Network18

by Indira Kannan

As Indians got their first taste of satellite television during the first Gulf War, Raghav Bahl saw his future in the signals flickering across the small screen. Armed with burning ambition, keen business sense and amazing audacity, he assembled a group of talented professionals and rank beginners to launch one of India’s earliest start-up success stories. Starting from a small room in New Delhi’s Safdarjung Enclave, Television Eighteen (TV18) grew into Network18, one of India’s biggest media conglomerates spanning television, print, films, the Internet, business and general news, drama and entertainment. In less than two decades filled with excitement, adventure and frequent crises, Network18 launched pioneering properties, television and film careers and racked up partnerships with blue-chip media brands like CNBC, CNN and Viacom. But a mix of hubris, overreaching and external factors set it up for a free fall. This is a story of brilliant ideas, severe setbacks, naked aggression, spectacular victories and fatal flaws. It’s a story of a media empire that could only have been Made in India.

Genres: Business, Biography, India

352 pages, Hardcover

First published August 31, 2016

Reviews

[Hiran Venugopalan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-written book. Interesting read for people who follow Indian startup/media. (or for people who have some idea about the whole Reliance-Network18 story) The book is written by a former employee, but it's unbiased and provides enough counter-views and even makes some statement which contradicts with Raghav's version.

[Ankit Agrawal · Rating 4 out of 5]

The journey of one of India's top media houses today (that owns CNN-IBN, CNBC TV18, CNBC Awaaz, Colors, IBN7, HomeShop18 and moneycontrol.com among others) from the bottom of the heap into a Goliath, driven largely by the vision and acumen of its founder Raghav Bahl. Bahl uses an artificial leg due to a malignant tumour in his early 20's that forced an amputation and his grit and character was shaped largely by what he endured in that period (included a near life threatening bout of typhoid). The roller-coaster story finally culminating in hubris and the eventual exit of its founder is also the story of how the post-liberalisation Indian media industry came into its own. It was never a one-man show; Haresh Chawla as CEO (now a VC who also writes for Founding Fuel on start-ups) for a decade perfectly complemented the mild-mannered Raghav with his aggression and take-no-prisoners approach to his job and was largely responsible for building the company into a giant on the execution front.

On the other hand, the story being written by a former employee of the company who spent nearly 15 years there, should be taken with a healthy dose of skepticism. While Raghav's insistences that the group's complicated structure was a result of crazy government policies and that their fault was being too upfront and transparent in their dealings has been given lot of space, the arguments of the naysayers have not been specified. There is acknowledgement of a counter-view but no elaboration. The book should be read along with two great articles in the Caravan about the company, published in 2013 and 2014. ( http://www.caravanmagazine.in/reporta... and http://www.caravanmagazine.in/vantage... ) I remembered reading these back them and went back after finishing the book. The first article especially, is a gem because it provides views of those who disagreed vehemently with the way the company was being run or with its financial disclosures and obfuscations. There are specific fact based arguments here rather than unsubstantiated declarations. I would strongly advise reading these after finishing the book. The articles also bring forth dichotomies in certain things that Raghav has claimed publicly (and reproduced in the book) and what people instead insist really happened behind the scenes. One amusing and glaring contradiction is with regards to the view on how the company's annual getaway in Macau went in 2013. The books quotes R jagannathan to insist a happy, upbeat mood with profits soaring while the Caravan article paints a foreboding and gloomy picture. Given the mass lay-offs that took place barely four months later, one cannot but help believe the latter.

The biggest contradictions however, are reserved for the way Reliance behaved as an investor in the company before the eventual takeover. The book insists ad nauseum quoting Raghav over and over that it was a totally transparent arrangement with both sides perfectly understanding what they were getting into and honouring their side of the commitment. Raghav insists there was do editorial interference at any point of time while the article paints a damning picture by mentioning specific stories that never saw the light of day. I would find it difficult to believe that the author never came across the Caravan cover story during her research; it's the most in-depth story ever on the company by any media outlet and yet is not a part of the Notes section

Read with cautious skepticism with own research and due diligence, this is still a great book. One gets some idea of how the TV and Web, especially on the business news and reporting front, really evolved as a medium of information and influence in India. The story of Raghav Bahl himself and how he went about building the business and the lessons he learnt the hard way during the journey make for instructive reading.

