News Broadcasting
TV Today applies for business channel uplink
MUMBAI: The Aroon Purie-controlled TV Today Network is back in the news after the launch of its Hindi news channel Tez. Hardly has the dust settled on the launch of Tez than it has sought uplink licence for yet another channel.
This would be the fifth from the stable. Government sources indicate that TV today is contemplating coming out with a business channel and the uplink licence that has been sought mentions that fact. The details of the proposed business channel have not been forthcoming however.
Before that though, there is the fourth channel from the stable that is awaiting entry into an increasingly crwoded news terrain. The fourth channel, which is expected to be a metro-centric channel, is targeting a December or early January 2006 launch.
Information and Broadcasting minstry sources have confirmed the developments to Indiantelevision.com.
At present, in the Hindi business news space, the already existing channels are CNBC Awaaz and Zee Business, while in the English space there is CNBC TV18 and NDTV Profit. What has yet to be identified is whether the proposed business channel will be attacking the English or Hindi news space.
As has been reiterated by various media analysts, every new news channel will have to carve out its own identity and uniqueness within the given space. This seems to be the mantra for TV Today Network as well.
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.
