News Broadcasting
CNN tracks the tea industry in depth, to air ‘The Price of tea’ series
MUMBAI: CNN International is set to enlighten viewers by taking a closer look at India’s tea industry. The channel will air a three part series titled The Price of Tea under its CNN Freedom Project starting from 14 March 2016. The show will be aired during CNN’s news streaming from 5:30 pm.
The series will see tea-workers living in squalor in crumbling mud huts, many with no access to education. ‘The Price of Tea’ sheds light on the workers struggling to survive, while others are being trafficked into the sex trade.
Trafficked for tea will take the viewers on a trek to Assam, India, a region that produces more tea than anywhere in the world to meet 18-year old Manju Gaur. She was just 14 when the traffickers came promising her a better life in the big city. With no education and making just pennies a day, she thought it would be a way to support her family. Instead, she saw young girls sexually assaulted by a ruthless trafficker, their money confiscated, and unable to leave. Manju managed to escape but now, she has another concern. Her 14-year old sister was still being held by traffickers.
The second part titled The Raid is a daring raid on an apartment complex, wherein the show embeds with local police on a mission to rescue Manju’s 14-year old sister being held for more than a year by an alleged trafficker. CNN confronts the alleged trafficker, a man with a history. As police apprehend him, they demand to know where Manju’s 14-year old sister has been working. Will there be a final, emotional reunion?
In the last segment Meet the Traffickers, the show ends by revealing the convicted trafficker who confesses to selling girls for as little as $200 (approx. Rs 13,000). He takes CNN to the railway station to show where he loaded girls on to the train and shipped them off to a life of domestic servitude and sometimes, worse.
News Broadcasting
Network18 Q4 revenue grows 9.7 per cent, EBITDA at Rs 30 crore
PAT improves to Rs 306.6 crore, margins steady amid cost pressures.
MUMBAI: Not all news is breaking, some of it is quietly improving. Network18 Media & Investments Limited appears to be doing just that, tightening losses and stabilising margins even as costs continue to weigh on the business. For FY26, the company reported revenue from operations of Rs 1,955.1 crore, up from Rs 1,896.2 crore in FY25, signalling modest top-line growth in a challenging media environment. Total income stood at Rs 1,978.2 crore, compared to Rs 1,913 crore a year earlier.
Profit after tax came in at Rs 306.6 crore for the year, a sharp turnaround from Rs 3,225.4 crore in FY25, largely reflecting the absence of large exceptional items that had inflated the previous year’s numbers. On a more comparable basis, the company’s operating performance showed signs of gradual stabilisation.
However, the quarterly picture remained under pressure. For the March quarter, Network18 reported a loss of Rs 53.1 crore, narrower than the Rs 98.1 crore loss in the same period last year, but still indicative of ongoing cost challenges.
Expenses continued to track high. Total expenses for FY26 stood at Rs 2,235.7 crore, up from Rs 2,197.8 crore in FY25. Key cost heads included operational expenses of Rs 765.9 crore, employee benefits of Rs 475.9 crore, and marketing, distribution and promotional spends of Rs 427.1 crore, underlining the continued investment required to sustain reach and engagement.
At an operating level, margins remained under strain. Operating margin stood at 2.33 per cent for FY26, marginally higher than 1.77 per cent in FY25, while net profit margin remained negative at -13.02 per cent, though improved from -14.89 per cent.
On the balance sheet, total assets rose to Rs 8,957.6 crore as of 31 March 2026, from Rs 8,317.5 crore a year earlier. Equity strengthened to Rs 4,958.7 crore, while borrowings increased to Rs 3,112.8 crore, reflecting a higher reliance on debt to support operations.
Cash flows told a mixed story. While financing activities generated Rs 83.9 crore, operating cash flow remained negative at Rs -24 crore, highlighting ongoing pressure on core cash generation. Cash and cash equivalents, however, improved to Rs 33.9 crore from Rs 1.8 crore.
The numbers point to a company in transition growing revenues, trimming losses, but still grappling with structural cost pressures. In a sector where scale often comes at a price, Network18 seems to be inching towards balance, one quarter at a time.
