News Broadcasting
V6 News set to launch Telugu GEC
MUMBAI: VIL Media Pvt Ltd-owned V6 News, a 24-hour Telugu satellite news broadcaster, is set to launch a general entertainment channel.
V6 News, launched in March 2012, managed to gain popularity among the audience in Hyderabad and Telangana market within a short span of time. Earlier, it was reported that Teenmaar news had become the most watched news program for the channel.
The network has executed a soft launch of its GEC, starting test transmission service on Intelsat17 satellite at 66.5 degree east. Indiantelevision.com has also learnt that V6 News’ GEC will be a free-to-air (FTA) channel.
In 2016, V66 News had asked Broadcast Audience Research Council India (BARC India) to suspend its ratings review for some weeks. The channel then temporarily suspended the review of its viewership owing to suspected mala fide practices.
Later in 2015, during week 31 to 34, the channel had scored an average of 192 GRPs against 172 GRPs clocked by its competitorTV9 in the Hyderabad market. V6 News was the fourth most watched Telugu news channel during the first 7 weeks of 2018 with 214,283 impressions. The network’s viewership seems to be growing with time, moving to rank 4 in week 5 and to rank 3 in weeks 6 and 7 of 2018.
Even in week 24, the channel garnered the third position with 22609 impressions, with TV9 Telugu being the leader with 34623 impressions and NTV Telugu securing second position with 28573 impressions.
Considering Star Maa, Zee Telugu, Gemini TV and ETV Telugu and among others are the players in the Telugu market that V6’s GEC will have to compete with, it would be interesting to note what the channel has in store for the audience in its bid to differentiate itself from the pack.
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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.
