News Broadcasting
Financial autonomy of pubcaster essential: Reddy
NEW DELHI: Union minister for information and broadcasting Jaipal Reddy said that financial autonomy of public broadcaster was essential for giving true autonomy to Doordarshan and All-India Radio and suggested that public opinion be built up regarding new sources of funding of the organisations like a one-time fee on radio and TV sets in the country.
With nearly two third of expenditure being funded by the government, it was not possible to stop government intervention, he said.
Speaking at a seminar on “A Decade of Citizen’s Initiative ” organised by Jan Prasar, he said all non-governmental organisations and academicians engaged in the field of mass-communication should come forward and work towards creating an enabling environment conducive for creating of model in which financial autonomy of Prasar Bharati can be ensured.
He said during his last tenure in the I&B ministry, he had worked towards a bill aimed at annual licence fee, which was criticised by manufacturers of television sets. He said financial autonomy to Prasar Bharati was essential to take it out of governmental control.
Reddy also felt that there was a need to set up a semi-governmental organisation to regulate content on TV.
Reddy also announced that Prasar Bharati was all set to launch its KU-band DTH service later this month that will initially have 30 channels, including 14 channels of Doordarshan. The number of channels would go to 40 by yearend.
The main feature of DTH service is that it will be available to the people free of cost. They will have to make one-time investment of Rs 3,000 only for buying the set.
On future of FM and community radio, the minister said a regime enabling huge expansion was being worked out. Efforts were on to simplify and rationalise procedures in allowing setting up of community radio. He said the country could have up to 4,000 community radio stations and over 400 FM radio stations.
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.
