News Broadcasting
Film industry severs ties with Kannada filmdom
BANGALORE: The retaliation from outside the state has finally come. Protesting against the seven-week moratorium on non-Kannada films in Karnataka, the Tamil, Telugu and Hindi film industries backed by the Film Federation of India and the South Indian Film Chambers of Commerce have decided to sever all ties with the Kannada film industry.
According to media reports, though no official announcement has been made yet in this regard, the organisations have ratified the following embargoes on the Kannada Film Industry:
No other language films will be released at all in Karnataka.
No actors or technicians from other languages will work in Kannada films.
No Kannada actors, artistes, producers, music directors, technicians will be permitted to work in any other industry.
No other language producers will produce Kannada movies.
No Kannada films will be dubbed in any other language.
No shooting will be done in Karnataka by any other language; Kannada films will be refused permission to shoot elsewhere.
Film manufacturers will be asked to reduce raw stock to Kannada films.
The Telugu film industry sources said that they had waited for over four weeks for the Kannada film industry to relent their seven-week moratorium, and then decided on the embargoes. It is alleged that the Kannada film producers had refused to give appointments to their counterparts to meet and sort out the issues.
Reportedly refuting this allegation, Karnataka Film Producers Association president Basant Kumar Patil has said that they would be willing to meet anyone and explain the situation of the Kannada film industry.
Meanwhile actor-politician Ambarish managed to convince the Karnataka Film Exhibitors Federation (KFEF) on the release of the Kannada movie Omkar. The film released as per schedule in South Karnataka on Saturday to coincide with actor Upendra’s birthday.
Omkara’s release was permitted by the KFEF on Sunday in North Karnataka after Ambarish assured that another meeting would be convened to discuss the issue of simultaneous release of non-Kannada films in the state, say reports. The current seven week ban on Non-Kannada films will likely be over by the end of this month and the issue would be taken up by the Pandey Committee during it’s next meeting. KFEF has also demanded a reduction in power tariffs for theaters.
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.
