GECs
Abu Dhabi TV, Al Jazeera slug it out for war eyeballs
MUMBAI: It’s not just the US networks that are in a ratings and influence peddling war as the US-led invasion rumbles on.
On one hand, there’s Al Jazeera which caused a stir with the broadcast of battle casualties in the last few days, images that many western news organisations would consider too shocking to publish. Reports in the Guardian say the channel’s footage of Iraqi television’s interviews with five captured American soldiers caused US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld to dub it a “breach of the Geneva convention.” Now that’s an original line.
Yet, Al Jazeera is the most watched channel in the Arab world currently, says the Guardian. But when it comes to making a mark internationally, the very images that are making the US networks suddenly queezy is proving a boon for another Arab channel. Abu Dhabi Television (ADTV) is emerging as a frontliner in feeding ‘crucial’ footage on the Iraq war to international networks, thanks to its strategic location in the centre of Baghdad, near the Tigris river.
ADTV has readied well for this war, what with an intensive three month preparation, professional staff and technical expertise, according to the UAE-based Gulf News ,which quotes Ali Al Ahmed, director of ADTV, Emirates Media Inc as saying that more than 120 broadcasting networks and media organisations including APTN, AFP, Reuters, CNN and others are subscribing or ‘picking up’ their exclusive live footage of the war.
Al-Jazeera is owned by the government of Qatar, which is cooperating with the US in the invasion of Iraq, but staff insist it has full editorial freedom. Al Jazeera’s main studio too, is located in the Qatari capital Doha. As the only television station with a permanent base in Kabul, it also became a source of exclusive footage that other channels around the world were eager to buy during the Afghan conflict.
Al-Jazeera has seven reporters and a back-up team of 20 working independently in Iraq, plus others “embedded” with the US and British forces. Before the war, executives predicted that their team would have an advantage over western journalists because of their familiarity with Iraq and fluency in Arabic.
On Sunday, the channel broadcast a lengthy interview with an Iraqi general in Basra denying that US and British forces had taken the city, and also filmed the search in Baghdad for two western pilots who had allegedly baled out over the city.
ADTV on its part, has stepped up news coverage to 24 hours from last week. Ahmed has told Gulf News that the channel has three crews working round the clock and that it is the only television channel to be equipped with a studio and other facilities in Baghdad city, and claims that some of the dramatic images from the live coverage of the ‘shock and awe bombardment’ of Baghdad on most international networks such as CNN were exclusive ADTV footage.
ADTV’s Baghdad bureau, with three correspondents, supported by a technical crew, also sports two satellite trucks. The station, which has reporters and technical crew – comprising engineers, technicians, cameramen and producers – positioned in the north, west, south and east of Iraq, has around 40 reporters in the field covering the war.They have also deployed reporters in Baghdad, northern Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Jordan with a maximum presence in Kuwait, Al Ahmed said.
“We need to keep the momentum going. We shall shortly move our correspondents to Basra, where the action may be concentrated next,” Ahmed has told Gulf News.
Coming back to Al-Jazeera, there has been a not-so-subtle riposte to its coverage from the New York Stock Exchange. Al-Jazeera said Tuesday the NYSE has banned its reporters – a move the station attributed to its reports on Iraq.
“Al-Jazeera has received an official letter from the New York Stock Exchange informing it that the station’s financial reporters can no longer present their reports from the exchange,” the satellite channel reported on its morning financial broadcast. The station reported that the letter said the exchange wanted to limit the number of television stations covering the exchange. But Al-Jazeera, which has been covering the NYSE for years, said it was believed to be the only channel affected by the action.
GECs
Sahara One reports financial results, notes director exit and business realignment
Muted revenues, steady expenses and strategic adjustments shape company’s current phase
MUMBAI: In a tale where the sands seem to be slipping faster than they can be gathered, Sahara One Media and Entertainment Limited has reported another quarter of wafer-thin income and widening losses, even as a boardroom exit adds to the unease.
The company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that its board, in a meeting held on April 4, approved its unaudited financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2025. The numbers paint a stark picture. Total income for the quarter stood at just Rs 0.13 lakh, unchanged sequentially and sharply down from Rs 0.26 lakh a year earlier.
Losses, meanwhile, deepened. The company posted a net loss of Rs 24.16 lakh for the quarter, compared to Rs 18.81 lakh in the June quarter and Rs 39.69 lakh in the same period last year. For the six months ended September 2025, the cumulative loss stood at Rs 39.69 lakh, while the full-year loss for FY25 was reported at Rs 60.72 lakh.
Expenses continued to outweigh income by a wide margin. Total expenses for the quarter came in at Rs 24.30 lakh, led by employee benefit costs of Rs 6.51 lakh and other expenses of Rs 17.78 lakh. Earnings per share remained in the red at Rs (0.11) for the quarter.
The balance sheet reflects a company with significant assets on paper but limited operational momentum. Total assets stood at Rs 23,065.57 lakh as of September 30, 2025, broadly unchanged from March 2025. Equity share capital remained steady at Rs 2,152.50 lakh, while total equity was reported at Rs 18,004.85 lakh.
Cash and cash equivalents saw a modest uptick to Rs 6.75 lakh from Rs 4.68 lakh earlier, supported by a positive operating cash flow of Rs 180.01 lakh for the period.
Yet, beneath these numbers lies a more complex narrative. The company’s auditors flagged their inability to obtain sufficient evidence to form a conclusion on the financial statements, citing lack of access to records. They also raised concerns over the company’s ability to continue as a going concern, pointing to insufficient funds, delayed recoveries, and stalled content investments.
Adding to the governance overhang, the company disclosed that Rana Zia has resigned as whole-time director, effective October 16, 2025, citing other professional commitments. The resignation, noted and accepted by the board, also brings an end to her role across company committees.
Regulatory pressures continue to loom large. The Securities and Exchange Board of India has already initiated penal actions for non-compliance with listing norms, with trading in the company’s shares remaining suspended. There is also a risk of promoter demat accounts being frozen.
Legacy legal issues remain unresolved. A substantial deposit of Rs 694,027.88 thousand linked to the long-running OFCD dispute involving Sahara group entities is still under the purview of the Supreme Court of India. Restrictions on asset disposal continue to weigh on the company’s financial flexibility.
Operationally, challenges persist across multiple fronts. Advances worth Rs 1,92,916 thousand given for film content remain stuck, with delays in project completion and uncertain recoverability. The company’s YouTube channel, despite being operational, has generated no revenue for over three years due to compliance lapses. In a further twist, management has indicated that revenues may have been fraudulently diverted through unauthorised changes to its AdSense account, with a police complaint in the works.
There are also missed revenue opportunities. Television content rights continue to be used by a related party despite the expiry of the licence agreement, with fresh negotiations still underway.
For now, Sahara One Media and Entertainment Limited appears caught between legacy disputes and present-day operational hurdles. As losses linger and governance questions mount, the road to recovery looks less like a sprint and more like a slow trudge through shifting sands.
