News Broadcasting
Monisha Singh joins Miditech as VP programming
MUMBAI: The cat is out of the bag. Former UTV creative director Monisha Singh, who called it quits at Ronnie Screwvala’s company last month, has joined the Alva brothers-promoted Miditech.
Based in Mumbai, Singh will be heading Miditech’s fiction and entertainment division as vice-president programming. Additionally, Singh has also been inducted onto the Miditech board of the directors.
For the 27-year-old Singh, today marked her first official working day at Miditech.
Speaking exclusively to indiantelevision, Miditech CEO Nikhil Alva offered, “We are very serious about expanding in the fiction and entertainment space. Monisha Singh’s appointment is just one indicator of that intent.”
As part of the expansion plan, Miditech has already shifted to larger offices in Mumbai’s Andheri East suburb. Besides that, the production house is also setting up a separate state of the art post production studio in Andheri East, which should be up and running in a month’s time, Alva says.
Singh’s is just among the more higher profile appointments that Miditech is in the middle of undertaking. Alva says that from the present staff strength of 30-35 in Mumbai, it will go up to around 60 in the next two months.
Singh, an economics graduate and mass communications post graduate, began her career with Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Telefilms as a creative director. This was when India’s premier soap factory was still a fledgling production house.
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.
