News Broadcasting
BBC World lines up celebrity duo for Face to Face
MUMBAI: BBC World, the BBC’s 24-hour international news and informational channel, has announced a new list of guests on its weekly chat programme Face to Face.
Starting Saturday, 10 May 2003, the show presented by host Karan Thapar will showcase a special series of interviews with celebrity partners. This special series of Face to Face will bring viewers a chance to know some of the top names from a variety of fields such as music, dance, film, theatre and medicine.
Some of the famous partnerships who will feature in the series include music directors Jatin Lalit, actor and director Pooja and Mahesh Bhatt; author and businessman Shobhaa and Dilip De; classical dancers Radha and Raja Reddy; well-known entrepreneurs Rajan and Ritu Nanda; and the renowned sarod players Amaan – Ayaan Ali Bangash, to name a few.
A press release states that the new series will be sponsored by Oriental Insurance and can be seen on BBC World on Saturdays at 10 pm with an additional appointment to view on Sundays at 12 noon.
The new series of Face to Face begins with an
in-depth interview with the music composer duo Jatin Lalit, who have composed the music for several blockbuster Bollywood films. The interview highlights their humble beginnings and charts their path to success. With films such as Jo Jeta Wohi Sikandar, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Khamoshi and Kabhi Khushi Khabi Gham to their credit, they are known to have set the trend for a completely new genre of Hindi film music.
On Face to Face, Jatin Lalit talk about their childhood and how they came to work together, the success of their partnership and their experience of working with actors like Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan.
When asked by Karan Thapar what makes a good song, Jatin said:”Melody is the main thing and in melody there has to be soul. This combination can make a song immortal and everything else falls in the right place. The singer will get inspired, the musician will get inspired by the melody and everything falls back in the right place.”
Commenting on this special series Karan Thapar said: “This new ‘partner’ series of Face to Face is a special initiative to add a fresh flavour to this popular programme. The programme brings our loyal viewers seldom seen aspects of these distinctive personalities.”
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.