[Dipak Mohanty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lot of times we envy people from media industry. Generally we think media professionals lead an expensive lifestyle, get surrounded by celebrities & superstars, attend meetings in five star hotels and what not. But the reality is behind all these there is enormous hard work, a burning passion & most importantly an indomitable spirit to excel inspite of numerous challenges. Today I am going to talk about one such book which narrates the exciting journey of one of the top media houses in India consisting of all the above mentioned qualities.

"Network 18: The Audacious Story Of A Startup That Became A Media Empire" is not just another startup story. It's also about the extraordinary journey of a multi-faceted leader Raghav Bahl, founder of Network18. Even though there has been mention of several successful leaders along the journey, but it was Raghav who held things together specially during crunch times. Starting as a small media company based out of a small room in Delhi's Safdarjung Enclave & to end up as one of the most famous media conglomerates with reach across television, print, films, business & general news is a journey worth reading.

Read the full review https://dipakmohanty.blogspot.com/202...

[Aditya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had a great time reading about a company that did change Media and broadcasting. I personally never looked up to Raghav Bahl as an entrepreneur and This book sort of helps me change that impression a little. He did a lot of things that a first generation entrepreneur with low capital usually ends up doing.

The book is a bit one sided in its view.

[Vikas Datta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brings out the history of this aptly-named audacious venture that revolutionised Indian broadcasting, but is in a sense, a history of Indian broadcasting too..

[Vignesh Parthiban · Rating 4 out of 5]

Damn good book!

[Meeta Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine yourself in a set up where you are the head of a major project and at the same time have to negotiate with vendors for everything. A place which is chaotic but exciting, where you are the boss as well as the assistant. This is how TV 18 was when it was started by Raghav Bahl, with only Rs. 50,000 in his pocket and dreams worth billions. An extremely intuitive and ambitious entrepreneur with huge appetite for risks, who gave birth to TV18 and transitioned it to Network18. This was possible because of the collective effort of Raghav's team and the culture of sharing and communicating ideas with each other and accidental recruitments backed by Raghav's openness to creativity. One hears many stories of entrepreneurs and how they built their empires and all of them are indeed very interesting! Network18, by Indira Kannan, is another one of these but what makes it stand out is the fact that this was one of the earliest start-ups, which grew to be a media empire, created iconic brands and then lost it all due to wrong decisions and debts.
Raghav’s burning passion, keen business sense and remarkable boldness is evident in examples quoted in this book. His childhood is quite interesting and exploratory. He lost his leg at a very young age and started walking with a stick and an artificial leg traveling to different places across the country. As Network18 grew, they started the country's first business TV channel with CNBC and later on went on to have associations with various large players like CNN. His wife Ritu and sister Vandana have made important contributions and so have several reporters and journalists like Shereen Bhan, Menaka Doshi, Senthil Chengalvarayan amongst others.
Kannan has shared a lot of interesting anecdotes which keep you glued to the book. She was on board for most of the Network18 journey and is able to tell us the story without hiding any facts or being too critical. There are interesting stories of what goes on behind all the shows, the hosts and the guests, especially a notorious one, which landed the team of “The Nikki Show” to jail for demeaning Mahatma Gandhi.
Eventually the fall of Network18 was due to huge debts and Bahl takes full responsibility for this. In an interview, he states, “We were in a classical debt trap. Our market cap had come down to Rs 400 crore; our debt was Rs. 2,000 crore plus. So, a debt to market cap ratio of 5. We would not have survived.”
There are lots of lessons to be learned from this book including important messages for CEOs and people who want to start their own business and it also offers great insight in the world of TV programming and media business.