News Broadcasting
TV9’s Mumbai-centric Hindi news channel to convert into Marathi
MUMBAI: Associated Broadcasting Company Limited (ABCL), which runs a clutch of regional channels, is converting its Mumbai-centric Hindi news channel into full-fledged Marathi.
The decision to make TV9 Maharashtra a local regional-language news channel comes in the wake of losses from the city-specific Hindi news channel. “We are changing it into Marathi as it is the only loss-making channel in our entire bouquet. Earlier being in Hindi, we were not attracting any state government advertisements. Going local would also mean that we get more connected with people outside Mumbai,” said ABCL vice president operations KVN Murthy.
The channel’s operational loses are estimated at close to Rs 300 million a year, according to market estimates. TV9 officials, however, declined to comment on the extent of these losses.
TV9 Maharashtra has begun the process of transitioning into a full-fledged Marathi news channel as part of its strategy to go local. The news bulletin and the other prime-time shows have already made the shift to Marathi with the exception of the Entertainment bulletin which will eventually go Marathi.
TV9 Maharashtra head Srinivas Reddy said that 90 per cent of the content is in Marathi while only 10 per cent is in Hindi. “We haven’t decided any date on when we want to become a Marathi channel completely. But that is the way we are moving.”
ABCL had made its expansion into the Hindi language with the launch of TV9 Mumbai in 2009 focussed on local news. However, TV9 Mumbai was last year rebranded as TV9 Maharashtra to widen the viewership base. But language turned out to be a major impediment since Marathi is the most widely spoken language in Maharashtra.
“Marathi is the language of the common people in Maharashtra. We thus decided to become a Marathi news channel,” Reddy said, talking about the shift to Marathi language.
TV9 Maharashtra, which will have to compete with established players like Zee 24 Taas, ABP Majha (earlier Star Majha) IBN Lokmat and ETV Marathi, is betting on local content to drive viewership.
“If you look at other Marathi news channels, they are covering more of other news rather than news of local relevance. We will be focusing only on local news. In fact, TV9 Maharashtra will have 90 per cent of local content and maybe 10 per cent of other content like sports,” he averred.
TV9 Maharashtra has around 100 part-time and full-time journalists across Maharashtra and around 15 anchors. While most of the team is in place, the channel will hire new employees for its output division.
The Marathi news broadcaster also has offices in different cities of Maharashtra including Nagpur, Nashik and Pune.
So will there be a sizeable retrenchment because of this makeover exercise? “We are not sacking anybody. In fact, a lot of our employees were already Marathi speaking and we are also training existing employees in our output division in addition to hiring new people for output division.”
However, Indiantelevision.com has been made to understand that the broadcaster has already told certain employees to look out for a new job as part of its resturcutring excercise.
In addition to TV9 Maharashtra, ABCL runs four regional news channels including TV9 Karnataka (Kannada), TV9 Gujarat (Gujarati), Indiavision (Malayalam), Kolkata TV (Bengali), besides an English news channel News9. It also has a niche channel in Telugu devoted to Entertainment and News called TV1.
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.
