News Broadcasting
Synamedia joins Alliance for Open Media
MUMBAI: The Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia) has announced that Synamedia, the world's largest independent video software provider, has joined at the promoter level.
As a member of the Alliance, Synamedia will collaborate with AOMedia members, which include fellow leading internet and media technology companies, to advance open standards for media compression and delivery over the web. Synamedia's video network portfolio features video distribution, processing, and delivery services, and solutions to power premium quality broadcast and broadband video, create compelling live multi-screen experiences, enable software-defined video processing and unify operations.
AOMedia members include industry leaders like Amazon, ARM, Cisco, Facebook, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Mozilla, Netflix, NVIDIA, Samsung Electronics, and Tencent.
The availability of AOMedia Video Codec 1.0 (AV1), AOMedia's open-source, royalty-free video coding format is a significant milestone in the journey to deliver a next-generation video format. AV1 is interoperable, open, optimized for internet delivery and scalable to any modern device at any bandwidth. AV1 enables more screens to display the vivid images, deeper colours, brighter highlights, darker shadows, and other enhanced UHD imaging features that consumers and businesses have come to expect – all while using less data.
"We're thrilled to join AOMedia. As customers make more intelligent use of virtualization and cloud, we see the adoption of AV1 as a way to further our own goals of enhancing online video streaming experiences for OTT at scale. We look forward to working alongside AOMedia members to open up new possibilities to use AV1 for royalty-free, cross-platform online video across a wide range of applications," said Julien Signes, senior vice president and general manager, video network at Synamedia.
"We're excited to have Synamedia as our newest member, reflecting our joint commitment to increase the openness and interoperability of internet video," said Matt Frost, AOMedia vice president of communications and membership, and director at Google. "Synamedia brings to AOMedia a long history of live encoding and OTT delivery for major content distributors. We look forward to collaborating to improve the quality and availability of streaming video with AV1."
Designed at the outset for hardware optimization, the AV1 specification, reference code, and bindings are available for toolmakers and developers to download here to begin designing AV1 into products. Specifically, the release of AV1 includes:
Ø Bitstream specification to enable the next generation of silicon
Ø Unoptimized, experimental software decoder and encoder to create and consume the bitstream
Ø Reference streams for product validation
Ø Binding specifications to allow content creation and streaming tools for user-generated and commercial video.
Alliance for Open Media
Launched in 2015, the Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia) was formed to define and develop media technologies to address marketplace demand for an open standard for video compression and delivery over the web. Board-level, Founding Members include Amazon, Apple, Arm, Cisco, Facebook, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Mozilla, Netflix, NVIDIA, Samsung Electronics, and Tencent. AOMedia's open-source, royalty-free, video codec AV1 is a significant milestone in the ability to deliver a next-generation video format that is interoperable, open, optimized for internet delivery and scalable to any modern device at any bandwidth.
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.
