News Broadcasting
Sahara Star Celebrates the festive spirit of Christmas
MUMBAI: Sahara Star, known for celebrating Christmas every year with great zest and joy, brought in the festive spirit by including their guests in their annual fruit mixing activity on 30th October ‘13 for their Christmas cake. The event involves guests creating the batter and letting it ferment with alcohol over a period of time.
The activity hosted by Sahara Star every year, saw excited guests adorning the chef’s hat and gloves working on the batter by adding berries, dry fruits and diced fruits to the mixture. The most essential step of the process brought on many smiles as the guests worked in tandem with the chefs to pourcopious amounts of wine, rum and whisky to soak the fruits.
This mixture will later be used to bake the Christmas Cake. Other Christmas celebrations at Sahara Star include a special Desert Buffet decoration on 14th December and a special Xmas goodies shop being set up from 17th December onwards at Earth Plate. A Ginger Bread house will be set along with the lighting of the Christmas tree in the lobby on 6th December with the attendance of VIP and internal guests. Traditional Christmas drinks Sangria and Glühwein will be served to all the guests as a welcome drink to mark the occasion. Christmas Carols will be sung and snacks with cocktails will be available for the guests at Zero Level.
Among other festivities, cookies and stalking filled with chocolates and jujubes will be placed in all rooms on 24th Dec and Christmas pudding with a shot of non-alcoholic Glühwein will be given to all guests on 25th evening. Carol singing and Good Fat White Santa will be there from the 21st-25th December at Earthplate.
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: 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.
