News Broadcasting
SAB TV starts beaming off Sky in UK
MUMBAI: Over a year and a half after its terrestrial launch in the United Kingdom, Sri Adhikari Brothers Television Network Limited (SABTNL) today started beaming its Hindi entertainment channel SAB TV on the Rupert Murdoch-promoted Sky TV’s DTH platform.
SAB TV will be a digital free to air 24-hour entertainment channel in the UK.
The channel will reach around 75 per cent Indian and Asian households in the UK through DTH network. Soon SAB TV will also be available on cable networks to expand reach to those other Asian homes that are not on DTH platform, a company release says.
Speaking to indiantelevision.com, Markand Adhikari, vice-chairman and managing director, SAB TV, said the channel’s content would be same as that seen on the Indian feed. The only difference being that that there would be an hour of localised programming daily.
SAB TV broadcast will also be available in Europe. The negotiations are on for finalising cable distribution rights in other European countries on pay basis. SAB would continue to operate on terrestrial platform and will also expand in other regions.
With the launch of SAB TV on Sky, SABTNL is now operating both on satellite and terrestrial platform and will offer reach substantially higher than other Hindi entertainment channels, the release says.
SAB TV’s terrestrial link is via a 50:50 joint venture that was formed last year with the MATV Channel 6 – the only operator among Asian channels in the UK to have secured a restricted service licence (a requirement for terrestrial broadcast). SABTNL put in an initial investment of $1 million towards the JV in MATV, a Leicestershire based free-to-air Asian channel that was launched in 1999 as a terrestrial broadcaster.
The MATV hook-up was the first major initiative on the part of SABTNL to leverage internationally the programming that it had built up over the years. SABTNL also has joint ventures in Sri Lanka and Indonesia for providing programming.
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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.
