News Broadcasting
Anil Ambani peeved with NDTV, bars channel from press conference
MUMBAI: The 31st AGM of Reliance Industries (RIL) held in the city today — the first after the Ambani brothers split — saw younger sibling Anil Ambani and an NDTV reporter in an altercation.
The incident happened post the AGM – where for the first time Anil Ambani was there as an RIL shareholder and not promoter.
As Ambani strode out, he was followed by television reporters vying for a sound bite. Something NDTV business editor Shivnath Thukral said as he thrust his microphone towards Ambani seems to have raised Ambani’s hackles. He was seen flinging the NDTV microphone aside and in the process Thukral almost lost his footing.
And later in the day, a press conference called by Ambani to announce the formation of two new companies, Global Fuel Management Services and Reliance Communication Ventures Ltd, under the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Enterprises (ADAE) umbrella, had a conspicuous absentee – Thukral.
A senior NDTV source claims that the reason the channel’s senior business journalist was absent was because ADAE head of corporate communications Jimmy Mogul had called up Thukral and informed him that NDTV was not invited for the press conference. And the reason for the ban? According to the NDTV source, it was Thukral’s poser to Ambani, “Anil Bhai what made you decide to come to the AGM?” that had so angered the ADAE chairman.
A Reliance official, however, said the media was overplaying the incident. “If one does not want to speak to the press, then that is his choice. Also Anil was in an extremely vulnerable and emotional frame of mind, so his reaction is understandable,” he said.
Meanwhile, NDTV aired footage today stating Anil Ambani had manhandled the media. Interestingly though, despite the ban, NDTV Profit still aired the happenings of Anil Ambani’s media briefing. Queried about this, the NDTV source said, “We carry news, irrespective of the ban and the news came on Bloomberg. We are just doing our duty to inform viewers. It is indeed a sad day for journalism if one decides whom to call or not call on the basis of the questions journalists pose. If that was the case, all that journos have to do is sit back and wait for press releases.”
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.
