News Broadcasting
AETN18 to launch FYI TV18 in India
Bali: A+E Networks announced today at APOS 2016 in Bali that it is launching its channel FYI in India in partnership with the Reliance owned TV18 Broadcast. This will be the second channel to be launched under the two companies’ joint venture A+E Network TV18. The first HistoryTV18 has been operational for the past four plus years in India.
FYI, according to its website, embraces an adventurous, personalized and non-prescriptive approach to peoples’ taste, space, look, story and more. FYI covers a range of stories and experiences that reflect how people actually live their lives today, not defined by just one passion or interest.
The announcement was made by A+E Networks EVP & CFO David Granville-Smith. He stated that there will be close to 100 hours of original locally produced factual series on FYITV18 when it launches.
AETN18 is headed by president Avinash Kaul. Kaul says, “After the successful localisation strategy of HistoryTV18, we will be following it up with the launch localisation strategy of FYITV18. The biggest names in television in India will be associated with the new channel.”
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.
