News Broadcasting
New Skies’ NSS-7 satellite enters commercial service
New Skies’ NSS-7 Atlantic Ocean region satellite entered into commercial service for premiere broadcast, Internet and telecom customers on 30 May.
The milestone, says the global satellite communications company, was capped by a multi-year agreement with BT Broadcast Services, one of the world’s leading broadcast solutions providers, to launch a new African direct-to-home (DTH) television service for Media Overseas, a unit of Vivendi Universal’s group.
The two companies will deliver a fully integrated, end-to-end service, using BT’s owned and operated Pont de Sevres Teleport in Paris and New Skies’ high-powered NSS-7 Ku-band capacity, says an official release. BT will uplink Media Overseas’ digital programming packages in Paris to a full transponder on NSS-7’s Ku-band Africa spot beam for direct broadcast to consumer households throughout Cameroon, Cte d’Ivoire and Senegal.
NSS-7 successfully completed in-orbit testing and entered commercial service on May 30. The satellite, which was built by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems and launched on 16 April 2002, operates from 338.5 degrees east longitude over the Atlantic Ocean. NSS-7 features nearly 3,500 MHz of capacity spread over 36 C-band and 36 Ku-band transponders. In addition, capacity can be flexibly assigned to eleven high-powered coverage beams, blanketing the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, according to a company release.
NSS-7 was designed to replace the NSS-K and NSS-803 satellites at 338.5 degrees east, combining the extensive television and Internet traffic from the two satellites to debut as a premier video and IP neighborhood in the Atlantic Ocean region. With NSS-7 now operational, New Skies is currently transitioning customers from NSS-K and NSS-803. The company expects to complete the process by late August.
Media Overseas deputy managing director Arnaud de Villeneuve says:”We are especially pleased that the service was up and running on NSS-7 in time for the first match of the World Cup between France and Senegal on May 31, enabling subscribers to watch Senegal’s victory in digital-quality video and audio.”
New Skies’ senior vice president of sales and marketing, Rudo Jockin says NSS-7 will serve as a major transmission platform for broadcasters, cable programmers, news agencies, ISPs, corporate enterprises, rural telecommunication networks, and direct-to-home television operators.
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.
