News Broadcasting
Bangalore HC asks Udaya to maintain status quo
BANGALORE: The ongoing tussle between Udaya channel and eight Bangalore cable operators has taken a new turn as the High Court has reportedly passed an interim order asking the Sun Network’s Kannada bouquet to maintain the status quo as on 26 December 2003.
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The status quo is to be maintained between The Sun Network and the eight cable operators only. Notices have been issued to the Union Government, Telecom Regulating Authority of India (TRAI) and the Sun Network by justice P Vishwanath Shetty.
As reported earlier, the cable operators have been resisting Udaya TV, along with Udaya News and Ushe going into pay mode from 1 August 2004.
Resorting to protest rallies and dharnas, the cable operators under the Karnataka Cable TV Operators Association (KSTOA) and the Karnataka Cable Operators Welfare Association have been forcing the Sun Network to reverse its decision.
KCTOA spokesperson Ponnacha told Indiantelevision.com, “Eight cable operators comprising Patrick Raja, Ram Prasad Gowda, Narsimaha, Lokesh, Sathya Kumar, K Seethamurthy, Sudesh Kumar and myself had appealed to the High Court on Monday that the TRAI order had been violated by Sun and was harming the Industry. The High Court has passed an interim order directing the Sun Network to maintain the status quo regarding the charges prevailing as on 26 December 2003 as per the tariff order of Trai dated 15 January 2004. This is for six weeks. The next hearing is on 28 September.”
Sun Network officials were reportedly not present at the High Court during the hearing. When contacted, the network spokesperson refused to comment on the developments. Udaya TV vice-president Vijay Kumar was unavailable for comment.
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.
