News Broadcasting
Judge sets discovery period in Canal Plus vs NDS case
The battle being played out by media giants Vivendi Universal and News Corp through their respective television security units in a district court in San Francisco has entered a critical juncture. At issue is a $ 1 billion piracy suit filed last month by Vivendi’s Canal Plus alleging that engineers at NDS Group broke Canal Plus’ security systems for its digital pay-television service and made the codes available on the Web for free. NDS is 80 per cent owned by News Corp.
Both sides said the judge had agreed to an accelerated discovery period, and that their lawyers will immediately begin working out a schedule for each to review the other’s documents and other relevant materials.
They said their lawyers would report back to the judge on any difficulties, and the judge would arbitrate the disputes.
Canal Plus’ suit asks for damages of $1 billion, the amount it alleges it has lost from the supposed piracy. Both NDS and Canal Plus’ Canal Plus Technologies unit make “conditional access” systems that allow digital television providers to restrict, usually through a special card that plugs into the set-top box, what programs a customer receives.
Last week, Canal Plus filed an affidavit with the court from an engineer whose consulting firm is partly owned by NDS and who claims to have exact details on how NDS allegedly pirated Canal Plus’s codes.
In an official release, NDS said “the judge approved NDS’s suggestion that the parties work out a comprehensive discovery plan.”
” As NDS explained to the judge, NDS intends to show that Canal+’s claims have no basis and needs discovery from Canal+, in part to determine whether Canal+ is improperly using NDS technology. NDS and Canal+ were instructed to work out a discovery plan and report to the court if they are unable to agree,” the statement says.
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.
