News Broadcasting
DishTV adds SS music to its offering
MUMBAI: Essel Group promoted Dish TV has signed an agreement to distribute Southern Spice Music (SS Music) on its direct-to-home (DTH) platform.
Martin Lottery Group-promoted music channel Southern Spice Music or SS Music is a multi-lingual music channel in India playing music in English, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi.
The music channel caters primarily the youth, but since music has no barriers, audiences of all ages get in tune with the channel, informs a media release.
Announcing the launch of SS Music on Dish TV, DishTV CEO Sunil Khanna said, “We are pleased to broadcast the popular Tamil channel to consumers on Dish TV platform.
“The inclusion of SS music, strengthens the Tamil entertainment on Dish TV for the city viewers. DishTV aims at being a complete entertainment solution for the people in Tamil Nadu, giving them the opportunity to upgrade to a superior entertainment experience with power of choice.”
SS Music promoter Santiago Martin adds,”Dishtv in a short span of time has shown impressive growth in penetration and has emerged as the largest distribution platform in terms of number of channels carried as well. Thus, we are delighted to be part of Dish TV bouquet”.
Now with SS Music, Dish TV viewers can enjoy the already existing JayaTV and other Tamil channels by virtue of being available on DD DTH, as both DTH platforms share a common satellite.
The media release also informs that DishTV has launched a customized offer at Chennai. With an objective to make DTH entertainment affordable the customers receives a dual benefit: a reduced hardware price and subscription fees for a year incorporated in the cost.
At Rs 3990, the customer will receive popular channels like ESPN Starsports, Cartoon Network and even HBO, only for Chennai.
Further by paying just Rs 1000 extra, the consumers can now enjoy a gamut of 110 channels.
With the extremely competitive price point offered, the company expects to increase the penetration of Dish TVin homes across the country, which makes difficult for any broadcaster to ignore this as a distribution platform.
Dish TV offers 13 radio channels in its bouquet, apart from a wide range of channels.
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.
