News Broadcasting
Deepak Chaurasia set to rejoin Aaj Tak
NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Its time to return home to Aaj Tak for Doordarshan News consulting editor Deepak Chaurasia and the formalities are likely to be completed by tomorrow, if not earlier.
Chaurasia, in the eye of storm after a new Congress-led government took over in Delhi, allegedly for being a Bharatiya Janata Party loyalist, is slated to join back Aaj Tak as the head of the political bureau, a post that he held before adventuring out to Doordarshan last year.
Indiantelevision.com has it on authoritative sources that the homecoming would mean that some heat would be glanced off Chaurasia, who is currently on leave from DD News.
The current political dispensation and some Indian Information Service officials may not want Chaurasia and few others from Aaj Tak and elsewhere in Doordarshan News, but industry sources indicate that Chaurasia also had offers from NDTV and the Jagaran group, a newspaper powerhouse in North India that is planning a news channel.
Chaurasia had an offer to join as a senior editor doing special stories/projects for NDTV India, the Hindi news channel from the NDTV stable, which, at present, is snapping at the heels of market leader Aaj Tak. The proposal fell through because Chaurasia wanted the political beat, for which NDTV was not ready to oblige him.
However, according to a former colleague of Chaurasia, “Deepak should have taken up the NDTV offer as that organization would have given him the chance of a life time to shake off perceptions of his being a BJP man.”
With Chaurasias return to Aaj Tak almost finalized — unless some last minute hitch contributes to a twist in the tale — the curtains have come down on almost two months of speculation on the fate of some people who had left organizations like Aaj Tak to join the relaunched DD News last year.
Still, the future destination of some others, like Sanjiv Paliwal and Rajnish Ahuja, who had joined DD News after Chaurasia went there, is not known, though Paliwal is understood to have officially put in his papers at DD.
In recent times, Aaj Tak has been trying to get back some old hands as people continue to leave the organization and sister concern, Headlines Today. Apart from Milind Khandekar, who quit as executive producer (western region) over the last 10 days to join Star News, reports indicate that some other causalities too have happened in TV Today Network and this time one from Headlines Today too. The likely destination: Star News.
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.
