News Broadcasting
TRP Scam: 3 Republic TV employees get anticipatory bail
New Delhi: A sessions court has granted anticipatory bail to three Republic TV employees in connection with the alleged Television Rating Points (TRP) scam, that came to light in October last year.
The three employees named Shivendu Mulherkar, Ranjit Walter, and Sivasubramaniyam Sundaram had filed their pleas before the court last year, according to their lawyer Vikram Kamath.
On Wednesday, the court allowed their anticipatory bail applications. According to their lawyer, the three accused had submitted before the court that they were not named in the FIR registered in the case initially and there was no ground against them (for arrest). Subsequently, a charge sheet was filed and they were named as accused. So, whatever material was there, it was before the court, and so, their custodial interrogation was not required, Kamath had argued.
In a 1800 page supplementary charge sheet filed in June, the Mumbai police had named the three as accused, along with senior journalist and Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami. Apart from him, the Mumbai Police had named four others from ARG Outlier Media– COO Priya Mukherjee, Shivendu Mulelkar, and Shiva Sundaram as accused in the case.
The alleged fake TRP scam came to light in October 2020 when rating agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) filed a complaint through Hansa Research Group (HRG), alleging that certain television channels were allegedly rigging TRP numbers by bribing households where BARC bar-o-meters were installed to tune into a particular channel throughout the day. An FIR in the case was registered after former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh named the channel as being involved in the scam.
As many as 15 arrests have been made in the case, the most prominent being former BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta, who later got bail after furnishing a bond of Rs two lakh. The arrested people were charged with cheating, criminal conspiracy, and destruction of evidence.
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.
