News Broadcasting
Digital TV transition in US has a long way to go: report
MUMBAI: A new study in the US has stressed the need for speeding up the digital television transition process.
The Digital Transition Coalition (DTC) has said that, contrary to the claims of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), the DTV transition has a long distance to traverse before it becomes a reality.
Tens of millions of Americans are still unable to receive one or more of their local network stations in digital mode. The coalition released state-by-state maps, using Federal Communications Commission (FCC) data. These clearly illustrate the coverage of digital signals across the US as of July 2004.
The maps were filed with the FCC as part of the coalition’s response to a filing by the NAB. Earlier the NAB had stated that broadcasters had met the challenge of the conversion to DTV and that the transmission side of the DTV equation was built.
However the DTC analysis revealed that 36.1 per cent of households (over 39 million) cannot receive digital service from at least one of the network broadcasters. Nineteen per cent of households (over 20 million) are receiving digital service from only three digital network broadcasters.
George Landrith of Frontiers of Freedom, which is a member of the DTC added, “This analysis paints a stark picture of the digital transition in this country. It illustrates once and for all that the transition to digital television is behind schedule and continues to exclude millions of Americans — especially those in rural areas.
“And this is happening despite the fact that broadcasters were supposed to be broadcasting their DTV service at full power by 2002. While technology is improving and more offerings are available, the reality is tens of millions of Americans are still being denied digital service because the local broadcasters have been dragging their feet,” adds Landrith.
Landrith further said, “The key to speeding up the transition is to provide incentives for local broadcasters to make digital signals available and to give other services the ability to offer those signals if the local broadcasters won’t.”
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.
