News Broadcasting
BroadcastAsia, CommunicAsia get record turnout
MUMBAI: The three trade shows for the broadcast and telecom sectors in Asia BroadcastAsia, CommunicAsia and EnterpriseIT have all manged to achieve their exhibitors objectives of generating new potential business leads and forming partnerships.
The Wi-Fi Technology Forum/- CommunicAsia and EnterpriseIT, which claims to be Asias largest ICT and enterprise technology show closed on 18 June 2004 at the Singapore Expo after being attended by 33,341 visitors, with a 6.4 per cent increase in overseas visitors from 79 countries.
BroadcastAsia, which was held in conjunction with the earlier mentioned shows, managed to get 15 per cent more visitors from abroad with a total of 10,038 visitors from 68 countries. Overall, general sentiments from exhibitors were positive. Many felt that the show was very well-organised and that it attracted a high proportion of quality international trade visitors who were genuinely interested in purchasing or sourcing for new technologies.
Exhibitors were excited that they were able to find new leads. They were impressed by the increase in mainland Chinese exhibitors and overseas visitors. Companies also felt that having these three events at the same time was effective in creating more synergy and broadening the scope of customers.
BroadcastAsia exhibitors were satisfied with the show turnout. Some commented on the fact that they achieved their objective of meeting many potential customers to demonstrate their latest products. At the event Lucent Technologies announced four new contracts worth over $120 million. The company will supply China Telecom, Tata Teleservices, Korea’s KT and Vietnam Power Telecoms (VP Telecom) with network solutions based on Bell Labs technology, the research arm of Lucent. The deal with China Telecom is worth the most at more than $80 million. Under the contract, five of the Chinese provinces, Fujian, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Sichuan and Gansu will be upgrading to the new Personal Handyphone System (PHS) networks supplied by Lucent.
Gemplus tied up with South Korea Telecom to deliver USIM card technology SKTs commercial launch of its 3G W-CDMA network. Gemplus GemXplore 3G USIM cards support mobile commerce transactions and the Visa Smart debit Credit application by VISA International for mobile proximity payment services on USIM card, MONETA, which is also recognized as a credit card in a mobile phone.
Swedish mobile firm Ericsson announced deals and a new regional operation centre in Singapore. The company unveiled a $109 million deal to expand Chinas Guangxi Mobile Communications GSM network in southwestern China. It also revealed a deal with Thailands Advanced Info Service to work on the second phase of its Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution (Edge) expansion in the Bangkok metropolitan area and to supply the company with a multimedia messaging service solution.
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: 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.
