News Broadcasting
E! Networks inks licensing deal with Times of India Group
MUMBAI: E! Networks signed a major licensing deal with The Times of India to create branded programming blocks, which will air on Zoom Television. This was announced by E! Networks international senior vice president Kevin MacLellan at Casbaa.
“E! is the world’s definitive source for entertainment-themed programming, a genre that translates extremely well globally and appeals to everyone’s fascination with Hollywood and celebrity,” said MacLellan. “We eventually plan to launch a fully-branded, 24-hour E! channel in India, and the creation of an E!-branded programming block on Zoom is a significant first step to establishing and expanding the brand in this important territory.”
Beginning this month, E! branded blocks will air on Zoom featuring such premier titles as The E! True Hollywood Story, E! News Live, Dr. 90210, High Price of Fame mini-series, E! Entertainment Specials, It’s Good To Be, Revealed, Mysteries & Scandals, Miss Hawaiian Tropic and Celebrity Homes.
E! Networks Asia managing director Christine Fellowes negotiated the deal for the network.
E! is the world’s largest producer and distributor of entertainment news and lifestyle- related programming, creating over 1000 hours each year from its LA headquarters. E!’s state-of-the-art post production facilities houses one of the industry’s most extensive entertainment libraries with over 200,000 video tapes in its archives.
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.
