News Broadcasting
‘Creative Futures’ to produce future editorial blue print for BBC
MUMBAI: BBC DG Mark Thompson has launched an extensive cross-media, audience-focussed project Creative Futures. This will produce an editorial blueprint for BBC programmes, content and services during the next Charter period.
The Creative Futures project will look at current and emerging audience needs, market trends and the potential of new technology. The aim is to shape strategies in six genres: journalism, drama, knowledge building, comedy, music and children and teens. Recent strategic work carried out in the sport and entertainment genres will feed into the project so that all editorial genres will be represented, as will thinking on what kind of guides, gateways and navigation the BBC may need to offer its audiences in the future.
Thompson said, “This project is designed to turn the purposes and objectives we set out in building public value and the challenges now laid out in the Green Paper into an inspiring editorial strategy. I want the team to come up with specific proposals to ensure that we are ready for the next chapter in the BBC’s history. We need to meet – and exceed – audiences’ rapidly changing expectations, make difficult choices and take calculated risks, while maintaining our commitment to excellence and innovation.”
Thompson will be sponsoring the project personally with the BBC’s Creative Director Alan Yentob. A report will go to the organisation’s creative board in December. Yentob said, “We want a wide-ranging, challenging debate and discussion that will yield ideas which bring the BBC’s purposes to life in a way audiences value and engage with. The conversation will embrace our staff, our audiences, talent inside and outside the BBC and the independent production sector.”
The initiative will be led by Susan Spindler and Richard Halton. Spindler has been a senior Science and Drama executive and was launch director of the BBC’s Making it Happen culture change project. She also becomes deputy director of the Drama, Entertainment and Children’s division. Halton is BBC Television’s controller of strategy and played a major role in developing the BBC’s digital TV portfolio and interactive strategy. BBC deputy DG Mark Byford will head the journalism genre team.
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.
