News Broadcasting
ESS bags rights for Uefa ‘Euro 2004’ for the Indian Sub-continent
MUMBAI: ESPN Star Sports (ESS) is going to play football in a major way this year. The broadcaster has announced that it has acquired the Uefa Euro 2004 broadcasting rights for the Indian Sub-continent. This is considered to be the second most important soccer property after the Fifa World Cup.
The event which takes place from 12 June to 4 July will see 16 European teams competing including France, England, Germany and Italy. 50 of Uefa’s 51 participating teams were included in the draw to qualify for the first 15 spots. The host country Portugal qualified automatically.
ESPN Software India MD RC Venkateish was quoted in an official release saying, ” Considered one of the biggest competitions on the sporting calendar, Euro has a strong fan following in India. As the telecast times on our chanel are at around 9:30 pm in India, we expect the tournament to attract a lot of viewers nationally. The event provides an exciting and clutter-free environment to our advertisers to reach its target audiences. It is also happening at a time when there is no other global sporting event.”
The event will have 31 matches including 24 first round matches. In addition to the live telecasts ESS will also produce daily half hour pre-match highlights complemented with four weekly one-hour highlights. The football package will include specials such as The Story of the Uefa European Football Championships, The Road to Uefa Euro 2004, The Golden Moments, The Stars of the Uefa European Football Championships and The Stars of Uefa Euro 2004.
The latest acquisition complements the broadcaster’s coverage of the English Premier League (EPL), Uefa Champions League, Uefa Cup and Spanish Primera Liga. Recently the network concluded an exclusive four-year agreement with Englands governing body of football, The Football Association (The FA).
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.
