News Broadcasting
BBC World signs deal with Qatar, Kenya Airways
MUMBAI: News channel BBC World has announced that it has signed a deal with Qatar Airways and Kenya Airways for in-flight news content.
The arrangement with Kenya Airways comes courtesy a new arrangement with in-flight content provider IFE Services. Traditionally, only one news bulletin is transmitted in any 24-hour period on an airline.
After the fleet renewal programme was completed in August, Manchester based IFE Services has been providing Kenya Airways with BBC World’s daily news bulletins thrice a day. The service is available on all international flights equipped with both the PTV and Overhaul Systems. Download takes place thrice a day thanks to state of the art facilities which IFE Services set up in Nairobi.
BBC World also launched a new distribution agreement with Qatar Airways to make the channels World News programmes available as part of the airlines in-flight entertainment service.
Qatar Airways operates flights from its hub in Doha to 38 destinations worldwide and aims to increase the number to 50 within the next couple of years. BBC World states that the deal is in line with a global trend to offer people news they can trust wherever they are.
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.
