News Broadcasting
Discovery to focus on biographies of Taiwanese personalities
MUMBAI: Discovery Asia will produce a series of biographies of prominent Taiwanese personalities in association with Taiwans Government Information Office (GIO). The initiative is called Portraits: Taiwan.
The series wiil be aired from 25 December 2005 across Asia.
It features the life journeys of six prominent Taiwanese personalities from various fields and include Hwai-Min Lin (the arts), King Liu (from business and economics), Wun-Yu Che (agriculture), Henry Lee (science and technology), Master Cheng Yen (public welfare and environmental protection) and Huei-Mei Chang (entertainment and pop culture). The personalities were selected by the public in a poll that ran earlier this year.
Discovery Asia executive director and MD Tom Keaveny says, “Portraits: Taiwan is a series that embodies the Taiwanese spirit and the very best of Taiwan by uniquely documenting Taiwans success through its people. The lives of the six personalities offer inspiring stories that we feel will not only appeal to local audiences here but also to international viewers across the region in over 111 million homes Discovery Channel currently broadcasts to. The initiative also further enforces our commitment to invest in local talent and increasing the number of hours of local production in markets we operate in.
Taiwan GIO minister Pasuya Wen-Chi Yao, says, This initiative with Discovery is significant for us, it is the first time that an international broadcaster is presenting a biography series highlighting successful Taiwanese. Through their personal stories, we hope viewers around the world will gain a better understanding of our country and become more interested in Taiwan. In addition, this project also provides our local companies here with the ability to showcase their outstanding work and high quality of production on a world stage.”
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.
