News Broadcasting
Essence of visual radio, IPR discussed at Broadcast India seminar
MUMBAI: The last two sessions of the opening day of the Broadcast India 2004 (Technical) symposium saw different but very important topics being covered..
Finnish company Jutel RadioMan’s Timo Ruohomaki spoke about the concept of visual radio. This is an application that is expected to grow quickly on mobile phones especially in Europe. “Visual radio will replace FM tuners on mobile handsets. Nokia and HP are leading the way here. Nokia has tied up with radio stations worldwide for content. Nokia had chosen HP to partner it on the visual radio project.
“Nokia had announced the Visual Radio concept last year. Their next version of product which will be released in December will see the visual radio application. A survey conducted by Nokia found that 77 per cent of customers listen to radio at least once a week.”.
Visual radio allows for visual and text messages to be displayed in synchronicity with the broadcast. For instance you can have maps displayed with a weather forecast. It allows for a lot of interactivity. Listeners can send text messages back to the station giving feedback on a show. The station can also sell ringtones of songs on its playlist. .
The technical setup involves a central radio server which is connected to the radio stations. Web development technology is used. Stations can find out how many people are tuning in at a particular point in time. Ruohomaki’s company is making a production system.
The server reads the playlist and accordingly create content. For instance if songs of Dr. Alban are playing then a contest can be run. All listeners have to do is press buttons. In this way market research can also be done to find out if a particular show’s format needs tweaking. In addition the central server is capable of handling huge volumes of data. A case in point is the reality show Big Brother. The normal phone lines got jammed when the elimination time came.
“That will not happen with the server. Another huge advantage for radio stations is in the advertising arena. Listeners can also choose whether they want to find out more about a product being advertised. They can press a button if they want to be on a company’s mailing list for ordering and received further information on products. “
Meanwhile Life Circle Productions’ Ravi Khote talked about the importance of content creators understanding their intellectual Property Rights (IPR). He stated that performance and recording artistes are losing money because they are unaware of the fact that they are entitled to royalties everytime a piece of music that they helped create is used.
“People do not know the difference between being paid one time and a complete buyout. If it is not a complete buyout then everytime a language version of a master product like a song is made you should be paid. Every airplay has to be paid for. Abroad music artistes make more money from royalties that from the one time they were paid to record the material.”
Khote added that he is forming an organisation Amfa which will help performing and recording artistes get royalties everytime the material is used. The first target is ad agencies which use music tunes. “Once the work is seen as being sacrosanct in media things will move fast. When an agency pays a sum of say Rs. 1 million for a film tune they are only paying the producer. There are still the rights of the music composer, the singer that have not been taken into consideration.
“However it is important that you assert that you have played a part in creating the content. The copyright owner does not have to prove that an offender was unaware of the rights. It is the job of the user to find out who owns the copyright. When a film producer uses a performance for remix videos then the performance artiste has to be paid royalty.
“Unfortunately performance artistes in our country are getting squeezed because they are unaware of their rights. In the film industry some of the contracts that are signed are unconstitutional. Artistes signing contracts are being forced into conditions that they do not they have recourse from.”
On a positive note Khote added that in the past few months there had been cases of people asserting themselves. For instance a patriotic song had become embroiled in a royalty dispute. 40 years ago the composer had signed a contract with Saregama saying that a portion of proceeds from the recording would go towards the Indian Army.
The artistes grand daughter in August filed a case in the Mumbai High Court stating that Saregama had not fulfilled its side of the deal. The court then gave the music company one month to furnish details of revenues earned from the song and how much had gone to the Indian Army.
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.
