News Broadcasting
ZEEL expands to Indonesia, launches Zee Bioskop
MUMBAI: Of late, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) has been making headlines for its expansion plans the world over. It isn’t just taking the existing channels from India to the international market but is also coming up with new channels to cater to the local people of the countries they want to reach out to. In the present case, they have done just that.
In order to expand in the south East Asia market, it has launched a movie channel in Indonesia, aptly titled Zee Bioskop (Bioskop means cinema in Bahasa, the local language of the country). The last time Zee introduced a channel in this region was five years ago – Zee Variasi in Malaysia, again a local Bollywood movie channel.
Zee Bioskop, which has been launched today, is currently available only on Aora TV as a pay channel and is beaming off satellite Measat 3a. With the tagline – ‘Bollywood Banget’, which means ‘bollywood excessively’, the channel will showcase the best of Bollywood movies dubbed in Bahasa Indonesian.
An official announcement about the launch will be made in January in Jakarta, the capital, where the office of Zee Bioskop is located. As of now, the officials are working on increasing the distribution of the channel.
Since Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous country with not too many movie theatres showing Bollywood movies, the company is trying to cash in on the situation. “Our focused study group showed that Indonesians wanted to watch Bollywood movies and with Bioskop we are targeting the local audience and not the Indians in Indonesia,” says a highly placed source from Zee.
Bioskop will air comedy, action, thriller, drama and romantic movies. Activities on Facebook and Twitter have already started to promote the channel. “This initiative is going to make not just Zee but also Bollywood movies popular in the Indonesian market,” says the source.
Movies like Delhi 6, Shaitan, Aa Dekhen Zara, Oh My God, Vivaah, Love Story 2050 etc are in the current line-up. The channel will come under the APac area and will be headed by Asia-Pacific business head Sushruta Samanta. There are other Zee channels already present in the region since many years.
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.
