News Broadcasting
TV18 acquires Crisil MarketWire
MUMBAI: Raghav Bahl-promoted Television Eighteen Group is on an acquisition spree. Having gobbled up several internet firms, the company is now acquiring the assets of Crisil MarketWire (CMW), a financial news wire service from Crisil Ltd, for an undisclosed amount.
The CMW business will be rechristened NewsWire18 Pvt LTD and will be a group company of the TV 18 Group. The transfer will take effect from 1 January. This follows the earlier decision of CRISIL and TVI8 to jointly develop a framework for business collaboration.
CMW will transform itself from a real-time financial newswire into an integrated information terminal, targeted initially at the domestic market. “This transfer will further enhance CMW’s capability to meet customer demand for a good quality, locally-focused real-time news and data product that meets all the needs of financial market participants in India. The TV 18 Group is committed to grow the news and the information terminal business,” the company said.
The old team will be retained and Crisil MarketWire Ltd. CEO Pankaj Aher will continue to head the business. “The new venture will carry with it all the staff of CMW across all locations and functions,” TV18 confirmed.
Commenting on the acquisition, Bahl said: “The strategic fit that the newswire business will provide to our existing business will create tremendous shareholder value. This acquisition marks an important milestone in our journey towards becoming a more integrated news company.”
Added Television Eighteen Group CEO Haresh Chawla, “We are very pleased to have the CMW business on-board and are committed to help it grow to its rightful potential. This transaction and the news and data platform complements our leadership brands in the financial news and information space and will help us extend our dominance to the institutional segment and serve it better.”
The news business will have its own real-time market data and news terminal that is sourced from Tenfore Systems Ltd. Founded in 1989, Tenfore has direct end users in more than 60 countries, and boasts over 500 corporate clients including HSBC, ING and Rabobank and 45 wholesale / redistribution clients including Thomson Financial and GFI.
Tenfore is head quartered in the UK, with offices in Germany, The Netherlands, and Switzerland.
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.
