News Broadcasting
NDTV India pulls the curtain down on crime shows
NEW DELHI: NDTV India, the Hindi news channel from the Prannoy Roy-promoted NDTV Ltd stable, has decided to say goodbye to crime shows. Instead, it will focus more on investigative and topical features.
So, out go daily shows like Dial 100 and weekly FIR. In their place come more socially relevant programmes like exploring the DNA of increasing number of suicides by farmers in the Vidharbha region of India. Even in Metro FIR, the crime segment would be dropped.
“Our strength has always been serious and topical features and we are going to exploit it further. Crime shows and sensational stuff is not our cup of tea,” NDTV India managing editor Dibang told journalists here today, explaining the future roadmap for the channel.
According to Dibang, a print medium journalist-turned-TV newsperson, feedback has shown that crime shows might give ratings, but do have a tendency to pander to sensationalism and be intrusive in the personal lives of people.
“We want to set ourselves apart from tabloid (news) channels and this is not something that we have realized suddenly or over night,” he explained.
However, this realization doesn’t take away the fact that NDTV India, which at one time was seen as the contender for the top spot in the Hindi news space, has slipped to No. 3 position, while Aaj Tak continues to rule as the market leader. Star News has been occupying the No. 2 slot for some time now.
Quizzed on this, Dibang, who came to NDTV from Aaj Tak, acknowledges the recent turn of events, but stands by the theory that NDTV India would rather dish out serious and thought-provoking shows than ones that may bring in the ratings in the short term at the cost of assaulting viewers’ sensibilities.
“We have always been a pro-active channel and given the regulatory environment and policies being proposed by the government, we’d prefer to do away with crime shows and unnecessary sensationalism. NDTV India is not going to be TRP-linked, but become an example for self-regulation,” he counter punched.
As an alibi, he also dished out some figures like declining viewership of crime shows, most of which are aired at 11 p.m. on TV news channels. “Few years back, the novelty factor of crime shows brought in audiences, more than prime time in the evening. But recent data shows viewership of such shows have fallen as the Hindi-speaking audience is slowly maturing,” Dibang said.
Does that mean NDTV India would not cover crime events at all. “We’d cover crime as done by newspapers, depending on an event’s merit,” Dibang explained, adding issues that affect the common man would be more aggressively taken up.
It needs to be seen whether discerning viewers in the HSM flock to NDTV India or not.
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.
