News Broadcasting
3 DD channels to be on 3G cell phones globally
NEW DELHI: Media barons Rupert Murdoch and Subhash Chandra believe that the rules of television are changing as consumer demands change with the advent of digital media.
So does Indian pubcaster Prasar Bharati, which manages the world’ biggest terrestrial network Doordarshan and its sibling All India Radio.
Three Doordarshan channels would now be available on all 3G mobile phones globally from April-end, according to a senior executive of Prasar Bharati.
“We have tied up with First Serve Entertainment (former Indian tennis star Vijay Amritraj’s US-based company) to make available DD National, DD Bharati and DD News on all 3G mobile handsets all over the world Prasar Bharati CEO KS Sarma said today.
The agreement with FSE is non-exclusive, leaving Prasar Bharati to enter into similar deals with other companies. However, the revenue generated from this distribution pact would be shared equally between FSE and DD, Sarma added.
DD launches SMS & IVR-based services
DD has also joined hands with ACL Wireless Ltd to launch SMS (short text messages sent over cell phones) and IVR-based interactive services.
The services will be available over the short code 676733 where the last two digits, 33, stand for DD.
As part of this partnership, DD launched an SMS-based news service, adding to the other interactive services that it has via ACLs India6767 platform.
ACL Wireless Ltd, a developer and provider of cutting-edge wireless solutions for consumers and enterprises, has won this contract from DD for a period of three years.
Under the contract, ACL will design, install and manage the services, which, in turn, will be made available to more than 400 million viewers of DD across the country.
ACL offers this service through a fully-hosted multi-modal platform, which is connected to all mobile operators in India. “The DD tie-up is significant as it further consolidates our presence in the wireless domain,” according to ACL Wireless president Atanu Mandal.
DD has used ACLs services for a variety of programmes like contest during cricket matches and in shows like Super Hit Muqabla, Wheel Smart Shrimati, Gen Next and Total Health.
According to DD, interactivity is being proposed to be extended to subjects like stock market alerts, board exam results, video clips of news headlines and SMS-based greetings service for DD News users.
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.
