News Broadcasting
Ranbir Singh Mahendra on ‘Hardtalk India’ on 17 June
BBC World' Hardtalk India will showcase Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chairman of Indian cricket’s governing body Ranbir Singh Mahendra on 17 June. The show will air at 9 pm.
The repeat will follow on 19 June at 12 pm. The programme is presented by Karan Thapar and produced by Infotainment Television.
Mahendra says Ganguly “has to improve” and hopes a CEO will deal with business in new headquarters in Delhi, in a statement issued by BBC.
The chairman of Indian cricket’s governing body tells BBC World on Hardtalk India that Sourav Ganguly’s form “is a matter of concern” and “the Selection Committee is definitely going to look into it”.
Ranbir Singh Mahendra also says he is seriously thinking of appointing a chief executive officer this year to take care of the general business of the BCCI.
He hopes that the organisation’s offices will also move from Mumbai to Delhi, he reveals to the Hardtalk India programme.
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.
