News Broadcasting
BBC’s ‘Doctor Who’ lands in Germany
MUMBAI: UK pubcaster BBC’s commercial arm BBC Worldwide is bringing the new Doctor Who series to Germany through a deal with commercial broadcaster ProSieben.
ProSieben have licensed both the first series, which starred Christopher Ecclestone and Billie Piper, and the second series, which is currently in production. Russell T Davies’ first series of Doctor Who attracted huge ratings and received critical acclaim when it aired on BBC One earlier this year.
BBC Worldwide Germany head Isabelle Helle said, “The series has gained iconic status outside of the UK as well and has already been licensed to broadcasters in sixteen countries worldwide. We are excited that Doctor Who’s time travelling will now take him to ProSieben so that viewers in Germany can also enjoy the adventures of the Time Lord and his companions.”
ProSieben Head of Programming, Thomas Schultheis said, “Doctor Who is one of the most clever and entertaining series to come from Great Britain. The production values are visibly high and Russell T Davies’ scripts provide top quality entertainment for a wide range of viewers: from science fiction fans to family audiences.”
The series of thirteen 45 minute episodes is likely to start on ProSieben next year. Doctor Who is a co-production of BBC and CBC in Canada. The series has been licensed to a number of territories including Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, Korea, Netherlands, New Zealand and Norway.
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.
