News Broadcasting
Disney goes 24/7 in Africa
MUMBAI: Disney Channel announced that it would now transmit 24 hours a day on MultiChoice’s DStv platform across South and sub-Saharan Africa.The channel first launched with a 16 hours per day schedule and has now expanded its programming schedule to 24 hours..
In a multiyear agreement with MultiChoice in September 2006, Disney Channel was made available to more than 1.3 million DStv subscribers across South and sub-Saharan Africa. At launch, Disney Channel aired daily from 6 am to 10 pm
It also follows a 2004 edict mandating that Chinese cartoons had to account for at least 60 per cent of a channel’s animation output.
The channel claims to enjoy the position of number one kids’ channel in multichannel homes in South Africa with shows like That’s So Raven, Zack & Cody and the new series Hannah Montana .
An official statement also mentions that with an average 16-percent audience share, the network ranks as one of the top three performing Disney Channels worldwide.
“From day one we have made a huge impact on the South African market, which demonstrates there is a real appetite for Disney Channel programming,” said Disney Channel UK, Scandinavia and emerging markets managing director Rob Gilby.
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.
