News Broadcasting
Jaya TV ‘game’ for news
At Jaya TV, KP Sunil is preparing for a bigger role. As head of news, he is eagerly waiting for the news and current affairs channel to launch in a market that is occupied only by Sun News.
The question is: When? Run by close associates of Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalitha, insiders say it is bound to happen before the state elections that are due in May 2006. But Jaya TV had hatched plans for the last few years of floating such a channel. So will it take birth this time?
Matters are moving. Permission has been obtained to run a teleport and a second channel. “We are only awaiting approval from Wireless Protocol Clearance for the channel. The teleport should be operational within six months,” says Jaya TV vice president of administration and legal S Ranganathan.
A bouquet of channels is what Jaya needs if it has to do serious combat against Sun Network which has a fleet of four strong Tamil language channels – Sun TV, Sun News, movie channel KTV and Sun Music. Even Raj Television Network has two channels – Raj TV and Raj Digital Plus.
Jaya Plus will primarily be a news and current affairs channel but have small doses of talk shows and quiz programmes. And it will be politically aligned towards Jayalalitha. Admits Sunil, who will head the news channel: “No channel including CNN is neutral. The channel will be as politically neutral as Sun News or Doordarshan is.”
Sunil believes the channel can have a different positioning and still gather in audiences. “We will have 7-8 fresh news bulletins. Unlike the other news channels, we will have no repeat telecast of the same news. In between, we will have district level news,” he says.
How big will the team be? “We are already 150 people. We will add another 20 per cent staff,” says Sunil.
The bouquet will not end there. Plans are on to apply uplinking permission for a third channel. “Once we have our teleport, it will be viable to have more channels in the bouquet,” says Ranganathan.
The company is also pushing for growth in overseas markets. Recently, a deal was signed with Malaysia‘s Astro All Asia Network to provide programmes. ATN channel in Canada is also carrying Jaya TV‘s programmes. Besides, the channel is available on Pehla direct-to-home (DTH) platform since late last year. “We are likely to have more subscription revenues from overseas markets in future,” says Ranganathan.
The company‘s earnings from advertising have grown by Rs 100 million last fiscal. Says Jaya TV vice president marketing K Balaswaminathan, “We touched Rs 600 million in the last financial year.” But this is far below what Sun earns.
The challenge for flagship general entertainment channel Jaya TV is to grow the audience share. The channel is banking on a new SMS-based live interactive game show, which is likely to be launched in the prime time as a weekly in August.
Gameshows, in fact, have been Jaya‘s trumpcard. Jackpot, anchored by popular actress Khushbu, is the most successful show and has been running for the last three years. “Though the original Zee TV show Family Fortunes ran only for one year, we have the Tamil version delivering for us,” says Balaswaminathan.
The production cost of Jackpot is in the range of Rs 80,000 to Rs 1,00,000, according to a source. The new gameshow will cost around that range, he adds.
Movies is another area where Jaya TV is planning to be aggressive. The company has acquired rights to two blockbuster movies released this year, Mumbai Xpress and Sachien. “The cost of movies has gone up while there is a limit on the revenue realisation. But we have got to run the race. Movies can be seen as investments,” says Jaya TV vice president programmes and operations Murali Raman.
Adds Balaswaminathan: “We have a variety of programming. We have talk shows and game shows. We do not rely only on daily soaps.” No wonder while Sun has 13 soaps daily, Jaya TV telecasts only six.
That is forced in a way, as Sun has a strong line-up of soaps. Jaya‘s strategy is to tap the viewer segment which is more bent on non-soap programmes like game shows and comedies. Last year, the channel launched a talk show Achamillai Achamillai with popular actress Lakshmi as anchor.
One major property added to the programming line up as part of Jaya TV‘s makeover last year was dubbed Hollywood movies. Jaya TV telecasts Hollywood blockbusters on Saturdays at 9:30 pm. For a 90-minute movie, Jaya TV‘s ad inventory could be approximately 1200 seconds. The channel charges Rs 4000 for a 10-second slot, says Balaswaminathan.
Events is something Jaya TV is planning to return to. Last year, the channel had no event-based programming line up.
For over five years, Jaya TV may have found the going tough as a lone channel. But will the task get easier even after forming a bouquet to take on Sun Network? A senior executive in the company sums it up the best way: “We will have to take a long and bumpy ride before we can even know the answer.”
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.
