News Broadcasting
HD TV is the new way to Nab 2005: Sony
MUMBAI: With more than 60 per cent of US households expected to have high definition television (HDTV) sets in 2005, the demand for HD production equipment is rapidly rising. Sony is looking to take advantage of this in a big way.
At this week’s National Association of Broadcasters (Nab) convention in Las Vegas Sony Electronics is ready to meet this demand, with more than 50 per cent of its professional broadcast products on display featuring HD production capabilities.
Under the theme of HD Highway the new Sony professional products at Nab include cameras, camcorders, optical disc technology, production switchers, non-linear editors, tape recorders and videotape, for use by TV and motion picture directors, network and affiliate news organisations and post-production facilities.
Sony Electronics president broadcast and business solutions John Scarcella said, “Sony broadcast and professional products are helping to drive the growth of HD consumer entertainment in every form, from the digital production of TV shows and movies, and even to digital projection in your local movie theatre. Applications for these products stretch beyond broadcast and video and into all aspects of everyday life, from medical and education to corporate and government uses.”
For broadcasters, Sony’s XDCam Professional Disc system, uses blue-laser optical media to capture footage instead of tape. Sony has announced that the ten owned and operated networks of ABC Television will adopt XDCam technology over the next 18 months for their newsgathering and production processes. This announcement comes on the heels of CBS Television’s decision to adopt XDCam technology for its network news division and 16 owned-and-operated stations.
Other high-profile XDCam customers include the E! Entertainment Network and five stations within the Gray Television Group. Also on display at Nab will be a technology demonstration of a high-definition version of Sony’s XDCAM system. For the growing digital cinema industry, Sony is showing its SXRD digital projector. This product is capable of displaying images at nearly four times the resolution of current HD displays, and higher levels of contrast than competing technology.
Sony claims that its SXRD technology is driving the introduction of digital cinema to the American mainstream. In the coming months Landmark Theatres takes delivery of six Sony projectors. The theatre chain will eventually convert all of its 59 theatres to digital projection. Sony’s HD production equipment is also prominent throughout the current TV prime time schedule. More than 50 new and returning shows have been shot digitally with Sony’s CineAlta line of acquisition and recording products.
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.
