News Broadcasting
Zee News goes interactive on Dish TV, sports to follow
NEW DELHI: Dish TV, India’s first DTH platform, announced that Zee News channel has gone interactive and Zee Sports is to follow suit from mid-September.
Talking to indiantelevision.com on the issue, Dish TV business head Jawahar Goel added that apart from interactivity, Dish TV subscribers can also enjoy all Star channels at no extra cost till 30 September.
“Interactivity is something that we had promised our subscribers as part of value-added services and over a period of time we have readied ourselves with the right technology,” Goel said.
Dish TV interactive services also consists of a gaming channel and electronic programming guide.
An interactive Zee News will enable a viewer to watch a live programming, while simultaneously giving him or her option to access information on a variety of other topics via eight windows.
Information can be had in the areas of business, entertainment, crime, sports, top 10 news stories and weather report of 100 Indian cities, apart from the live news bulletin or programme being aired at the moment.
How does this work? A subscriber of Dish TV wants to see whether Indian tennis sensation Sania Mirza has won her latest match in the on going US Opens or not and cannot wait for the sports segments to come in the news bulletin.
So, while a news bulletin is on on Zee News, a few presses of the buttons can take the viewer straight to the sports section for the Sania news story even as the main news bulletin continues.
To facilitate interactivity on the Dish TV platform, the company has tied up with the US-based Open TV, a company specializing in such activities and features.
Apart from news, Dish TV is also planning to go interactive with sports, starting with Zee Sports. Sports interactivity will involve freezing of shots from a particular angle, getting player details immediately without having to wait for the sports channel providing it and statistics about the game in progress and sports in general.
The interactive Zee Sports will start on Dish TV with the tri-nation cricket series involving India, Australia and another country at a neutral ground from mid-September for which Zee has the telecast rights.
India began commercial DTH operations in October 2003 and by December 2004 reported over three million subscribers.
Hong Kong-based market research firm Media Partners Asia (MPA) has said India is poised to become Asia’s leading cable market by 2010, the largest satellite market by 2008 and the most lucrative pay TV market by 2015.
Presently, apart from Dish TV (over 1.25 million subscribers), other DTH players active in India are Tata Sky and pubcaster Doordarshan, which provides a subscription-free service of free to air channels through DD Direct+ that has over 1.1 million subscribers.
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.
