News Broadcasting
Rs 1 billion investment for UTV’s channel for young
MUMBAI: A 24-hour Hindi channel for the young will be launched by software production house UTV between July and September this year.
UTV has floated a new company to launch the children’s channel, United Home Entertainment Limited and has earmarked a total investment of Rs 1 billion for the venture. Part of this investment will come from the founders of UTV while part will be privately placed. UTV is actively looking at strategic alliances for the channel, including a distribution platform for the new channel, says UTV new ventures COO Purnendu Bose.
While UTV has been toying with the idea of a children’s channel for the last one year, the concept was recently firmed up, taking into account the vast gap that existed for programming for children in the country, says Bose. Also, the rising strength of pester power combined with the fact that a third of the country’s population is now under 15, has bolstered UTV’s plans to go ahead with the channel by 2004-end.
While UTV’s own software as also UTV Toons’ will be tapped for use on the new channel, Bose is also speaking to other production houses in the country to develop original ideas for the channel, which he says will be the first ‘desi’ channel with 24 hours of localised content, adapted to the needs of Indian children.
The entry of Cartoon Network sibling Pogo, the proposed Animax feeds and the continuing threat of a Disney channel entry could also have fuelled UTV’s hurry to go ahead with a children’s channel, although the implementation of conditional access remains an uncertainty. Bose however, feels that more channels in the children’s programming space will only help to expand a hitherto untapped market. Pointing to the 20 children’s channels in the UK that cater to 11 million kids, Bose says there is no reason why the first desi channel for kids in India (Splash from the Pentamedia stable notwithstanding) should not be able to find its audience.
The new UTV channel will target four to 18-year-olds, but Bose says the production major is still debating whether or not to target the fickle 15 to 18-year-olds. Time bands could be divided by different target groups – like the four to seven-year-olds, the eight to 12-year-old boys, similar aged girls, and 12 to 14-year-old girls and similar aged boys. The commercial success of children’s programming on kids’ channels like Cartoon Network, which now sport ads for products usually used by adults and a growing incidence of multi-TV set households will help the new channel thrive, believes Bose.
UTV has shortlisted around five names for the proposed channel, but Bose says a final decision will be taken only next week.
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.
