Behind Sri Adhikari Brothers’ ‘AI pivot’, a quiet shutdown of TV channels

New Delhi: Sri Adhikari Brothers Television Network (SABTNL) is learnt to be quietly shutting down its TV channels in the guise of the recent narrative of “modernising governance”, inducting IIT Kharagpur and IIT Madras professionals to the board and preparing for AI-led growth.

Multiple industry executives point out that the group’s TV network is effectively being switched off while the listed company is repackaged as an AI and data-centre vehicle under a new name.

Over the past few months, Hindi music channel Mastiii and sister brands like Maiboli and Dabangg have steadily slid off key distribution platforms or slipped into all-day teleshopping, according to distribution executives and trade trackers.

As per the community platform DreamDTH, the free DTH platform DD Free Dish has already dropped Mastiii, Dabangg and Maiboli.

Now, Tata Play subscribers are being told Mastiii will be dropped from the platform from December 10, even as distribution experts note that the channel has “stopped playing songs” and is largely running ads and teleshopping instead.

Similar feedback is coming for sister channels that once carried music or GEC content but now show teleshopping windows across the day, including on major OTT-distribution apps.

In short, viewers who made Mastiii India’s top free Hindi music channel for years are seeing the network fade out, without a straightforward public admission that the TV business is being shut.
TV network winds down as ownership shifts.

This broadcast retreat is playing out alongside a complete change of ownership and control.
In June, the original promoter group entity, Ruani Media Service, sold 1.5 crore shares, about 59.12% of SABTNL’s equity, to investor Kurjibhai Premjibhai Rupareliya.

Grow House Wealth Management, on behalf of Rupareliya and Leading Leasing Finance and Investment Company, later launched an open offer for an additional 13.24% stake. If fully subscribed, the acquirer group would hold close to the entire emerging voting share capital of the company.

On November 18, key promoter-group directors, including Ravi Gautam Adhikari and Kailasnath Markand Adhikari, as well as several independent directors, resigned citing the change in management and control linked to this open offer.

That effectively marked the end of direct promoter control over the listed entity that still carries their name.

Industry executives say this is the backdrop in which the “AI-led” narrative was pitched: a promoter family exiting control, a TV network bleeding and winding down on the ground, and a new investor group looking to position the listed shell as a technology story.

From TV broadcaster to AI and data-centre shell

On November 24, the SABTNL board approved a proposal to change the company’s name to Aqylon Nexus Limited and to rewrite its main objects clause. The revised objects shift the company’s focus away from television and media and into artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, data science and cloud and data-centre infrastructure.

The company has also outlined a plan to set up a 50 MW “AI and green data centre campus” in Telangana, pitched as a “strategic sovereign compute platform” to support AI, digital governance and defence workloads.

Investor communication and third-party profiles already describe Aqylon Nexus as a global tech company in AI, space systems and semiconductors.

Yet, the financial base for this dramatic pivot remains extremely fragile.

For the quarter ended June 2025, SABTNL reported standalone sales of just Rs 0.03 crore, down 97% year-on-year, and a net loss of Rs 1.86 crore.

In the September 2025 quarter, net sales recovered to Rs 4.34 crore but EBITDA remained negative, while net profit suddenly jumped to Rs 14.11 crore.

An investor blog analysing the results concluded that the profit spike was driven almost entirely by a one-off gain of around Rs 15.44 crore from the sale of property under an NCLT resolution plan, while auditors continued to flag material uncertainty about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.

The company also has negative equity, highlighting how stretched the balance sheet remains relative to the scale of AI and data-centre ambitions being advertised.

Despite this, the stock has turned into a multibagger, fuelled by the AI story and thin free float. Recent media coverage points out that SABTNL’s share price has surged from low single digits to around Rs 1,400 over five years, multiplying early investments many times over, even as volatility remains extreme.

Industry executives and distribution insiders say that the main object clause has been rewritten to prioritise AI and data-centre infrastructure, but there is no publicly detailed funding plan that matches the capital intensity of a 50 MW project, even as auditors have questioned the company’s financial stability.

Put together, these facts present a very different picture from the benign “governance upgrade and AI-led growth” story that was shared with media.

In this context, communication that foregrounds “AI-led future growth” and IIT-brand directors, while playing down the virtual closure of the TV network and the severity of financial stress, is seen by many in the industry as, at best, a half-truth.

Several senior media and distribution executives told BestMediaInfo.com that they feel the messaging around the restructuring has been designed to protect brand legacy and share-price sentiment, rather than to plainly acknowledge that the linear TV business built over three decades is being exited.

From pioneers to an opaque pivot

That lack of transparency jars even more because of who the Adhikari brothers are and what they built.

Gautam and Markand Adhikari founded Sri Adhikari Brothers as a small partnership in 1985 and went on to create India’s first publicly listed television production company in 1995.

They produced hit shows for Doordarshan and early private channels and launched SAB TV in 2000, carving a niche with shows like “Office Office” and “Yes Boss.” 

In 2005, they sold the SAB TV channel, brand and programming library to Sony’s then SET India/Multi Screen Media, which later rebranded it as Sony SAB under Sony Pictures Networks India.

In 2010, they launched Mastiii with a comedy-plus-music positioning that quickly became the country’s number one Hindi music channel. Over time, the group added regional and Hindi channels such as Dabangg, Maiboli and Dhamaal, and even expanded into policy publishing with the Governance Now brand.

That legacy is why the present pivot hurts many in the ecosystem. A group that once symbolised Indian TV entrepreneurship is now allowing its flagship channels to fade into teleshopping blocks, even as the publicly listed entity is refashioned into an AI–data-centre story with a new name and new owners.

Viewers, advertisers and investors deserve a straight answer

Many legacy broadcasters and media groups are reworking their portfolios in the face of cord-cutting and digital disruption. What stakeholders expect in return is honest, unvarnished communication.

In SABTNL’s case, there is still no clear public statement that the TV channels are being formally wound down or sold, and the company’s core business has moved from broadcasting to AI and infrastructure.

Instead, the emphasis has been on phrases like “AI-led growth,” professional boards and IIT expertise, without spelling out what this means for millions of viewers who tuned into Mastiii and other channels, advertisers who backed the network in its peak years, and investors now buying into the stock on the promise of an AI future.