GECs
Hearing on ‘Time Bomb’ adjourned to 27 June
MUMBAI: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday adjourned till Monday, 27 June, the hearing of the case filed by Twentieth Century Fox, seeking an injunction against Zee TV telecasting its Rs 110 million thriller Time Bomb.
The US producer, in a suit filed on 17 June, had alleged that the Zee serial has copied the concept of its ongoing TV serial 24.
Justice Anil Kumar today heard the arguments of RK Anand for Twentieth Century Fox and Arun Jaitley for Zee Telefilms. Anand urged the Court to seek Time Bomb CDs for a comparative study of the two serials.
Anand submitted that Zee Telefilms is required to produce all the CDs of its serial shot so far to the court to verify whether it had copied the script, storyline and the characterisation of the serial 24 as alleged in the lawsuit.
Responding to the submission, justice Kumar said he would pass an appropriate order on the plea on the next hearing on 27 June.
Arguing for the Indian broadcasting network today, Jaitley tried to counter the two main arguments Twentieth Century Fox had presented. Fox had made the copyright infringement allega
tions against Time Bomb based on two factors: Firstly, the company argued that Time Bomb inherited 24’s real time format. It said, like 24, Time Bomb was also following the screen time. The second one was on the split-screen technology which Time Bomb used. Twentieth Century Fox had argued that the copyright to the creative innovation belonged to the company, since it was the first one to launch such a technique.
“Jaitley defended Time Bomb’s using of such techniques by arguing that, these kind of innovations are nobody’s monopoly since they are enabled and developed by the advancement of technology. Since it is part of the technology, it is in the public domain,” Zee Telefilms’ counsel Maninder Singh told indiantelevision.com.
Jaitley also brought to the court’s attention to various shows that make use of the same innovations. He picked up examples in Sony’s thriller CID Special Bureau, which uses the splitscreen technique, various news and current affairs shows and many movies. According to Singh, Time Bomb’s writer-producer-director Ketan Mehta has already used this technique in his 1985 movie Mirch Masala.
During the hearing, the Zee counsel also expressed his client’s willingness to produce the CDs/DVDs of these shows for the court to have a look at. Jaitley will continue his arguments on 27 June. With the court refusing to order an injunction against the launch, Time Bomb debuted on Zee TV on 20 June.
GECs
Sahara One reports financial results, notes director exit and business realignment
Muted revenues, steady expenses and strategic adjustments shape company’s current phase
MUMBAI: In a tale where the sands seem to be slipping faster than they can be gathered, Sahara One Media and Entertainment Limited has reported another quarter of wafer-thin income and widening losses, even as a boardroom exit adds to the unease.
The company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that its board, in a meeting held on April 4, approved its unaudited financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2025. The numbers paint a stark picture. Total income for the quarter stood at just Rs 0.13 lakh, unchanged sequentially and sharply down from Rs 0.26 lakh a year earlier.
Losses, meanwhile, deepened. The company posted a net loss of Rs 24.16 lakh for the quarter, compared to Rs 18.81 lakh in the June quarter and Rs 39.69 lakh in the same period last year. For the six months ended September 2025, the cumulative loss stood at Rs 39.69 lakh, while the full-year loss for FY25 was reported at Rs 60.72 lakh.
Expenses continued to outweigh income by a wide margin. Total expenses for the quarter came in at Rs 24.30 lakh, led by employee benefit costs of Rs 6.51 lakh and other expenses of Rs 17.78 lakh. Earnings per share remained in the red at Rs (0.11) for the quarter.
The balance sheet reflects a company with significant assets on paper but limited operational momentum. Total assets stood at Rs 23,065.57 lakh as of September 30, 2025, broadly unchanged from March 2025. Equity share capital remained steady at Rs 2,152.50 lakh, while total equity was reported at Rs 18,004.85 lakh.
Cash and cash equivalents saw a modest uptick to Rs 6.75 lakh from Rs 4.68 lakh earlier, supported by a positive operating cash flow of Rs 180.01 lakh for the period.
Yet, beneath these numbers lies a more complex narrative. The company’s auditors flagged their inability to obtain sufficient evidence to form a conclusion on the financial statements, citing lack of access to records. They also raised concerns over the company’s ability to continue as a going concern, pointing to insufficient funds, delayed recoveries, and stalled content investments.
Adding to the governance overhang, the company disclosed that Rana Zia has resigned as whole-time director, effective October 16, 2025, citing other professional commitments. The resignation, noted and accepted by the board, also brings an end to her role across company committees.
Regulatory pressures continue to loom large. The Securities and Exchange Board of India has already initiated penal actions for non-compliance with listing norms, with trading in the company’s shares remaining suspended. There is also a risk of promoter demat accounts being frozen.
Legacy legal issues remain unresolved. A substantial deposit of Rs 694,027.88 thousand linked to the long-running OFCD dispute involving Sahara group entities is still under the purview of the Supreme Court of India. Restrictions on asset disposal continue to weigh on the company’s financial flexibility.
Operationally, challenges persist across multiple fronts. Advances worth Rs 1,92,916 thousand given for film content remain stuck, with delays in project completion and uncertain recoverability. The company’s YouTube channel, despite being operational, has generated no revenue for over three years due to compliance lapses. In a further twist, management has indicated that revenues may have been fraudulently diverted through unauthorised changes to its AdSense account, with a police complaint in the works.
There are also missed revenue opportunities. Television content rights continue to be used by a related party despite the expiry of the licence agreement, with fresh negotiations still underway.
For now, Sahara One Media and Entertainment Limited appears caught between legacy disputes and present-day operational hurdles. As losses linger and governance questions mount, the road to recovery looks less like a sprint and more like a slow trudge through shifting sands.
