News Broadcasting
BBC to kick off search for anthem for 2012 Olympics
MUMBAI: UK pubcaster the BBC has announced that its radio station BBC London’s Anthem for 2012 Olympics competition launches next week inviting all Londoners to compose an anthem for the capital.
BBC London in conjunction with Sing London – a festival to take place this summer to is looking for the song which will become synonymous with London.
Each year from now until 2012, a song will be chosen by BBC London viewers and listeners to compete to be BBC London’s Anthem for 2012. This the BBC is hopinh will be the tune on everyone’s lips when the Olympics take place.
This year’s winner will be arranged and performed by professionals and will also get huge exposure this summer during the Sing London Festival. It will form part of the programme of singing events around the city in such prestigious venues as The Roundhouse and the South Bank.
It will also be sung in schools across London as we move towards the Olympics and will be available for download at bbc.co.uk/london and singlondon.org.
The closing date for entries for this year’s competition is 5 April 2007. bbc.co.uk/london for all entry details. The song should be no longer than three minutes.
A panel of experts, including BBC London 94.9’s Robert Elms, will select a shortlist of five songs.
In early May the BBC London audience will hear all five shortlisted songs, arranged and performed by professionals. BBC London listeners and viewers will vote for the winner.
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.
