News Broadcasting
BBC readies new lot of India-based shows
Constantly keep refurbishing formats as well as shows. That is the philosophy Narendra Morar, commissioning editor, BBC World, believes works today. And fitting well into this strategy is the latest India-specific programme launching on the channel – Dateline India.
Dateline India launches Friday, 5 April and will be hosted by columnist Tavleen Singh. The weekly show fits into the same slot earlier occupied by Question Time India and will air every Friday at 10 pm.
The programme is weighted towards political issues and the format is that every week three journalists will be invited to debate and discuss the issues that have dominated the week.
“Dateline India presents the viewer with topical, perceptive and sometimes controversial opinions and analysis on national issues,” says Morar. “This new India-specific programme affirms BBC World’s faith in the power, depth and understanding of Indian journalistic talent and makes the most of this to give viewers a better appreciation of current affairs and how it affects their lives.”
Narendra Morar
While Dateline India will invite the top journalists in the country to participate, it will also serve as a platform to showcase journalistic talent that is normally outside the pale of most such shows, says Morar. It appears that he is hoping that Dateline India will offer more by way of opinionated debate than “the same old faces”.
Giving an example of how the formats of BBC shows are being tweaked, Morar referred to the current India Business Report series. Earlier it was a show produced in the magazine format while the current 13-episode series is issue based. Once this series completes its run, a series around on key personalities in Indian business will be run, Morar revealed.
Most of the series that will henceforth be aired will have 13-episode runs, Morar says.
These are the shows that go on air post-April:
Dateline India with Tavleen Singh hosting; Wheels (new series) with Niret Alva & Natasha Margo hosting and Face to Face (new series) where Karan Thapar continues as the interviewer.
That is not all, coming in June is a new series called Great Moments in Cricket. Morar is also on the lookout for a new reality series to replace Commando! which is nearing the end of its run.
Referring to Commando! and Hospital which preceded it, Morar said while they were received well, it was a gamble on the part of BBC to go ahead with them. He saw that as a major problem in India where channels were unwilling to take risks. “There is not enough emphasis on original ideas. Programmers are taking the path of least resistance,” Morar said.
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.
