News Broadcasting
Britian’s sporting stars contribute to BBC One’s The Great Big Bid
MUMBAI: Some of Britain’s sporting celebrities rubbed shoulders with the wealthiest individuals in a night where they lead the way in raising nearly half a million pounds for BBC Children in Need at The Great Big Bid charity gala auction.Sporting greats like David Beckham, champion rally driver Colin McRae,rising star of the Pro-Am race scene and model, Jodie Kidd all contributed majorly ,to the event which kicks off a week of fund-raising on BBC One in The Great Big Bid.
Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff’s, Ashes-wining bat – custom made for him and one of the few to survive the England hero’s smashing performance during the Test series – sold for £22,000 to millionaire UK businessman, Nick Robinson, in a heated battle with Australian paparazzi boss, Darryn Lyons.It was dramatic as Lyons threatened to turn the bat to ashes on Australian soil. The bat, signed by Freddie, was only saved from going up in flames when Robinson made the winning bid as the hammer was about to fall.
Beckham once again showed his generosity towards children by offering four places at the opening of his new football academy. The David Beckham Academy is due to open next month and the four lucky children will not only meet their hero ,but, be presented with an exclusive new kit and be the first to try out the facilities.
The lot was snapped up for £15,000 by Peter Jones from BBC TWO’s Dragon’s Den who immediately, on Beckham’s recommendation, presented it back to BBC Children in Need to select the four children from one of the many projects they fund. Jones also walked away with one of the evenings most expensive lots when he bid £55,000 for a passenger ride with World Rally Champion driver, Colin McRae.
Supermodel Jodie Kidd, who has recently made a name a for herself as a skilled amateur racing driver, offered the experience of a lifetime trip which will see the winning bidder, computer magnate, Paul Barry Walsh, who paid £15,000, take a luxury private jet to Bologna for a VIP visit to the Bologna Motor Show where he will see Jodie compete in the Maserati Trofeo Pro-Am race.
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.
