News Broadcasting
DD may commission news shows from panel of producers
NEW DELHI: The Prasar Bharati board, which met here yesterday, has decided that Doordarshan should go in for narrowcasting by tying up with organisations like NGOs and agriculture universities.
The board also decided that while commissioning of programmes should be started again, a panel of producers should be set up to whom news and current affairs programming can be commissioned. This panel is likely to include those who have produced N&CA-based programming for DD like BAG Films, Rajat Sharma’s IMPL and Nalini Singh.
The board also discussed other issues that included recovery of money from those private agencies and producers who owe DD money running into crores of rupees and the sponsorship-related controversy that is threatening the cricket world, and the bonus scheme for bulk advertisers.
Where narrowcasting is concerned, DD has floated this scheme where it will tie up with agriculture universities like the Hissar Agriculture University (negotiations completed) for agriculture-related programmes to be made by these organisations for telecast on DD’s various regional channels or meant for local viewing. “A DD centre ready for such narrowcasting is Bellary,” a member of the Prasar Bharati board told indiantelevision.com, adding that this is part of Prasar Bharati’s efforts to live up to its image of a pubcaster.
The board, according to Prasar Bharati sources, took note of the sponsorship controversy which has engulfed the cricketing world and its implications if some top cricketers from India like Sachin Tendulkar and other countries do not participate in the ICC-organsised cricket tournaments because of their personal sponsorship deals.
“What can bother DD is that if top cricketers do not participate in the upcoming cricket tournament, then the commercial value of such matches may go down and the marketing of such matches may become a problem,” the Prasar Bharati board member said.
Though DD is fairly protected against such upheavals, the Board nevertheless took note of the controversy and its financial implications if any.
On the recovery of money owed to DD, the errant producers had suggested that DD adjusts the outstanding against them for new programming. However, a final decision on this issue could not be taken by the board at its meeting yesterday.
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.
