News Broadcasting
CNBC’s ‘Trial by Fire’ debuts on 21 February
MUMBAI: It’s trial by fire alright. What else would you call a quiz show from India’s leading business channel, where the top B-school students are as participants and top corporate leaders are the judges.
Launching on Saturday, 21 February 2004, Trial By Fire to be aired every Saturday-Sunday at 10.30 pm is a unique B-school quiz show touted to be intelligent yet exciting, unique and engaging.
An 11 part series, Trial By Fire aims at bridging the gap between management theory and practice and familiarize students with the challenges that managers face everyday.
The bi-weekly aim, is a set of eight quarterfinals, four semifinals and the grand finals. They will capture the excitement and emotion of the contestants as they battle their way to the top, says an official release. With this show the channels aims to give a peep in the minds of B-school students.
The show format that focuses on EQ than on IQ, aims to display how prepared management students are for the pressures of work life through an incisive quiz show format. The success in the contest will depend more on handling perceptions and pressures, than on number crunching and data analysis, says the release.
Presented by Van Heusen in association with LG and Metlife India, the quiz will test risk-taking ability, comfort in ambiguity, understanding of situations, managing perceptions, empathy, and speed of decision-making. According to the release the key features of the show is the interaction between the participants and some of the most well known industry leaders.
Hosted by quizmaster and television personality Derek O’Brien, the contest has over 1500 students from 250 B-school across the country participated in a comprehensive online test (www.cnbctrialbyfire.com) to qualify.
Only 16 teams of two members each, qualified for the quarterfinals. Each episode features three respected industry leaders who would be evaluating and scoring the teams.
Every episode will feature four innovative rounds that test the ability of the contestants to handle ethical or socially challenging situations, understand body language and nonverbal cues, take quick and accurate decisions and evaluate their knowledge of corporate and business affairs, adds the release.
While episode one will see teams from IIM, Bangalore (AMITY Business School, Gurgaon IIM Lahore,) and IMI, Delhi judged by ING Vysya, VP and marketting head Gautam Sharma, DHL marketing head Ramesh Natrajan and Zee TV president Sunil Khanna, episode two will have teams from IIT, Madras, NMIMS, Mumbai, SP JAIN, Mumbai, and FMS, Delhi judged by BPL Innovision Business Group, Business Development exeutive VP Krishna Angara, Sahara India Parivar executive director Parvez Damania and Sun Microsystems Country head marketing K P Unnikrishnan.
According to CNBC-TV18 sales and marketing VP B Saikumar, “Trial By Fire provides management students with a platform to display their managerial capabilities to corporate leaders of India Inc. The show further extends CNBC-TV18’s reach into the management school community and is a logical successor to the Lessons In Excellence Case Contest, which was a resounding success with management students. Trial By Fire will provide captivating viewing for business leaders, management students, and audiences from every part of the spectrum. This is yet another initiative in our continuing efforts to add diverse, incisive programming to our portfolio and give our discerning viewers a wide variety of intelligent and engaging shows on the channel.”
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.
