News Broadcasting
TV Today numbers flat, radio segment shows improvement
BENGALURU: The owners of the most watched news channel in the country, TV Today Network Limited (TVTN), reported 11.6 percent increase in operating revenue and a reduction in loss from its Radio Broadcasting segment for the quarter ended 31 December 2018 (Q3 2019, quarter or period under review) as compared to the corresponding year ago quarter (Q3 2018).
Overall, TVTN reported 6.3 percent higher year on year (y-o-y) operating revenue for Q3 2019 at Rs 199.43 crore as compared to Rs 187.54 crore. Total Income in the quarter at Rs 205.99 crore was 6.9 percent higher y-o-y as compared to Rs 192.76 crore. The company reported standalone profit after tax or PAT of Rs 39.19 crore for Q3 2019, almost flat (1.2 percent higher) as compared to Rs 39.73 crore in Q3 2018. Standalone total comprehensive income for the period under review was also 1.2 percent higher y-o-y at Rs 39.19 crore as compared to Rs 38.74 crore in Q3 2018.
Simple operating EBITDA was 2.1 percent higher y-o-y in the quarter under review at Rs 61.61 crore (30.9 percent of operating revenue) as compared to Rs 60.32 crore (32.2 percent of operating revenue.
TVTN has three segments – Television Broadcasting (TV); Radio Broadcasting (Radio); and ‘Others.’ The company’s TV segment is the largest contributor to its numbers. Among the news channels TVTN has is the Hindi News channel Aaj Tak, which is the most watched news channel in the country going by Broadcast Audience Research Council of India weekly data.
TVTN reported 3.9 percent y-o-y increase in revenue for its TV segment at Rs 170.52 crore in Q3 2019 as compared to Rs 164.14 crore. The company reported 4.3 percent y-o-y fall in the segment’s operating profit at Rs 51.91 crore in Q3 2019 as compared to Rs 54.26 crore.
As mentioned above, TVTN reported 11.6 percent y-o-y increase in operating revenue for its radio segment for Q3 2019 at Rs 7.01 crore as compared to Rs 6.28 crore. The radio segment’s operating loss fell to Rs 2.15 crore during the period under review from an operating loss of Rs 6.10 crore in Q3 2018.
TVTN reported 29.1 percent y-o-y increase in operating revenue for its ‘Others’ segment at Rs 22.24 crore as compared to Rs 17.24 crore. Operating result of the ‘Others’ segment for the quarter increased 17.5 percent y-o-y to Rs 5.74 crore from Rs 4.88 crore.
Let us look at the other numbers reported by TVTN
Standalone total expense in Q3 2019 increased 7.7 percent y-o-y to Rs 145.59 crore from Rs 135.16 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Standalone production cost increased 7.2 percent y-o-y in Q3 2019 to Rs 19.81 crore from Rs 18.48 crore in Q3 2018. Standalone employee benefit expense during the quarter under review increased 10.2 percent y-o-y to Rs 55.37 crore from Rs 50.2 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. Standalone other expenses in Q3 2019 increased 7.1 percent y-o-y to Rs 62.65 crore from Rs 58.52 crore in Q3 2018.
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.
