News Broadcasting
Hathway to roll out CAS in Delhi through Bharti’s fibre-optic network
MUMBAI: The Rajan Raheja promoted Hathway Cable & Datacom (Hathway), in which Star India has a 26 per cent stake, is all set to roll out digital Conditional Access System (CAS) in Delhi by utilising the Bharti Telecom network for distribution of digital cable TV signals and other broadband services. Hathway will use 150 kms of Bharti’s fibre optic network in Delhi and distribute cable TV services from strategically-placed headends.
According to a press release, Hathway will leverage the Bharti Fixed Line Service that can provide telephone services and solutions ranging from DSL broadband, Internet access, leased lines, ISDN services, VPNs, Unified Messaging Solutions (UMS), a high speed communication network capable of handling voice, data and video. Bharti offers mobile services in 15 out of 22 circles in India.
Hathway will be locating optic fibre nodes at various points in the network. This, will substantially improve the quality of television signals and also enable other value added services in the CAS through digital set top boxes, the release says. Hathway is planning to set up more than 100 nodes across the city in the next one year. Moreover, Bhartis underground fibre cabling will make Hathways digital Cable TV set up more reliable.
Hathway is set to roll out its CA system in three metros namely, Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai. Hathway will be rolling out digital Conditional Access with a Subscriber Management System (SMS) from Mindport (USA) and Digital Set Top Boxes from Humax (Korea).
Hathway has selected News Corp technology arm NDS for deployment of digital and pay TV Conditional Access system. For digital compression & delivery of channels Hathway has selected Scientific Atlanta.
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.
