News Broadcasting
China govt. targets end-2006 launch for special kids channel
MUMBAI: Coming not-so-soon to TV screens in the People’s Republic of China, a kids channel created under the “guidance” of the Communist Party of China (CPC).
With the CPC and (by extension) the Chinese government showing great concern for the nation’s youth, China has ordered all its provincial TV stations to get ready with a special channel catering to children by the end of 2006.
The state Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) has made it obligatory for TV stations to produce and broadcast “excellent” cartoons, movies, educational, entertainment and feature programs suitable for young viewers on the new channel.
There are 367 million children in China, which accounts for 28 per cent of the population. The new development is part of the CPC and the State Council’s package of proposals, issued in March, on improving the ethical, ideological and moral standards of children and young people across the country.
The Chinese government has been taking a lot of care these days to keep obscenity away from TV shows. Last month SARFT ordered TV stations nationwide to curtail air time for TV plays, movies and other programs that depict bloody, violent, homicidal and horror content.
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.
