News Broadcasting
‘Business Baazigar’ set for 18 March launch; Chandra the judge
MUMBAI: Its launch has been delayed somewhat, but it looks like the wait will have been well worth it. Zee TV’s reality hunt Business Baazigar – The Next Big Entrepreneur will have none other than group chairman Subhash Chandra himself at the helm. The channel has decided 18 March, Friday, as the tentative date for launch.
“Mr Chandra will be one among three principal judges of the show,” says Essel Group corporate brand development head Ashish Kaul. Chandra will be a permanent fixture on the judging panel while the other two would change. Elaborating on the judging process, Kaul says, “There will be three main judges who will decide the winner. There will be secondary judges also in the show who will conduct the initial tests and help the main judges to decide on the winner.”
The other two judges of the show are IIM Hyderabad professor Anil Gupta and venture capitalist Mahesh Murty. Industry sources reveal that Zee has also roped in Aditya Vikram Birla group vice chairman Kumaramangalam Birla to be one of the judges later on. Aditya Vikram Birla group is the main sponsor of the show.
The show will be hosted by Sandhya Mridul and Cyrus Sahukar.
Zee will telecast Business Baazigar during its Friday, Saturday primetime slot. The one-hour show will be placed in the same 9 pm slot in which Zee had earlier telecast India’s Best Cinestar Ki Khoj. It was the success of Cinestar Ki Khoj that inspired Zee to launch another reality hunt. The show bid adieu in December 2004.
Idea Lao, Paise Le Jao! (bring an idea, return with the funding) is the core premise of Business Baazigar. The show will screen participants with smart business ideas and then give them the money they require to start up the business based on these ideas. Channel sources inform that the prize money would be essentially in the form of venture funding and different winners will get a different amount depending on their business idea. But the two main winners will have their big dream fully funded.
Business Baazigar will kick off with a curtain raiser where all the fifty participants shortlisted from the 10,000 first round entries will be featured. Later on, the contestants featured will come down to 10, out of which one winner will be selected each month.
Interestingly, while Chandra will be the main judge on Business Baazigar, Star India is also looking to have a business tycoon anchor for the Indian version of The Apprentice which it is expected to launch in July. Star has reportedly approached UB group chairman Vijay Mallya to anchor. The Apprentice, NBC’s hit reality show, is anchored by real estate magnate Donald Trump and features contestants from different backgrounds living together and vying for the chance to win a dream assignment plus a six-figure salary in Trump’s firm. To complete the high profile anchor line up on Indian television, we will have superstar Amitabh Bachchan back with the second version of KBC in the same month on Star Plus.
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.
