News Broadcasting
ABC International to be beamed on the DD Direct Plus
NEW DELHI: The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) has decided to hitch on to DD Direct Plus, the country’s only free to air direct-to-home platform. The channel has also decided to collaborate with Prasar Bharati in other fields like archives and indigenous and classical music for both television and radio.
This was stated by both Prasar Bharati chief executive officer Jawhar Sircar and ABC CEO Lynley Marshall during a discussion prior to the formal signing of a memorandum of understanding with Doordarshan.
Marshall said: “India has a rich heritage of classical music, and we at ABC can contribute by making available its collection of aboriginal and indigenous music for both Doordarshan and All India Radio.”
Appreciating the gesture, Sircar said that Indians needed to know more about Australia than what they read in newspapers or saw on foreign television channels.
The new carriage agreement, Sircar said, “Aims to strengthen the partnership between the two public broadcasters.”
“With this agreement, ABC International will be available on DD Direct Plus from 1 November,” added Doordarshan director general Tripurari Sharan.
Australia Network is Australia’s international television service, beaming 24×7 to more than 40 countries across Asia, the Pacific and Indian subcontinent. Its mission is to promote television and digital service that informs, entertains and inspires audience, with a unique Australian perspective.
The agreement was signed by Marshall and Sircar at a function attended by Sharan, DD News director general S M Khan and additional director general Ranjan Thakur apart from several senior members of both DD and All India Radio.
With this agreement DD, fulfils a part of its public service mandate to develop knowledge, broaden horizon and showcase the diverse culture of Australia.
Marshall welcomed the new partnership with Doordarshan, describing it as a significant alignment of the two respected public broadcasters in the Asia-Pacific Region. The partnership between Doordarshan and ABC will open many doors not only for carrying ABC International on DD’s platform, but also to explore specific areas like co-production activities, exchange of TV programmes, exchange of radio and FM (including music), interesting films, audio-visual materials regarding culture, history and geography from both the countries. These steps will help bring people of both the countries understand each other better and forge understanding and empathy.
Marshall also hopes to strengthen programming for children through this bond. “India will be interested in more news from Australia,” said Sircar.
Thakur informed Indiantelevision.com that they had earlier also signed an agreement with France 24. “This international english channel will also feature on DD Direct Plus platform from 1 November,” said Thakur.
At present DD offers 59 channels in its bouquet on DTH platform. “We expect to get the permission to increase the capacity to 97 by December,” he added.
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.
