News Broadcasting
CNN swims the seas this Summer with new show
MUMBAI: With a view to expanding its repertoire as news broadcaster, CNN will flag off a show for sailing enthusiasts.
The monthly show Mainsail debuts on on 20 June at 6 pm.
Hosted by Liz George, it will offer viewers the latest from the leisure, travel, technology and business aspects of the sport and information on the latest major races and regattas around the world. The show will also have features on the thrills of sailing and the endeavours of some of the world’s greatest sailors.
The first edition of Mainsail is shot on the Spanish island of Mallorca. Spain will become the center stage of the sailing world by hosting the first ever America’s Cup in Europe in 2007. It will also play host to the Volvo Ocean Race that kicks off in Galicia in September.
Besides its famous sailors, Spain hosts the PalmaVela Maxi Yacht regatta in Palma de Mallorca where business executives and weekend sailors get together. They compete on ‘Wally Yachts’ that combine high style, speed, comfort and modern technology.
Mainsails will include a profile of L’Oreal CEO Lindsay Owen-Jones. He owns and is the captain of one such Wally named Magic Carpet 2. He tells George how he has taken his boardroom success and applied it to water sports, likening the profile of a CEO to that of a yacht skipper.
In terms of destinations for sailing, Mallorca is rare because has managed to become upmarket from just package tourism. It has now become a luxury destination for wealthy sailors. The show looks at how sailing has played an integral role in bringing new money to Mallorca.
Other features of the show include a look at one of sailing’s perennial challenges. This is the art of to keep an eye on your boat when you are not there. Thanks to the combination of the Internet and small video cameras, a yacht owner can now keep tabs on his boat from a computer.
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.
