News Broadcasting
Broadcast Initiatives fixes IPO price band at Rs 100-120, issue opens on 9 February
MUMBAI: Broadcast Initiatives Limited, which holds Hindi news and views channel Janmat, has set the price band of its initial public offering (IPO) between Rs 100 and Rs 120 per share. to raise funds in the range of Rs 855 to Rs 1,026 million for expansion.
The company will be raising Rs 1.02 billion at the top end of the price band. The proceeds of the issue will be used for the purchase of land and construction of studio, purchase of production, post production and broadcasting equipments and prepayment of loans.
The issue will open on 9 February and close on 14 February. The company is offering 8.55 million equity shares of Rs 10 each which includes employee reservation of 1,00,000 equity shares at a premium.
The net issue to the public will constitute 44.27 per cent of the fully diluted post issue paid-up capital of the Company. The promoters will continue to own 55.73 per cent of the equity shares on a fully diluted basis.
Allianz Securities Ltd. is the book running lead manager (BRLM). Allianz Securities Limited, Enam Securities Private Limited and Almondz Capital Markets Private Limited are the syndicate members to the issue. The shares are proposed to be listed on BSE and the NSE.
Janmat was commercially launched on 30 April 2006. A wholly owned subsidiary of Broadcast Initiatives Ltd., Sri Adhikari Brothers Media Limited (SABML) is in the process of launching a Marathi language channel, Mi Marathi. SABML has entered into an exclusive ad sales representation agreement with NDTV Media Limited for the sale of airtime on Mi Marathi channel.
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.
