News Broadcasting
TV9 withdraws from NBDA over news ratings issue
Mumbai: News broadcaster TV9 Network has announced its decision to withdraw its membership of News Broadcasters and Digital Association (NBDA) over the latter’s stance on the issue of resuming TV news ratings.
Just a day after the government gave its go-ahead to Barc India to release the ratings, NBDA called upon the TV rating agency to take “some additional measures” before releasing the data. This included steps to make the systems more transparent, robust, and reliable, as well as to ensure that there is no manual intervention at any step in the rating process.
In his letter to the association on Friday, Das said, “We, TV9 network, a full member of NBDA, do not subscribe to this view of NBDA Board. This seems to be a viewpoint of select members of the association and certainly not that of the entire NBDA.” He also wrote an open letter expressing his disappointment over the association’s alleged attempts to stall the ratings by raising doubts over the credibility of the Barc data.
On Wednesday, the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry directed Barc India to immediately resume news ratings which had been hanging fire since October 2020. The decision to resume ratings came at the back of sustained efforts of several news channels, working with various stakeholders for over one year.
“As a full member of NBDA, we have tried to reason with NBDA repeatedly but to no avail. I am not sure whether the association actually wants the ratings to resume at all. The latest communication only makes a bad situation for the news industry worse” he wrote further, “. On the contrary, NBDA has been expressing views in public, on the most critical issue pertaining to the news genre, which I am completely in disagreement with. Therefore, I am left with no option but to withdraw from NBDA with immediate effect.”
According to Das, the stalling of ratings has “imperiled the news genre viability from a revenue perspective”, which he termed as an “unfair trade practice”. “The news genre is being put to disadvantage as more and more advertisers threaten to walk out. Here again, genuine interests of the news TV industry are being compromised,” he wrote.
TV9 Network is also a member of the News Broadcasters Federation, another representative body of broadcasters that had been imploring the government to resume TRPs for news channels for over a year.
Also read : News genre ratings: Broadcasters question ‘curious delay’; NBDA calls for additional measures
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.
