News Broadcasting
Broadcasters to withdraw petitions challenging Trai on NTO 2.0 in SC
Mumbai: The Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation (IBDF) and its members are likely to withdraw their petitions challenging the New Tariff Order (NTO) 2.0 in the Supreme Court, sources told indiantelevision.com. The apex court took up broadcasters’ applications for withdrawal of the petition while hearing the matter on Tuesday.
Earlier this month, The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had extended the deadline for implementation of the new tariff order (NTO) 2.0 to 1 June. The previous deadline was 1 April.
Trai had then also allowed broadcasters to revise their reference interconnect offers (RIO) by 28 February and publish the same on their websites. Distribution platform operators (DPOs) were directed to report the distributor retail price and composition of the bouquet of pay channels in compliance with the new regulatory framework by 31 March. Those who have already submitted can revise their RIOs by 31 March.
In response to the earlier deadlines, broadcasters had come out with their new RIOs in October-November last year, preferring to pull their popular channels out of the bouquets instead of reducing the price to or below Rs 12. Though still above the cap, many of these prices were revised down later.
Pertinent in this regard is Trai’s intention to form a committee with representation from leading pay-TV industry associations to ensure smooth implementation of the New Regulatory Framework 2020. In a letter dated 22 December 2021, the regulator has asked the IBDF, All India Digital Cable Federation (AIDCF), and the DTH association to nominate a maximum of two representatives to be part of the implementation committee.
Prior to this, Trai had in November 2021, notified stakeholders that NTO 2.0 implementation would be delayed until 1 April. Speculations regarding backroom parleys between the telecom regulator and broadcasters to end the impasse have also been in the news lately.
This copy will be updated.
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.
