News Broadcasting
HC raps government on CAS delay; next hearing 5 July
NEW DELHI: The government today got some reprieve and the stick on the issue of CAS from the Delhi High Court.
While fixing 5 July as the next date for hearing in a case pertaining to implementation of CAS in three cities, the court questioned the government’s rationale for seeking 265 days for rollout of addressability.
On 10 March, the Delhi High Court had directed the government through the information and broadcasting ministry to implement CAS in four weeks.
The order had come on a petition filed by some MSOs, including Hathway and INCablenet.
A few days after the 30-day deadline got over in April, the government and sector regulator had filed an appeal in the court seeking more time to facilitate rollout of CAS.
The government’s contention was that a consensus needed to be evolved for implementing CAS for which eight to nine months time was needed.
However, the court today reiterated that it would like to see the rollout happen during this calendar year and directed the government to deposit a fine of Rs 100,000.
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.
