News Broadcasting
AIADMK to launch Amma TV to promote govt schemes
MUMBAI: The current ruling government of Tamil Nadu has decided to launch its own news channel and newspaper to propagate government schemes.
The matter was decided at a party legislators’ meeting chaired by All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and deputy CMO Panneerselvam.
When J Jayalalitha ruled the state, Namathu MGR and Jaya TV served as mouthpieces for the party, but after the ousting of VK Sasikala and her nephew TTV Dhinakaran from AIADMK, both platforms have become too critical of the ruling government.
The name of the newspaper would be Namathu Amma and will launch on 17 January while the TV channel is probably named as Amma TV, Jayalalitha’s moniker and is in the works.
In November, income tax raids under Operation Clean Money targeted shell firms belonging to 10 groups, including those run by members of Sasikala’s family and associates. The raids that went on for five days were also conducted at Jaya TV premises and at the residence of its managing director Vivek Jayaraman, another nephew of Sasikala.
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.
