News Broadcasting
SABe TV launches sitcom targeting youth
A day after the Adhikari brothers’ SABe TV celebrated two years on air, the “relief channel” yesterday launched another rib-tickler – Doli Leke Aiyee Hai Dullhaniya.
Directed by Kanchan Adhikari, the serial hopes to strike a chord with younger audiences. The plot revolves around two brothers – Prabhakar and Pradeep – both of whom are opposed to marriage though for different reasons. Prabhakar, the elder one is prejudiced him against women, while Pradeep is a compulsive flirt and hence does not want to settle down.
Imran Khan, Raju Kher, Sunil Tawde, Makesh Thakur & Deepshikha in Doli Leke Aiyee Hai Dullhaniya
Says Kanchan Adhikari: “In the case of a comedy, it is very important that the initial episodes hold up the laughter and concretely establish all characters, hence the first few episodes will focus on Prabhakar’s dilemma – his prejudice against marriage and the attempts of everybody to get him married. Of course, each episode will throw up an interesting incident around this theme. Later on we will deviate towards other aspects.”
Kanchan Adhikari, who has also directed SABe TV’s sitcom Abhi To Main Jawan Hoon and Damini (DD Sahyadri’s top soap), among others, says that even though she likes to work on different genres, she took up Doli Leke because this is the age of comedies and a good comedy tends to keep a viewer rapt more than a soap can.
If the preview of the first episode is anything to go by, SABe TV may well have an ace up its sleeve this summer.
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.
