News Broadcasting
Former I&B minister Pramod Mahajan dead
NEW DELHI: Senior BJP leader and former information & broadcasting (I&B) minister Pramod Mahajan passed away this afternoon at Mumbai’s Hinduja Hospital following multiple organ failure.
Mahajan, who was shot and grievously wounded by his youngest brother Pravin on the morning of 22 April after an argument at the BJP leader’s apartment in Mumbai’s upscale Worli area, had remained in a critical condition ever since the attack 12 days ago.
The 56-year-old former I&B minister had three bullets lodged in his body and suffered what ultimately proved fatal damage to his liver, pancreas and intestines. Mahajan is survived by his wife and a son and daughter.
Hinduja Hospital has been virtually under media seige these past days with television crews stationed there 24/7. Mahajan’s condition, which has had blanket coverage across all news channels, began deteriorating rapidly since yesterday and officials anounced his demise at 4:10 pm this evening.
It was on Mahajan’s watch that Star India in 1998-99 made its first concerted effort to get a direct-to-home (DTH) broadcast service going with its ISkyB venture. Mahajan had in end-1998 indicated that DTH clearances would come within two-and-a-half months.
Doordarshan’s news channel is also a brain child of Mahajan, who floated the idea in 1999. The idea of starting such a channel was mooted immediately after the BJP came to power in March 1998. Mahajan gave the green signal for starting the channel after he became I&B minister in December.
It was also Mahajan who got the idea to upgrade the facilities of Kashmir DD centre to counter Pakistani propaganda unleashed by Pakistan’s state broadcaster PTV in 1999-2000. Though a dedicated Kashmir channel was started with the help of private broadcasters when Arun Jaitley became the I&B minister after Mahajan in 2000, the former had sanctioned a $100m package for the upgradation of DD Kashmir’s centre.
After Mahajan was shifted to the telecom ministry, holding also the infotec portfolio, he expressly scotched an idea of merging the telecom and I&B ministry to form an ICE ministry for the proposed convergence era.
It is not wise to make one out of three important ministries of telecom, information and broadcasting and information technology, especially in view of the amount of work involved and number of employees associated, Mahajan had said in his capacity as information technology & communication and parliamentary affairs minister, while opposing a merger of the three ministries.
The media savvy Mahajan was also the brain behind the “India Shining” campaign that his party, which was then ruling at the Centre, used unsuccessfully to fight the last general elections in 2004.
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.
