News Broadcasting
Sahara Samay’s Shireen to join TV18, Arup Ghosh Jagran TV
NEW DELHI: The Raghav Bahl-promoted Television Eighteen Ltd has roped in a star anchor, Shireen, for its proposed Hindi business news channel.
According to broadcast industry sources, Shireen will be joining TV-18 on 1 December and would be part of the Hindi channel head Sanjay Pugalia’s core team.
The sources also indicated that Shireen, a bilingual anchor, could be used for the existing English language business news channel, CNBC-TV 18, too.
Television Eighteen, on the brink of executing a fairly big expansion plan, is expected to make some other top line anchor-acquisitions.
Both Shireen and TV-18 were not available for comments.
In a development that cannot be stated as being directly related, former Sahara Samay national news channel head Arup Ghosh is slated to join Jagran TV as director of news. This proposed Hindi news channel, is being promoted by Uttar Pradesh- based Dainik Jagran group of newspapers.
Speaking to indiantelvision.com, Jagran TV director Siddharth Gupta said, “Arup Ghosh is a fine acquisition. With his experience, he would be able to give the right sort of guidance that the (proposed) news channel needs.”
Jagran’s yet-to-be named news channel will be uplinked through an Insat satellite from Kabuki studios, located in Film City on the outskirts of Delhi. The channel is expected to go on air towards the latter half of the first quarter 2005.
According to Ghosh, who signed the new contract today, Jagran group is a dynamic one and together the endeavour would be to give a “refreshingly new dimension” to television news.
Both Ghosh and Shireen recently quit Sahara group’s news channel venture after almost three years at the helm of affairs. Shireen was supposed to head a National Capital Region (NCR)-specific news channel from the Sahara stable that has not seen the light of the day as yet. With her departure, the project is understood to have been put in the backburner.
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.
