News Broadcasting
Asianet News Network’s welfare initiative to help quarantined people
MUMBAI: Along with disseminating information, news channels have also turned to social service to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Asianet News Network, a Malayalam news channel with a couple of channels in the south, has taken up the task to help people under quarantine with a unique initiative called Namaste Caregivers.
The campaign is run across its network of news channels and news websites with hashtags called #PhoneAFriend #DistanceSeDosti and #DistanceSeNamaste. It started with seven southern and eastern tier-II cities but has now expanded to central and central-west areas of India. The cities covered are Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bhopal and the state of Kerala.
The network urges people to volunteer to help all those who have been tested positive and are under strict self-quarantine at home, especially those who have a travel history abroad. The campaign promo states: “While you follow social distancing, if any help is required to run your daily errands, reach out to a host of generous volunteer organisations.”
With an aim to fight the pandemic and help those in need, the network has created a dedicated website called caregivers.asianetnews.com, featuring contact numbers of various volunteer groups, on which the quarantined masses can call and ask for help to get daily supplies. These groups are city-specific and have been active way before the country-wide 21-day lockdown was announced.
Asianet News Network chief executive officer Abhinav Khare says, “We aim to shoulder the efforts put in by the central and state governments to fight against this virus and make the lives of people easier, who are under self-quarantine. This initiative doesn’t involve any monetisation and has nothing related to business. We aim to help society come out of this as early as possible.”
Kerala was the first state in India to detect positive cases and within a few days, the count was almost tripled. The southern state had many people with a travel history to foreign countries.
“The majority of these people, who are under self-quarantine, are from affluent backgrounds and pay for their daily supplies and necessary items. The volunteers act as a delivery person to get the essential things available at their doorstep,” says Khare. “A few volunteer groups also help all those needy, who can’t pay for their essentials and if required also make available cooked food items to them.”
With rising positive cases and death tolls, the authorities have become strict with lockdown and are taking stringent action against violators. In this regard, many volunteers have been making emergency passes for themselves with the help of local police to help people, says Khare.
The group has been promoting this campaign on all of its news channels, websites and social media platforms. Asianet News is considered to be one of the prominent channels in Kerala along with sister channel Malayalam Live TV Online. It also has Suvarna News and Kannada Live TV Online channels under its banner in the Kannada language along with other regional news websites.
This is not the first time the network has come up with a campaign like this. The channel tried a volunteer-based idea when Kerala and Karnataka were severely hit by the floods and many people were stuck without food or daily supplies. “During testing times people do come forward to help others and we had seen this during 2018 Kerala floods,” says the network’s CEO.
“So far, this initiative has received a maximum response and helped many people to connect to the volunteers,” says Khare. “Going forward, we are mulling to associate some sponsors from the food-delivery category and are in preliminary discussion with some key players from the sector. This would be considered as phase two of the initiative we started Namaste Caregivers.”
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.
