News Broadcasting
Balaji Tele Q3 numbers take a hit – net slips 16%
MUMBAI: Balaji Telefilms is in the red. The numbers for the production house have come in and they are not good. The company’s net profits for the third quarter ended 31 December 2003 have slipped 15.97 per cent at Rs 146.8 million vis-a-vis Rs 174.7 million for the corresponding previous fiscal.
Total income has gone down from Rs 527.4 million in the Q3 2002 to Rs 448.4 million in the quarter ended 31 December 2003.
Net Sales or Operational Income for the company stands at Rs 440.79 million. While commissioned programming accounts for Rs 377.01 million of the net operational income, sponsored programming brought in Rs 63.78 million for the production house.
The company has stated an earnings per share (EPS) of Rs 2.80 in its declared results.
Balaji Telefilms president – corporate affairs & company secretary Ajay Patadia has resigned with effect from 23 January 2004 and has been appointed as additional director (non-executive). One of the promoters Tusshar Kapoor has also been appointed as a non-executive additional director of the Company, the company informed the National Stock Exchange.
Other appointments include that of Alpa Shah who has been appointed as the company secretary. The company also informed the NSE that director Raj Bhotra has vacated his office as director with effect from 23 January 2004, in terms of clause (g) of sub-section (1) of Section 283 of the Companies Act, 1956.
The Balaji Telefilms stock gained 2.8 per cent on Friday 23 January to close at Rs 97.45. Over 0.12 million shares were traded on the counter on Friday.
Note: The results declared are unaudited, non-cumulative, non-consolidated third quarter financial results.
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.
