News Broadcasting
DD Bharati gets serious about original content with in house shows
Prasar Bharati has apparently decided to give the fledgling DD Bharati a shot in the arm with some original content.
The channel has commenced a live phone in show titled Meri Baat in association with several schools across the country. Open to students in the age group of eight to 20 years, the programme is telecast five days a week from Wednesdays to Sundays, between 6 and 7 pm. The forum includes an audience of 25 children and 10 parents and teachers, besides three panelists who could be educationists, counsellors and doctors.
DD Bharati has also launched the shooting of an in house programme titled Kisse Ek Hazar, a series of stories sourced from across the world. Touted as an ‘endless world of stories, games, puzzles’, the series will also see a set of itinerant story tellers travelling villages and towns, singing old and contemporary tales of great deeds. The 13 episode series is directed by Irpinder Bhatia, while music has been composed by eminent musician B V Karanth.
The channel is also sprucing up its cultural segment, the second in its three-prong vision of projecting the health-culture-children wealth of the country. It has launched a weekly cultural show Kala Parikrama, a Sunday evening show that is a round up of cultural events in the fields of art, culture, music and literature in and around Delhi. The programme, produced by Vimal Issar and presented by Shivani Wazir Pasrich, is telecast Sundays at 8 pm and repeated on Mondays at 10 am.
One point. If DD Bharati is being promoted as a national channel, celebrating India’s culture, how does a weekly round-up of the cultural events in the capital qualify for a special slot.
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.
