News Broadcasting
Cinevistaas’ looks at different pastures
MUMBAI: Reinventing is the key word. And Cinevistaas’ is up and raring to go. Besides the usual share of sitcoms, soaps and thrillers, the production house has few surprises in store for the year ahead.
Amongst the production house portfolio for the year 2004 are two shows for Star Plus. A reality based one hour weekly show and a romantic weekly Kya Dil Ne Kahaa starring Amar Upadhyay. That apart the production house has set up an event management company, Dynamic Fusion.
When contacted Cinevistaas chairman Prem Kishen informed, “We have another show coming up on Sony in ’04; it will be a daily soap.”
Latest, Sahara is getting ready to launch two Cinevistaas shows – a weekly comedy show Jaroorat Hai, Jaroorat Hai starring Farida Jalal, Sushmita Mukherjee, Sumit Raghavan, Gaurav Khera and the daily Saathiya – Pyaar Ka Naya Ehsaas starring Amar Upadhyay, Sanjit Bedi, Shraddha Nigam).
Come April and Cinevistaas’ first show for ’04 will debut on Sony. The serial titled Sakshi stars Mouli Ganguly in the title role. Recently, Ganguly opted out of Kaahin Kissii Roz saying that she was bored of straitjacket roles and wanted to experiment.
Samir Soni (of A Mouthful Of Sky fame), who recently in news thanks to his debut in Sony Entertainment Television’s aggressively marketed Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin as the new man in Jassi’s (Mona Singh) life, will play the male lead in Sakshi.
After having succeeded with the one -hour weekly format with Sanjivani (Gurdip Kohli, Mihir Mishra, Rupali Ganguly, Mohnish Behl) on Star Plus, Cinevistaas have worked out the same format for this show.
Kishen was skeptical to spill out the details about the new shows. “We had a show ready for a particular channel, but were shocked to see someone else come up with a similar story before us on that same channel,” he lamented.
Speaking about the event management company Dynamic Fusion, Kishen informed, “Talat Aziz is the managing director of this company. Also on board is Louis Banks. They will be joined by Ustad Rashid Khan. These three will co-ordinate musical events, when some other industry singers like Sonu Nigam, Hariharan are likely to join in.”
Meanwhile, Cinevistaas film Garv starring Salman Khan, Shilpa Shetty, Amrish Puri and Anupam Kher is ready. Kishen tells us, “We committed a blunder by releasing Sshhh… during Ramzan. This time, I am not releasing my film before the elections are over and done with. The film was earlier scheduled for April, but will now release in May.” Garv is being touted as the most expensive Salman Khan film till date.
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.
