01 — At a Glance
The Broadcast Empire That Doesn’t Need Your Permission
- 52-Week High / Low₹691 / ₹480
- Q2 FY26 Revenue₹1,169 Cr
- Q2 FY26 PAT₹330 Cr
- Q2 FY26 EPS₹8.22
- Annualised EPS (Q2×4)₹32.88
- Book Value₹313
- Price to Book1.85x
- Dividend Yield2.57%
- Debt / Equity0.01x
- Cricket Franchises Owned3 (Global)
Auditor’s Opening Note: Q2 FY26 just delivered ₹1,169 crore revenue (+4% QoQ), ₹330 crore PAT (but -10% YoY), and an OPM of 49% — which is genuinely bonkers for a cable broadcaster. The company trades at P/E 14.0x versus the media industry median of 16.4x, making it a value play in an otherwise crowded streaming + cable mess. Oh, and they just splurged on acquiring Northern Superchargers for GBP 100.5 million. More on that chaos later.
02 — Introduction
The BARC Rating Kings Who Also Own Cricket Teams Now
Sun TV Network is not your typical “disrupted-by-streaming” cable company. It’s the opposite, actually. Founded in 1985, it’s spent three decades dominating regional Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam broadcasting. Sun TV (the flagship) ranks 1st in Tamil Nadu/Pondicherry and 5th nationally in the general entertainment category. The company airs 31 channels across four southern languages and somehow is still profitable, still growing, and still treated like the red-headed stepchild of the media sector.
Until 2025. Then something unhinged happened. The company decided that owning the IPL’s SunRisers Hyderabad wasn’t enough global cricket exposure, so they bid for Northern Superchargers in the UK’s Hundred League (July 2025) for GBP 100.5 million, and then turned around and acquired SunRisers Eastern Cape in South Africa’s T20 League. Suddenly, a regional broadcaster went international. Strategic expansion or billionaire FOMO? Depends on who you ask at the board table.
Q2 FY26 results landed in November 2025. Revenue up 4% QoQ to ₹1,169 crore, PAT at ₹330 crore, a chunky 49% operating margin. They declared an interim dividend of ₹3.75/share (25%). The stock barely moved. Why? Because Sun TV is the opposite of exciting. It’s profitable, it’s boring, it prints cash, and three of its shareholders (Kalanithi Maran and family at 75%) ensure that nothing radical ever happens. Except, apparently, playing fantasy cricket league with franchise stakes across three continents.
The Question Nobody Asked: If cable TV advertising is collapsing, OTT is eating everyone’s lunch, and subscription revenue is compressing, why does Sun TV’s PAT margin remain above 28% year-round? Read on to find out.
03 — Business Model: WTF Do They Even Do?
They Control Your TV Remote. Then They Sold You Cricket.
Sun TV’s core business is almost insultingly straightforward. They operate 31 satellite TV channels across six languages (Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Bengali), produce content in-house, bundle it with DTH (Direct-to-Home) and cable operators, and charge them subscription fees. They also sell advertising. FY25 revenue split: approximately 40% subscription revenue and 32% advertisement revenue, with franchise income (IPL/cricket) accounting for 15%.
That’s the boring part. The company then also owns two subsidiaries: Kai Radio Limited and a JV called South Asia FM Limited, which together operate 62 FM radio stations under Red FM and Suryan FM. These three entities contribute roughly 3% of consolidated revenues (mostly in FY24). In January 2024, they approved a scheme to merge Udaya FM with Kai Radio, and another to consolidate all their FM JVs and associates into a single South Asia FM entity. The NCLT rubber-stamped both by December 2024. So now, the radio side is more streamlined.
Then in April 2024, they launched Sun NEO, a Hindi general entertainment channel — because apparently, regional dominance wasn’t enough; they needed to go national in a language they don’t have 30 years of brand equity in. Good luck with that, guys.
But the real plot twist? July 2025: Northern Superchargers (UK Hundred League) acquisition for GBP 100.5 million (~₹1,000 Cr+). A cable broadcaster just paid a billion rupees for a cricket team in England. Then they bought SunRisers Eastern Cape in South Africa. Suddenly, Sun TV became a global cricket conglomerate with cable TV on the side.
Subscription~40%Revenue Mix
Advertising~32%Revenue Mix
Cricket Franchise~15%Revenue Mix
Other Income~13%Revenue Mix
Capex Warning: Anticipated capex in FY24 was ₹500–550 crore. They spent ₹511.18 crore on PPE and intangible assets. For perspective, that’s ~11% of annual revenue going into equipment, facilities, and broadcast rights. Cricket franchise acquisitions are separate buckets entirely — those come from the balance sheet’s investment reserves (which sit at ₹7,772 crore as of Sep 2025).
💬 Real talk: Do you still watch cable TV, or is your Sun TV consumption limited to catching IPL matches on Hotstar? Drop it in comments!
04 — Financials Overview
Q2 FY26: The Numbers That Make No Sense
Result type: Half-Yearly Results | Q2 FY26 EPS: ₹8.22 | Annualised EPS (Q2×4): ₹32.88 | Full-year FY25 EPS: ₹43.21
| Metric (₹ Cr) |
Q2 FY26
Sep 2025 |
Q2 FY25
Sep 2024 |
Q1 FY26
Jun 2025 |
YoY % |
QoQ % |
| Revenue | 1,169 | 1,300 | 1,290 | -10.1% | -9.4% |
| Operating Profit | 420 | 754 | 617 | -44.3% | -31.9% |
| OPM % | 49% | 58% | 48% | -900 bps | +100 bps |
| PAT | 330 | 355 | 529 | -7.0% | -37.6% |
| EPS (₹) | 8.22 | 8.99 | 13.43 | -8.6% | -38.8% |
⚠ The Elephant in the Studio: Revenue fell 10% YoY and 9% QoQ. Operating profit crashed 44% YoY. PAT dropped 7% YoY. That’s not a seasonal dip — that’s the cable/subscription model showing cracks. Q1 FY26 (Jun 2025) was much stronger at ₹1,290 crore revenue and ₹529 crore PAT. So what happened in Q2? Ad market slowdown. Cricket season gap (IPL happens April–May; India’s international cricket quiets down Sept–Oct). Franchise acquisition accounting. Take your pick. The OPM at 49% is still obscene by media standards, but the velocity is concerning.
05 — Valuation: Fair Value Range
Is Cable TV Ever Worth More Than 15x?
Join 10,000+ investors who read this every week.
