News Broadcasting
‘From Gurukul’ to ‘Fame X’ and Sony to Sab
MUMBAI: Sony Entertainment Television India’s Sab is all set to unleash its first reality show with the refurbished version of Fame Gurukul that has been re-branded as Fame X.
New version of the reality musical show will hit the tube in mid-November as daily weekday offering.
According to Sab senior vice president and business head Vikas Bhal, the inclusion of the X- element in the name simply refers to the undefinable something that makes for star quality. The big difference that has been incorporated into the second season of the show that aired last year on SET is that the contestants will not undergo any makeover.
Elaborating further, Bhal says that if the contestant auditions with a pair of slippers, his style will be retained. The effort will be to hone singing skills rather than presentation.
Among the other changes being rung into Fame X is that there will be only one winner rather than the jodi (couple) concept that was seen earlier. A big thing for the Fame X winner will be that he/she gets the honour of creating a song and singing for the cricket World Cup that will be held in the West Indies in March 2007.
The show will adapt to a more funky style and have an international look and feel. Unlike Fame Gurukul, which had an Indianised set-up of a music school, Fame X will remain true to the international version. Endemol, which owns the rights to the Spanish reality show Operacion Triunfo on which Fame X is based, will be managing the full production of the show. Production of the earlier Fame Gurukul was assigned to Miditech.
Operacion Triunfo has been adapted across 11 countries across three continents, and is seeing a fourth and fifth series in some territories.
This daily episode series will be spread across 13 weeks. The hunt for the contestants will kick off end of September. The auditions will be held in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Ahemedbad and Lucknow.
Bahl concludes that the channel has yet to come to a decision on the jury panel as well as the host of the show. SET’s Fame Gurukul had lyricist Javed Akhtar, singer KK and musician Shankar Mahadevan as the panel judges while singer Ila Arun was the strict headmistress of the music academy.
News Broadcasting
Network18 channels lead YouTube news viewership in March 2026
CNN-News18, News18 India and CNBC channels top categories with record views
MUMBAI: When the world hit refresh on breaking news, Network18’s channels were already streaming ahead. As geopolitical tensions and war-driven headlines fuelled a surge in global news consumption, the network’s digital playbook delivered big clocking record Youtube viewership across English, Hindi and business news categories in March 2026.
At the forefront was CNN-News18, which emerged as the clear leader in the English news segment with 130 million live and video-on-demand views. The channel edged past competitors such as Times of India (126.5 million), Times Now (101.1 million), India Today (88.2 million) and NDTV (77.5 million), according to Databeings data for March.
In the Hindi news arena, News18 India delivered a commanding performance, racking up a staggering 3,297 million views on YouTube. The channel comfortably outpaced NDTV India, which recorded 3,119 million views, underlining its deep reach and consistent engagement with mass audiences, as per Playboard data.
The network’s dominance wasn’t confined to general news. In the Hindi business segment, CNBC Awaaz topped the charts with 92 million views, narrowly ahead of Zee Business (90 million) and well ahead of ET Now Swadesh (57 million). Meanwhile, its English counterpart CNBC-TV18 posted a strong 58 million views, reinforcing the network’s cross-category strength.
The spike in viewership reflects a broader shift in audience behaviour, with viewers increasingly turning to digital platforms particularly Youtube for real-time updates and in-depth coverage during high-intensity news cycles. For Network18, the numbers signal more than just scale; they underline the effectiveness of a multi-platform strategy that blends speed, credibility and continuous coverage.
In a month where the news never paused, it seems viewers chose to stay tuned where the stream never stopped.
