News Broadcasting
NBC Universal’s Wright calls for greater cooperation between govts for piracy fight
MUMBAI: NBC Universal chairman and CEO Bob Wright has called for governments and businesses to join forces in a rigorous alliance to combat piracy and counterfeiting.
At the Third Global Congress on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy, organised by the World Intellectual Property Organisation, he appealed to broadband providers, Internet auction sites, financial intermediaries and shipping companies to act more promptly in controlling the flow of illegal downloads and trading on their watch.
His speech was called “Hear No Evil No Longer”. He urged business leaders to put the issue of dealing with piracy at the top of their agendas. “The days of ‘hear no evil, see no evil’ must come to an end. The scale of the epidemic leaves no choice. Legitimate businesses have to step forward and declare that they will not profit on the back of IP theft. And if they don’t step forward, governments need to adopt laws to require cooperation.”
He noted that the technology-based, information-based society of tomorrow depends on innovation, invention, and creativity. These are the drivers of growth and progress. He warned that if they are not protected, tomorrow’s world will suffer greatly.
“And from where I sit, we are losing ground in this battle. Much more urgent and concerted action must be taken if we are to turn back a rising global surge of counterfeiting and pirating, which threatens not just to dampen but to seriously threaten the fire of innovation and invention that creates economic growth.”
He noted that one challenge involves raising the profile of the vast extent of intellectual property theft — and explaining and quantifying the threat to it. He stressed the need for action that goes beyond just modest measures.
Piracy results in a ripple effect that magnifies the losses suffered by any individual sector of the economy. For every dollar a nation’s industry loses to counterfeiting and piracy, that nation will lose at least three dollars of GDP.
When a movie studio loses revenues to piracy, it doesn’t have that money to reinvest into making more movies and television. Not only does this affect the individual studio but it also impacts all the companies that would have contributed to or benefited from these unmade productions. It reduces the revenue of the upstream suppliers to movie producers, and of the downstream industries, like movie theaters, DVD retailers, and video rentals.
He went on to note that counterfeiting and piracy depends on legitimate businesses for distribution and resale. It is these businesses that must be enlisted in order to reduce trade in counterfeit and pirated product.
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.
