News Broadcasting
ESPN’s SportsCenter celebrates 1st anniversary in India
April is a record month for ESPN’s SportsCenter show in Asia as all three local versions achieved notable milestones with SportsCenter in Taiwan incorporating presenters into the programme, SportsCenter Hindi celebrating its first year anniversary as India’s one-stop source for the latest sports news, and SportsCenter Asia becomes the most popular sports news programme on cable in Singapore.
SportsCenter Hindi, which claims to be India’s first-ever live Hindi sports news bulletin, celebrates its first anniversary. Darain Shahidi hosts the show and segments include Headlines, International News, Cricket News, India Diary, India Results. The show airs at 8pm with a repeat at 11pm from Monday-Friday.
SportsCenter Taiwan is expected to strengthen its market presence with the addition of news presenters Teng Kuo-Hsiung, Julian Lin and Francis Chang, an official release states. The latest decision emulates the winning formula of the American show. Show sponsors are Daimler Chrysler and President PoSweat while segment sponsors include Federal Express, UBS and Adidas.
The live pan-regional edition of the show, SportsCenter Asia broadcasts entirely in English. In markets where peoplemarket research is conducted cable data shows that 39 per cent of professionals, managers, executives and businessmen watch the show in Taiwan. It attracts 47 per cent of male professionals in Singapore and more than half of upscale adult male cable viewers in India. (AC Nielsen Taiwan, TN Sofres Infosys Singapore and TAM India Media Xpress, 13 August 2001-15 March 2002)
In Singapore peoplemeter research shows that SportsCenter Asia is watched by 39 per cent of all cable individuals. The number increases to 52 per cent among professionals, managers, executives and businessmen ages 25 to 44. Competing sports news programmes on other news and sports channels on cable are lagging behind, an official release states.
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.
