Cable TV
Karnataka CM’s wife promoted TV channel targets 1 November launch
MUMBAI: Kannada Kasturi, the television channel promoted by the Bangalore-based Kasturi Media Pvt Ltd (KMPL), will be unveiled on 1 November. KMPL is promoted by Anitha Kumaraswamy, the wife of Karnataka chief minister D Kumaraswamy.
Originally planned as a news channel, Kasturi will now be an entertainment channel with news content. “We will be launching the channel on 1 November. We have acquired a good chunk of movies recently and this is the reason for the change in our plans. The company also has a subsidiary which is into film production. This will help us supply movies to the channel,” says KMPL director M V Prasad Babu.
KMPL has got the uplinking licence from the Information & Broadcasting ministry, Babu adds. The channel will be uplinked from a commercial teleport facility in the country.
Reportedly, D Kumaraswamy started his career as a film distributor for Kannada movies. He has Kannada blockbusters like Suryavamsha and Chandra Chakori to his credit.
The entry of Kannada Kasturi will see the politically driven Tamil channels getting a Karnataka counterpart. The Rs 2 billion Kannada Television market is dominated by the Sun Network channels including Udaya TV.
This year, Zee made its entry in the market with its entertainment channel Zee Kannada. The Telugu television network TV9 will be launching its news channel TV9 Kannada in a couple of months.
MUMBAI: When margins wobble, liquidity talks and in Q3 FY25-26, cash did most of the talking. Den Networks Limited closed the December quarter with consolidated revenue of Rs.251 crore, marginally higher than the previous quarter but down 4 per cent year-on-year, even as profitability stayed resilient on the back of strong cash reserves and disciplined cost control.
Subscription income softened to Rs.98 crore, slipping 3 per cent sequentially and 14 per cent from last year, while placement and marketing income offered some cheer, rising 15 per cent quarter-on-quarter to Rs.148 crore. Total costs climbed faster than revenue, up 7 per cent QoQ to Rs.238 crore, driven largely by higher content costs and operating expenses. As a result, EBITDA dropped sharply to Rs.13 crore from Rs.19 crore in Q2 and Rs.28 crore a year ago, pulling margins down to 5 per cent.
Yet, the bottom line refused to blink. Profit after tax stood at Rs.40 crore, up 15 per cent sequentially and only marginally lower than last year’s Rs.42 crore. A healthy Rs.57 crore in other income helped cushion operating pressure, keeping profit before tax at Rs.48 crore, broadly stable quarter-on-quarter despite the tougher cost environment.
The real headline-grabber, however, sits on the balance sheet. The company remains debt-free, with cash and cash equivalents swelling to Rs.3,279 crore as of December 31, 2025. Net worth rose to Rs.3,748 crore, while online collections accounted for 97 per cent of total receipts, underscoring strong cash discipline across operations, including subsidiaries.
In short, while Q3 showed signs of operating strain, the financial backbone remains solid. With zero gross debt, steady profits and a formidable cash war chest, the company enters the next quarter with flexibility firmly on its side proving that in uncertain markets, balance sheet strength can be the best growth strategy.
