News Broadcasting
Dubai TV bids to expand reach
MUMBAI: Dubai TV’s English-language station Channel 33 is attempting to expand its reach.
The channel has been beaming test satellite transmissions since Monday hoping to reach out to the 20-million expatriate community in the Arab world, the Dubai-based Gulf News has reported.
The test signal on Nilesat will run for four hours daily, with full-scale broadcasting expected to begin on 2 December, UAE’s National Day, Gulf News has quoted Ahmed Saeed Algaoud, director-general, Dubai Radio and TV, as saying.
Channel 33 is reportedly targeting English-speaking audiences on both terrestrial and satellite transmissions. The channel’s programming will include news, documentaries, drama series and movies, in addition to a number of local and outsourced productions.
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.
