News Broadcasting
CBS signs Ray Raymano for ninth and final season of sitcom
MUMBAI: The days of the sitcom are numbered. Friends and Fraiser recently said goodbye. However Viacom’s broadcaster CBS has managed to convince comic Ray Romano to return for yet another season of the comedy Everybody Loves Raymond. In India the show airs on Star World.
The ninth and final season will have 16 episodes instead of the usual 24. The future of the show had been in doubt because Romano and the shows creator Phil Rosenthal said that they did not have too many fresh ideas.
Of course Romano does not need to hang around simply because he earns only a few thousand. The current season sees him earn over $30 million.
The deal reflects the fact that CBS believes it needs the show to anchor Monday night. Reports indicate that three months ago Rosenthal and Romano realised that they had enough material for one more year. An AP report indicates that this week, broadcast networks announce their schedules for later in the year to advertisers. They will then decide to buy about $9 billion worth of commercials. CBS announces its schedule on Wednesday.
CBS’ recently launched show Two and a Half Men has done reasonably well in the ratings among 18-49 year olds. However it is not clear as to how much of its growing strength stems from its “Raymond” lead-in — and how much would remain once Ray Romano calls it a day.
On the show Brad Garett plays Ray Romano’s brother. There is a slim possibility that CBS might sign on Brad for a spin off once Everybody loves Raymond goes off air. It may be recalled that NBC has decided to do a Friends spinoff Joey with Matt LeBlanc.
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.
