News Broadcasting
Coke’s Sunil Gupta joins Dish TV as managing director
MUMBAI: Even as Tata Sky DTH service is set for a mid-2006 launch, Zee’s DTH service Dish TV is ramping up to stay ahead of the competition. The company has roped in former Coke India VP External Affairs, South Asia Sunil Gupta as managing director. Dish TV already has Sunil Khanna as CEO.
While confirming his appointment to indiantelevision.com, Gupta said his initial responsibilities would include increasing Dish TV’s subscriber base and penetration of the service across the country. “We will be launching the movie-on-demand service in December,” he adds.
On being queried about the corporate reporting structure, Gupta said he”will be working along with Khanna.” New Era Entertainment Network Limited (NEENL) manages the affairs of Dish TV. Zee Telefilms holds 20 per cent stake in the company.
Gupta started his career with The Times of India and played a significant role in the launch of the Lucknow edition. He went on to become the CEO of Lucknow Times of India and Navbharat Times. Gupta also launched the Jaipur edition of The Times of India. Then he moved on to Dainik Jagaran and worked in the capacity of MD and managing editor, Delhi.
Gupta also had a stint at Jain TV as COO. At Coke, Gupta started off as director and went on to become VP, Indian operations. He has been with the company since the last four years.
Dish TV had 480,000 subscribers till September-end. But it is signing up around 3,500 customers a day and expects to touch one million subscribers by the end of this financial year. The average revenue per user (ARPU) is reportedly running at Rs 200 per month with services subsidised through the provision of a free annual subscription after a one-time charge of Rs 4,000.
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.
