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Time Warner CEO rates India ahead of China
MUMBAI: India suddenly seems to have emerged as the preferred destination over China for the media bigwigs. Soon after News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch expressed discontent over China’s FDI policy, Time Warner Inc. chairman and chief executive officer Richard Parsons echoed the same sentiment.
According to Parsons, India as a television market offers better immediate growth prospects for his firm than China. Speaking to the Press at a luncheon with the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, he said India has stronger rule of law and less censorship.
Parsons complimented the country’s advancements in infrastructure and technology to distribute media content, saying it has set the stage for Time Warner Inc. to build a significant presence quickly.
“China is a very tough market for a media and entertainment company, because of some fundamental things such as rule of law. It’s hard to make long-term investments, long-term deals if you don’t exactly know what the playing field is going to look like,” Parsons has been quoted as saying. “By contrast, India has a stronger rule of law culture and it doesn’t censor as much,” he said.
Time Warner’s media empire includes Warner Bros., the Time Inc. group of magazines, HBO, CNN, AOL and Time Warner Cable, among which HBO, CNN, Cartoon Network and Pogo are present in the Indian market.
Rupert Murdoch had put big bet on China, a market which he fancied would soon take over as the fastest-growing in the world with its sheer size of eyeballs. But the Chinese government’s decision in July this year to tighten control of foreign participation in the local TV industry had affected Murdoch’s plans to step up further investments in the country.
MUMBAI: When margins wobble, liquidity talks and in Q3 FY25-26, cash did most of the talking. Den Networks Limited closed the December quarter with consolidated revenue of Rs.251 crore, marginally higher than the previous quarter but down 4 per cent year-on-year, even as profitability stayed resilient on the back of strong cash reserves and disciplined cost control.
Subscription income softened to Rs.98 crore, slipping 3 per cent sequentially and 14 per cent from last year, while placement and marketing income offered some cheer, rising 15 per cent quarter-on-quarter to Rs.148 crore. Total costs climbed faster than revenue, up 7 per cent QoQ to Rs.238 crore, driven largely by higher content costs and operating expenses. As a result, EBITDA dropped sharply to Rs.13 crore from Rs.19 crore in Q2 and Rs.28 crore a year ago, pulling margins down to 5 per cent.
Yet, the bottom line refused to blink. Profit after tax stood at Rs.40 crore, up 15 per cent sequentially and only marginally lower than last year’s Rs.42 crore. A healthy Rs.57 crore in other income helped cushion operating pressure, keeping profit before tax at Rs.48 crore, broadly stable quarter-on-quarter despite the tougher cost environment.
The real headline-grabber, however, sits on the balance sheet. The company remains debt-free, with cash and cash equivalents swelling to Rs.3,279 crore as of December 31, 2025. Net worth rose to Rs.3,748 crore, while online collections accounted for 97 per cent of total receipts, underscoring strong cash discipline across operations, including subsidiaries.
In short, while Q3 showed signs of operating strain, the financial backbone remains solid. With zero gross debt, steady profits and a formidable cash war chest, the company enters the next quarter with flexibility firmly on its side proving that in uncertain markets, balance sheet strength can be the best growth strategy.
