News Broadcasting
CBS signs wireless deal with Capitol Records for ‘CSI: NY’
MUMBAI: US broadcasters are increasingly looking to forge deals that link the worlds of television, music and wireless communications.
A good example is a deal done by CBS for its forensics show CSI: NY.
A ring tone featuring a single from rock group Coldplay will be woven into an upcoming episode of CSI: NY. Moments later, after the scene is broadcast, a ring tone from that song will be offered to viewers for download on their cell phones.
This is happening due to a cross promotion agreement between CBS and Capitol Records.
A ring tone of Coldplay’s song Talk will be embedded into an episode of CSI: NY which airs tonight 30 November 2005. In the episode, CSI: NY’s Danny Messer played by Carmine Giovinazzo) is investigating a case when his cell phone rings to the tune of Talk.
Following the scene, CBS will run promotional messages during the act break in the episode alerting viewers as to how they can purchase and download a ring tone from Talk in Realtone format onto their personal cell phones.
The Realtone version will be available exclusively for one week through most major wireless carriers in the US by sending the text message Talk to a specific number provided by CBS. After this exclusive one week launch window, the ring tone will be widely available, including on CBS.com. In addition to the ring tone, the song Talk will also be used as background music in a scene later in tonight’s episode.
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.
