News Broadcasting
World Congress of History Producers to be held in Rome
MUMBAI: Some of the world’s leading television program commissioners will meet face-to-face with delegates, network at round-table lunches, and provide critical insight at broadcaster briefing sessions throughout the 2005 World Congress of History Producers in Rome from 1 December to 4 December 2005.
These face-to-face sessions, decision making lunches, and broadcaster briefings will bring World Congress delegates together with such notable program commissioners as National Geographic Channel’s senior vice president of production, Michael Cascio; UK’s head of acquisitions & development, Fremantle International Distribution, Shane Murphy; Australian Broadcasting Corporation commissioning editor, Stuart Menzies; The History Channel UK’s head of co-productions & acquisitions, Louise Dillon; RTI SpA – Mediaset Group, head of programme acquisitions, Daniela Bagliani; Tom Koch, director, WGBH International; Michael Katz, vice president, Programming & Production, AETN International, The History Channel USA; and Kristina Hollstein, director, Documentary Co-production, ZDF Enterprises GmbH, Germany, states an official release.
“This represents an extraordinary opportunity for producers to meet face-to-face with global leaders in history and biography programming,” said the event’s, executive producer, Craig Thompson. “The World Congress of History Producers is dedicated to serving its constituency with relevant and beneficial services, and we are honoured to have such strong support from the broadcasting community.”
Additional highlights of this year’s History Congress include: Genre Confusion; The Blurring Boundaries of History Programming where panellists will debate and discuss the blending of documentary genres including science, history, current affairs and drama; Tapping into New Markets, a look at connecting the media with the global community as a source for new stories and expanding markets; and The Ethics of Access: Getting Organizations to Open Up, where a panel of experts, including members from Opus Dei, will discuss the challenges and consequences of permitting media access to the internal structures of private organizations.
The World Congress of History Producers is produced annually by Achilles Media, with the support of the top international players in history and biography programming. The Board of Directors, Editorial Committee and Advisory Council for the History Congress are international in scope and represent the crème de la crème of producers and broadcasters in the genre. Host Broadcaster of the 2005 event is RAI Educational, the release adds. For complete details and to register go to www.history2005.com.
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.
