News Broadcasting
ABC looks to grow brand through science fiction
MUMBAI: US broadcaster ABC is going the sci fi route. It has picked up IDT Entertainments drama series Masters of Science Fiction featuring works from some of the most well known authors of science fiction.
Negotiations are underway to include works from Isaac Asimov who wrote I Robot and Nightfall, Ray Bradbury The Martian Chronicles, Fahrenheit 451, Harlan Ellison and Robert Heinlein. IDT Entertainment, in association with Industry Entertainment, will produce a minimum of four one-hour episodes.
ABC Entertainment senior VP motion pictures for television and miniseries Quinn Taylor says, With IDT Entertainment and Industry bringing such high-end talent, we are very excited about this anthology. We have been trying to put together this kind of series because it has great potential to become appointment television.
IDT Entertainment COO John Hyde says, We are delighted that Masters of Science Fiction has found a broadcast home on ABCs primetime lineup. ABC is the perfect venue for these interpretations of science fictions seminal literary voices.
Industry Entertainment partner Keith Addis says, We are in advanced discussions with distinguished screenwriters and directors to bring the works of these science fiction icons to a broad audience in the most compelling and entertaining way.
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.
