News Broadcasting
Network 18 gets shareholder approval to borrow up to Rs 1800 cr
MUMBAI: The board of directors (BOD) of Network 18, at its annual general meeting (AGM) seeked shareholder approval for allowing borrowing power up to Rs 1800 crore. At the same time the BOD of TV18 also requested the same for Rs 1500 crore.
Both the resolutions were passed giving the BOD rights to borrow till the limit over and above the paid-up capital, free reserves and securities premium account.
Another special resolution was to get an approval to offer or invite to subscribe to non-convertible debentures on private placement basis for both the companies.
‘Private placement’ means any offer of securities or invitation to subscribe securities (equity or securities that convert to equity) to a select group of persons by a company, other than by way of public offer, through issue of a private placement offer letter.
Bothe the special resolutions were passed at the AGM with 100 per cent votes.
The ordinary resolution passed at the meeting included, re-appointment of Raghav Bahl as a director who retires by rotation, appointment of Rohit Bansal and Vinay Chhajlani as directors and appointment of Deepak Parekh and Adil Zainulbhai as independent directors.
Other resolutions include appointment of auditors and fixing their remuneration (ordinary resolution), approval of the remuneration of the cost auditor (ordinary resolution) and adoption of new articles of association of the company (special resolution).
It has been four months since the Bahl-founded company was taken over by petrochemical conglomerate Reliance Industries’ chairman Mukesh Ambani.
News Broadcasting
News TV viewership jumps 33 per cent as West Asia war draws audiences
BARC Week 8 data shows news share rising to 8 per cent despite T20 World Cup
NEW DELHI:Â Even as individual television news channel ratings remain under a temporary pause, the genre itself is seeing a clear surge in audience attention.
According to the latest data from Broadcast Audience Research Council India, television news recorded a 33 per cent jump in genre share in Week 8 of 2026, covering February 28 to March 6.
The news genre accounted for 8 per cent of total television viewership during the week, up from 6 per cent the previous week. The spike in attention coincided with escalating geopolitical tensions involving the United States, Israel and Iran, which have kept global headlines firmly fixed on West Asia.
The rise is notable because it came at a time when cricket was dominating television screens. The high-stakes stages of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, including the Super 8 fixtures and semi-finals, were being broadcast during the same period.
Despite the cricket frenzy, viewers appeared to be toggling between sport and global affairs, boosting the overall share of news programming.
The surge in genre share comes even as the government has enforced a one-month pause on publishing ratings for individual news channels. The move followed regulatory scrutiny of the television ratings ecosystem.
While channel-level rankings remain temporarily out of sight, the genre-level data suggests that when global tensions escalate, audiences continue to turn to television news for real-time updates.
