News Broadcasting
Govt. okays housing scheme for pubcaster
NEW DELHI: You can term this as a Diwali gift from the government to the employees of the Indian pubcaster Prasar Bharati Corporation, which manages Doordarshan and All India Radio.
In a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today, the government approved a proposal on staff quarters for Prasar Bharati.
Although a government spokesperson and finance minister
P Chidambaram did not give out details of the proposal at a briefing today, it is assumed that either the government would continue with the practice of handing out government accommodation to Prasar Bharati employees or would allocate separate funds to the Corporation to address the issue of housing, which is a major concern in big cities of the country.
It is also not clear whether the cash-strapped government would take a big financial hit if it is to make available additional funds to Prasar Bharati for providing housing to employees.
Reacting to the CCEA decision, Robin Dasgupta, chairman of the National Federation of Akashvani and Doordarshan Employees (NFADE), told indiantelevision.com, “It’s a welcome decision because one of the points on which we were agitating related to the acute housing problems in big cities for our colleagues.”
NFADE is an apex body comprising 20 employees unions
of Prasar Bharati.
The cabinet decision comes two days after NFADE held a demonstration in Delhi demanding redressal of its grievances. This list included housing. An earlier government decision was to discontinue the practice of providing government accommodation to Prasar Bharati employees on the ground that it is now an autonomous body and the employees are not entitled to some of the governmental perks.
Though the Prasar Bharati Act was amended in 1997 and DD and AIR stopped being government organizations, the
status of the employees of Prasar Bharati Corporation remained in the gray area. Are they government employees
or employees of a cash-strapped autonomous organisation? The debate continues as some rules of Prasar Bharati, relating to employees’ status, have not been notified yet.
Still, over the years, the government has been reducing various perks extended to Prasar Bharati employees. For example, a moratorium, for vacating government accommodation was extended to 2007 after the employees protested in 2003.
Keeping this in mind, NFADE had also demanded that the Prasar Bharati Act be further amended to include funding for housing of the organisation’s employees.
Prasar Bharati primarily runs on grant-in-aid from the government, which was reduced to approximately Rs. 8,210 million this year.
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.
