News Broadcasting
Zee Telefilms to launch two more FTA channels
NEW DELHI: The Subhash Chandra-promoted Zee Telefilms is very bullish on certain aspects of conditional access system (CAS) and feels that it is rightly positioned to take advantage of the evolving scenario in the country. On cue, it has decided to launch two other channels in the free to air mode.
“The company would be launching two more channels soon,” Zee Telefilms director, news group, Laxmi Goel told indiantelevision.com. Though he did not give a time frame for the launch, Goel did admit that the two proposed channels would be free to air.
India’s largest vertically integrated media company would come out with Zee Manasi, primarily targeted at women, and Zee Comedy, which, as the name suggests, would serve comic or light fare. Details on the two proposed channels were not available.
Industry experts felt that though the two proposed channels look like niche products, going by the sketchy information available on them, launching them in the free to air mode is surprising. Niche channels, experts felt, would work better as part of a DTH bouquet or may even work for the headend in the sky model (HITS) through which Zee is aiming at introducing CAS in a digital mode.
But Zee’s plans to launch by mid-year a business news channel, Zee Biz, seems to have got stuck in bureaucratic hurdles. While information and broadcasting minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told indiantelevision today that the relevant file on Zee Biz had not yet reached him, officials in the ministry maintain that Zee Telefilms would have to undergo restructuring as per the new uplinking policy if it wished to get permission for uplinking the proposed business news channel from India.
“The case of Zee’s business channel is being studied in the view of the new uplinking policy,” a senior government official had told indiantelevision.com few days back.
As per the new uplinking policy by the Indian government, news channels desirous of uplinking from India cannot have more than 26 per cent foreign holding.
The likes of Star News and CNBC India were given 90 days to comply with the regulation and it was understood that Zee News, since it already uplinked directly to a broadcast satellite from India, was to get a year’s time to undergo restructuring to fulfil the norms. In Zee Telefilms, the total foreign holding is over the prescribed level at the moment.
Meanwhile, the Zee Tele scrip today closed lower by 3.86 per cent or Rs 3.20 at Rs 79.80 with volumes of 3,665,506 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
According to a CNBC India analysis, the Zee scrip had been rising since last Tuesday, when it closed at Rs 78.20. But the stock reversed the trend yesterday to close lower at Rs 83. It hit a high of Rs 105.25 on 10 January, and a low of Rs 60.15 on 31 March 2003.
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.
