News Broadcasting
Action packed Friday nights on Star Movies this April
MUMBAI: With Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters, Friday nights are going to get action packed week after week during this April with Star Movie’s Friday Night Premiere.
After the Oscar Fever and Made in India festivals, Star Movies is all set to take its viewers on a roller coaster ride this April with the premier of the latest award winning and box office hits like- The Pianist, Road to Perdition, The Ring, Jeepers Creepers and Bullet-proof Monk.
With some of the best performances by some of Hollywood’s great stars, the premiere is kick starting with The Pianist, on Friday 2 April at 9.00 pm. The film is an adaptation of the autobiography of Wladyslaw Szpilman, the renowned Polish composer and pianist, was made by the acclaimed director Roman Polanski and was the winner of three Oscars.
The next blockbuster on the track is Road to Perdition to be aired on 9 April, starring two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks along with Paul Newman and Jude Law. Directed by Oscar winning director of American Beauty Sam Mendes, the film is set in the depression-era Chicago where hit man Michael O’Sullivan (Tom Hanks) is known to his friends and enemies alike as the ‘Angel of Death’, a person who is uncompromising in his work but at the same time devoted to his private life. But when these two worlds collide, taking the lives of his wife and his younger son, O’Sullivan embarks on a startling journey of revenge.
The next on 16 April at 9.00 pm is The Ring, a suspense thriller starring Naomi Watts and Martin Henderson, the lead actor of Gurinder Chadha’s forthcoming Bride & Prejudice. Directed by Gore Verbinski, this film is a remake of one of Japan’s biggest box office hits.
That’s not all. Another film in the horror-suspense genre Jeepers Creepers awaits on 23 April. The film is about a group of unsuspecting teens from college across the US, encounters a supernatural creature, hell bent on killing them. In their attempt to escape, this fast paced thriller fills one with heart-stopping jolts and mind-bending twists.
The month ends with the action packed Bulletproof Monk starring Chow Yun-Fat and Seann William Scott to be aired on 30 April. The story is about a mysterious monk who has for 60 years protected an ancient scroll that holds the key to unlimited power. But when a streetwise punk saves him from capture, the monk thinks that he has found a replacement protector for the scroll.
News Broadcasting
Network18 Q4 revenue grows 9.7 per cent, EBITDA at Rs 30 crore
PAT improves to Rs 306.6 crore, margins steady amid cost pressures.
MUMBAI: Not all news is breaking, some of it is quietly improving. Network18 Media & Investments Limited appears to be doing just that, tightening losses and stabilising margins even as costs continue to weigh on the business. For FY26, the company reported revenue from operations of Rs 1,955.1 crore, up from Rs 1,896.2 crore in FY25, signalling modest top-line growth in a challenging media environment. Total income stood at Rs 1,978.2 crore, compared to Rs 1,913 crore a year earlier.
Profit after tax came in at Rs 306.6 crore for the year, a sharp turnaround from Rs 3,225.4 crore in FY25, largely reflecting the absence of large exceptional items that had inflated the previous year’s numbers. On a more comparable basis, the company’s operating performance showed signs of gradual stabilisation.
However, the quarterly picture remained under pressure. For the March quarter, Network18 reported a loss of Rs 53.1 crore, narrower than the Rs 98.1 crore loss in the same period last year, but still indicative of ongoing cost challenges.
Expenses continued to track high. Total expenses for FY26 stood at Rs 2,235.7 crore, up from Rs 2,197.8 crore in FY25. Key cost heads included operational expenses of Rs 765.9 crore, employee benefits of Rs 475.9 crore, and marketing, distribution and promotional spends of Rs 427.1 crore, underlining the continued investment required to sustain reach and engagement.
At an operating level, margins remained under strain. Operating margin stood at 2.33 per cent for FY26, marginally higher than 1.77 per cent in FY25, while net profit margin remained negative at -13.02 per cent, though improved from -14.89 per cent.
On the balance sheet, total assets rose to Rs 8,957.6 crore as of 31 March 2026, from Rs 8,317.5 crore a year earlier. Equity strengthened to Rs 4,958.7 crore, while borrowings increased to Rs 3,112.8 crore, reflecting a higher reliance on debt to support operations.
Cash flows told a mixed story. While financing activities generated Rs 83.9 crore, operating cash flow remained negative at Rs -24 crore, highlighting ongoing pressure on core cash generation. Cash and cash equivalents, however, improved to Rs 33.9 crore from Rs 1.8 crore.
The numbers point to a company in transition growing revenues, trimming losses, but still grappling with structural cost pressures. In a sector where scale often comes at a price, Network18 seems to be inching towards balance, one quarter at a time.
