News Broadcasting
Cartoon Network to hook viewers with ‘Star Wars’
MUMBAI: The latest in Cartoon Network’s new slew of programme initiatives comes from Star Wars creator George Lucas. Star Wars: Clone Wars an epic micro-series consisting of 20 animated shorts, will air on the channel from 10 November. The first 10 chapters will debut weekdays at 5 pm. The next 10 episodes will next year.
The show continues from where the blockbuster film Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones left off. At the beginning of the Clone Wars, an epic civil war pits the old Republic against a vast separatist movement led by the forces of evil.
Clone Wars is being produced at Cartoon Network Studios by a team led by Genndy Tartakovsky. He was the brains behind the popular Samurai Jack and Dexters Laboratory. Each episodic short will be approximately three-minutes in length.
Meanwhile on 15 November chapters 1-5 will be telecast in order, interspersed throughout that afternoons programming, from 12:50 pm. This will repeat on 16 November from 2 pm. As Clone Wars unfolds, the valiant Jedi Knights lead the Republics Clone Army against both familiar and new adversaries across the galaxy. These new characters, epic battles and intricate stories aim at adding a new dimension to the Star Wars saga.
Tartakovsky added, “It certainly fulfills one of my dreams to work on a project like Star Wars that is so thoroughly established it has become a part of our culture. It is an awesome assignment and Im really honoured to be a contributor to the Star Wars legacy.”
Lucas Licensing president Howard Roffman said, “Genndy Tartakovsky and the team at Cartoon Network are tops in their field. Their work on Samurai Jack shows that they can tell an epic story in a unique way, lavishing equal attention on dramatic battle scenes as well as the dramatic development of the characters.”
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.
