requesting for the company’s information on 20 July 2018, the company did not respond to the aforementioned request. Viewership data was obtained from the Kantar Lanka Market Research Bureau (LMRB) for the year 2017.