News Broadcasting
EU urges government to raise FDI in media
MUMBAI: It was in March at a special session on ‘The Future of Newspapers in the World’, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), that (then) information and broadcasting Jaipal Reddy indicated it was not opposed to foreign direct investment (FDI) in the media, including print and electronic.
At another CII meeting in the capital today, Viviane Reding, European Union commissioner for information society and media, raised the issue again when she urged India to remove restrictions on foreign investments in print and broadcasting media to enable media houses in the EU forge joint ventures with their Indian counterparts.
“I am going to raise this issue (of raising foreign equity cap) in print and audio visual media with Indian government. Many companies from EU have expressed their keenness to enter into joint venture with Indian print and broadcast groups. The less and less are the barriers, trading relations will be better,” the Press trust of India quoted Reding as saying.
As per current norms, FDI in news and current affairs of both print and television media is 26 per cent, while in FM radio and in direct-to-home venture it is 20 per cent. It is only for speciality publications (trade and science) that 100 per cent FDI is allowed.
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.
