News Broadcasting
Desi Sesame Street on the anvil
MUMBAI: Popular kids’ show Sesame Street could soon appear in an Indian avatar, if the producers manage to find a local production partner.
The top rated American children’s infotainment show that has won the maximum Emmys thus far, is looking for an Indian partner who can choose relevant subjects to be tackled on the show, as well as possible broadcasting alliances, local characters and other feasibility details. A delegation of the New York based Sesame Workshop which produces Sesame Street, is currently in India to tap local partnerships.
Sesame Workshop is a non-profit organisation that has conceptualised and produced Sesame Street, on air since 1969 in the US. A Sesame Workshop group had probed the possibility of a similar tie up here seven years ago, but the response has been encouraging only this time round.
According to media reports quoting Sesame Workshop business development manager Sean Love, it could be another 18 months till a model specific to Indian requirements is developed. The team is yet to finalise which channel will telecast the Indian version of the monster muppets, which have imparted education and entertainment to generations of kids. Finer details like the language to be used, number of episodes and duration of episodes too have to be worked out.
Sesame Street currently runs as an afternoon block on Hallmark channel in India, using the TV to teach pre schoolers skills that make for a smooth transition from home to school. Sesame Street has received the most Emmys in TV history. Studies have revealed that teens who watched the show excelled in many ways and expressed less aggressive attitudes than those who did not watch the show, says a report in Mid-day.
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.
