News Broadcasting
ADAG-Reliance to focus on movie, radio operations; work on DTH goes `slow’
MUMBAI: Anil Ambani’s Reliance group has decided to concentrate on movie and FM radio businesses in the media and entertainment sector for the time being instead of DTH television service.
A top source in the group admitted that plans to start a DTH service in the country are going “slow”.
Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) had applied for a DTH licence under the brand name Reliance Bluemagic, which is yet to get all governmental clearances.
A recent failure of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to put a new generation communication satellite in orbit could also have some bearing on Ambani’s go-slow approach as far as DTH is concerned, a media industry analyst opined.
ISRO’s recent failure has also put a question mark in the short term over Sun TV group’s plans to start a DTH service in the absence of transponder space on India satellites, which is a pre-requisite government norm.
Sources in the Ambani-controlled ADAG also confirmed that present focus is on movie and radio business where scales of operation need to be ramped up considerably.
Anil has controlling holding in Adlabs Films, which was started by film industry veteran Manmohan Shetty who still looks after the business.
In recent times, Adlabs has signed up with several successful directors like Ram Gopal Verma and Kunal Kohli for a string of film productions over the next 24 months.
Acquisition of some existing production houses could have been an easy way out for Adlabs to increase scale of operations, but existing big production houses are not in sale mode at present, media analysts observe.
According to industry sources, Adlabs is looking at co-productions of films, bagging overseas distribution rights for big ticket Hindi movies, Indo-foreign country co-productions and ramping up the number of multiplex within the Adlabs fold so in future digital distribution of films could add some jazz to the business.
Meanwhile, Reliance Radio, helmed by former Sony India honcho Tarun Katial, has started fine-tuning its operations for a flag off.
Sources said that over the next 45-60 days a spate of private radio FM stations, which got licence in the second phase early this year, are likely to start operations. This would include Reliance’s stations too.
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.
