News Broadcasting
Aaj Tak relaunches ‘Seedhi Baat’
MUMBAI: TV Today Network has relaunched its big-ticket Hindi show Seedhi Baat. The show will be hosted by Sweta Singh, news anchor and executive editor of special programming at Aaj Tak.
The first episode of the show, which will air at 8 pm on 24 March, will feature BJP president Amit Shah as the guest.
TV Today Network managing editor Supriya Prasad said, “Seedhi Baat aims to have blunt straight talk with various leaders of the industry. It embodies a tough-as-nails approach to interviews. One-on-one hard-hitting conversations with powerful leaders, celebrities, tycoons and so forth as opposed to noisy debates.”
The guests in Seedhi Baat will be from across a variety of sectors – UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath and Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia to name a few from politics and Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar and Shah Rukh Khan from Bollywood while Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya from the world of sports. The channel intends to approach prime minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
“Sweta is one of our most experienced journalists. She has tremendous exposure to news coverage. She has interviewed politicians, cricketers, international leaders, actors. But above all, her style of interviewing is direct without being fierce. She asks straight questions but does not shout down her guests,” added Prasad.
The promotions of the show will run all through the year. The network will also have a driver program running up to the 2019 elections. Out of home campaigns will run in Delhi and major cities in Uttar Pradesh as well as the old mix of outdoor, TV, radio, print and social media.
Speaking on the opportunity, Singh said, “I will be direct, tough and assertive. But I don’t believe in cutting my guest mid sentence. Seedhi Baat is a huge brand and I will put in all efforts to uphold the dignity, neutrality and credibility of the show.”
She believes that the show will deliver what the audiences are looking for. “The audiences want to hold power to account. They want honest answers. They want to see the reality, the truth. Seedhi Baatpromises to deliver all of that. It’s assertive but not noisy. The show has a proud history. It has had leaders like Narendra Modi facing tough questions. It featured superstars of the stature of Salman Khan and Amitabh Bachchan. Our Seedhi Baat with them is still etched in public memory,” she said.
Seedhi Baat is iconic for its earlier host Prabhu Chawla who won several awards for the show and for his style of asking direct and to-the-point questions. After his departure from the India Today group in 2010, the show was taken over by MJ Akbar.
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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.
