News Broadcasting
Superna Kalle made SPTI international networks V-P
MUMBAI: Martha Eberts, Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI) president Michael Grindon’s point person overseeing operations in Asia (India included), now has a senior executive working alongside her in this function.
Providing critical leadership support to Eberts (SPTI senior V-P international networks and development) is Superna Kalle, who has just been made vice-president of international networks.
Together with Eberts, Kalle will establish business priorities for SET and MAX in India, AXN Asia and Animax Asia, and AXN Japan and Animax Japan, and will work on developing new distribution opportunities in the United States, worldscreen.com has reported.
Though indiantelevision.com was unable to get any official clarification from SET India in this regard, Kalle’s appointment appears to have been necessitated by the departure of Michael March, who was based out of Hong Kong.
Both Eberts and March served as SPTI representatives in SET Discovery Pvt Ltd, the distribution joint venture SET India and Discovery Communications India (DCI) formed in mid-2000.
Eberts, along with Grindon and senior executive V-P international networks Andy Kaplan, are the three directors from SPTI on the board of SET India.
Kalle and Eberts will continue to be based out of the Sony Pictures headquarters in Culver City, California.
Kalle joined Sony Pictures Entertainment as manager of corporate development in 1999 and served in different functions. Her last posting was V-P corporate development.
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.
