News Broadcasting
New study offers insights into future TV scenario in the UK
LONDON: A major new study into the future of television was released yesterday by Britain’s Independent Television Commission (ITC), setting the scene for Parliamentary debates on the Communications Bill.
Television and Beyond: The Next Ten Years is a study that incorporates the personal perspectives of 17 expert authors on the cultural and economic issues facing the medium in the coming decade and offer their visions for the future.
The contributors are: David Aaronovitch; Peter Bazalgette; Tony Benn; Chris Cramer; Luis Enriquez; Tim Ewington; Robin Foster; Alex Graham; Janice Hughes; Reed Hundt; Jude Kelly; Nick Lovegrove; Charlie Marshall; Mark Oliver; Michael Palin; Chris Smith and Mark Thompson.
Launching the book, ITC chief executive Patricia Hodgson said: “The Communications Bill and the single regulator it creates, will shape the economic, social and cultural potential of the sector in the UK for a generation. This new volume sets the scene for Parliamentary debates on the Bill. It deals with television but, as technologies converge, it does so in the context of communications as a whole.”
An official release describes the book to be a guide to what is needed to deliver British television into the digital age and to meet the challenge of combining a deregulated, open and competitive market with the quality of content the citizen deserves. The essays are grouped into three sections. The first offers authoritative views on how markets are likely to develop over the next ten years. In the second section, the writers examine public and industry expectations of the new electronic media in terms of quality of output and how content will inform and support both individuals and civic society as a whole . The third section sets out the high-level policy approaches the authors believe will deliver the investment, quality and accountability necessary for success.
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.
