News Broadcasting
Sangeet Natak Akademi awards on 6 July in Mumbai
MUMBAI: The president of India Dr APJ Abdul Kalam will give away the Sangeet Natak Akademi fellowship awards 2003 on 6 July 2003 at a function organised in Mumbai’s Nehru Centre. The chief minister of Maharashtra and other top officials will also preside over the function. The Akademi has invited all the leading television news channels to cover the function and focus on the nominated 27 eminent artists who will receive 25 Akademi awards (including a joint award) this year.
The Sangeet Natak Akademi – the national academy for music, dance and drama – honours each year eminent practitioners of music, dance and drama and also those who serve arts with distinction.
The general council of the Sangeet Natak Akademi under the chairmanship of Dr. Bhupen Hazarika has elected Dr Shanno Khurana, eminent musician and scholar, and Kavalam Narayana Panikkar, eminent personality of theatre and performing arts traditions of Kerala as fellows of the Sangeet Natak Akademi.
“India’s precious heritage of music, drama and dance is something which we must cherish and develop. We must do so not only for our sake but as our contribution to the cultural heritage of mankind. Nowhere is it truer than in the field of art. We must all strive to sustain means to create traditions that cannot be preserved but can only be created afresh. It is the aim of the Akademi to preserve the traditions by offering an institutional form,” Dr Hazarika says.
The Sangeet Natak Akademi fellowship is restricted to 30 living artistes/scholars at any given point of time.
The Sangeet Natak Akademi awards have been conferred from 1952. They symbolise the highest standard of excellence and achievement on a national basis; recognise sustained individual work of high professional order and contribution to the practice and appreciation of these arts through performance ,teaching and scholarship.
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.
