News Broadcasting
UK broadcasters join forces in DTT high definition trial
MUMBAI: UK broadcasters BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five have joined forces to launch the UK’s first high definition (HD) trial broadcasts to terrestrial aerials.
A specially selected 450-strong audience sample have collected their trial HD set top boxes (STBs) for the closed technical digital terrestrial television (DTT) technical trial, which is due to last six months.
HD, the parties state, is a step change in television technology, which provides far clearer and more detailed pictures than normal standard definition TV. Each picture contains up to five times as much digital information as an ordinary TV picture.
The trial will offer participating broadcasters and their technical partners valuable lessons about delivering HD broadcasts on a digital terrestrial network and also research how the audience enjoys this new format.
It will help to discover whether there could be HD broadcasts on Freeview in future. The trial is being conducted under an Ofcom licence, which strictly limits the number of receivers and forbids reception of the trial stream by general members of the public. Humax and Advanced Digital Broadcast (ADB) have supplied the HD set top boxes for the trial.
The DTT HD trial consists of low power transmissions from Crystal Palace in London on frequencies that are not suitable for high power broadcasting.
National Grid Wireless (NGW) is transmitting the BBC’s HD stream, which went on air last month, and Red Bee Media provides play-out services.
Arqiva is transmitting the multiplex shared by ITV, Channel 4 and Five, with Grass Valley, a business within Thomson, providing broadcast playout and video encoding equipment.
Siemens Business Services is providing technical support for the BBC’s HD trial. The test broadcasts will use MPEG4 video coding, 8K carriers and 64QAM modulation at launch – different parameters may be tested during the trial period.
The BBC’s trial DTT HD stream will offer identical programming to its HD trial broadcasts on satellite and cable over the trial period.
That includes the BBC’s World Cup coverage, major Wimbledon matches and programming highlights such as Planet Earth and Bleak House.
ITV will offer its own World Cup coverage in HD, completing the full line-up of World Cup games, as well as drama such as Agatha Christie’s Poirot specials Death on the Nile and Murder in Mesopotamia, documentaries such as Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Ocean Adventures and classic films including All Quiet on the Western Front and The Big Sleep.
Channel 4’s HD trial broadcasts will include hit US drama series Lost and Desperate Housewives, FilmFour films and other Channel 4 programming.
Five will be showing episodes of CSI in addition to commissioned programmes such as Tim Marlow at MOMA and movies like Cocktail.
Research company TNS Media is conducting the research. The audience panel was selected from online volunteers who registered on a website in April. All had existing HD Ready television sets and will be supplied with special DTT HD set top boxes.
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.
