News Broadcasting
Gandhi voted into top 10 greatest S. Africans of all time
MUMBAI: The South African version of the BBC television format The Greats has resulted in Mahatma Gandhi being listed as one of the ten greatest South Africans of all time.
In Great South Africans, based on the BBC’s Great Britons, public service broadcaster SABC 3 asked the South African public to vote for the country’s greatest men and women. Many South Africans voted for Mahatma Ghandi, thus making him one of the top ten.
The vote is now on to decide which one out of the list will be most deserving of a place in history next to Nelson Mandela. In a surprise departure from the original BBC format, Nelson Mandela was declared the Greatest South African of all and the public is now being asked to vote for a winner from the other nine Great South Africans. The BBC’s Great Britons led to Winston Churchill being voted the Greatest Briton.
The format of the show was licensed to SABC 3 by BBC Worldwide, the commercial consumer arm of the BBC. BBC Worldwide head of Africa, South Asia and Middle East Monisha Shah commented, “One of the most interesting aspects of the format of The Greats is that it provides so many topics for nation wide discussion: ‘What is greatness?’ ‘What qualifies one – in this case – as a Great South African?’ It is a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi’s lasting legacy that South Africa considers him one of its own. We look forward to licensing a similar programme about Great Indians which will generate similar interest in India’s icons, past and present.”
Over the next nine weeks, celebrity ‘champions’ will try to convince the public why their candidate should win, in 30-minute documentaries on SABC 3. Author and journalist Brenda Kali, herself a member of the Indian community in South Africa, will be Mahatma Gandhi’s advocate.
The top ten Great South Africans as voted for by the South African public includes: Dr Christiaan Barnard, F W De Klerk, Mahatma Gandhi, Nkosi Johnson; Winnie Madikizela Mandela; Nelson Mandela; Thabo Mbeki; Gary Player; Jan Smuts and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
BBC Worldwide has also licensed the format of The Greats to Germany, where more than three million votes were cast and statesman Konrad Adenauer was voted ‘Best German’, to Finland and The Netherlands where the top ten is due to be announced shortly, and to Portugal, Canada, and Czech Republic and Russia, while negotiations are underway with broadcasters in many more countries around the world.
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.
