News Broadcasting
Govt to make amendments only after consultation: PM
NEW DELHI: News channels can take a breather with prime minister Manmohan Singh hinting at a broader consultation with all stakeholders before coming out with any amendments that would put curbs on news coverage.
The PM on Wednesday assured editors of news broadcasters that any changes in the act will only be taken up “after the widest possible consultation with all the stakeholders and eliciting their different points of view on the proposed changes.”
In a brief statement, the PM office said that the PM has received “several representations from the media agencies regarding certain proposed changes in the Cable Television Network Rules currently under consideration.”
Thus, the PM has put the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, which was seen as a gag act on media, on hold for now.
Earlier, the government had been contemplating some changes in the act and the rules under it in view of what it perceives to be the “excessive and exaggerated” coverage of the tragic terrorist attack in Mumbai on 26 November and the “continual” coverage thereon.
The Act now monitors stories on sex, crime, footage of narco-analysis admissions and others.
Editors of news channels have been trying to mobilise political support and have met BJP President Rajnath Singh, LK Advani, and AICC president Sonia Gandhi to express their concerns over the proposed amendments.
Gandhi said that she and the Congress party believed that “the freedom of the press should not be compromised.” She further assured that a “middle way” would be found to solve the problem.
Several political leaders such as Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh, CPI (M) general secretary Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury have extended their support to news broadcasters. Yechury, for instance, said his party had asked the government to form an independent regulatory board for the media industry.
Karat has written a letter to PM saying, “Our Party is of the opinion that there should be no hasty step taken regarding media regulation. Apart from the self-regulatory mechanism put in place by the news channels, it is necessary to have co-regulation through an independent regulatory body. How this is to be done has to be discussed and a common approach arrived at. Till then, no steps should be taken to empower the government and the administration to further regulate the news channels.”
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.
