News Broadcasting
China mulls banning foreign cartoons from prime time
MUMBAI: Tom and Jerry might bid adieu to China’s prime time television shows soon! As the country’s cartoon industry aspires to get self-sufficient, a ban on foreign-made cartoons is on the cards.
Chinese media reports have quoted state administration officials as saying that, China could ban foreign-made cartoons from its television’s prime time once the quantity and quality of domestic cartoons reach a certain level.
“We really need to encourage domestic-made cartoons. From the mid-80s, a lot of cartoons from America (the United States) and Japan were imported into China for free or at very little cost. It’s a kind of dumping,” China Cartoon Arts Committee head Fu Tiezhen has been quoted in media reports as saying. According to a government official, presently the ratio of foreign-made cartoons to domestic ones is restricted at 4:6.
Foreign cartoons are widely available in china both on TV and on disk. This phenomenon has been a cause of worry to the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television officials who have been putting their best efforts to nurture the domestic animation industry in the country.
Chinese studios are yet to come up with a successful brand of their own. part from a handful of traditional tales like Journey to the West and a few new ones made with government backing, such as The Big Headed Boy, there are few locally made selections.
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.
