News Broadcasting
SABe TV adds 4 new shows to its roster
MUMBAI: Four new shows and not one soap among them. This could happen only on SABe TV, the relief channel as it calls itself. After taking DD metro by storm, it’s now SABe TV’s turn to get a facelift with four shows launching in August.
The channel has appropriately hyped them with the catchline – “SABe Ka August Zabardast”. But comedy, of course, will remain the channel’s driving force.
Of these shows, Raamkhilavaan (C.M.) ‘n’ Family is the most hyped of all. Produced by veteran comedy writer, Aswani Dheer, whose Office Office is still creating ripples on the channel, Raamkhilavaan is a political satire inspired loosely by Laloo Yadav’s family (though those behind the show will tell you otherwise).
The protagonist Raamkhilavaan, played by Vineet Kumar, sports a ruffled hairstyle very similar to Laloo’s. He speaks in a chaste Bhojpuri accent and has with him a huge group of daughters, his wife Imarti Devi and a streetsmart brother-in-law Puttan Yadav, whose exploits keep landing the CM in trouble. The show, a bi-weekly premieres on 5th August at 8:30 pm.
The other shows include a supernatural thriller, Search, another old comedy that is being revived Yes Boss and a game show Lootmall.
Search, which stands for “Scientific experiments and research of cosmic happenings” is a quest to unravel the explanation behind an unnatural happenings that are not logical. Search is a daily that starts telecast on 12 August at 9:00 pm.
Yes Boss, which was once a channel driver with its hilarious situations involving a enamoured boss, a helpless husband and a wife caught in a Catch 22 situation is also being revived, albeit with a new character playing the boss. The show starts 21 August and will be telecast every Wednesday and Thursday at 8:30 pm.
Last but not the least in the offing is what SABe TV describes as the “Mother of all game shows” Lootmall. The show marks the TV debut of actor Chunky Pandey. Chunky, who made a brief appearance at the launch informed that it would be an interactive show where teams would comprise family members of two persons each (they could be father-son, brother-sister or even relatives). More information on what the show would be like is awaited as its footage was not available. The show premieres 23 August and will be telecast every Friday at 8:00 pm.
While on the face of it, Sabe TV has indeed lined up some very impressive shows, the coming weeks will show how far they go in upping the channel’s viewership.
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.
