Rs. 271 Million Lost in Six Months: The State Broadcasters the Government Has Not Fixed

Sri Lanka’s three state broadcasters lost a combined Rs. 271 million before tax in the first six months of 2026, according to the Finance Ministry’s Mid-Year Fiscal Position Report, as reported by Newswire on 11 November.

The Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation lost Rs. 166 million, already about 87 per cent of its loss for the whole of 2025. The Independent Television Network, which made profits of Rs. 62 million in 2025 and Rs. 3 million in 2024, slipped to a loss of Rs. 37 million. The Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation lost Rs. 68 million, after full-year losses of Rs. 203 million in 2025 and Rs. 176 million in 2024, according to the same report.

Losing money while others recover

The losses stand out because the wider state sector is doing better. Newswire and Lanka News Web reported, from the same Finance Ministry report, that major state-owned enterprises made a combined profit of Rs. 259.3 billion in the first half of 2026, up about 13.8 per cent on a year earlier. State banks, the Ports Authority and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation all reported large profits. The report also listed loss-makers, including SriLankan Airlines, Lanka Sugar, the Sri Lanka Transport Board and the three broadcasters, and said a restructuring unit set up in March is liquidating 33 state enterprises.

This is not a new problem. In September 2020, the Daily FT reported that the then Cabinet approved Treasury money to pay salaries and essential costs at all three broadcasters, after their income fell during the COVID-19 pandemic. A year ago, Newswire reported that 18 of 52 key state enterprises, including all three broadcasters, were losing money in the first half of 2025.

The government’s own diagnosis

When the President presented the 2026 Budget, he blamed losses at state enterprises on political interference, poor financial discipline and recruitment based on patronage, Newswire reported in November 2025. That was a frank diagnosis, and Lanka Witness agrees with it. State broadcasters in Sri Lanka have long been used by governments of every colour as instruments of publicity, with staff appointed for loyalty and coverage shaped to please the ministry.

The problem is not only financial. In June 2026, the Daily FT reported that the Bribery Commission’s court cases included former Rupavahini executives. Public broadcasters that are mismanaged and politically controlled serve neither taxpayers nor viewers.

What the Budget should say

The President presents the 2027 Budget today, 12 November. A government that diagnosed the disease a year ago should now state the cure. That means a public, costed plan for each broadcaster: which will be restructured, which merged, and how much Treasury money each will need while that happens.

It also means guaranteeing independence. A loss-making broadcaster that is also a government mouthpiece is the worst of both worlds. The NPP could prove its commitment to a new political culture by giving the state broadcasters an independent board, appointed through a transparent process, with a legal duty to give fair coverage to government and Opposition alike. It should publish the broadcasters’ audited accounts on time, every year.

Overseas Sri Lankans, journalists and press freedom groups will be watching. Public media that is financially sound and editorially independent would be a real reform. Public media that keeps losing money while serving whichever party is in power would simply continue an old habit under a new government.