News Broadcasting
Sun Network inks movie deal with Buena Vista
MUMBAI: Sun Network, in its efforts to fortify its Hollywood content, has signed a multi-year agreement for blockbuster library features with Buena Vista International Television – Asia Pacific (BVITV-AP).
This is the network’s first-ever deal with a Hollywood Studio. The announcement was made by Sun TV chairman & MD Kalanithi Maran and BVITV-AP senior vp Steve Macallister.
The deal will help Sun to telecast blockbuster Hollywood movies including Mission to Mars, Pearl Harbor and Billy Bathgate in its channels including Sun TV / KTV, Gemni TV and Surya TV. Sun TV and KTV have already been showing dubbed Hollywood movies in Tamil while Surya TV and Gemini TV are yet to get into dubbed movie programming.
“Our successful track record and continuity at the international box office over recent years reflect the strength and contemporary nature of our features library,” said Macallister in an official release. “The Indian market has a tremendous appetite for entertainment and we are thrilled to be working with Sun TV, in their first-ever deal with a major Hollywood studio, in delivering world-class titles to their audience.”
“This deal marks a significant milestone for Sun TV as we move into a new strategic direction of diversifying and further expanding our program mix to fulfill the increasingly sophisticated tastes of Indian viewers,” added Maran.
BVITV-AP has some of the ever-green action-adventure and classic titles in its library. Tom Cruise’s Cocktail, Dustin Hoffman starrer Billy Bathgate and the Julia Roberts-Nick Nolte starrer I Love Trouble are some of the important titles the library holds, the release says.
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.
