News Broadcasting
BBC Japan, DWTV launched on Japan IPTV
MUMBAI: Online TV Company, Japan’s multi-channel TV service that delivers online video content into broadband homes, has added two new channels to its kitty.
The German public broadcaster for overseas viewers Deutsche Welle TV (DWTV) and BBC Japan, an entertainment channel launched by the BBC last year, have been added to Online TV Company’s multi channel broadcast service on its 4th Media platform.
DWTV’s entry attains significance since 2005 has been declared as Germany Year in Japan. DWTV is the first German channel to start full-scale service in Japan as well.
BBC Japan’s schedule includes comedies, costume dramas and detective series. The channel is the first channel in Japan dedicated to British entertainment.
The 4th Media multi-channel broadcast platform, which offers both basic and premium services, now carries 49 channels. Online TV Company is owned and operated by a consortium of Japanese companies including JPC, Tohokushinsha, Nikkei and Secom.
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.
