News Broadcasting
Aaj Tak, Headlines Today enter US market via Echostar
MUMBAI: After Star News, Zee News and NDTV, it is the turn of TV Today to make its American entry.
Aaj Tak and Headlines Today, two of the three channels managed by TV Today, have tied up with EchoStar’s Dish Network, a leading satellite service provider for South Asian programming in the US.
With this tie-up, Aaj Tak and Headlines Today are expected to reach out to over 100,000 households in the USA from today (6 October).
Speaking on the initiative, TV Today CEO G. Krishnan says: “There is a large Indian diaspora in the US. While the geographical boundaries are shrinking, the distance between them and India seems to be widening. Launching Aaj Tak and Headlines Today on the Dish Network will offer the viewers with live news and analysis straight from home right into their living room.”
He added: “We are delighted to join hands with Dish Network who have established themselves as a market leader with their vision and pioneering efforts and are committed to constantly enhancing their South Asian programming mix.”
TV Today CMD Aroon Purie says: “Aaj Tak and Headlines Today have been able to successfully widen the viewership base for news in India. This step will further widen the base for Indian news internationally.”
Aaj Tak and Headlines Today will be available to Dish subscribers as part of a package and also on an a la carte basis. The price, however, was not disclosed.
“We are excited to serve as the exclusive pay TV provider of Aaj Tak and Headlines Today channels in the United States,” Tracy Thompson, vice president of international programming for Dish Network said.
Aaj Tak has been the undisputed market leader in the Hindi News genre in India since its launch, though several other channels are now snapping at its heels.
Headlines Today, after an erratic start, has made significant inroads in the English news market segment. The third sibling is the recently launched Tez, which is by and large a Hindi version of Headlines Today where news is told crisply and minus lengthy studio discussions, etc.
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: 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.
