News Broadcasting
CAS Bill being considered by Rajya Sabha, says confident Swaraj
NEW DELHI: The government today said that the Cable Television Networks (Regulations) Bill, 1995, already passed by the Lok Sabha, is being considered by the Rajya Sabha.
Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Minister Sushma Swaraj, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha said that the Bill sought to mandate the viewing of pay channels through an addressable system and also empowered the government to notify from time to time and place to place, the maximum subscription charge of the basic tier of free to air channels. “The system is expected to be in the interest of consumer, cable service providers as well as broadcasters as it will bring transparency in the figures of viewership and will allow customers to choose and pay for channels they wish to watch,” she said.
Her statement assumes significance in the wake of reports of the Bill having been stalled in the Upper House where the Opposition has the majority, and continuing threats by cable operators in the Capital to black out cable TV transmission from July 24 if the bill is not passed by then.
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.
