News Broadcasting
TV18, Balaji scrips shine on strong Q1 results
MUMBAI: This is a result investors may have been waiting for. Television Eighteen put up a robust first quarter performance, pulling the scrip up by Rs 13 to close today in the BSE at Rs 605 in a market that slipped 61 points after four days of continuous rise.
On the television front, TV18 has doubled its revenues over the year-ago period while net profit has jumped 65 per cent to Rs 138.21 million. The company now has four channels – two in the business space and two general news channels.
The Group’s internet business is also poised for a scale up, having crossed $1 million (Rs 46.75 million) in the quarter. TV18 is eyeing acquisitions and will soon re-launch jobstreet.com and yatra.com. The company has already announced plans to hive off the internet business which will make it attractive for strategic investors.
“The scrip could lift up further, based on these results. The valuation of the internet business will also be interesting,” a market analyst says.
Balaji Telefilms, which announced its first quarter results yesterday, is the other media scrip which climbed 4.34 per cent to close the day at Rs 109.45 in the BSE. Analysts say this was on the back of a 39 per cent jump in the TV content producer’s net profit to close the quarter at Rs 173.77 million.
The market is yet to be enthused by UTV’s deal with Walt Disney Company, shedding marginally in the BSE to close 1.8 per cent down at Rs 168.65. The global media major had bought out Hungama TV and taken a 14.9 per cent stake in UTV for a total consideration of $44.5 million (approximately Rs 2 billion).
“The scrip will gain value once Disney chalks out a joint plan with UTV. It is not clear yet where Disney wants to take UTV forward,” says a market analyst.
Among the other media stocks to fall are Zee Telefilms (2.24 per cent to Rs 257.20) and NDTV (from Rs 156.2 to Rs 155.30). TV Today almost stayed flat to close at Rs 76.60.
News Broadcasting
Senior media executive Madhu Soman exits Zee Media
Former Reuters and Bloomberg leader says he leaves with “no regrets” after brief stint at WION and Zee Business
NOIDA: Madhu Soman, a veteran of global newsrooms and media sales floors, has stepped away from Zee Media Corporation after a short stint steering business strategy for WION and Zee Business.
In a reflective LinkedIn note marking his departure, Soman said his time within the network’s corridors was always likely to be brief. “Some chapters close faster than expected,” he wrote, signalling the end of a nearly two-year spell in which he oversaw both editorial partnerships and commercial strategy.
Soman joined Zee Media in 2022 after more than a decade abroad with Reuters and Bloomberg, returning to India to take on the role of chief business officer for WION and Zee Business. His mandate was ambitious: bridge the newsroom and the revenue desk while expanding digital and broadcast reach.
During the stint, Zee Business reached break-even for the first time since its launch in 2005, while WION refreshed programming and strengthened its digital footprint across platforms such as YouTube and Facebook.
But Soman suggested the cultural fit proved uneasy. Describing himself as a “cultural misfit”, he hinted at deeper tensions between editorial instincts shaped in global newsrooms and the realities of India’s television news ecosystem.
Before joining Zee, Soman spent more than seven years at Bloomberg in Hong Kong as head of broadcast sales for Asia-Pacific, expanding the company’s news syndication business across several markets. Earlier, he held senior editorial roles at Reuters, overseeing online strategy in India and managing Reuters Video Services from London.
His career began in television and wire reporting, including a stint with ANI during the 1999 Kargil conflict, before moving into digital publishing as India’s internet media landscape took shape.
Now, after nearly three decades in broadcast and digital media, Soman is leaving Delhi NCR and returning to his hometown, Trivandrum.
Exhausted, he admits. But unbowed. And with one quiet line that sums up the journey: he didn’t sell his soul — because some things, after all, are not for sale.
