News Broadcasting
Hinduja TMT acquires US based BPO firm
MUMBAI: Hinduja TMT Ltd (HTMT) has signed an agreement for the acquisition of a US based BPO company, AFFINA, for an undisclosed amount.
According to an official statement, this acquisition will enable the HTMT to access a large and high quality client base, comprising many Fortune 500 companies, while enhancing the company’s onshore delivery capabilities in the US in specialized domains like consumer electronics, FMCG, retail, government and telecom.
AFFINA, a BPO brand in the US, has annual revenues of USD 60 million, and operations in seven centers in the US and Canada. The company has a three – decade track record of serving globally recognized clients.
This deal strengthens the company’s marketing presence in the US. The company will now be operating from 14 cities, seven of which are in North America, one each in Philippines and Mauritius and five in India.
The integrated entity would have a customer base of over 65 customers and a total headcount of over 9,000 employees. This acquisition will nearly double the company’s combined revenues to over USD 130 million and catapult the company into the top five pure-play BPO companies in India, informs the release.
Commenting on the acquisition, HTMT CEO Partha Sarkar said, “AFFINA is a strategic fit in the Company’s global vision, Through its experienced management team, diverse skills and wide-spread network of delivery centers, HTMT is now poised to ramp up its operations in the growing American market. This will be a happy marriage of domain expertise, CRM capabilities and management skills.”
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: 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.
