News Broadcasting
Govt initiates steps to help Hindustan Photo Films
NEW DELHI: Hindustan Photo Films Manufacturing which has for long suffered as being on the list of sick industries is one of the six companies to be given the minimum public shareholding of 10 per cent requirement under a proposal accepted by the Union Cabinet.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved creation of the Special National Investment Fund for the specific objective of meeting the minimum public shareholding of 10 per cent requirement in six Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs).
Hindustan Photo Films has for years been responsible for supplying raw stock to filmmakers.
Since these Companies were not financially sound, it was found difficult to meet the minimum public shareholding by following SEBI approved methods. However, government was keen to comply with the requirement in all government companies. The Department of Disinvestment discussed the matter with SEBI and has proposed to meet the minimum public shareholding in the above six Companies.
The salient features of the fund are:
(i) The number of shares that is required to make the six companies compliant with the minimum public shareholding will be transferred to the Special National Investment Fund out of government of India shareholding on irrevocable basis without any consideration.
(ii) The Fund will be managed by independent professional fund managers.
(iii) The Fund will sell the shares within a period of five years.
(iv) The funds realised from the sale of shares would be used for social sector schemes of the government.
(v) The modalities of the sale of shares in the fund would be decided by the existing EGoM.
Under the Securities Contracts (Regulations) (Second Amendment) Rules 2010 of 9 August 2010, all government companies are required to have at least 10 per cent public shareholding and where public shareholding is less than 10 per cent, the companies were required to comply with this condition within a period of three years by following methods permitted by SEBI for this purpose.
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.
