News Broadcasting
Rahul Chakkara is the controller of BBC’s itv services
MUMBAI: Rahul Chakkara has been appointed as the new controller of BBCi’s 24/7 interactive TV services. These are the BBC’s ‘always-on’ information services and are available on digital television platforms in the UK.
Chakkara’s predecessor Emma Somerville was appointed as the head of interactive TV programming earlier this year.
Chakkara will take office on 1 June 2004. He will be reporting to Ashley Highfield who is the director of new media and technology. Chakkara will be responsible for strategic direction, planning and budgeting, commissioning of content and the overall branding of BBCi’s interactive TV services.
Highfield was quoted in a company release saying, “Rahul has an impressive track record of launching iTV services and developing brand awareness. His skill-set will be an invaluable addition to the team and the development of BBCi’s 24/7 services in the future.”
Chakkara was the director of marketing and interactive television at NDS. He was responsible for the global marketing of digital television and future technologies as well as developing the iTV business.
Chakkara began his career in software engineering with ICL-Fujitsu in 1987 before joining P&G Europe as a brand manager in 1992.
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.
