News Broadcasting
Canal+ launches first iTV-version of Horzu
MUMBAI : Canal+ Technologies (C+T) has announced the launch of the first iTV-version of a German magazine ‘HRZU’, based on the Mediahighway MHP-compliant middleware, in association with EPG experts from GIST Communications.
C+T, a leading provider of interactive TV software solutions with more than 14 million set-top boxes deployed around the world, recently announced its entry to the Indian Conditional Access Software market and is already in talks with a number of prospective clients for its products – Mediaguard (conditional access system) and Mediahighway (middleware). C+T has already provided its solutions to Zee TV and is to licence its conditional access system to Himachal Futuristic Corporation Ltd. (HFCL) to manufacture STBs for direct-to-home (DTH) and digital terrestrial transmission (DTT).
The product has been on display at the International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) Conference 2002, currently being held in Amsterdam. The IBC Conference pools together a wealth of knowledge and information from all sectors of the broadcast industry.
The new application features television programme listings, television picks and editorial articles which viewers can access while watching a TV channel. Also offered is Channel Tuning, which lets the viewers tune into any current programme directly from the application. With GIST TV Trivia, viewers can participate in quizzes about their favourite shows. Boasting more than five million readers, HRZU is a household name for German TV viewers who turn to it weekly to look up TV programmes.
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.
