News Broadcasting
UK Gearhouse Broadcast to supply broadcast facilities for the 15 Asian Games
MUMBAI: UK based broadcast solutions company Gearhouse Broadcast has bagged the contract to supply broadcast facilities for the production coverage of the 15 Asian Games.
The 15 Asian Games officially commence on 1 December, 2006 with the Opening Ceremony and conclude with the Closing Ceremony on 15 December, 2006. For the first time since 1974, the Games are held in Doha with over 45 countries and regions competing across a record-breaking 39 sports in more than 40 venues.
Gearhouse Broadcast will supply, install and operate eight complete production flyaway systems which will range from six camera to ten camera and will be used for the production coverage of the host feed at the twelve stadiums where the various sporting contests will take place. The flyaway’s come out of Gearhouse Broadcast’s range of flyway products and systems at their UK offices.
Gearhouse Broadcast will supply a total of sixty-five operational crew members including engineers, audio engineers, communication engineers, vision controllers, and riggers.
The Games are demanding logistically due to the events being held across twelve stadiums throughout Doha. Provision of broadcast equipment for the Games involves supplying cameras for the field of play areas including twenty-eight HDC 1500s, twenty-six BVP 950s, and high speed super-motion cameras using the Sony HDC 3300 and Thomson LDK23-HS and also three Panasonic AWE 800 SDI cameras, informs an official release.
Gearhouse Broadcast MD Eamonn Dowdall said, “The cameras chosen offer the latest technology available and they will provide the host broadcaster with picture quality of the highest standard.”
The Replay rooms will contain twenty-five EVS XTs. And the twelve production control rooms at each stadium venue will be fitted out with nine production galleries each of which will be installed using sixty-seven LCD Vutrix Series of 23” HD/SD screens. A range of nine vision desks will be supplied from the Sony DVS 7350 to the new MFS 2000, Snell and Wilcox’s Kahuna, Thomson’s DD Series. Controlled via the desks are replay transition devices which will be used to give the mix effect between slo-mo replays and live production.
The master control Areas for engineering and quality control will comprise of test and measurement equipment from Tektronix utilising the WFM 700 and the 601E series. Routers selected will be the Pro-bel series and the Pro-bel Aurora series HD/SD routing systems. Leitch equipment has been selected for the distribution and glue products. Evertz has been selected for the system sync generation equipment and fibre equipment used.
The Audio Control Room will comprise of audio desks from Soundcraft Series 5 56-channel, Soundcraft B800 48-channel console, DDA CS-8 32 channel audio console, and Midas Venice 240 24-channel consoles. Audio monitoring and quality control will be carried out on Bel series monitoring equipment. A variety of microphones have been selected to cover the sporting contests being played which comprise of twenty-four Sennheiser MKH- 816, ninety Sennheiser MKH 416, eleven Audio Technica AT 835 ST stereo microphones and various smaller microphones.
The communications systems provided will be the Clearcom Compact 72 series and new Riedel communications systems. All of the associated broadcast cabling at each of the twelve venues will be supplied and installed by Gearhouse Broadcast. And all of the cabling used will be Belden broadcast series cable, including audio multi ways, triax video and data cabling.
Gearhouse Broadcast will provide ancillary services for the Games consisting of project and logistics management and technical support. The broadcast solutions provider will handle the procurement of equipment required and co-ordinate the transportation of this equipment to and from the venues in Qatar.
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.
