News Broadcasting
Prasun Bajpai, two top editors quit Sahara Samay
NEW DELHI: In a sudden development, Punya Prasun Bajpai, along with two top members of the editorial team, has exited the Sahara group’s flagship Hindi news channel Samay.
Bajpai, Sanjay Bragta and Narendra Pratap Singh, the numbers one, two and three at the channel, resigned and left the office this afternoon. It is also learnt that a total of eight people have left, though their names were not available at the time of filing this report.
Both Bajpai and the channel admitted to the developments, though details of the reasons behind it were sketchy.
However, it is learnt that there was a lengthy meeting between the top officials of the company and the channel heads, apparently to see if a compromise could be worked out. The meeting ended in the resignation of the three top men.
When contacted, Sumit Roy, who heads the news business for Sahara, had this to offer. “They were asked to resign because of non-performance and serious dispute with the management. We were not getting the TRPs and channel share, and this was unworkable.”
Defended Bajpai: “We were given the responsibility of improving the channel and bringing in credibility. We had taken several radical steps to professionalise the channel. It is there for all to see. So if they now say it was non-performance, that is their version of things, I have nothing to say.”
It was during Bajpai’s stint that Sahara Samay dropped the name ‘Sahara’ and donned a new look.
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.
