News Broadcasting
Arun Frank pitching for new soap with WTC backdrop
MUMBAI: It’s not got a slotting on any channel as yet but a new soap (working title Missing), being directed by Arun Frank with a backdrop of the WTC tragedy, is under production. It is planned for a February 2003 launch.
While negotiations are on with both Sahara TV and national broadcaster Doordarshan, Frank says in all probability the show will be telecast on the private channel.
The show revolves around the people who have lost their loved ones in the tragedy and the impact of it on the psyche of those that were witness to the events. It’s about those people who are mentally suffering in agony & pain and how it affects people connected to them, Frank says.
Frank, who is best known for soaps involving relationships, emotions and conflicts like Andaz, Amar Prem and Zindagi Teri Meri Kahani among others, says: “I am not talking about terrorism. I don’t want to, I am not getting into that at all. I am looking at it from the other side, the emotional side, as to what happened after the attacks.” He points out that it’s also about those people who are still living with the hope that their dear one’s might just come back some day.
NRI Ashok Ambardekar and Vilas Salunkhe are producing the serial under their banner Amba Arts International. Ashok Ambardekar has given the story concept and Sanjay Chouhan has written it.
Producer Vilas Salunkhe, Vinay Jain, Nirmal Pandey, Mrinal Kulkarni with Director Arun Frank on the sets of Missing The starcast includes Nirmal Pandey, Ayub Khan, Salil Ankola, Mrinal Kulkarni, Avtar Gill, Vinay Jain, Murali Sharma, Sonia Rakkar, Shakti Singh, Madan Jain and Purvi Sanghavi.
The first schedule is being done at the hill stations of Lonavla and Khandala near Pune. The crew expects to move to Washington in December for the shooting of further episodes (which will actually form the first part of the story).
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.
