News Broadcasting
Hallmark to pull out the stops for new series ‘The Guardian’
Hallmark channel is all set and ready to roll for its latest programme initiative The Guardian. The show commences on 7 July and will air every Sunday at 8 pm.
In a bid to increase visibility, Hallmark had its first ever public screening in Mumbai last evening. Designed as a litmus test, the channel was trying to gauge feedback about the the show. Marketing manager Hallmark India Murtuza Kagalwala said a multi-media campaign supporting the series would kick off from the first of next month. Details were still being finalised, he said. Kagalwala said that with the show the channel was trying to create mass appeal for the channel within its niche audience. The Guardian is a show that one can watch with the whole family unlike a few of the channels programme initiatives in the past, which targeted either women or kids, he said.
The show stars Simon Baker who earlier this year earned a Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of Nick Fallin, the central character of The Guardian. Nick is a corporate lawyer compelled to do community service as the result of a drug conviction.
Baker made the following remarks: “Nick is very complex in nature. It’s appealing to play a character who is constantly being challenged both personally and professionally.”
The first two episodes were screened and what was impressive was the down to earth nature of the story. The characters should go down well with the audience as the various conflicting situations confronting them are easy to identify with. The intricacies of the law and court proceedings were well handled without bogging down the storyline.
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.
