News Broadcasting
Sahara tries a different approach to primetime
While other channels are still biting the family soap bait, Sahara TV has decided to tread the untrodden path with a new series on the theme of sati, to be slotted on the 8:30 pm prime time band.
Har Mod Par is the brainchild of Rakhi Tandon, who says she conducted extensive research on the theme of sati before finalising a real life story on which the serial will be based. Premiering on 4 March, the serial is about an innocent girl from the interiors of India who gets married and widowed on the same day. Tandon, the producer of the show, says she chose Sahara to showcase the battle of a girl against social evils, as it has a better reach in the interiors of the country along with a wide range of programmes.
A daily, Har Mod Par will be aired Mondays to Fridays, with repeats every day at 1:30 pm. The show could well play a crucial role in the channel’s programming, which is scheduled for a total revamp around March 2002. Says Tandon,”It will not be a social documentary, but an eye opener in an entertaining way.” According to one of the directors of the show, Jitendra Kumar, the team screened more than 400 young girls and even postponed the shoot for more than five months till they could find the right face for the lead role. Tandon says she has two directors, Kumar and Rahul Mewawala for the show, as a daily series involves a lot of post production and shooting work. The serial has currently been sanctioned a run of 260 episodes. The shooting for Har Mod Par is on at Charkop in suburban Mumbai, where the small town ambience has been recreated to accuracy.
While Tandon is tight lipped about the costs involved, she maintains that it is a medium budget show. Quizzed as to why Sahara picked this concept for a show, channel VP Priya Raj said,”As a channel, we are not in the TRP race. As a communication major, our target is to reach to the maximum viewers who are not covered by other channels. We have always provided different kind of content. With this serial too we are looking to provide fresh content to our viewers.” While no advertisers have been firmed up for the show, Raj said the channel follows a procedure of package selling wherein two or three programmes are sold as a package.
News Broadcasting
Network18 trims FY26 losses as Q4 revenue touches Rs 1,955 crore, 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.
