News Broadcasting
Focus Bangla aims to capture its audience
KOLKATA: The 24×7 Bengali news channel Focus Bangla, aims to tirelessly captivate its audiences, and is toiling hard on its programming and on introducing fresh and exciting content.
The channel, which is bullish about its growth in the regional market, has also recently introduced a new slot for a programme featuring one-to-one interviews with achievers in different fields once a week from 7.30 pm to 9 pm known as ‘Sojja Saapta’ (Being Straight Forward).
Interesting personalities like ex-Housing Minister Gautam Deb, Opposition leaders like Surya Kanta Mishra, State Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim, have already participated and spoken straight from their hearts when it came to political discussion.
The newly appointed editor Arkaprabha Sarkar said: “Apart from airing news, we came out with this concept of one-to-one interaction so that the interviewees can express their views, which is not possible to telecast during news slots. We are a non-biased news channel.”
At present, Focus Bangla “airs news bulletins for 16.30 hours a day and another 1.30 hours is dedicated for advertorial content,” Sarkar added.
“We believe in presenting the news… We have not adopted any political line. In a nutshell, we are committed to democracy, secularism and pre-market economy,” he further commented.
“Focus Bangla also aims to reach more viewers in the region. It has also changed its logo with a promise to be “focused” in presenting unbiased news and create a better impact,” remarked Sarkar.
How was Focus Bangla actually christened? At the end of February 2014, 24×7 Bengali news channel North-East Bangla (NE Bangla), changed its name to Focus Bangla, simultaneously changing its logo, which suggested that the channel would be “focused” in presenting unbiased news. A different name with a clearly different stance.
Matang Sinh, a former Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs in the PV Narasimha Rao government, used to own Focus TV and NE Bangla. But towards the end of 2012, Naveen Jindal, chairman of Jindal Steel and Power Ltd. (JSPL) bought a stake in the channel through his family and associates.
“The market for Focus Bangla is still nascent. To compete with the bigwigs, it needs to stay focused. It’s difficult to remain unbiased, especially when the other channels have shown their allegiance to certain political parties. But considering the pivotal role that media plays in a democratic set-up, households should stay as unbiased as possible. The role of media is not to take sides, rather to bring out the harsh truth, no matter how bitter it may sound,” said Abhishek Sengupta, a media analyst.
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.
